The ancient grove where the Flame Pact had assembled was shrouded in darkness. Like silken threads of long-forgotten memories, mist woven between the trees. Gisele stood in the center of the circle, her face pale and drawn, her staff glowing dimly in the moonlight.
The aroma of lavender and herbs filled the air as Leah, Serafina, and Susanna stood in front of her. Even though the ceremony was over, Gisele had requested to speak privately, out of sight of the council, mates, and guards.
She started, her voice steady but brittle with time, "There is something I have not yet told you." "An aspect of myself that I have concealed."
With her eyebrows raised, Serafina took a step forward. "You have led us through blood oaths, rituals, and dreams. What else might there be?
Gisele touched the middle of her staff, and the wood split with a breath, revealing a shard of crystal, ancient, swirling, and dark.
"I've had this vision for decades," she muttered. It goes beyond simple prophecy. The earliest of our kind passed down this memory back when the Moon Mothers were still among us.
The temperature dropped. The wind held its breath as well.
Gisele went on to say, "The Hollow Alpha was not a beast by birth. One of the three Moon Mothers once had him as a consort. A protector of destiny. A beloved. He was once strong, loyal, and noble, but his name has long since been forgotten.
Leah gasped for air. "A consort?"
Gisele gave a serious nod. He was selected to walk next to the Moon Mother of Twilight, who guards beginnings and endings. However, his heart was twisted by power—true cosmic power. He started to think that he could control fate itself.
Susanna's hand gripped her chest more tightly. "He desired more."
"He desired authority," Gisele affirmed. And he aimed to write a destiny in which he was the only ruler. The Moon Mother loved him, but he betrayed her. He crushed her spirit and ate her fire. She now only exists in pieces, dispersed across time and blood.
Serafina whispered, "And now he wants to come back to finish what he started."
"Yes," Gisele replied. "The burned trees, the blood sigils, and the symbols we've seen are rituals intended to free him from the stasis the Moon Mothers put him in. By erasing the bloodlines that have the ability to oppose him, he aims to change fate itself. He marked each of you for that reason.
The three women looked at each other.
Leah muttered, "We are the Veiled Flames." "Scratches of what's left of her."
"Exactly," Gisele replied. A portion of the Moon Mother's gift—legacy, spirit, and flame—is carried by each of you. You are more than resistance, united. The only thing that can save what was lost is you.
Serafina moved into the grove's middle. She spoke clearly. Then we halt him. Not with retribution, but with the strength of the things he sought to destroy: light, love, and unity.
"And fate will belong to no tyrant," Leah continued, her eyes glimmering a faint silver.
With tears in her eyes, Gisele bent her head. "Then let the final prophecy come to pass—not with death and fire, but with equilibrium restored."
The moon glowed above them, full and bright and unflinching.
And something ancient stirred in the shadows beyond the trees.