de's

et I woke as if the blood on

dows against the wooden beams overhead. My hands trembled, cold sweat sticking the nightgown to my spine

basin, splashing water onto m

tted past th

eath

l. One hear

th

n my ribs, a dark bird curling its wings, and I could not shake th

I could still feel the echo of the dream-if it was a drea

ith the w

vi

it aloud in years. Not since the stories were only that-stories. The Cursed Alpha

tales told by the old midwife with a missing tooth. I had seen him in

he com

ad he stayed a

village was still, roofs silvered by mist and moonlight. No

was no

t me, thin as a th

llow

the

where the bell had

the w

trees

s low and heavy with secrets. I had walked this path b

nken in moss. The name had faded wit

bones benea

rk of a yew, grounding myself. T

ed. Not in sound

a whisper. Not in my

old

urn

Not as best. Not yet. But his eye

vi

hadow made flesh. His coat was damp with mist, his hair wind-tossed, and

n't be here

ied, and surprised myself wi

to war

already bleeding. I've

h. Just enough that I could feel the

" he said. "Lucien gav

"It was jus

ow and furious. "It

ead. "I don'

u w

e rooftops, the quiet that didn't feel like sleep. It felt

he said, "the Veil will tear f

me somewher

. And in that moment, t

now what you

at I saw. What I felt. An

ed away

e was softer, almost pained. "Y

I haven't t

urpris

pulling us closer. "There's no going back now. The path's already spl

tell

n't. N

vanished between the

romise he left b

ld mee

there would be

-

shutters, and though the candle had burned to its wick,

h, cloaking the village in a veil as soft as shroud silk. The crows didn't call

ng had

the only on

apped in seven layers of black. She didn't speak at first. Just looked at

en him," s

't a qu

ing the fool. It nev

man's sorrow. The curs

he air between us like

chard and the silver blooms rot before dawn, it means the boundary's cracking. The Hollo

. "It wasn'

agreed. "I

ther word. I should've gone after her, pressed for answers, but I

me was beginni

With flashes of scent and sorrow. Of

of t

ernoon, I went

pers. Not because it was haunted, but because it had been hushed. No children play

e twisted trunks

ne

A rib cage blooming with moss. This p

d

s warm bene

was blank. No name. Just a symbol etched deep into the

ark before. In

thumped p

t be here,"

hard li

n it an

wind

the crooked rows,

Deli

way, breat

emerge

boots unsullied by mud. As if the rot of

a smile, but i

I thought," he said.

ted an

he orchard would w

ng else i

rything. The dead may be quiet, Isolde,

ide him des

e they?"

"Children of the first Veil-split. The ones who heard the

happened

there was a flicker-pity,

pened t

mach t

u m

long here. Things that don't bleed

. "Why are you

. "Because you're a key, Isolde. Whether you wish t

"I'm not a thi

softly. "You

wh

chilled me more than Ra

oth o

n he wa

ded. Like mist recedin

, however

ed too far from the person I thought I was. That this path-w

alked i

omething older than breath

st the

the nam

was made benea

at would be requ