The chains came off at dawn.
Two guards stood by the cell door as Lyra's voice echoed down the corridor. "Both of you. On your feet. The Alpha wants to see if you can work together… or die together."
Aria glanced at me as she rose, her expression carefully blank. The silver in her eyes had faded since last night, but the tension in her shoulders told me the whispers hadn't left her. She didn't speak, and neither did I—not with the guards listening.
We were marched through the Shadowfang stronghold, its halls built from black stone that swallowed the morning light. Every corridor felt the same: narrow, cold, lined with runes that hummed faintly under our feet. I'd been in war camps, dungeons, and enemy keeps before. This place still felt worse. Like the walls themselves were watching.
They led us outside to the clearing from the night before. Lyra stood waiting, her cloak catching in the wind, violet eyes glinting like distant stars. Behind her, a carriage waited—sleek, black, drawn by two massive direwolves.
She gestured toward us. "You're leaving tonight. A rogue Alpha has taken over the Ironfen territory. My orders are simple—remove him and any wolves that remain loyal. Together." Her eyes swept over us, lingering a beat too long. "And don't disappoint me. Fail, and Kael dies first."
Aria's gaze flickered, but her voice stayed steady. "And if we succeed?"
Lyra's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Then you live to serve me another day."
The guards shoved us toward the carriage. I climbed in first, watching as Aria followed, settling across from me. The door shut, sealing us inside with only the creak of wheels and the distant growl of the direwolves to break the silence.
For a long while, neither of us spoke. The air felt heavy—not with anger, but with something else. Guilt. Tension. Things neither of us wanted to name.
Finally, Aria broke the quiet. "Why did you stop me last night?"
My brow furrowed. "Because you were about to lose yourself."
Her silver-flecked eyes met mine. "And what if I had? Would you have done what you said? Killed me?"
The question hung between us, sharp and real. I didn't answer right away. Because I didn't know if I could.
"I'd stop you," I said finally, my voice low. "But I won't let Lyra be the one to decide how this ends."
Her gaze softened, if only slightly. "You still don't get it. This thing inside me… it doesn't just want control. It wants you too. It knows you're my anchor. If I give in, even for a second, it'll use me to break you."
I leaned forward, closing the space between us. "Then we don't give it that second. Not now. Not ever."
For a moment, the walls between us cracked. The faintest ghost of a smile touched her lips, but it vanished as quickly as it came. She turned her head toward the window, watching the trees blur by.
Hours passed before the carriage slowed. The air outside had changed—denser, tinged with the scent of rust and old blood. The Ironfen territory. A wasteland claimed by those too wild to kneel to any Alpha.
The guards opened the doors and shoved us out. Lyra wasn't here this time—just two soldiers, who pointed us toward a dark stretch of woods.
"The Alpha waits in the ruins," one said gruffly. "Bring back his head, or don't bother coming back at all."
The woods swallowed us as we moved forward, shadows stretching long in the fading light. Every step felt heavier. The Veilborn stirred inside Aria, and I could feel her grip tighten on the hilt of her blade, even though her face stayed calm.
Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled—long, low, and wrong. Not a call to the pack. A warning.
Aria stopped beside me, her glow flickering faintly beneath her skin. "Kael… whatever's ahead, it's not just rogues."
The howl came again, closer this time. And in the stillness that followed, something moved in the trees—too tall, too thin, its eyes glinting like shards of ice.
Not a wolf. Not anything I'd seen before.
Aria's claws slid free, silver and sharp. Her voice was low, steady, but I could hear the whisper trembling beneath her words.
"If I lose control… you know what to do."
Before I could answer, the trees exploded with motion.