The fortress was older than it looked.
That realization came to me slowly, not through sight alone but through feeling. The stone beneath my bare feet pulsed faintly with power, as if it remembered every battle fought within these walls, every oath sworn in blood, every scream swallowed by time. I moved through the corridors cautiously, my injured side still aching but no longer slowing me the way it had days ago.
Ronan had ordered me to rest.
I had ignored him.
Rest meant thinking. Thinking meant remembering. And remembering meant reliving betrayal, the way Kalen's hands had once felt safe before they became shackles, the way Mireya's smile had turned poisonous when I wasn't looking. I had not survived all of that to sit quietly in a gilded cage—no matter how powerful its king was.
The pull in my chest had not faded since dawn. If anything, it had grown sharper, more precise, like an invisible compass needle constantly turning toward one direction.
Him.
I clenched my jaw and pushed the thought away as I turned down a narrow corridor I hadn't explored yet. This part of the fortress was quieter, darker, the torchlight dimmer. The air felt heavier here, thick with something old and watchful.
My wolf stirred uneasily.
This place remembers, she whispered.
"I know," I murmured under my breath.
The corridor opened into a vast circular chamber, its ceiling lost in shadow. Ancient runes were carved into the stone walls—symbols I didn't recognize but somehow understood on an instinctual level. They thrummed faintly, responding to my presence, to the blood in my veins.
I stepped closer to one of the carvings, lifting my hand before stopping short of touching it. The symbol glowed faintly, a low silver light blooming beneath the stone.
My breath hitched.
That had not happened by accident.
The moment my skin brushed the rune, the world shifted.
Images slammed into my mind—violent, vivid, overwhelming.
A moon split into three burning crescents.
Three heartbeats echoing in perfect rhythm.
A woman standing alone beneath a blood-red sky, her hands pressed protectively to her stomach while shadows circled her.
I gasped, yanking my hand back as pain lanced through my skull. I staggered, barely catching myself against the cold stone wall. My heart raced wildly, my wolf snarling in confusion and alarm.
"What… was that?" I whispered.
The air trembled.
"You were not meant to touch that."
Ronan's voice came from behind me, low and sharp, cutting through the silence like a blade. I spun around, heart hammering, fury and fear colliding in my chest.
"You said nothing about forbidden rooms," I snapped. "Or about runes that burn through my mind."
His gaze flicked briefly to the rune, then back to me. His expression hardened—not with anger, but with something closer to concern. "That chamber is bound to prophecy," he said. "It reacts to bloodlines tied to the throne."
"I'm not tied to your throne," I shot back immediately.
The pull in my chest flared violently, contradicting me before he could.
Ronan stepped closer, his presence filling the chamber. "You are," he said quietly. "Whether you accept it or not."
I laughed bitterly. "I've heard that before. From men who thought fate gave them ownership over me."
Something dark flickered in his eyes at that. "I do not own you."
"You certainly act like it."
"I protect what the moon binds to me."
The words settled heavily between us.
I folded my arms, trying to still the trembling in my hands. "Then explain the visions. Explain why this place reacted to me."
Ronan was silent for a long moment. Then he exhaled slowly, as if making a decision he had avoided for centuries.
"This fortress was built on convergence ground," he said. "Where bloodlines, fate, and prophecy intersect. The runes you touched are ancient—older than my reign, older than the crown itself."
"And they showed me things," I said softly. "Things I don't understand."
"Because they are not for understanding," he replied. "They are warnings."
My wolf growled, uneasy. "Warnings of what?"
His gaze held mine, unblinking. "Of change."
A chill crept down my spine.
"You said soon I'd need more than strength to survive," I said. "Is this what you meant?"
"Yes."
I turned away, pacing the edge of the chamber, trying to regain control over my racing thoughts. "You keep speaking in riddles. If you know something—if this prophecy involves me—then say it."
Ronan didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he moved closer to the rune I had touched, placing his palm over it. The symbol dimmed beneath his hand, obedient, submissive.
"This prophecy," he said slowly, "speaks of a union born not of loyalty, but of betrayal. A queen forged in pain. And heirs whose existence will alter the balance between Lycan and wolf."
My breath caught painfully.
Heirs.
The word echoed far too loudly in my mind.
"That's impossible," I said quickly. "I don't want anything to do with your crown or your bloodline."
"You don't have to want it," he said. "Fate rarely asks permission."
Anger flared hot and sharp. "Fate didn't protect me when my mate betrayed me. Fate didn't stop my best friend from stabbing me in the back."
Ronan turned to face me fully then, his expression unreadable but intense. "Fate did not abandon you," he said. "It redirected you."
I shook my head. "I will not be part of another destiny that destroys me."
"You won't be destroyed," he said firmly. "Not this time."
I scoffed. "You sound certain."
"I am."
Silence fell again, heavy and charged. The bond pulsed once—hard, undeniable. I pressed my hand to my chest, teeth clenched.
"This doesn't change anything," I said finally. "I'm still leaving."
Ronan's jaw tightened. "No."
"I won't stay here and become part of some ancient prophecy I didn't ask for."
"You won't leave," he repeated, voice calm but absolute. "Not while forces older than both of us are watching."
I met his gaze, defiance blazing despite the fear curling in my stomach. "Then I'll find another way."
For the first time since I met him, Ronan smiled.
It wasn't warm.
It wasn't cruel.
It was knowing.
"You already are," he said.
The runes hummed softly behind us, as if agreeing.
And deep inside, my wolf whispered a truth I was not ready to face:
The path has already begun.