Arin's POV
The horse stopped in the middle of nowhere and refused to move.
Arin had been riding for two days straight. Two days of watching the forests of Silver Creek fade behind her. Two days of the landscape changing from things she knew to things that terrified her. The path had been empty most of the time, which should have felt peaceful. Instead it felt lonely in a way that made her chest tight.
Now the horse was just standing still on the road, its ears pointed forward at something she couldn't see.
"Come on," she whispered, patting its neck. "We have to keep going."
The horse didn't budge.
A sound came from the trees to her left. Breaking branches. Heavy footsteps. More than one person. Arin's hands went cold.
Bandits? Wild wolves? Something worse?
She pulled the reins but the horse had already decided it wasn't moving. Arin glanced at the crystal pendant still hanging around her neck. It was warm again. Warm in a way that made her skin tingle.
Then a man stepped out of the trees.
He was huge. Scarred across his arms. Wearing clothes torn and bloody. For a second Arin thought he was dying. She started to climb down from the horse, her healer instincts taking over before her fear could stop her.
The man held up a hand.
"Don't," he said. His voice was rough like gravel. "I'm not hurt. Not anymore."
Behind him, two more people emerged from the forest. A woman with marks on her skin that looked like burns. Another man with a bandage wrapped around his head.
All three of them were staring at Arin.
"Who are you?" the scarred man asked.
"I'm going to the palace," Arin answered. Her voice sounded smaller than she wanted it to. "To the Alpha King's Summit."
The three of them looked at each other. Something passed between them that Arin didn't understand.
"The curse," the woman with burn marks said. "It took my daughter three days ago. The healers in our village couldn't stop it. Can you help her? Can you heal her?"
Arin's heart cracked. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to get down from this horse and save this woman's daughter right here on this empty road.
But the crystal at her neck pulsed with heat. Almost like a warning.
"I'm going to the palace," Arin said again, and the words felt like betrayal. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
The scarred man nodded like he understood. Like he had been expecting that answer all along.
"Go then," he said. "And when you get there, remember us. Remember that people are dying. Remember that you're the only one they're counting on."
Arin couldn't speak. She just nudged the horse forward and it finally moved. She didn't look back at the three people on the road. She couldn't. If she did, she might turn around. She might stop being invisible and become someone who mattered.
She might break.
The Obsidian Palace rose up from the landscape like something that had clawed its way out of the earth.
It was massive. Black stone that seemed to swallow light. Towers that stretched higher than clouds. And it was nothing like the simple stone buildings of Silver Creek. This place felt ancient in a way that made her bones ache.
Guards stopped her at the gates.
There were four of them in dark armor, swords hanging at their sides. They looked at her the way people always did. Like they were trying to figure out why she was worth looking at.
"Healer," one of them said. It wasn't a question. "We were told to expect you. Name?"
"Arin Silverheart," she said.
The guard made a note on a scroll and pointed toward the palace entrance. "Go through those doors. Someone will direct you."
He didn't offer to help her down from the horse. Didn't explain where to go. Just pointed and turned back to watch the road.
Inside the palace, the world exploded.
There were people everywhere. Servants in different colored uniforms rushing in all directions. Warriors with weapons and scars. People who moved like they owned the space around them. The walls were stone and gold and impossibly high. Torches burned in holders carved like reaching hands.
But what really caught Arin's attention was the power.
She could feel it the way she felt fevers in patients. It rolled off certain people like heat from a fire. A group of warriors in red and gold stood near a stone pillar, talking in low voices. Their movements were sharp and controlled. Dangerous.
Storm Riders, she realized. She recognized the style of their clothes from old stories her grandmother had told her. People who could call down lightning if they wanted to.
Near the main staircase, she saw people covered in green tattoos. Forest Walkers. They moved silently even though the palace was chaos around them. They seemed to disappear even when you were looking straight at them.
In the courtyard visible through the massive windows, a group of people in golden armor moved in formation. Desert Sentinels. Their weapons gleamed in the sunlight like they had been polished for war.
And everywhere, people whispered. Watched. Measured each other.
This was what the summit meant. The five strongest packs. All gathered in one place.
"You need to move," someone said sharply.
Arin looked down. A servant in a grey uniform was glaring at her. She was still sitting on the horse in the middle of the main corridor like she didn't know where to be.
"Where should I go?" Arin asked.
The servant didn't even look at her face. Didn't really see her at all. Just waved a hand toward a narrow hallway. "Servant quarters. That way. There's a bed, food in the kitchens. Stay out of everyone else's way."
The servant walked off without waiting for a response.
Arin climbed down from the horse and led it toward where she'd been directed. The hallway got narrower and darker the farther she went. The stone walls pressed in. She could hear the roar of the palace behind her growing fainter.
This was the shadow side of the magnificent place she'd just seen. The place where people like her belonged. Out of sight. Out of the way.
Her hands were shaking.
A girl about her age appeared in the doorway of one of the servant rooms. She had warm brown skin and dark eyes that were actually looking at Arin. Really looking at her.
"First time?" the girl asked.
"Is it that obvious?" Arin whispered.
"You look terrified," the girl said, but not unkindly. "I'm Lyra. I help with supplies and messages. You're the new healer from Silver Creek?"
"How did you know that?"
"Everyone knows," Lyra said. She stepped closer. "The whole palace has been talking about it. The Alpha King specifically requested you. It's all anyone can talk about."
Arin's stomach dropped. "I thought I was going to be invisible here."
Lyra smiled sadly. "You might have been. Until the Alpha King decided he wanted you. After that, invisible becomes impossible."
There was something in the way Lyra said it. Something like a warning.
"What do you mean?" Arin asked.
Before Lyra could answer, a bell rang throughout the palace. Not a gentle sound. Something deep and echoing that made the walls shake.
Servants around them started moving faster. Running toward different parts of the palace. Lyra's expression changed. Became more serious.
"That's the gathering bell," Lyra said quietly. "The ritual is about to begin."
"What ritual?" Arin's throat felt tight.
"The one where the Alpha King gets bonded to a Luna," Lyra said. "And everything changes. For everyone."
The crystal at Arin's neck flared so hot she gasped.
Lyra's eyes went wide. She was staring at something on Arin's chest.
"What is that?" she breathed.
But Arin didn't answer because she could feel it now. Feel it the same way she'd felt when the horse wouldn't move. The same way she felt the sick people who came to her for healing.
Something was about to happen.
Something that would rip her invisible life apart forever.
And whatever power lived inside that crystal knew exactly what it was.