Chapter 209 Hidden secrets
Chapter 209 Hidden secrets
Nova’s POV
For the first time in days, I woke up without feeling like my chest was being crushed.
It wasn’t that everything was suddenly fine.
It wasn’t.
My family was still here.
Magnus was still somewhere within the pack.
Seth had returned with Maris and their children, carrying years of things I didn’t understand.
And somewhere beneath all of it was the truth about that night.
The truth I had spent years trying not to remember.
But after telling Lazarus everything, something inside me felt different.
Lighter.
Not healed.
Just… lighter.
I sat on the edge of the bed for a while, watching the morning sunlight creep through the curtains.
Lazarus was already awake.
Of course he was.
He stood near the window, shirtless, pulling on the leather straps of his patrol gear.
I watched him for a moment.
He glanced over.
“Enjoying the view?”
I smiled.
“Maybe.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“Maybe?”
“Don’t get excited.”
He walked over, leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“Too late.”
I laughed quietly.
For a few minutes, we were normal.
Just us.
No Magnus.
No Maris.
No Seth.
No past.
I wished I could freeze the morning there.
But peace never seemed to last very long lately.
Later, Kilani convinced me to leave the cabin.
“You’ve been hiding in there for too long.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“You’ve spent three days avoiding half the pack.”
“I’m selectively social.”
She snorted.
“That’s a fancy word for hiding.”
I laughed despite myself.
We walked through the village together.
The pack was slowly returning to its normal rhythm. Wolves moved between houses carrying supplies. Children chased each other through the grass. Someone was repairing a broken wagon wheel near the market.
For a few minutes, I almost forgot everything.
Almost.
Then we passed the council hall.
I heard voices.
I would’ve kept walking.
Until I heard my name.
My feet stopped.
Kilani took another step before noticing.
She turned.
“What?”
I raised a finger to my lips.
She frowned.
Then she heard it too.
Voices.
Inside.
My mother’s.
And Maris’s.
I moved closer.
The door wasn’t completely shut.
I didn’t mean to listen.
I told myself that.
But then Maris spoke.
“She can’t know about that night.”
My heart stopped.
Kilani looked at me.
I raised my hand again.
Neither of us moved.
My mother’s voice followed.
“She already knows enough.”
“No.”
Maris sounded irritated.
“She knows what we told her.”
My stomach twisted.
What we told her.
I leaned closer.
Maris continued.
“If she finds out what actually happened, everything falls apart.”
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
Kilani’s eyes widened.
Then my mother spoke.
“Seth was supposed to keep his mouth shut.”
My breath caught.
Seth.
So that was why he’d looked at me like that.
Why he’d seemed terrified.
Why he’d almost told me something before Maris stopped him.
I felt my fingers curl into fists.
Maris lowered her voice.
“If he talks now, after all these years…”
She paused.
“Magnus will know.”
My stomach dropped.
My mother whispered something I couldn’t hear.
Then Maris said:
“We cannot let him find out that we still have it.”
My entire body went cold.
Still have what?
I stared through the crack in the door.
I needed to know.
I was one second away from pushing it open.
Then footsteps sounded inside.
I grabbed Kilani’s hand.
We hurried away.
We didn’t stop until we reached the bend in the path.
Only then did I breathe.
Kilani stared at me.
“What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Nova…”
“I don’t know.”
But my mind was already racing.
We still have it.
What did they have?
What had they kept?
And why was Magnus not supposed to know?
I barely spoke on the walk back.
Kilani kept glancing at me.
“You should tell Lazarus.”
“I know.”
“Immediately.”
“I know.”
She sighed.
“You saying ‘I know’ doesn’t mean you’re actually going to do it.”
I looked at her.
“I will.”
But I didn’t.
Not immediately.
Because something inside me was screaming to be careful.
I’d spent years believing the story they gave me.
I’d believed I was dangerous.
I’d believed my power had appeared that night.
I’d believed Seth had rejected me because he was afraid of what I’d become.
Now I wasn’t sure of anything.
And I didn’t want to run into Lazarus’s office screaming accusations before I understood what I’d heard.
So when we reached the cabin and Lazarus wasn’t there, I didn’t go looking for him.
I sat by the window instead.
Thinking.
Waiting.
Eventually, I heard the door open.
Lazarus walked inside.
His gaze immediately found me.
“You’ve been quiet.”
I tried to smile.
“Just thinking.”
He removed his gloves.
“About?”
I hesitated.
Then I looked at him.
“I heard my name.”
His expression changed instantly.
“Where?”
“The council hall.”
He became completely still.
“Who?”
“My mother and Maris.”
His jaw tightened.
“What did they say?”
I looked down at my hands.
“They said I can’t know about that night.”
Lazarus’s eyes hardened.
“Keep going.”
“They said I only know what they told me.”
Silence.
“And then they mentioned Seth.”
His expression became darker.
“What about him?”
“They said he was supposed to keep his mouth shut.”
Lazarus took a slow breath.
“And?”
I looked at him.
“They said that if I find out what actually happened, everything falls apart.”
He stared at me.
“What else?”
I swallowed.
“They mentioned Magnus.”
His entire body went rigid.
“What did they say?”
I repeated the words.
“They said Magnus couldn’t find out that they still had it.”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Lazarus crossed the room and crouched in front of me.
“What is ‘it’?”
“I don’t know.”
He searched my face.
“Nova.”
“I don’t know.”
I hated how helpless the words sounded.
He took my hands.
“Then we’ll find out.”
I nodded.
But something about the conversation continued bothering me.
Still have it.
That meant whatever it was had existed for years.
And if they still had it…
Maybe it had belonged to me.
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
Lazarus eventually drifted off beside me, one arm resting loosely across my waist.
I stared into the darkness.
The words wouldn’t leave me alone.
She knows what we told her.
If she finds out what actually happened…
We still have it.
Around midnight, I quietly slipped out of bed.
I didn’t know what I was looking for.
I just knew I needed something.
Anything.
I opened the old wooden chest at the bottom of the wardrobe.
Most of the things inside belonged to a life I barely recognized anymore.
An old scarf.
A dried flower.
A childhood bracelet.
A few letters I’d never been brave enough to reread.
I moved everything aside.
Then my fingers hit something hard.
A small wooden box.
I frowned.
I didn’t remember putting it there.
I opened it.
Inside was a silver pendant.
My breath caught.
I lifted it carefully.
It was beautiful.
A thin silver chain with a small crescent-shaped pendant hanging from it.
But I had never seen it before.
At least…
I didn’t think I had.
I turned it over.
There was a tiny symbol engraved on the back.
My markings.
My heart began pounding.
I touched the pendant.
Pain shot through my fingers.
I gasped.
The markings along my arms suddenly ignited beneath my skin.
The pendant grew hot.
“What the—”
A howl tore through the night.
I froze.
It came from outside.
Another followed.
Then another.
Not the normal calls of wolves communicating across the territory.
This was different.
Deep.
Distorted.
A warning.
Lazarus stirred behind me.
“Nova?”
I couldn’t answer.
I was staring at the window.
The forest beyond it was completely still.
The pendant pulsed in my hand.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third time.
My markings glowed brighter.
And somewhere beyond the trees, something howled again.
Closer this time.
I looked down at the pendant.
A tiny symbol that I had never seen before had begun glowing on its surface.
My breath caught.
Because somehow…
I knew that symbol.
I had seen it before.
A long time ago.
Before the Blood Moon.
Before my banishment.
Before everything fell apart.
I just couldn’t remember where.
The pendant suddenly burned hot against my palm.
I dropped it.
It hit the floor with a metallic clang.
Lazarus was fully awake now.
He sat up.
“Nova?”
I stared at the pendant.
Then toward the window.
Another howl echoed through the forest.
And this time, I knew one thing for certain.
Whatever my family had hidden all those years ago…
it had just found me.