The Queen raised an eyebrow. "Everything at court is a game, dear. You'll do well to remember that."
Maravelle leaned back in her chair, adjusting the folds of her gown with slow, deliberate grace.
"This is Sylander red," she said, lifting her glass. "Aged in charred oak. Care for a taste?"
Selene's nostrils flared. "I'm not in the mood."
Maravelle's eyes gleamed, that familiar calculating shine that always made Selene feel like she'd stepped straight into a snare.
"Don't be like that, Selene. I'm merely preparing you."
Selene's voice was tight. "For what? To be humiliated? Ignored? Thornak didn't even glance my way. He was too busy coddling her, and in front of everyone."
Maravelle set her glass down, fingers tracing the rim in slow circles.
"She's a threat," she said softly. "He doesn't see it yet. But you do. Don't you?"
Selene folded her arms. "Of course I do. So why haven't we removed her already?"
Maravelle turned to face her fully, her tone velvet-wrapped steel.
"Because removing her isn't enough. If you want the crown, my dear, you'll have to stop acting like a jealous girl and start thinking like a queen."
Selene straightened. Her anger no longer flared, it simmered.
"Then tell me what you need me to do."
Maravelle's smile was cold and thin. "Good. First, we take a little trip."
....
The storm had passed, but the skies over Vargorath still churned with unease.
As the guards changed shift at the front gate, a wind unlike any they'd known stirred the banners—warm, sweet, and edged with something ancient. Not the scent of forest, nor iron, nor fire—but starlight. A memory of night skies long gone.
The guards turned as one.
A figure approached on foot, though he moved as though the ground parted for him. Tall, golden-haired, cloaked in midnight silk that shimmered with constellations, he passed through the gates without a word.
No weapon. No escort. No fear.
The sun had not yet cleared the horizon, yet his skin glowed with a soft radiance. His hair, like liquid gold, fell past his shoulders. His boots left no tracks.
A hush followed him like a tide.
....
In the courtyard, Thornak met Dain.
"What's the urgency?"
"A man is here," Dain replied. "Claims he's royalty of the Starborn. Says he's here to speak with you."
Thornak's eyes narrowed. "The Starborn? Is this some kind of joke, because the Starborn and other fae don't mingle with us."
Dain's voice dropped. "He's glowing Thorn. Literally glowing. And… he asked for Lara."
The air stilled.
....
Moments later, in the Grand Receiving Hall, the stranger stood at the center of the room. Hands lightly clasped, expression unreadable.
He turned as Thornak entered, flanked by Dain and Ruvan.
"High King Aurion of the Starborn Realms," he announced, voice smooth and strange, like wind over frozen glass.
Thornak didn't blink. "King Aurion, Why do you come to my kingdom."
"I had to," Aurion said softly. "Because your mate belongs to me."
Dain stepped forward, snarling. "Watch your words."
Aurion's gaze touched him, and the air bent. There was a flicker of pressure, of ancient force. Dain gasped and stepped back. Thornak raised a hand.
"Well, explain why you are here in our Kingdom, and what business you have with Lara," Thornak said, voice tight.
Aurion nodded. "Her mother was my daughter. She fled our lands to escape an arranged bond. She bore a child. After she died, I searched for her daughter across a thousand visions and now I've found her."
"You're her grandfather." The words fell like stones into silence. Thornak's hand curled at his side, the weight of fate suddenly heavier.
Dain let out a stunned breath, barely audible but sharp, as Ruvan took a step back, instinctively.
"By the Ancients," he whispered under his breath, low enough only Dain heard.
Even the two guards at the door. shifted subtly, one glance passing between them, silent as the wind.
"Yes," Aurion said. "I held her as an infant. Born under the Pale Star, the first in a thousand years. My daughter hid her too well. I didn't even know she lived until I felt her power stir."
"Why now? Why come after so long?" Thornak asked, trying to
Aurion's gaze turned to the window, and for the first time, the calm around him wavered.
"The Moonguard prince who aligned with the sorcerer… he was once known to us. My daughter's brother-by-bond. A prince in exile, twisted by grief. We thought him lost. But he survived. Sustained by a demon."
Thornak's voice sharpened. "A demon?"
"Velkhar. A spirit buried beyond the Veil since the First Sundering. Now it wears him like armor."
Thornak's jaw tightened. He took a step forward, voice like tempered iron. "Is this demon so fearful that you will reveal yourselves after centuries of silence. How does this whole thing affect you?"
Aurion's expression hardened.
"Because the barrier is weakening. There have been incursions, beasts, rogue spirits. Some found our Veil Gates. Hidden passages even you Lycans don't know."
Thornak's breath stilled. "So he threatens your people too."
Aurion nodded. "He threatens our existence. Ours. Yours. Even the Hollow Beyond, where no light reaches. And my granddaughter…" His voice softened. "She is powerful enough to destroy him."
Aurion stepped forward.
"But she will need more than strength. She needs both her worlds. She is Moonguard. But she is also Starborn. Her soul lives in the space between. And only by walking both paths can she truly awaken."
Thornak stared at him clearly shocked by this revelation. At last, his voice came, low and grave. "Then you come to make an alliance? If this is some heavenly ruse to steal her from me…"
Aurion didn't flinch. "It is not. I would sooner burn than see her used. She is my blood but she is yours in a way even she does not yet grasp." He stepped closer.
"You are not just her king or mate. Without you, her power would burn wild. Or never rise at all. With you… she becomes whole."
His voice fell to a whisper, like prophecy.
"The old texts called it The Warded Flame, the warrior and the lightbearer. If she is the key… then you are the blade that guards her hand. Together, unstoppable. Apart… only targets."
Silence.
"How do you know all this?" he asked, voice low, taut with disbelief. There was no bluster in it. Just the raw edge of a warrior staring down the impossible.
Aurion's gaze did not waver.
"I saw her through the veil… in the Astral Grove. It is a sacred place, where the boundaries between this world and what lies beyond are thin as breath. There, my visions come. And it was there the Guardian found me."
He took a step closer, voice low with reverence.
"She is the earthly vessel of the Moon Goddess… and though she speaks only to the Moonguard, she showed me fragments. Glimpses of a path laced in fire and shadow. My granddaughter stands at the center of it. She is the key, Thornak. The one who can stop what's coming."
"And what is coming?" Lara's voice rang clear, cool and curious, as she stepped into the Grand Receiving Hall.
The two guards turned but didn't stop her. Thornak spun sharply, his breath stalling in his chest.
She wore the same dress from their morning ran. As she moved closer to Aurion, their resemblance was unmistakable. Whispers had already spread through Vargorath like wildfire. A Starborn has come.
Not just any, but the Starborn King himself.
Dorian had told her this king had asked for her by name. So she came, curious, and had heard everything from the doorway.
Aurion lifted his hand, palm open over her.
Lara's golden hair began to glow like his. She gasped softly. She felt warmth rise under her skin as the glow intensified, strands of her hair lifting in a breeze that wasn't there. The hall's torches flickered. Even the shadows seemed to retreat.
Aurion inhaled like a man standing before the divine.
"Moonfire," he whispered. "At last… unbound."
Dain and Ruvan stood frozen. Even Thornak felt something deep and powerful stir inside him.
Her question still hung in the air. "What is coming?"
"A demon," he answered simply. Then his gaze softened, full of quiet wonder. "Narielle, child of my child… you are awakening now. Almost ready."
He took a breath, as if speaking a truth long held.
"Now, all that remains is this, find your inner voice. And listen."
"How will I do that?" she asked, her voice quiet but steady.
Aurion smiled, something ancient and kind in his expression.
"It will come to you, my child," he said gently.
Aurion turned to Thornak, the glow in his eyes dimming but his voice strong.
"When the time comes, I will return, with an army at my back. The Starborn do not abandon their own."
He gave Lara one final look, filled with both sorrow and pride, then, with a slow breath, he raised his hand.
Light flared beneath his feet, pale and silver, etched with runes that shimmered in the air. The ground itself answered him. A soft hum filled the hall, like a choir of stars.
The air rippled. Space folded.
And with a final nod, Aurion stepped backward into a tear of starlight. The veil split open just wide enough to swallow him whole, and then closed without a sound.
Only silence remained… and the faint scent of frost and flame. Shock struck their faces like lightning etched in stone, sudden, vivid, and impossible to hide.