not something I was

th her usual economical precision, that the great hall would be in use fo

neutral. Her

til she was gone, then walke

allery used for storage that ran along the south wall, and the storage room at th

my second day ma

ly currency I had ever reli

dusty gallery floo

prominent near the front, Kael standing at the side wit

he rarely sat at these

was still fighti

table from the pack, relaxed as wa

ices carried up in fra

uest. Not for me - not yet, n

's origins. Shared research.

framed as m

d. Reasonable on the s

so, clear

oke. He stood with that cont

isible from here even at th

- where they rested on t

w it was a tra

ce clearly - she had the pro

eard in la

gesting con

he benefits of a

porting Vex

nt c

lf with the man who wanted to take me away from it. Whether that was about me or about Caius or

t the wall and watched and hi

llery

re I was lying

w I wa

t giving me away. Fil

d a sigh

ended withou

his method. He never said no directly. He simply declined to say yes and wai

, brushing dust off my

knock - t

s - too h

't knock so much

ed the

stood in th

had passed through frail and come out o

a color I couldn't immediately name - silver, almost,

hing but it sat on hi

n my life. Recognition. Complete and immediate, as though he had been wai

aughter," he said

ame. In a str

mother had n

ath st

e you?"

er. I have been in this house for eleven years, hiding in p

d him. No one had seen him a

dday he stood in my doorway with my mother's name i

old you that you ha

's right"

our mother's bloodline is the o

hveil Alpha knew what you were when you were four years old

oment. I felt the ground shift under everyth

en ye

d known for

iberate, deliberate erasure of everything t

indifference. I

My voice was steady.

that broke open everything that came

hose blood can bind a curse - or break one. You are the reason the c

le

flared. It was sharp,

omething that had been waiti

ody. I had neve

eeded me to bel