The hall had emptied, but the echoes of clashing voices still rang in Keona's ears. Even after the last elder stormed out and Kalethorn's warning growl faded into silence, her chest burned as though fire had been stoked inside her.
She could still see Darius's dark eyes, steady and unwavering. She will decide for herself.
The words followed her through the stone corridors like a shadow.
"Keona." Nyra's voice was sharp, slicing through her daze. Her friend caught her arm, pulling her into a smaller passage where the torchlight flickered against damp stone. Nyra's eyes blazed. "Do not even think of listening to him."
Keona blinked. "To Darius? Why not?"
"To his honeyed words," Nyra spat. "He came to lure you. He sees what you are, and he wants to use it. Don't mistake respect for something else. Wolves like him don't come without teeth."
Keona leaned back against the wall, exhaling shakily. "And Kalethorn? He rejected me, Nyra. He says he cannot have me, but the moment Darius spoke, he—" She broke off, the memory of Kalethorn's claim searing in her chest. Mine. The word still shackled her, even when she wanted to tear it free.
Nyra crossed her arms. "Kalethorn is a fool bound by duty and pride. Darius is an opportunist. Between the two of them, they'll rip you apart unless you stand your ground. You must not give in Keona."
Keona closed her eyes, forcing her breath steady. But whispers coiled through her thoughts, twisting tighter the longer she lingered. Cursed… cursed child. She brought the Dreadwolves. She will bring Caelum next.
The whispers were not imagined. She had heard them in the hallways, at the well, among the market stalls. Selene's poison had spread like wildfire. Wolves who once barely noticed her now stared as if she carried plague.
She pressed her palms to her temples. "I didn't summon them. I didn't even know what I was doing. The power—it just happened."
Nyra's hand softened against her shoulder. "I know. But Selene doesn't care what's true. She'll twist anything until it fits her claws."
Keona opened her eyes, tears threatening but held back by sheer will. "I should leave, Nyra. If I stay, I only give them more fuel."
"No." Nyra's grip tightened. "If you leave now, Selene wins. Kalethorn's pack will believe her. And worse, you'll walk straight into Darius's hands."
The name lingered between them, heavy.
Keona swallowed hard. "He… didn't look at me the way Kalethorn does. Not like I'm a burden. Not like I'm something shameful."
Nyra's lips pressed thin, her voice quieter now. "No. He looked at you like you're a weapon he wants forged in his fire. And maybe he'd polish you with respect while he sharpened you, but it doesn't change what he wants."
Keona's chest ached. She turned away, gazing at the torchlight dancing on the stone floor. "What if that's all I am? A weapon. Selene might be right. I didn't kill the Dreadwolves because of courage. I killed them because something in me is different. Something I can't control."
The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.
Finally, a softer voice broke it. "Different doesn't mean cursed."
Keona startled. Elandra Greymane, the seer, stepped from the shadows of the corridor. Her silver-threaded hair gleamed faintly in the torchlight, her pale eyes distant yet sharp, as if she gazed into more than the moment before her.
Nyra's jaw tightened. "You creep like a cat, Elder."
Elandra's lips curved faintly. "Or perhaps you simply fail to listen closely enough."
Keona straightened, heart quickening. "You've seen something, haven't you? About me?"
Elandra's gaze lingered on her, deep and unsettling. "I see threads, child. Some bright as moonlight, some black as night. Yours are tangled. Pulled between two paths that may both wound you."
Keona's stomach dropped. "Two paths?"
"One leads to chains," Elandra said softly. "The other to fire. Both will forge you. Both will break you. But only one will set you free."
Keona shivered. "What does that mean?"
Elandra tilted her head, her eyes shimmering with the weight of untold futures. "It means you must choose who you are, before others choose for you."
The words sank deep, rattling in her bones.
Nyra rolled her eyes. "Riddles. That's all seers ever give, why not just speak plainly?"
But Keona's breath hitched as she remembered Darius's final words: She will decide for herself.
Her. Not Kalethorn. Not Selene. Not the elders.
The realization burned like ice in her chest.
Elandra stepped closer, her voice dropping. "Beware the whispers. Selene has sharp claws, but sharper still is her tongue. She will strike soon, child, and not with teeth or blades."
The seer withdrew, fading down the corridor until only her words remained.
Keona pressed her palms to her face, shaking. Nyra hovered beside her, torn between anger and worry. "You're not cursed, Keona. You hear me? You are not cursed. And I'll kill the next fool who says otherwise."
Keona lowered her hands, her eyes burning. But deep inside, doubt clawed at her.
For every whisper Selene spread, for every elder who looked at her with fear instead of hope, the word etched deeper into her heart. Cursed.
And in her chest, beneath all of it, the bond still tugged — Kalethorn's presence like a constant ember. He had chosen Selene, but he could not sever the bond. She felt him watching her even when he was not in sight.
Keona's voice was shaky when she spoke. "What do I do Nyra? Which path is mine? I don't know if I can do this, I'm not ready for any of this."
Nyra squeezed her hands, "It's okay keona. I know what Elder Elandra said scares you, but you don't have to figure it out right now, okay?"
Keona nodded but still felt trapped. Trapped between their gazes — Kalethorn's unyielding pride, Darius's dangerous respect, Selene's venom — Keona felt herself pulled apart.
Chains or fire. Which path was hers?
The question lingered long after Nyra led her to the quiet of their chamber.
And as Keona lay awake, staring at the rafters above, the whispers did not stop. They crawled through the cracks in the stone like smoke.
"Cursed child… cursed child…"
Right before sleep claimed her, she thought to herself: Elandra said Selene would strike soon, what on earth was she planning?