LOGINNobody spoke for several seconds after Asher’s revelation. The chamber felt smaller than before, colder somehow. The journal remained open on the desk, the faded signature still visible at the bottom of the page. A dead man’s name or at least a man who was supposed to be dead.Lyra stared at it, trying to make sense of everything they had uncovered. The warning. The second writer. The altered records. Every answer seemed to create three new questions.For years, she had believed the Guardians were protectors. Now she wasn’t even sure they knew their own history.“The records were changed,” Ronan said quietly.“If this signature is authentic, then someone deliberately rewrote Guardian history.”“And erased him,” Selina added.Asher nodded grimly. “Not just him. There are probably others.”The thought settled heavily over the group. How many names had been removed? How many truths had disappeared? More importantly, who had the authority to make entire people vanish from history?Kael s
For a long moment, nobody moved.The warning remained open on the desk between them, its words seeming to grow heavier with every passing second.If Kael ever learns what she really is, he will be forced to kill her.Lyra stared at the sentence until the letters blurred.She had spent years searching for answers about her mother. Years wondering why she disappeared, why so many records had been erased, and why every trail seemed to end in silence.Now she finally had a message from her, and she wished she didn’t. Because of all the things her mother could have written, this was the last thing Lyra expected.A warning about Kael.Slowly, she lifted her eyes.Kael stood on the opposite side of the desk, his attention fixed on the journal. His expression was calm, but she knew him well enough to see the tension beneath it.A part of her wanted him to dismiss the warning immediately. To call it nonsense and move on. Instead, he was taking it seriously.“You don’t believe that,” she said q
For several long moments, nobody spoke.The hidden chamber felt smaller than before, the silence pressing down on everyone as Lyra stared at the journal lying open on the desk.Her mother’s handwriting, this was no mistake.She had spent years trying to hold on to memories that grew fainter with time, but some things were impossible to forget. The way certain letters curved. The way her mother connected words together. The slight tilt of every sentence.The writing inside the journal belonged to her. And somehow, that frightened Lyra more than the attack on the Guardian settlement.Because this wasn’t a rumor, it wasn’t an old legend. It was proof. Proof that her mother had been involved in something far bigger than she had ever imagined.“We need to read it,” Kael said.Asher immediately shook his head.“No.”The response came so quickly that everyone looked at him.Kael frowned.“No?”“We don’t know what we’re looking at,” Asher replied. “We don’t know why this chamber was hidden. W
The morning after the attack felt unusually heavy.Ironclaw was awake, but the territory lacked its usual rhythm. Warriors moved through the training grounds, patrols rotated along the walls, and servants carried out their duties, yet an uneasiness lingered beneath every interaction. News of the attack on the Guardian location had spread quickly, and no one could ignore the growing sense that the Crown was moving faster than before.Lyra found Kael in the council chamber shortly after sunrise. Reports covered the large map table in front of him, but his attention was fixed on a single document. It was the authorization log recovered from the sealed-level system beneath Ironclaw.“You’ve been staring at that since dawn, haven’t you?” Lyra asked.Kael glanced up briefly. “Earlier than dawn.”She sighed. “That’s not exactly reassuring.”A faint smile touched his face before disappearing. Whatever answers they were chasing, neither of them liked where the trail was leading.The doors ope
The atmosphere inside Ironclaw changed overnight.No announcement had been made. No official statement had been issued. Yet somehow, tension spread through the territory faster than wildfire.Maybe it was because the people closest to the mystery could no longer look at Lyra the same way.Or maybe it was because every new discovery seemed to point back to her.Lyra felt it the moment she stepped into the council hall the following morning.For weeks, she had helped investigate secrets hidden beneath Ironclaw. She had searched for answers alongside everyone else. Now she was beginning to realize those answers might lead directly to her. The thought sat heavily in her chest.She found Kael standing near the large map table. Several reports were spread before him, but judging by the untouched papers, his attention wasn’t on them.“You didn’t sleep.”His eyes lifted. “Neither did you.”For a moment, neither spoke. Then Lyra leaned against the table. “They think I’m hiding something.”Kael
Sleep never came.Lyra spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, replaying the stranger’s final words over and over again.Don’t trust the Guardian.The warning should have been simple. Instead, it complicated everything.Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the stranger reaching for her wrist. She saw the urgency in his expression. More importantly, she remembered where he had been looking before he lost consciousness.Someone standing behind her, someone inside Ironclaw, someone she knew. The thought refused to leave her alone. By sunrise, she was exhausted.The territory was already awake when she stepped outside. Warriors moved through the training grounds, servants carried supplies between buildings, and patrols rotated along the walls. From a distance, Ironclaw appeared unchanged.Yet beneath the routine, tension lingered. The attack on the stranger had shaken everyone. An enemy attacking inside the territory itself was dangerous enough. An enemy who seemed to know exac
The collapse of the underground chamber should have brought relief instead, it brought fear.By sunrise, news had already spread through Ironclaw. The border towers were gone. The chamber beneath the compound had collapsed. Several warriors had witnessed strange lights beneath the earth and rumors
The first thing Lyra noticed was that nobody in the assembly hall was listening anymore.The moment the guard announced that the northern wall had fallen, every conversation died. Councilors were on their feet. Commanders were issuing orders before Kael even spoke. Warriors rushed toward the exits,
She doesn’t belong to Ironclaw anymore.”The words settled over the courtyard like a storm cloud. For several seconds, no one spoke, even the wind seemed to stop. Lyra stared at Cassian, then at Kael then back at the document in Kael’s hand.Somewhere in the middle of all this madness, everyone see
“My daughter.”The voice rolled across Ironclaw like thunder that every person in the courtyard heard it clearly. The sound seemed to bypass their ears entirely and settle directly into their minds.Dozens of wolves remained kneeling before Lyra, their black eyes fixed on the ground. The rest of t







