The silence after Lyra's collapse was deafening.
Kade stood rooted beside her limp form, her skin pale against the dark stone floor, her breath shallow. His fingers trembled as he brushed strands of hair from her face, searching for any sign of what just happened. She had gone still so suddenly, as if something—no, someone—had stolen the very air from her lungs.
"Lyra…" His voice was barely a whisper. "Stay with me."
Behind him, Mira knelt quickly, her eyes filled with panic. "This isn't normal. She's never—she doesn't just faint like this."
"She saw something," Kade said. "Before she fell. Her eyes… they changed."
Ronan appeared in the doorway seconds later, eyes scanning the room, voice clipped. "What happened?"
"She collapsed," Mira said, pressing two fingers to Lyra's neck. "Her pulse is faint, but it's there."
"She's burning up," Kade added, his hand still wrapped around Lyra's wrist. "It was like something pulled her under."
Mira frowned. "A vision?"
Kade met her eyes. "You've seen this before?"
"No. But she told me once… sometimes, she dreams of things that feel too real to be dreams. Visions that show the past or possible futures. She said they come in flashes."
Ronan's expression tightened. "She's awakening."
"What do you mean?" Kade snapped, his patience hanging by a thread.
"The full extent of her bloodline's power isn't just magical. It's prophetic. Her mother was a seer—one of the strongest of her generation. That blood runs in Lyra. And it's surfacing."
Kade's gut twisted. "Then why didn't she tell me?"
"Because the last time she trusted someone," Mira whispered, brushing her fingers across Lyra's brow, "he shattered her."
Kade flinched, but he said nothing. He didn't deserve a defense.
Lyra stirred.
All three leaned in.
Her lips parted, her body twitching like she'd been yanked through fire. Her eyes fluttered open—and then widened in panic.
"No—no, they're dead! They're all dead!"
Kade grabbed her shoulders gently. "Lyra, breathe. You're safe. You're here."
She blinked, confusion bleeding into terror, then recognition. Her hands shot out, gripping his shirt.
"My parents. I saw them. I saw—" Her voice cracked. "They didn't die in the fire. That wasn't an accident."
Mira froze. "What?"
Lyra looked around, eyes wild. "They were murdered."
Ronan stepped closer. "By who?"
Her mouth trembled. "I couldn't see the face clearly, but… he wore the mark of the Crimson Circle."
Kade's blood turned to ice.
"The Crimson Circle?" Ronan echoed. "They were dismantled years ago."
"Not all of them," Lyra whispered. "They're still alive. And they're watching."
The revelation hung in the air like storm clouds gathering at the edge of the sky.
Lyra sat up slowly, her body still trembling. The vision had taken more from her than she wanted to admit. Her magic still hummed at the surface of her skin, raw and unsettled.
Kade's arm remained behind her, steadying her.
She hated how steady he felt.
"I need to see the Council," she said at last, voice brittle. "If the Crimson Circle is still operating, they need to be warned."
"They won't believe you," Ronan said flatly. "They never did before."
"Then I'll make them," she growled. "I'll drag their secrets into the light if I have to."
Kade's jaw clenched. "You're not going alone."
"I wasn't planning to," she snapped, though the fire in her words faded when she looked at him. "We need to move before nightfall. If they know I'm back… they won't wait long to strike."
Mira stepped in. "We'll gather what we can. We'll take the back trails through the whispering pines. Fewer eyes."
Lyra nodded, already on her feet. "Then let's go."
They rode in silence.
The forest felt different than it had days ago—colder, the trees more watchful. Lyra's vision had shaken something awake in her. And not just fear.
Rage.
The Crimson Circle. The symbol burned behind her eyelids: a crimson eye in a circle of thorns. It had haunted her for years in half-forgotten nightmares.
Now she knew it wasn't a dream. It was truth.
She turned her gaze toward Kade, who rode just ahead. He had barely spoken since they left the stronghold. She couldn't tell if he was angry or calculating.
Or scared.
Good.
She wanted them all afraid.
They reached the border of the High Council's territory by dawn.
Nestled between mountains and ancient stone wards, the stronghold of the Council looked like a fortress carved from the bones of the earth. Lyra had only been here once, long ago, when her parents still lived.
Back when she believed in justice.
The guards didn't let them pass easily—not until Ronan invoked his former rank as a Shadow Wolf. That got them through the gates, though not without suspicion.
The grand hall was empty, but the scent of old magic still clung to the air.
"They'll call a hearing," Mira said quietly. "But it won't be easy. They hate exposure."
Lyra straightened. "Then we'll give them truth they can't ignore."
The Council gathered by nightfall.
Twelve robed figures sat behind the long obsidian table, their eyes cold and hollow. The leader—Elder Alric—narrowed his eyes at Lyra as she stepped into the circle.
"You bring accusations, Lyra of Obsidian Fang," he said, voice ringing across the chamber. "And yet you bring no proof."
"I bring the truth," she said. "And my blood. I am the daughter of Luna Selene and Alpha Thorne Blackwell."
Murmurs rippled through the chamber.
"And I saw the one who killed them."
Alric raised a brow. "A vision is not proof."
"It is when it comes from a Seer's bloodline," Ronan snapped. "You all know what she is."
"She is dangerous," one of the elders said.
Lyra stepped forward. "No. What's dangerous is pretending the Crimson Circle is gone. They're not. They're moving in shadows. Killing silently. And they will come for all of us."
Another voice cut in from the shadows.
"She speaks the truth."
Heads turned.
A figure stepped forward from behind the columns—a woman, tall, with silver hair and the mark of the old Lunar Witches on her neck.
"Elder Thea," Alric said, standing. "You are out of order."
"I am out of patience," she snapped. "I warned you twenty years ago when Selene died. You refused to listen then. Will you repeat your mistake now?"
Lyra stared at her. "You knew my mother?"
Thea met her gaze. "I was her sister."
The room erupted in chaos.
Later, in the quiet of the council chambers, Lyra stood with Thea alone.
"You let me think I was alone all these years," Lyra said, her voice trembling.
Thea didn't flinch. "To keep you alive. The day your parents died, I cast a ward to erase my name from all records. If they had known I lived, they would've used me to find you."
"Who are 'they'?" Kade asked from behind.
Thea turned. "The Crimson Circle's last remaining heads. They call themselves the Triad. And they want Lyra because she is the last key."
"Key to what?" Lyra asked.
"The Broken Moon prophecy. The one that speaks of a wolf with seer blood, reborn in fire, who will destroy the old bloodlines and awaken the forgotten gods."
The words struck Lyra like thunder.
"You mean me."
"Yes," Thea whispered. "And you're running out of time."
That night, Lyra sat beneath the silver moon, the weight of a thousand truths pressing down on her chest.
She wasn't just fighting to avenge her parents.
She was fighting to save an entire world that didn't even know it was dying.
Kade joined her, quiet as always.
"You knew there was more to me," she said.
"I always knew you were more," he said softly. "I just didn't know how to keep you safe."
She turned to him, eyes glinting with unshed tears. "You didn't. I did."
He nodded, shame deep in his expression. "I'm trying to be better."
"Then fight with me," she whispered. "Not just with swords. With truth. With loyalty."
"With love?" he asked, voice raw.
She didn't answer right away.
Then—
"Love is earned, Kade. And your trial's just beginning."