<h4>Chapter 705: GOODBYE THE OTHER SIDE</h4>


    I waited until the castle exhaled.


    That was how it felt when thestmps dimmed and the corridors fell into that deep silent rest that said it time to rest.


    The guards grewx in posture if not in presence. Servants withdrew into shadows. The air itself loosened.


    Only then did I finally make my move.


    The fireflies hovered just beyond the window, patient, pulsing softly like a second heartbeat.


    I drew my cloak tighter around my shoulders, tied my hair back with trembling fingers, and rested my palm against my belly for a moment.


    "Quiet," I whispered. "We’re going. You have to assure me you will be quiet."


    I felt a sharp kick.


    Stranger than usual and I twisted my jaw at the feeling of the pain.


    "We need to be quiet." I pleaded


    A soft roll answered me, steady, trusting.


    And then there was no strange kick anymore.


    I wasn’t going to be able to follow the door because I knew that there were guards stationed.


    Waiting for any intruder especially since myst night out.


    Or rather, perhaps, waiting for me to attempt to leave.


    So I made it for my next escape n.


    I opened the window inch by inch, listening for the telltale scrape that would carry down the stone halls.


    Nothing. The fireflies drifted closer, slipping inside as if the ss were water, gathering near the sill.


    I climbed out, careful with my footing, breath shallow as I lowered myself to the narrow ledge.


    The night air was sharp and smelled of wet earth and leaves.


    From there, I moved along the wall, counting steps, remembering which stones were worn smooth and which would betray me with a scrape.


    I nearly made it.


    Nearly.


    A boot scuffed somewhere below and a voice murmured too close forfort. I froze, heart hammering, then pressed myself into a recess between pirs, the stone biting into my back.


    I didn’t breathe. I didn’t blink. I became part of the wall.


    The guard passed, grumbling softly to himself, unaware of the life tucked into the shadow above him.


    When his steps faded, I slid down and slipped into the corridor, keeping low, keeping close to the edges where the torchlight thinned.


    The fireflies moved ahead, slow now, deliberate.


    Then I heard his voice.


    My father.


    It drifted from a side chamber I hadn’t meant to pass, the door cracked just enough to spillmplight and sound into the hall.


    I wanted to very quietly sneak out.


    But then my curiosity got the best of me, and I paused.


    I stopped without thinking and pressed myself to the wall, my breath caught somewhere painful in my chest.


    "I can’t believe Ruby would do this to me." He said


    The words hit like a blow.


    Ruby.


    I didn’t know the name, but the way he said it told me everything I needed to know.


    Not anger alone. Betrayal. Possession.


    I wondered who Ruby was.


    A new lover of his?


    I edged closer, inch by inch, until I could peer through the narrow gap in the door.


    He stood inside with one of the elders, the same man who had trained me thest time.


    Themp cast deep shadows across their faces.


    "From what I see," the elder was saying, "the seal on her wolf is not just powerful. It’s intentional. Crafted. Whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing."


    And then I knew it was I they were speaking about.


    My wolf.


    My father dragged a hand through his hair. "Fuck!"


    And then my father who usually looked forever put on ce, looked out of ce.


    He looked insane.


    Ready to tear and sh.


    "You told me that we could erase it. You assured me that if it could be locked, then it could be unlocked."


    "Yes," the elder replied after a pause. "But i had underestimated the weight of the lock.


    This is a royal bloodline locking her wolf. Not even you could unlock it, if you tried."


    "What about the stone?" My father asked, his voice getting very chilly.


    "It’s not strong enough either my lord." The elder replied.


    I leaned closer, my fingers curling into the stone.


    "If she shifts of her own ord," the elder continued, "if her wolfes to her willingly, there’s a chance the child survives. A good chance."


    "And if we continue as we are."


    The elder hesitated.


    "Then either the baby dies," he said quietly, "or she does."


    The words sucked the air from my lungs.


    My father turned away, pacing once, then stopping abruptly. "There has to be a way both of them live."


    "Not from what I’m seeing," the elder said. "You’re forcing something that should never be forced. The person who locked her made sure of it that only a bloodline can unlock her wolf."


    Silence stretched.


    Then my father spoke again, his voice colder now. Resolute.


    "Continue."


    The elder stiffened. "My king-


    "Continue," he repeated. "Whatever happens happens. We don’t tell her."


    The room seemed to tilt. My vision blurred, not with tears yet but with something sharper, something that burned.


    He was choosing.


    Not me.


    Not my child.


    He was choosing power.


    I backed away slowly, every movement deliberate, terrified that the sound of my own heartbeat would betray me. I didn’t run. I didn’t cry. I moved like a ghost through the corridor until the fireflies pulled me onward, away from the door, away from the truth that had just split me open.


    It wasn’t until the night air hit my face again that myposure cracked.


    I pressed my hand to my mouth to keep the sound inside me, tears spilling hot and fast as I followed the lights beyond the walls. Each step felt heavier than thest, my chest tight with grief and fury and a hollow disbelief I couldn’t quite name.


    He had kissed my forehead that morning.


    He had told me I was safe.


    I followed the fireflies into the forest, the branches closing around me, the castle lights dwindling behind. My breath came ragged now, the sobs breaking free despite my effort to swallow them back.


    "I trusted you," I whispered to the dark. "I trusted you with everything."


    He was the worst of them all.


    The biggest monster.


    Had heard of my story.


    My pain.


    And yet he had still lied, opened his arms and chosen himself.


    Every member of my family either wanted to kill me or use me for their own selfish gain.


    I wondered if my mother even ever truly loved me.


    The fireflies slowed.


    Then stopped.


    I stumbled to a halt, wiping my face with shaking hands, my heart leaping into my throat as I looked around. Trees loomed on all sides, ancient and watching. The air felt different here, heavier, charged.


    Then she stepped forward.


    Maelis.


    She emerged from the shadows as if she had been there all along, her silver hair catching the faint glow of the fireflies, her expression calm and unsurprised.


    "I knew you woulde," she said softly.


    I drew myself up, forcing my spine straight despite the tremor that ran through me. My eyes burned, my chest ached, but I didn’t look away.


    "You were right," I said. The words scraped my throat raw. "I can’t stay there. I won’t. Not if it means my child dies."


    Maelis studied me for a long moment, her gaze dropping to my belly and then lifting again to my face.


    "Are you ready to leave," she asked, "truly."


    "Yes," I said without hesitation. "With my baby."


    She nodded once. "If you leave with us, in our way, you will never return."


    "I don’t care," I said. And I meant it with everything I had left.


    The fireflies drifted upward, scattering like sparks, as if sealing the choice.


    "And the rest of you," I asked, the question tearing itself free despite the fear still wing at me. "What happens to you."


    Maelis’s mouth curved into something like a smile, though there was no joy in it. "We keep fighting him. That has always been the price."


    A cold understanding settled in my bones.


    "If I leave without unleashing my wolf," I said slowly, the pieces clicking into ce, "you still have a chance."


    "Yes," she replied. "As long as your wolf remains sealed, he cannot finish what he started."


    I closed my eyes for a brief moment and pressed both hands over my belly, grounding myself in the steady life beneath my skin.


    "I won’t be his key," I said. "I won’t be his weapon."


    Maelis stepped aside, revealing a narrow path between the roots of an enormous tree, the earth yawning open beneath it like a waiting mouth.


    "Thene," she said and then she started to lead me up ahead.


    I paused remembering how I hade.


    "Wait. There is only one way for me to go back home. The throne. It’s in the royal pack. And I would be forced to return to where his people are on the other side. They would easily send me back."


    She shook her head. "Didn’t I tell you there was another stone?"