Chapter 44

Chapter 44
Aria

The manor's guest wing was too still.

Too quiet.

Something was wrong, I could feel it in my bones.

I stood by the tall arched window, looking out at the summit city wrapped in the setting sun. Carriages rolled by in the distance, cloaked figures hurrying toward the grand halls. The Moonlight Ball was only a few hours away, and already I could feel the hum of anticipation in the air—like static before a storm.

Behind me, the others were preparing.

Talon was ensuring that everything was set, that we had enough security for my reveal, his face set like carved stone. Ronan moved through the halls with his scouts, watching, waiting. The witches that had joined us were in the lower rooms, weaving protections as fast as they could.

And me?

I was waiting too.

For what, I didn’t know. But I was on alert. Something was coming.

The glamour spell Sera had placed on me still shimmered faintly, a thin veil over my features. Enough to slip unseen if we needed to. But that would be gone soon. It was only built to last long enough for me to make it to the ball.

But something in my blood was restless.

Tight.

My wolf paced inside my skin, ears perked, nose lifted to the unseen currents moving around us.

The earth felt wrong.

Heavy. Like it was anxious, worried.

And when the door creaked open behind me, I knew before I even turned that it wasn’t Talon. It wasn’t Ronan.

It was a stranger. I could smell his intent.

I pivoted, fast and low like my trainers had taught me. My body reacted before thought could catch up.

The figure lunged.

A silver knife glinted—dipped in something foul and shimmering. Poison, if I had to guess.

I sidestepped, sweeping a chair into his path with a blast of raw air magic. He stumbled, snarling, and I saw it then—the crest on his chest. Not a rogue. Not the summit guards.

But a noble house, I didn't recognize it. But I could tell by the detail, by the expense of it.

Kidnap, my mind supplied immediately. They wanted to keep me away from the ball. But who knew I was here already?

They wanted me captured. For leverage. Control.

But when I struck him back, when I didn’t scream and cower like they expected—I saw the change in his eyes.

He knew I couldn't be taken quietly. Someone gave him a new order. He wasn’t here to abduct anymore.

He was here to kill.

"You’ll never see the ball," he hissed, slashing at me again.

I caught the blade with my magic, the metal squealing against an invisible shield a hair’s breadth from my skin. I spun, slamming a pulse of energy into his chest. He flew back into the stone wall with a bone-crunching thud but pushed off it immediately, wolf claws sprouting from his fingers.

Fine.

If he wanted to see the daughter of Nightshade—

I would show him.

I planted my feet, called the fire from deep within, the place Sera had unlocked during the Rite. The power my mother had died to protect.

Silver flames licked up my arms. My eyes burned with it. My wolf howled inside me, no longer caged, no longer hidden.

The attacker faltered. I could see his fear spike.

Too late.

I lunged, striking low and fast, the fire in my fists slamming into him with a roar. He tried to dodge, but my magic sang in my veins, guiding me faster than sight.
A crack of energy split the air as my foot connected with his chest, and he hit the ground hard, gasping.

Talon burst through the door a second later, wild and snarling—but he stopped dead at the sight before him.

Me, standing over the attacker. Flames coiled around my hands. Power vibrating the very stones beneath us.

Talon didn’t say a word.

He didn’t need to.

The would-be assassin struggled, coughing blood.

I knelt over him, ripping the crest from his tunic.

Proof.

I didn't know who sent him, and I knew he wouldn't tell me. So I would hunt down the house who sent an assassin after me.

And then, because he would never stop coming, because there would always be more like him if we let them believe I was weak...

I whispered a prayer to the moon, placed my hand to his chest and burned him to ash.

The flames hissed and curled, but they only touched him. Not the floor. Not the walls. Magic born of blood and loss and rebirth.

When the fire died, only the crest remained—blackened but whole—in my palm.

Talon approached carefully, eyes wary, but proud.

He mind-linked immediately.

Ronan. Now. Attempt made. Aria's safe but we have a problem.

I rose slowly, dusting ash from my skirt.

The ball was tonight.

I could hide.

I could wait.

I could cower in fear.

But I wouldn't.

Not anymore.

Talon looked at me like he wanted to say something. Like he wanted to bundle me up and lock me away from the world. Take me back to our people.

Instead, I beat him to it.

"I will not hide," I said, my voice calm but sharp as a blade. "I will not cower. If they want to see the daughter of Nightshade, the heir to the forest, to the old magic—then so be it. I will show them."

He opened his mouth—but Ronan’s mind-link interrupted us both.

Prepare. We move soon.

Talon exhaled slowly, nodding once. Accepting.

I turned the crest over in my hand, the blackened symbol almost warm against my palm.

"Let them come," I whispered.

I smiled—a razor-edged thing of fire and moonlight—and handed the scorched crest to Talon. He would keep it safe until I needed it. Until I knew who was coming for me.

"Now," I said, stepping over the ashes toward the wardrobe where my ball attire waited, "let's get ready for the ball."

Because tonight would not be a coronation. It wouldn't be a night for niceties, for false promises.

Tonight would be a reckoning.