The air in the war room was staler than usual.
Everyone had gone quiet after Cain's final words. For once, no one had a joke. No snark. Just a collective realization that they were standing on the edge of something... ancient. And dangerous.
Lucien finally broke the silence. "Okay, so who wants to summon daddy dearest from the underworld and ask him why he ruined our lives?"
Ayden rolled his eyes. "You joke too much when you're scared."
"I live in fear, Ayden. Humor is my trauma response."
Cain rubbed his temple. "We need to figure out where he hid the soul shard."
Selene leaned over the map laid out on the table, her fingers tracing the red-inked locations Cain had circled. "If we go here," she pointed to a place marked Valemire, "there's a legend about a well that echoes your soul's deepest secret. It might react to Ezekiel's magic."
Ayden nodded slowly. "That's near the border of the old war zone. We'll be exposed there."
Lucien grinned. "So, y'know... perfect place for an emotional breakdown. Let's go."
Eira sat by the windowsill of her temporary room, a notebook balanced on her knees. She hadn't written anything in years. But now, she found herself scribbling names. Cain's. Selene's. Lucien's, with an annoyingly perfect jawline.
She crossed out Cain's.
And circled Lucien's twice before slamming the notebook shut.
"I need therapy," she muttered.
Outside her room, Lucien was lying on the hallway floor, tossing grapes into his mouth and missing half of them.
He heard her sigh and smirked. "You okay in there, drama queen?"
"Die."
"That's a no, then."
The journey to Valemire took hours. The forest around them was gnarled, like it had once been alive and now hated the idea of being touched.
Cain led the group in silence. His shoulders were tighter than usual.
Selene caught up to him. "You don't have to carry everything."
"I'm the oldest," he said.
"That's not a personality."
He stopped walking, looking at her fully. "What if what we find changes everything?"
She tilted her head. "Then we change with it."
The old well stood in a clearing surrounded by bones. Animal bones, mostly. Probably.
Lucien peered into it. "Spooky. I like it."
Ayden didn't speak. He stepped forward first, kneeling by the edge.
"Let me try."
He whispered the incantation Cain found. The moment the last syllable left his lips, a shriek echoed out of the well—no, from it. Ayden staggered back, eyes wide, face pale.
"What did you hear?" Cain asked.
Ayden shook his head slowly. "She lied to us. Mom… she knew."
That night, they camped under twisted trees. Eira poked the fire with a stick. Ayden hadn't spoken since the well.
Cain sat across from him. "You're gonna have to tell us."
Ayden looked at his brothers. "Our real father… isn't Ezekiel."
Lucien blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"
"The well showed me—flashes. Visions. Ezekiel wasn't our biological father. He adopted us. Took us in when our mother fled from her real mate."
Cain's fists clenched. "Then why the hell did he ruin our lives like we were his responsibility?"
"Because," Ayden said slowly, "we were cursed. All three of us. Our bloodline comes from something older than him. Something he tried to seal."
Lucien whispered, "And now we're unsealing it."
Later, long after the others had fallen asleep, Selene sat beside Cain, watching the fire burn low.
He leaned his head on her shoulder without speaking.
She whispered, "Does it ever stop? The weight?"
Cain closed his eyes. "No. But when I'm with you, it feels… lighter."
She turned to him, brushing his hair from his eyes. "Then let me help you carry it."
He looked at her, eyes tired and raw. "I don't deserve you."
"Cain," she said, voice firm, "You deserve peace. And if loving you brings you even a little bit of it… then I'm staying."
Cain kissed her then—not urgently. Not desperately. But like a man who realized, for once, that he wasn't alone.
Meanwhile, Eira had somehow convinced Lucien to help her "snoop" through Ayden's things to find more clues.
"You know," Lucien whispered as she rummaged through scrolls, "this is morally questionable."
"So is your whole personality," she whispered back.
They both froze as Ayden cleared his throat behind them.
"Are you two bonding over breaking and entering?"
Eira shrugged. "It's called sibling enrichment."
Lucien whispered to her, "I think I'm in love."
As dawn broke, the group gathered again. Tired, tense, closer—but more haunted.
Cain looked around at them all.
"Whatever comes next," he said, "We face it together. As brothers. As family."
Even Eira stood beside them now. Not quite part of them. Not quite outside, either.
Selene touched Cain's arm. "You were never the sons of a devil, Cain. You were the sons of survival."
He nodded.
But deep in the shadows of the forest, something had heard them.
And it was waking up.