We would’ve loved to just stay in bed all day, doing absolutely nothing. After everything we’d been through recently, azy day sounded perfect–and honestly, I didn’t feel like moving at all. But we both knew that wasn’t an option. There was still an entire pack relying on us, and they’d gone without their Alpha for several days now.


    Elias trusted his pack deeply, and he believed they’d managed fine in our absence. But even so, they still needed someone to lead them. Especially now, with everything my father had. been throwing our way–on top of the fact that he had a dark witch backing him.


    Most witches weren’t dangerous, not inherently. But if you searched hard enough, you could find the ones who had strayed into dark magic. And unfortunately, that was exactly the type my father had aligned himself with.


    When we finally pulled ourselves out of bed, Elias brewed some coffee while I went out to sit on the front porch. I watched as pack members moved about the area, busy with their routines. Each time someone passed, they dipped their heads respectfully toward me. It made me a little uneasy. I didn’t want to be treated like I was above them. I’d already told them to call me Lyra–not Luna, not “your majesty,” nothing formal like that.


    A few minutester, Elias stepped outside and joined me, settling into the chair beside mine and resting his arm along the back.


    “How does it get this hot here?” I asked, wiping at my forehead.


    “It’s because the pack’s territory sits in a gully,” he replied. “The wind doesn’t reach us very well. It’s not exactlyfortable, but it’s secure.”


    “You don’t need to justify it. I was just curious,” I replied. Just then, Beta Luke appeared, making his way toward us. He looked slightly uncertain, but we let him know it was okay to approach.


    “I’m sorry to intrude,” he said, handing Elias a stack of messages, “but these came in while you were gone.”


    Elias let out a long sigh as he nced through the stack.


    “Well, Lyra <i>and </i>I are staying with the pack for the foreseeable future,” Elias said, his <i>tone </i>firm, “It’s the safest ce for her right now. We still don’t know what her father is nning next. So she stays here, and I stay with her. As for the messages–send some of our warriors <i>to </i>


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    the packs requesting training help. And for the ones asking for backup, dispatch a few to scout the situation.”


    “Yes, Alpha,” Luke said with a smile before heading off to carry out the orders.


    After that, Elias gathered the warriors and exined what was going on. I watched, impressed as he issued each task and the warriors stepped forward on their own to volunteer. He didn’t have to pick anyone–they wanted to be part of the effort. It was honestly inspiring to witness.


    “So,” I said, turning to him, “what’s your n? Are you seriously going to stay here and babysit me the whole time?”


    “No,” he replied, a grin tugging at his lips. “I was thinking we’d start your training today. Just


    you and me–one–on–one.”


    The idea made me smile. I really loved that suggestion. I wanted to start training. I wanted to finally learn how to defend myself–how to <i>take </i><i>care </i>of myself. It was something I’d never really had the opportunity to do before. But even now, I could feel it: I was already stronger than I had been just a week ago.


    I got my power when I turned sixteen, and I already felt a lot stronger than I ever had when I


    win in a was still living with my father. But that didn’t necessarily mean I would be abl fight. I remembered going after that ogre, but I hadn’t done that on my own. The entire pack had attacked it together.


    Once I got changed, Elias took me to the back of the cabin and we walked a little way until we reached a clearing, and that’s where he was going to begin training me. He had already told the pack and all the warriors to keep their distance from that clearing. From now on, it was our private ce for training. The others still had different training areas around the territory, and they were fine using those.


    We began with Elias showing me a few defensive techniques. These were meant to block attacks. We went through the movements side by side at first, and after that, we took our positions and Elias would pretend to attack me, and I had to stop him.


    I was obviously terrible at the start, and the heat was brutal, which made everything feel harder. But I refused to give in. We kept practicing through the entire day, and Elias agreed to keep going as long as I made sure to drink water and stay hydrated.


    When the sun was finally setting, we stopped <i>for </i>the day and headed back to the cabin. I


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    went straight into the bathroom and took a hot shower, letting the water run over every sore muscle. My body ached all over from the training. Then I came to the kitchen where dinner was already ready, and we sat down and ate. The food was amazing.


    After dinner, I picked up the royal family history book and went out to the veranda since it was cooler than being inside. I opened it and continued reading.


    So far, I’d only looked at the first family tree. The original royal parents had ten children. I wanted to read beyond that part because I needed to find out how a family thatrge ended up with just me. Something must have happened to all the others over time. I still hoped there might be cousins out there, but I doubted any of them were meant to lead. I believed I


    was next in line because I was the one who got the power when I turned sixteen.


    “Anything new?” Elias asked as he came to sit beside me.


    “Well, I’ve learned that in the 1300s, the royal parents had ten kids. Now I’m starting to read about what happened to those ten. Especially the oldest one, since that would be the


    ancestor Ie from,” I told him.


    “Yeah. If you’re meant to take the throne, then your line woulde from the oldest of the oldest. If that makes sense,” he said.


    “It does to me,” I replied. <fe7> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? find?novel</fe7>


    I couldn’t pronounce any of the names that the children had, so instead, I just referred to them using numbers. ording to what I read, child number one ended up getting married and had seven children, child number two also got married and had eight children, child number three passed away at just four years old, child number four brought shame to the family and was banished, child number five got married and went on to have ten kids, child number six also married and had four children, child number seven married but didn’t have any kids, child number eight died when they were seven, child number nine died when they were twelve, and child number ten got married and ended up having twelve children of their


    own.


    “That’s an insane number of descendants to go searching for,” I said.


    “Forty–one descendantsing from those ten royal children,” Elias added, ncing over the figures. I tilted my head back and rested it on the backrest <i>of </i>the chair, already feeling overwhelmed by how massive of a task this was going to be.


    I stayed in that position, lost in my thoughts about figuring out what really happened <i>to </i>my


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    family, but my eyes began to grow heavy, and I could feel myself slowly drifting off to sleep. Elias must have noticed, because he gently picked me up and carried me back inside. I was still awake at that point, and I tucked myself in closer to his chest, but when I realized he was heading for my bedroom, I shook my head to stop him. I couldn’t sleep in that room–there were just too many painful memories tied to it.


    I felt his chest move and heard the sound of a quiet chuckle as he adjusted direction and


    brought me into his room instead. Heid me down on his bed and left to take a shower, then


    returned and got into bed beside me.


    I really wanted to have a calm, dreamless sleep that night, but instead, I was jolted awake in a panic by Elias. He was already out of bed and standing above me, his eyes distant and ssy as he mind–linked with his warriors. His expression was tense, and it started to make


    me anxious too.


    “Take whatever you can and shove it in this bag. They’ve found us. We have to leave right now<i>,</i>” Elias told me, handing over a bag. I jumped up immediately and threw together whatever clothes I could grab for both Elias and myself, but I also made sure not to leave behind the two books I needed–they were vital to learning about my lineage.


    When I stepped into the living room, I saw chaos unfolding outside the front the cabin in the middle of the vige. Elias gave me a push in the opposite direction.


    “Head into the forest and stay hidden. Wait for me there,” he instructed. So I ran through the back door and made straight for the edge of the woods.


    Once I reached the trees, I leaned against one of them and turned to look back toward the vige. I could see fires breaking out all over, mes consuming parts of the vige, and I felt this urgent, almost painful desire to rush in and help. But I still hadn’t mastered fighting, <i>nor </i>had I figured <i>out </i>how to control my royal powers. If I went running in, I wouldn’t know what I was doing–and they’d likely get hurt trying to protect me. I couldn’t risk that. I wouldn’t let them sacrifice themselves for my sake.


    “Hello, Lyra<i>,</i><i>” </i>a voice said behind me, and I immediately froze where I stood.


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