Chapter 13

Chapter 13
Violetta’s POV

We searched the forest for almost another hour, tearing through the damp brush and overturned leaves just to look for the missing amulet, but we didn’t see anything at all.

There were only the hollowed bodies left behind after the attack, and none of them carried anything useful on their corpses. They didn’t have any letters or markings or anything to connect them with Azythar other than the fact that they were hollowed.

I searched the clearing where the first attacker had fallen, going through the dirt with bare fingers, looking for anything that could have been dropped during the fight.

Still, there was nothing.
I checked the surrounding trees, holding up a faint spark of magic to illuminate the bark and roots, hoping against reason that it had caught on a branch or something when she was fighting, but there was nothing there either.

I even went back to the place where the soldier had dragged his fingers through my blood, searching the trampled grass where he had fallen.

“It’s pointless,” Selene finally said.

I looked at her, pausing with my hands covered in mud.

She stood several feet away, her arms folded tightly across her chest as she watched me. “We’re not finding anything out here.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you still looking?”

“Because I don’t like not knowing,” I answered, brushing the dirt from my palms against my clothes.

Lyra eventually called us back, touching the empty chain resting against her collarbone. “We’re going inside. It’s not here. I think it was stolen before we came here.”

“Maybe.”

“I need to find out who before that gets into the wrong hands. I always wore it because I was scared keeping it somewhere would make it get stolen. Fucking mistake.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said to her. There was nothing else we could do in the dark. Whoever had taken the amulet had either slipped away with it during the chaos or stolen it before the fight had even started, and that frightened me more than finding it on a corpse would have, because it meant every single move had been planned.

We returned to the packhouse shortly after, moving through the corridors until we reached one of her private council rooms. Lyra excused herself for a while to check whether Kade was asleep or not; she returned a few minutes later without him, closing the door behind her.

Selene remained standing near the end of the table, her hands clenched at her sides, while I stayed back near the door. For several seconds, nobody spoke. Then Lyra turned and looked at me. “Tell us everything.”

I swallowed, my throat dry. “I don’t know everything.”

“Then tell us what you do know,” Lyra replied, crossing her arms.

I looked at Selene, who was watching me intently, waiting for an explanation she had deserved for four years, and I hated that I had to do this now. It wasn’t even because I didn’t trust Lyra—I did—but because telling them meant admitting that I felt weak and tired.

“The woman behind this is called Svetlana.”

Lyra frowned, her eyes narrowing. “I know that name. But I think she was supposed to be dead.”

“She was part of the hollowed soldiers… Azythar's favourite. And there's even rumours they were lovers,” I said. “You're right by saying she's supposed to be dead. But somehow, she survived.”

Selene’s brows furrowed as she took a step toward me. “What does she want with you?”

I looked down at my hands, watching them tremble slightly before I curled them into fists. “Me.”

Neither of them spoke.

“She came to me shortly after the war ended,” I continued, forcing the words out past the knot in my chest. “She knew what I was. She discovered I was a hybrid.”

“I mean, you are? What’s the big deal, fae-wolf?”

I shook my head. “That’s what everyone else thinks. It’s more complicated… my parents…” I paused, not sure how I was meant to explain that to Lyra. “I am not meant to exist.”

“And she threatened you because of that?” Lyra asked.

“Yes. She wanted my blood.”

Selene stepped closer, her eyes searching mine. “Why your blood? He’s gone… he’s the only one that could use it.”

“I didn’t know the full extent of it at first,” I admitted, looking straight at Selene. “I only knew she threatened to expose my heritage to the fae council if I didn’t give her what she wanted.”

“And you didn’t give it to her?” Selene asked.

“I couldn’t. If the fae discovered what I was, they wouldn’t just remove me from the throne. They would execute me on the spot.” I took a breath, bracing myself for what had to come next. “I thought if I refused, she would look for another angle. So I did something else.”

Selene’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What did you do?”

“I pretended you didn’t matter.”

Selene froze, the colour draining from her face. “What?”

I forced myself to keep talking, even though my voice was cracking under the weight of it. “She told me that if I didn't give her my blood willingly, she would target you to force my hand. She knew about us, and she knew you were my weakness. So I made her believe she was wrong. I ignored you, I acted cold, and I left without saying goodbye so she would think you meant nothing to me.”

“You made me believe you just stopped caring.”

“I know.”

“And then she gave up?” Selene asked, her jaw trembling slightly.

“She backed off,” I said, nodding slowly. “At least, I thought she had given up and disappeared. But now I realize what she was actually doing all these years.”

Lyra leaned forward against the table. “Preparing.”

“Yes,” I said, looking back at Lyra. “She couldn’t force me to hand it over back then because she felt like I didn't care about you, so she changed her tactics. She planted seeds of doubt within my council to drive us toward war, and she used the bodies and the wolf tracks to make both sides tear each other apart.”

“The murders near our borders. The markings on the skin. The agitation in your court…” Lyra mumbled.

“The markings weren’t just to taunt me,” I said. “They were a message. She knew about the carving I left for Selene, and she knew I would recognize my own signature the second I saw the corpse. It was her way of telling me she is still here, and that she will destroy everything until I give her what she wants.”

Selene stared at me, shaking her head. “Why would she think that would make you surrender your blood now?”

“Because she knows that if the council goes to war, hundreds of innocent lives will be lost,” I whispered. “She’s trying to break me until giving up my blood is the only choice left to stop the bloodshed. But that's only going to cause more bloodshed. It’s already happened before and I can’t allow it to again.”

Lyra stood in complete silence for a moment, her eyes fixed on me as her brow furrowed with sudden realization. “Wait.”

I looked at her, my stomach dropping as I saw the change in her expression.

“You said she came after you because of what your blood can do,” Lyra commented. “And Gwen died during that war.”

I looked away.

“Violetta…” Lyra’s voice was barely a whisper. “Did you kill Gwen?”

I closed my eyes, the guilt clawing at my throat. “I gave Azythar my blood.”

Lyra stared at me, her eyes filled with disbelief. “You gave him your blood so he would release her to you… the ravagers. Fucking hell, I accused Selene at first! And Selene, you knew? The two of you kept it from me?”

“Yes,” I choked out, opening my eyes to face her. “I didn’t know what he was truly planning to do with it. I thought giving him what he asked for was the only way to save your life and protect our plans to rescue you. I swear to you, Lyra, I didn’t know it would be used to bring the ravagers.”

“You gave him the power that killed people,” Lyra snapped in anger. “You knew what kind of monster he was, and you handed him the weapon.”

“I was terrified, and I thought I was protecting the people I cared about,” I pleaded. “I was completely wrong, and I have lived with that regret every single day since. I am so sorry, Lyra.”

Lyra let out a humourless laugh, turning her head away. “You’re sorry? That doesn’t bring lives back, Violetta.”

“I know it doesn't. I never meant for any of it to happen,” I whispered.

“But it happened,” Lyra said coldly, looking back at me with eyes that offered no comfort. “And now Svetlana has Azythar’s soul, and she’s coming for more of your blood.”

She was right.

“You know what he’s done? The blood of an angel can resurrect someone. He had Svetlana resurrected and we didn't know. And now she's trying to bring him back to finish it.”