Elara Driscoll

Erin was born into poverty, a "border dweller" at the very bottom of Wolf City. Orphaned at a young age, she made a living by working as a servant for the wealthy, pretending to be mute.

No one knew she actually possessed the rare "Silver Tongue Bloodline"—her voice could awaken the spiritual core of a dying Alpha. For this reason, she had been told from childhood never to "speak."

One day, she was forced to sign a "lifetime care agreement" and sent to the snowy plains of the Northern Realm to look after Prince Sear Umbra, an Alpha who had been paralyzed by war wounds.

Silent howl

Dust drifted in sunbeams. The crown sat untouched on a velvet cushion, where Cyr had left it.


Snow fell and melted. Banners shifted. Ministers squabbled. But the prince did not speak in court.


He slept beside a silent bed in the Frostfall infirmary, head often bowed beside her motionless hand.


Eileen lay beneath layers of moonwoven blankets, breath faint, heartbeat a flickering rhythm.


Every healer said the same: *Her body lives. Her voice does not.*


Her gift had turned inward, cocooned behind the wounds it had once mended.


Each morning, he brushed her hair and told her the news.


He recited supply lists. Read weather reports. Described how the southern border had ceased fire for the first time in years.


And every night, he whispered into her palm:


On the twenty-first day, Varek knocked on the infirmary door.


Chapter 19 – Aurora Vigil