Eighty Nine: Prophecy Revealed
Eighty Nine: Prophecy Revealed
Mara's POV
The words “She must die” still hung in the air when silence fell.
Every torch flickered, every warrior froze. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
The Head Elder raised his staff high. “Read it!” he barked.
A younger Elder stepped forward, unrolling an old, blood-stained parchment. His voice trembled as he began to chant:
“When Silverfang rises under blood’s light, the old order falls.
When fire and moon become one, the bond shall burn the throne.
And the cursed heir will wield the wolf that ends the age of kings.”
The hall went cold.
The prophecy… my family’s curse.
I stared at the parchment, my breath shallow. I had heard pieces of it whispered as a child, warnings my mother murmured when she thought I was asleep.
I never believed them. I never thought I was the reason she was afraid.
Ronald stepped closer, his voice rough. “That’s why you killed them. Isn’t it?”
The Head Elder sneered. “We saved the packs from ruin. The Silverfang line was never meant to survive.”
My chest tightened. “You murdered my family to protect yourselves.”
He didn’t deny it. His silence said enough.
The fury that rose inside me didn’t feel like anger anymore, it was grief, sharpened into something lethal.
My wolf stirred weakly, whispering in my mind, They feared you before you even breathed.
Ronald’s hand brushed mine, grounding me. “You don’t owe them your restraint,” he said quietly.
I turned toward him, and for a second, the room vanished. It was just him, blood on his face, fire in his eyes, and that same reckless devotion that made my heart ache.
“They’ll come for us both,” I murmured.
“Then let them,” he said, his voice steady. “I’m not losing you now.”
The Head Elder slammed his staff again, power sparking through the air. “Enough!” His eyes burned with something close to madness. “You think love can rewrite fate? Your bond is the curse. You’re the weapon and the wound!”
His words sliced deep. My wolf snarled inside me, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. “If this bond is a curse,” I said softly, “then why does it scare you so much?”
A murmur rippled through the crowd, even among the Council’s own guards.
He bared his teeth. “Because it makes you dangerous.”
Ronald stepped forward, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade. “No,” he said. “It makes her unstoppable.”
The Head Elder’s fury cracked. “Then so be it. Let the prophecy decide.”
He gestured sharply, and two guards dragged forward a massive iron chest. Inside it, I saw blades glinting beneath the red glow of the Blood Moon that poured through the shattered ceiling.
A trial circle began to form, runes flaring to life around the edges.
Lucas muttered from behind Ronald, “Trial by combat… they’re invoking the oldest law.”
I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering. “Trial by combat,” I repeated under my breath.
The Elder nodded, a cruel smile twisting his lips. “You claim strength. You claim the right to lead. Then fight for it.”
Ronald took a step forward, fury sparking in his voice. “You’ll make her fight after what you did to her?”
“She bears the Silverfang mark,” the Elder snapped. “Let her prove she’s worthy to live.”
My wolf growled low, and I could almost feel her fangs pressing against my skin.
This was what they wanted, to break me, or watch me die.
But maybe, this time, I wouldn’t give them either.
I stepped into the circle. The iron beneath my feet hummed, the runes burning red beneath the Blood Moon’s light.
Ronald caught my wrist. “Mara, you don’t have to do this.”
I looked up at him. His eyes were wild, desperate, full of fear he couldn’t hide.
“I do,” I said quietly. “Because if I run now, they’ll hunt us both forever.”
He gritted his teeth, voice low. “Then I fight beside you.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t your trial. It’s mine.”
The moment stretched between us, heavy with everything we couldn’t say.
Then I touched his cheek, my thumb brushing the cut along his jaw. “You said the bond makes us unstoppable,” I whispered. “Then trust it to guide me.”
His fingers closed around mine, trembling. “Always.”
The guards backed away. The circle flared brighter.
A single voice announced, “Let the Blood Moon judge.”
From the other side of the arena, a massive figure stepped into the light, armored head to toe, eyes burning silver. The crowd fell silent as he drew his sword.
I felt it in my chest, the same aura, the same power. My wolf whimpered inside me. Silverfang blood.
One of the Elders smiled cruelly. “You face the last of your kind, girl, the Silverfang General your father once betrayed.”
My breath caught. He wasn’t just a warrior. He was family.
The General tilted his head slightly, voice hollow beneath his mask. “Show me you deserve the name you carry.”
My hand went to the Silverfang blade at my side. It pulsed with warmth, responding to the blood still fresh on my palm.
I lifted it, steadying my stance. The moonlight bled through the broken ceiling, painting the runes red.
The crowd chanted low and rhythmic, a heartbeat of judgment and blood.
Ronald’s voice broke through it, raw and fierce. “Mara..”
I looked back at him once. Just once. His eyes were burning, not with fear, but faith.
And then I turned back to the General and said, “Let’s see what the Blood Moon wants.”
The clang of blades echoed as steel met steel. Sparks flew across the floor, the crowd roaring.
The prophecy had begun to unfold, not as their doom, but as our war.