Chapter 36 Frantic turns about the past
Celine’s POV
Things were taking a frantic turn I couldn't quite comprehend.
“Your past,” Seth said quietly. “You need to understand it. That’s the only option you have to stop it from haunting you.”
“My past…”
The word itself was a weight — cold, unshakable — dragging me into depths I’d fought to escape. Every time I tried to breathe, the memories pulled harder, whispering that I was never truly free.
It didn’t make sense to be afraid of what couldn’t happen again. My parents were already gone. They couldn’t die twice. Yet their deaths lived on inside me — relentless, replaying like ghosts that refused to fade. Their absence wasn’t just a memory anymore; it was the thread holding me together and the one unraveling me at once.
And then my other past?
The only part I could remember clearly was the one with that group of rogue wolves.
I couldn't explain how I’d lost memory of everything before my parents’ death. But even if I couldn’t recall, the unknown memories still clawed at me.
“Celine.” Seth touched my upper arms as he moved closer. “This process is very important.”
I stepped back so his hands dropped to his sides. “Process… my past? What do you mean?”
“See, I also knew your parents.”
“You knew my parents?” I looked at Lila.
It seemed everyone knew every detail about me. And that information Lila refused to tell me — he must have already gotten the full story.
“Yes, I knew them,” Seth said.
“Lila?” I raised my brows at her.
She just nodded.
I started rubbing my palms against my dress. “Who were you to them?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. Nobody.”
“Nobody? Then how did they become of concern to you?” I asked, still shifting my gaze between them to see if she was signaling him. “Just tell me.”
“I was just an observer.”
“To the extent that you knew about their daughter and recognized her after all these years?”
“Yes.”
I wanted to believe he was lying. It seemed obvious he was hiding something, but I couldn’t afford to demand full details — only what he chose to tell me.
“Who else knows about my parents?” I pressed.
“I don't know that,” he said flatly, not caring if I’d caught on that he was lying.
“Does Tristan know?”
“Celine,” Lila called out to me. “All these questions aren’t necessary.”
“Alpha Tristan doesn’t know that,” Seth said.
I withdrew, my back resting against the wall, my palms rubbing slowly together.
“It’s a good and important thing that you came here.” Seth moved closer.
I didn’t speak. I didn’t know how he was going to help me — as a mage or a latent wolf.
“Come with me.” He stretched out his hand for me to hold.
But I didn’t.
“Celine,” Lila said softly. “You have to trust him.”
“You expect me to trust him?”
“Yes, I do.” She answered quickly, nodding several times as though that alone could convince me.
I wasn’t satisfied.
“Seth,” I said. “What else do you know about me?”
He directed his eyes to my wrists. “I know you did that to yourself.”
“I… I told him that,” Lila explained.
Fine. I decided to see how things would go. He wasn’t going to harm me, was he? At least Lila wouldn’t allow that.
“Come with me.” He walked to the far end of the house.
I hadn’t noticed any other doors before. There were none — only a staircase leading underground. Light flickered from below. I stopped, turning back to Lila.
“A staircase…”
She nodded like it was completely normal. “We have to go down.”
“I can’t go down.”
What if it was a trap?
“It’s safe,” she assured me.
“But—”
“Underground staircases are completely normal in the Blightmoon Pack. It’s nothing new.” She held my hand gently. “Alpha Tristan has them in the palace.”
“You call this normal?”
“Yes. Now come with me.” She stepped onto the first stair. “See? I’m fine.”
Trust had become a rare commodity to me. I couldn’t buy every idea that was sold as “safe.”
I took a step, mostly to please her, but my pace was slow. She still held my hand, guiding me down. The scent that hit my nose was strangely familiar — like herbs mixed with something else I couldn’t name.
I stopped after eight steps.
“Still don’t trust me?” Lila asked.
“I do, but…”
“You can tell me.”
I could, but didn’t know what to point out. The scent wasn’t reason enough, was it?
“I’m your aunt. I can’t let bad things happen to you.”
I nodded and continued down slowly. The room below came into view as I neared the floor. It was bright — brighter than the one above. The light came not just from candles, but from burning wood.
It was cold inside, the flames offering little warmth. Maybe it was a special kind of wood.
The chill didn’t stop me from sweating.
My feet touched the floor.
Mirrors — so many mirrors. Between each oval one stood a candle. I couldn’t count them all, maybe twelve or more.
But there was a larger one.
“Celine,” Seth said, standing beside the big mirror. “What do you see in it?”
“Myself?”
“Of course.”
My reflection… it showed the paleness of my skin, but more than that. The paleness looked like words etched into my flesh — emotions carved out and displayed like banners.
Seth had read through them already and defined me in his mind.
Lila stood beside him near the mirror.
As my eyes locked onto it, I felt my thoughts being drawn in, the same way I always felt unseen hands pulling me into my memories.
The mirror made me feel small, like I was the only one in the room.
I moved closer to touch it.
Cold.
My eyes flew open to find myself submerged in a bathtub, the water biting into my skin. My limbs felt heavy, my head pounding as I tried to rise. When I finally pulled myself up, the room around me had changed — a hall stretched before me, endless and silent, swallowing every sound I made.
How long had I been here?
Time didn’t exist — only the echo of my heartbeat and the breath fogging in the air.
Then came the sound. Low. Guttural. A growl that crawled beneath my skin.
“Wolves…” I breathed.
They emerged from the dark, fur gleaming faintly in the shadows — shadows that seemed alive. The air grew hot against my wet skin, like fear itself was burning through me.
Then one of them stepped forward, and my heart stopped.
Those eyes… I knew them. I’d seen them before, in dreams that always ended in blood.