---
Chapter 24: Wolves at the Door
Bryant didn't knock.
He kicked the door open.
The force cracked the hinges, sent dust swirling through Nyra's chamber.
"What is this?" he snarled, holding the dagger like it had burned him.
Nyra didn't flinch.
"Looks like a blade."
"It's your mother's," he snapped. "The ribbon was soaked in dried blood. You didn't think to tell me?"
"I thought about it," she said. "Then I realized—you weren't the one being hunted."
His eyes narrowed. "And now?"
She stepped forward.
"I think someone's done hiding."
---
The Council chamber smelled of polished wood, sweat, and desperation.
Lord Vannic's voice echoed through the room.
"She should not have access to family heirlooms. That dagger was buried in palace vaults."
Bryant leaned forward, slow and lethal.
"Then how did it end up in her wardrobe, my lord?"
Vannic faltered.
The Queen Mother, seated at the head of the table, sipped her tea with deliberate calm.
"Perhaps," she said, "it was a message."
Bryant's gaze snapped to her. "From who?"
A beat.
Then she said it.
Clearly.
Deliberately.
> "Lucien Kings."
The name cut the room in half.
The silence was immediate.
Even Damon, lounging against the pillar at the far end of the room, tensed—his smile flickering.
"Lucien's dead," he said finally.
Elaria met his eyes. "No. You just buried him too early."
---
Later, behind closed doors, Damon paced.
"He's not in the records. He hasn't been seen in five years."
A robed servant stood at attention beside him.
"Shall we intercept her next message, my lord?"
Damon stopped.
Turned.
"There's a letter coming?"
The servant hesitated. "It arrived moments ago. Sealed. Addressed to Lady Nyra."
Damon's eyes darkened. "Intercept it. I want to see it before she does."
---
But he was too late.
Nyra stood by her window as the wind rustled the parchment in her hand.
No name.
No handwriting.
Only a wax seal:
A crown, cracked in half.
And behind it—
An eclipse.
Her fingers trembled once as she opened it.
Inside:
> Blood doesn't vanish, Nyra. It waits.
And it remembers you.
—L
She didn't know if she wanted to scream…
or smile.
---
[End of Chapter 24]