Chapter 28

*Dax*

I woke with a jolt, my heart slamming against my ribs like it wanted out. Like it was looking for someone.

For a moment, I thought it was a nightmare: the forest ablaze, bodies on the battlefield, a silver-haired woman screaming through the flames. But it wasn't a dream. It was a memory. Or maybe a vision.

Aria.

I could feel it pulsing beneath my skin. Not the bond Kael carried—no, this was something else. Something old. Deep. Like the tether of a vow made long before I drew breath.

Kael's energy hit me like a fist.

He was shifting.

Panicked.

Running.

And I, deep down, knew exactly where he was going.

I didn’t even bother with clothes. I shifted mid-step, bones cracking, fur bursting from the skin as my wolf took over. We were one thought, one mind: Find him.

The world blurred around me as I chased his scent through the forest. Trees parted. Roots moved. The forest knew us now—recognized our urgency. My wolf ran harder, faster until the land changed beneath our paws.

We reached the edge of the deadlands.

The place where life had refused to grow for nearly two decades.

My paws slowed. Kael was there. Still in wolf form, trembling beside a patch of land I hadn't seen stir in years.

He trembled like he was experiencing something terrible.

He shifted. His body looked tired.

Something caught his attention and pulled all his focus. He hadn't even noticed me yet.

And then I saw it.

A flower.

Moon-silver petals pulsing with light. Growing from nothing. From ash.

A moonflower.

I shifted back slowly, the transformation a blur of fur and bone. Kael dropped to his knees, his hands digging into the earth, eyes locked on that single bloom.

"She was there," he said hoarsely. "Not just in a dream. In a vision."

I didn’t ask what he saw. Because I saw it too.

Not with my eyes.

With something deeper.

My soul.

My vow as a guardian.

A battlefield. Flames licking the sky. Lyriana—radiant, terrified—cradling her belly while wolves clashed around her. My father falling beside her. The betrayal. The slaughter. The horror written across Kael’s father's face not from the chaos—but from the choice he made.

To destroy them.

To take power.

The memory clung to my skin like smoke. I could feel the heat of that battle, the roar of the wounded, the betrayal soaked into the soil. My father had been among those who stood for peace, and he died trying to protect it.

And now history was circling back.

Kael was shaking beside me.

"He was a monster," Kael whispered, voice raw. "All this time, I thought he fought for peace. But he took it. Ripped it from her hands. From Aria. From all of us."

I sat beside him, silence heavy between us.

"I saw her," he said, quieter. "In the ritual. Her power… it woke something in me. In the land. The bond—it’s still there. And it’s screaming."

My throat tightened.

I saw her, too, in flashes. In pieces. Not just the warrior she was becoming but the queen she already was. She stood tall beneath the moonlight, the power of generations threading through her veins. And yet… she looked so human. So breakable. Yet so strong.

The flower glowed brighter, like it understood.

"She's changing everything," I said.

Kael nodded slowly, awe tinting his voice. "She’s bringing it back."

A part of me wanted to believe that this would end with peace. With unity.

But I knew better.

The world as we know it now is ruled by those who will constantly crave more power and will not want to share it willingly.

The council wouldn’t let this go. The court was built on centuries of dominance and bloodshed. They wouldn’t give up power just because the rightful heir grew flowers with her presence.

"Kael..." I hesitated. "When the world finds out who she is—when the Council knows—this will be more than a political scandal. You rejected her. And she’s still rising."

He stared at the flower. "I don’t care what the council thinks. I just want her to be safe. To be free. To be exactly who she was born to be. At my side or standing on her own"

I believed him.

But I also knew the world wouldn’t care about intentions. Only optics. Power. Control.

And right now, the only thing more dangerous than the truth?

Was the family they tried to erase... the truth refusing to stay forgotten.

A strange warmth spread through my chest. Not from the flower. Not from the magic.

From the vision.

I’d seen a future. Just for a moment. A possibility. Aria not just surviving—but ruling. And beside her… I wasn’t sure if it was Kael, I saw.

Or me.

The idea rattled me. Because for the first time since I took my oath, I didn't know where my loyalty would land when the dust settled. Not fully.

And it terrified me.

And who would be worthy of being by her side? She was fated to Kael, but what if that was only part of the plan, of her path? What if the Goddess knew he would reject her? What if that was what they both needed to get where we are today?

There were too many possibilities and too many dangers ahead.

We needed to have a plan to get Aria to meet with us. She needed to know about the dangers and what the council would want from her.

Females weren't viewed as they were in her family. They would expect her to hand control over to whomever she mated. They would expect her to take the Luna title instead of rule as she was meant to.

And if she challenged that, which she would. That would threaten everything the council and the hierarchy of our world was built on.

They would not let that happen.

We stayed until dawn, sitting in the ruins of the past, watching the future bloom from the soil.

And for the first time in years, I prayed the old gods were listening.