Wolves with Wings
Nightveil bled.
Not in war—but in silence. In cracks that split its ancient walls, in sigils that flickered when they should have burned. And deep within its halls, the weight of Kael's new crown turned soldiers into shadows and loyalty into something colder.
He hadn't spoken since the decree.
The High Enforcers had stripped the banners by dawn. The oaths were burned in the courtyard under a moon that refused to wane. Evelyne watched from the war tower, her hands clenched around a rusted chain from the old days—one used to bind traitors.
Marek was already planning a quiet revolt.
But none dared move.
Because Kael no longer needed their belief.
He had something older now.
Something darker.
⸻
Whisper Realm — Selene's Sanctum
Selene stood before a map not made with ink—but with strands of lunar hair and the dust of fallen stars. Every point of power was marked. Every leyline, every fault.
The mark over Nightveil pulsed erratically.
"Something's wrong," she murmured.
Nyra paced the edge of the sanctum, her boots scorched from the path of the Bloodmoon. "You said the Heartforge would ruin him."
"It should have," Selene whispered.
Nyra's voice darkened. "Then why does it feel like he's waking up?"
Before Selene could answer, the shadows rippled—and two figures emerged from the veil beyond the veil.
Not witches.
Not wolves.
Fae.
A boy and a girl. Mirrored in age, opposite in energy. One sharp and silver-eyed, the other all smoke and ruin.
The girl curtsied, wings flicking behind her like whispers of flame. "Veila of the Marked."
The boy bowed low, the silver bands on his arms humming. "Varek, twin-born of Nightveil's hidden shame."
Nyra's eyes narrowed. "I know who you are."
Veila smirked. "Then you know who we were."
Selene stepped forward slowly. "You dare show yourselves in my court?"
"We're not here for you," Varek said.
"We're here for her," Veila added, eyes locking with Nyra. "Because when the fire falls, the crown won't be enough."
Selene's voice was pure frost. "What fire?"
Veila's wings spread wide. "The one your prophecies were too afraid to name. The Hollowfire."
Nyra's mark seared. "What the hell is that?"
Varek didn't smile.
He only said, "It's the storm your bloodline was meant to end."
⸻
Nightveil — Forgotten Library
Kael moved through the dust-covered shelves of the oldest sanctuary in Nightveil. Books bound in human skin, scrolls inked with forbidden tongues. This was where the Duskbanes kept their true history.
He was searching for names.
Not of enemies.
But of family.
Because the voice in the Heartforge hadn't stopped whispering since he wore the crown. And every word dripped with buried truths:
"You are not the first. Nor the last. But perhaps… the reckoner."
He reached the back of the chamber. There, hidden beneath centuries of silence, was a mural.
Two infants—twins. One winged, one clawed.
Both marked with the Nightveil sigil, half-burned.
Kael stepped closer.
The inscription beneath it was written in bloodroot.
"Veila and Varek — Buried to bind the curse. Forgotten to preserve the crown."
His breath caught.
"They were real," he murmured.
And they were no longer hidden.
⸻
Cliffhanger Ending
Veila stood at the edge of the Whisper Court's spire, wings cloaked around her shoulders like armor.
"They won't trust us," Varek said quietly.
"They don't need to," she replied. "They only need to follow."
"And if Kael finds out we're aiding Selene?"
Veila smiled, cruel and moonlit.
"Then let him burn."
Far below, a second moon began to rise—ashen and blood-red.
The Hollowfire had begun to wake.
And the old prophecy was wrong.
It wouldn't be Nightveil or the Whisper Court that survived.
Only those who remembered what they truly were—
Wolves with wings.