The dream came again — but this time, I wasn't watching.
I was inside it.
Not standing on a field of fire, but walking through a forest of shadows, the trees whispering in languages older than wolves. The moon above me bled silver, dripping into the soil with every step.
I wasn't alone.
My wolf was beside me — full-formed, glowing faintly, massive and majestic. She didn't speak, not in words. But I felt her.
And she was angry.
Not at me. Not at the world.
> At what had been taken from us.
She led me to a clearing — at its center stood a pool of black water, and in its reflection, I saw myself as a child, screaming while a circle of wolves chanted around me.
The binding.
The spell that caged me.
I reached for the water.
It boiled.
> "You are not weak," my wolf finally said. "You were chained. Now, we break them."
---
I woke with sweat clinging to my skin, my heart a thunderstorm in my chest.
Lucien wasn't in the room. Cain had doubled the guards, and a silver enchantment now covered my door — nothing could pass through it without triggering an alarm.
And yet...
There was something on my nightstand.
A black flower. Folded. Paper-thin. No scent.
It hadn't been there before.
I didn't call for guards. I didn't scream.
Instead, I wrapped the flower in a silk cloth and placed it in my inner drawer.
Someone was testing me.
Let them.
---
That morning, I returned to the training hall.
Isolde was waiting, but not alone.
A new wolf stood beside her — tall, red-haired, eyes that flickered between gold and blue. She wore the robes of a palace servant, but her posture said warrior.
"This is Maera," Isolde said. "One of the Watchers."
I blinked. "I thought the Watchers were extinct."
"Most are," Maera said coolly. "But I've protected the Bloodline for nine generations."
"You were in the palace?"
She smirked. "Cleaning sheets and spying on ministers. You'd be shocked what secrets people reveal when they think you're beneath them."
---
Maera didn't waste time.
She summoned a circle of fire, salt, and rune stones.
"This is the Trial of Echo," she said. "An ancient rite. If you pass, your wolf will be fully unbound."
"And if I fail?"
"You won't die," she said, "but your power will retreat. Possibly forever."
Isolde frowned. "It's too soon—"
"No," I interrupted. "I'm ready."
Lucien entered as we began.
He stood silently in the shadows, arms folded, eyes locked on me like I was both precious and dangerous.
I stepped into the circle.
The runes flared. The fire rose. And everything went dark.
---
Inside the trance, I stood at the edge of a mountain cliff.
The wind howled around me. Below, an army of wolves howled up — some bleeding, some burning, some chained.
A woman stood at the peak.
She had my face, but her eyes were silver flame.
> "Do you accept the weight of blood?" she asked.
"I don't know what that means."
> "You will."
She held out her hand.
> "Will you sacrifice peace for power? Will you bleed to rise?"
"I'll bleed," I said. "But not to be a queen. To be free."
She smiled.
> "Then rise, Celia Nightshade. Chosen Luna. Hidden Flame."
The fire consumed us both.
---
When I opened my eyes, I was floating.
Literally.
My body hovered inches above the stone floor, surrounded by flickers of red light and ancient glyphs.
Isolde gasped. "She's unlocked it."
Lucien stepped forward. "Her sigil—look."
The mark on my back was no longer just a crescent and flame.
It was now surrounded by runes. Words I didn't recognize — but my wolf did.
> "One to rise. One to burn. One to break fate itself."
---
The spell dropped.
I collapsed.
Lucien caught me before I hit the ground, arms solid around my waist, breath warm against my neck.
I was shaking — not from pain, but from power.
"She's coming through," I whispered. "Fully."
He didn't speak.
But he held me tighter.
---
That night, I wandered the halls again.
I couldn't sleep. My skin still glowed faintly. My fingers sparked at the tips. I was becoming something I didn't fully understand.
And I needed answers.
I found them where I least expected — in the forbidden east wing of the keep. A place long sealed, guarded by ironwood and old magic.
But the door opened for me.
No guards stopped me.
Inside, the air was different.
Older.
I walked past crumbling bookshelves, shattered relics, paintings covered in cloth.
Until I found it:
A mirror.
Black glass. Edged in gold.
And beneath it, an inscription:
> "To the one who bleeds by betrayal, the truth will burn bright."
---
I touched the glass.
A ripple spread across it.
And then— I saw her.
My mother.
Younger. Terrified. Holding a baby — me — wrapped in wolfskin. Her eyes were wide. Behind her stood a man cloaked in silver, chanting.
"She'll be too strong," the man said.
"She's my daughter!" my mother cried.
"She must be bound, or she'll destroy everything."
And then he raised a dagger.
The scene faded.
I gasped.
So it was true.
My wolf had been sealed at birth — not because I was cursed, but because I was feared.
---
"Celia?"
I turned.
Lucien stood in the doorway.
"I followed your scent," he said. "You're glowing again."
I turned back to the mirror. "This was my mother's room. They locked it away."
Lucien stepped beside me. "The Council erased her name from the records. She was a fire-wolf. A rare line, descended from the Flameborn."
"And I carry her blood," I said. "That's why they wanted me hidden."
He nodded. "That's why they're afraid."
I turned to him.
"I don't want to be a prophecy," I said. "I just want to survive."
Lucien's gaze softened.
"Then fight. And I'll stand beside you."
---
The next morning, I found Maera waiting in the training yard with news.
"There's movement," she said. "A caravan headed to the Southern Border. Elite warriors. All bearing the Council sigil."
Lucien growled. "They're coming early."
Cain cursed. "They're not waiting for trial. They're coming to take her."
Isolde raised her head. "Then it's time."
"Time for what?" I asked.
"For you," Maera said, "to choose whether you run… or rise."
---
I didn't need to think.
"I'll rise."