Chapter 79 New Discoveries

Chapter 79 New Discoveries
Ciara

The maid’s body was gone before sunrise. The hallway looked like nothing had happened and even if people knew, nobody pointed it out or even gossiped about it.
I stood near the balcony outside my chambers while servants moved calmly through the courtyard below as though nothing unusual had happened the night before. Guards changed shifts. Maids carried linens through the lower halls. Advisors crossed the palace grounds with scrolls tucked beneath their arms.
Normal.
Everything looked painfully normal.
Meanwhile, one thought repeated itself endlessly inside my mind. I killed someone without touching them. This time it’s not during a fight or intentionally when they piss me off.
One moment the maid stood breathing in front of me and the next her neck snapped like invisible hands crushed it from the inside.
The disturbing part wasn’t the death itself. I had seen death before. I had caused numerous deaths.
It was the feeling beforehand. That violent clash inside my body. Like different instincts were fighting for dominance beneath my skin. Wolf instinct mixed with something colder. Stranger. Less natural.
That was what unsettled me. The balcony doors opened quietly behind me.
“You’ve been awake all night.”
I glanced sideways as my mother stepped outside dressed elegantly in dark crimson silk. Calm as always. Beautiful as always. Entirely unbothered by the fact that her daughter had accidentally murdered someone hours earlier.
“You know,” I said immediately.
Her expression barely shifted. “I suspected something like this might happen eventually.”
I turned fully toward her now. “Something like this? Stop speaking in riddles, mother. Just tell me what is going on with me.”
The morning wind brushed softly across the balcony while silence stretched briefly between us.
Then my mother sighed.
“When I was younger, your father was not supposed to marry me.”
I frowned slightly. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything.”
She walked toward the railing slowly before continuing. “He had a mate. He loved her a lot. But she was too sickly and eventually died.”
Everything in his life revolved around power and legacy.
“Then why did he choose you?”
A faint smile touched her lips. “Because I became pregnant. One drunken night and I saw my chance.”
I leaned lightly against the doorway while listening carefully now.
“Your father intended to marry another Alpha’s daughter before that happened to build an alliance since love was out of the question after his mate died,” she continued calmly. “But once there was an heir involved, abandoning me would have damaged his reputation.”
Of course.
Politics again.
I almost rolled my eyes. “And then?” I asked.
This time, she paused longer.
“There was a winter horse race during the festival season.” Her gaze drifted toward the snowy mountains beyond the palace walls. “I participated even though I was already carrying the child.”
“That sounds reckless.”
“It was. I was so young and stupid.”
“The horse lost control near the cliffs,” she said quietly. “I fell hard enough that the healers could not save the pregnancy.”
Silence settled between us. I slowly straightened.
“The baby died.”
“Yes.”
Yet something cold crept slowly through my chest anyway and I already knew where this story was leading.
“And father would not have married you without the child,” I said carefully.
My mother looked toward me again. “No. He wouldn’t have and I would still be an unknown runt of the pack that had to serve beers in taverns for survival.”
There was no bitterness in her voice.
I folded my arms loosely. “So you found another solution.”
A strange expression crossed her face then. Not guilt. Not shame.
Memory.
“Korvus found me first.”
That name again. Immediate unease settled beneath my skin. I hated how often that name appeared now. Not just that, I noticed the fondness in the way she spoke about him. Was there something more than what she was putting on? Korvus would not have found her if he weren’t looking for her.
“Who exactly is he?”
“A warlock.”
The answer came calmly. Still, it changed the atmosphere instantly. Warlocks were rare for a reason. Most territories avoided them completely. Their magic came from places nobody fully understood and almost always demanded something in return. I remembered the letters inside the study immediately.
“What did he do?” I asked quietly.
My mother’s gaze held mine steadily.
“He restored the pregnancy.”
The realization settled slowly through my mind.
“The baby was already dead.”
“Yes.”
A strange silence followed. Then she continued.
“Korvus warned me the ritual would not come without consequences, but I did not care.” Her expression hardened slightly. “I was not going to lose everything because of one mistake.”
That sounded exactly like my mother. She would get what she wanted through any means possible. That was the kind of woman I aspired to be.
“So the dark magic…” I started slowly.
“…brought the child back.”
The child.
Me.
My breathing slowed slightly. Suddenly the strange pressure beneath my skin made horrifying sense.
Wolf blood from my father.
My mother’s bloodline.
And dark magic tied into my existence before birth.
No wonder things inside me felt divided lately. No wonder I lost control. I looked down briefly at my hands then back toward my mother.
“And you never thought this information was important to mention earlier?”
Her lips curved faintly. “You were perfectly stable for years.”
“So what exactly is happening to me now?” I asked.
“I don’t fully know.”
That answer surprised me more than anything else. My mother always knew things. Always seemed ten steps ahead of everyone else. Yet now, for the first time, uncertainty lingered faintly beneath her calm expression.
“Korvus warned me there could be effects eventually,” she admitted quietly. “But he never explained what form they would take.”
The pressure beneath my skin stirred faintly again at the mention of his name.
“And the maid?” I asked casually.
My mother’s gaze sharpened slightly. “What about her?”
“I didn’t touch her.”
“No,” she agreed softly. “You didn’t.”
The confirmation settled strangely in my chest, because if I could do that accidentally… what exactly would happen once I learned control?