SERA'S POV
I wake up in a bed that's too soft, in a room that's too beautiful, with the taste of blood still coating my tongue.
For three seconds, I think the vision was just a nightmare. Then I try to sit up and pain explodes through my skull like someone's driving nails into my brain.
"Don't move." Kael's voice comes from somewhere to my left. "You pushed too hard against the blood-scrying connection. Your body needs time to recover."
I freeze. Blood-scrying. That's advanced magic—the kind only High Assassins are supposed to know. The kind Morgana uses to communicate with operatives in the field.
The kind she's been using to watch me.
"How long was I out?" My voice sounds like gravel.
"Four hours." Kael moves into my line of sight, and I realize we're not in his office anymore. This is a bedroom—huge, luxurious, nothing like the cold stone cells I grew up sleeping in. He's holding a glass of water. "Drink. The vision drained you."
I want to refuse. Want to tell him I don't need his help, his water, his concern. But my throat feels like the desert, and I'm too weak to maintain the lie.
I take the glass. Our fingers brush, and even exhausted and broken, the mate bond sings.
I hate it.
"What did you see?" Kael asks, sitting in the chair beside the bed. Not on the bed. Giving me space even though I can feel the bond pulling at him, demanding he get closer.
The vision flashes through my mind again. The temple. The chains. The woman with my face singing my mother's lullaby.
"I saw myself dying," I whisper.
Kael's jaw tightens. "The Oracle showed you that. She's trying to push you toward accepting your fate."
"How do you know about the Oracle? How do you know any of this?" I set the glass down before my shaking hands drop it. "You said you've been researching for three hundred years. Why? What happened that made you—"
"My brother." The words come out flat, but I hear the pain underneath. "Aldric was supposed to be Alpha. He found his mate two weeks after our father died. The pack elders panicked—said the prophecy warned that an Alpha claiming his mate would bring darkness. They killed her before the bond could complete."
My breath catches. Killing a mate is—there's no coming back from that. The surviving wolf either goes feral or dies from the grief.
"Aldric went insane," Kael continues, his golden eyes distant. "He slaughtered half our pack before I was forced to stop him. I killed my own brother, Sera. I became Alpha through fratricide, and I've carried that weight for three centuries."
The raw honesty in his voice cracks something inside me. This isn't the monster from Morgana's files. This is a male who's been broken and rebuilt and is still standing despite everything.
"I'm sorry," I say, and mean it.
"Don't be sorry. Be angry." Kael leans forward, intensity burning in his gaze. "Because the same people who orchestrated my brother's death are the ones who sent you here. The Crimson Order has been manipulating supernatural politics for a thousand years using prophecies they control. They killed Aldric's mate to maintain their power. And they're planning to kill you for the same reason."
"But why?" My hands clench in the blanket. "Why go through all this trouble? Why raise me for twenty-three years just to—"
"Because you're not just any wolf, Sera. You're Moon Blessed. The last of a bloodline that can break curses, heal dark magic, and undo everything the Order has built." Kael pulls out a folded paper from his pocket. "I had my trackers investigate the ruins where you were found. This is what they discovered."
He hands me the paper. It's a report, written in careful script. As I read, my world tilts again.
"The village of Silvermoon was home to the last Moon Blessed enclave. Twenty-three years ago, it was destroyed by fire. Official reports claim rogue wolf attacks. Evidence suggests organized massacre. All inhabitants killed. One infant survivor—female, bearing the crescent mark."
"Morgana told me rogues killed my parents," I breathe. "She said I was lucky to survive."
"Morgana led the attack." Kael's voice is ice. "I have witness testimony from a wolf who escaped. The Crimson Order slaughtered your entire family because the Oracle prophesied that the last Moon Blessed would either save or destroy their power structure."
The paper crumples in my fist. "She killed my family. Raised me like a daughter. All so she could sacrifice me when the time was right."
"Yes."
One word. But it contains the truth of my entire existence.
I'm not a weapon forged to save the world. I'm a sacrifice being led to slaughter.
And the woman I called mother is my executioner.
"Lyra," I gasp, panic flooding my system. "My sister—if Morgana finds out I know, she'll kill her. She'll—"
"We'll get your sister out." Kael's hand covers mine, warm and solid and real. "But right now, I need you to make a choice."
I look at him—really look at him. At the male fate decided was mine. The monster who's been nothing but honest since the second we met.
"What choice?"
"The bond is incomplete. You can still reject it." His voice stays steady, but I feel the tremor in his hand. "Walk away. Go back to the Order. Try to save Lyra on your own. I won't stop you."
"And if I stay?"
"Then we have twenty-nine days to save your sister, break the curse, and destroy the Order before the Blood Moon rises." His golden eyes burn into mine. "But if you stay, Sera, you're choosing me. Choosing to trust that everything you've been told is a lie. Choosing to believe that maybe—just maybe—the universe got it right when it made us mates."
My heart pounds. The smart choice is to leave. Stick to the mission. Trust what I know.
But I don't know anything anymore. Everything solid has turned to sand.
Except the bond. The bond is the only thing that feels real.
"I need proof," I say finally. "Show me everything. Every document, every witness, every piece of evidence you have that Morgana killed my family."
Kael nods slowly. "And then?"
"Then I'll decide whether to trust you or kill you."
His smile is sharp and sad. "Fair enough."
He stands, offering his hand. I take it, and the bond hums with approval as he helps me to my feet.
"The library is three floors down," he says. "I have three hundred years of research waiting. But I need to warn you—once you see the truth, there's no going back to who you were before."
"Good," I say, surprised by the steel in my own voice. "Because the girl who walked into your office doesn't exist anymore."
We're halfway to the door when my head explodes with pain again.
Not a vision this time. A voice.
Morgana's voice, sharp and cold and absolutely furious.
"I know you felt it, my blade. I know the bond snapped into place. This changes nothing. You have twenty-eight days. Kill him, or your sister dies screaming. And Sera? If you tell him about this conversation, I'll know. I'm always watching."
The connection severs, leaving me gasping against the doorframe.
Kael steadies me, his hand on my back. "What happened?"
I look up at him—at the male I'm supposed to kill, the mate I never wanted, the only person who might be telling me the truth.
Morgana's watching. Listening. Waiting for me to slip.
If I tell Kael about her threat, she'll know. She'll kill Lyra immediately.
But if I don't tell him, I'm lying to my mate. Choosing the Order over the bond.
"Sera?" Kael's voice is gentle. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together."
I open my mouth. The truth sits on my tongue, ready to spill.
Then I feel it—a cold magical tendril wrapped around my throat like a noose. Morgana's spell. She's not just watching. She's bound me.
Speak the truth, and Lyra dies.
Stay silent, and I'm walking into Kael's library carrying a secret that could destroy us both.
The mate bond pulls at me, demanding honesty.
The blood oath to my sister demands silence.
And I have twenty-eight days to figure out how to save everyone.
Or watch them all burn.
"I'm fine," I lie, and feel the magical noose tighten just enough to remind me who really holds my leash. "Let's go see this evidence."
Kael studies my face for a long moment. Those golden eyes see too much, understand too much.
But he nods. "This way."
As we walk down the hall, my mind races.
Morgana is watching. The bond is incomplete. Lyra is hostage. The Blood Moon is counting down.
And I just lied to my fated mate for the first time.
If Kael's telling the truth about the prophecy, my death is the key to everything.
But if Morgana's telling the truth, Kael's death is the only way to save thousands.
Someone is lying.
And I have less than a month to figure out who.
Before the choice is taken from me entirely.