Chapter Ten: Bloodlines and Buried TruthsAria's POV
I woke up with kael's scent still lingering on me
The wind shifted the moment I stepped outside the Oracle's dwelling, carrying something different with it a hum, almost like a whisper that only the bones of the valley could hear.
Something ancient was stirring.
Kael walked silently beside me. Since the Oracle's revelation, he had barely spoken. Not because he didn't want to. I could feel it he didn't know what to say. The weight of identity, of broken truths and shadows cast over his past, pressed down hard.
But it wasn't just him anymore.
It was me too.
Because I couldn't shake the feeling that something even bigger was coming. Something just out of reach waiting.
"Aria." A voice called from behind.
I turned to see the Oracle again, this time without her ceremonial robe. She looked older now, as if speaking the prophecy aloud had taken a piece of her.
"There's something else," she said, gesturing for me to return.
I followed her inside once more, leaving Kael near the stream outside
The flames inside were low, casting long shadows across the room.
"Sit," she said.
I did, silently watching her as she moved to the other side of the fire. Her fingers reached into a pouch and scattered some ash and dried petals onto the embers.
"I've seen your blood," she said softly. "But I hadn't yet seen your mark."
"My mark?" I asked, frowning.
The Oracle nodded. "On your neck."
I reached up, touching the soft skin just beneath my left ear the place where the Moon's warmth sometimes pulsed when I was scared or strong.
"Turn," she said.
I did.
She stepped behind me, gently brushing my hair aside, her fingers cold but reverent.
Then she gasped.
"Oh Moon…"
"What is it?" I asked quickly, heart hammering.
"Your birthmark." Her voice trembled. "A crescent, surrounded by seven dots. The constellation of the Sleeper Star."
"I've had it since I was born."
She exhaled slowly. "Aria… you are Katori's daughter."
Time stopped.
"No," I whispered. "That's impossible. Katori vanished sixteen years ago."
"She did," the Oracle said. "But not because she was taken. She chose it."
"But why?" I asked. "Why would she abandon her child, her pack?"
The Oracle's eyes softened. "Because she had no choice. Katori foresaw something something tied to the Evolvement. Something so dark, she sacrificed herself to stop it… or delay it."
"What was it?"
"That, no one knows. Not even me."
I stood, too stunned to sit still. "Where is she?"
The Oracle looked at me with something almost like sorrow. "Katori put herself into stasis an ancient sleep, deeper than death. Her body is hidden in the Sacred Glade. Guarded by the Moon's Watchers. Only the Flame can awaken her."
"The Flame…" I said slowly, remembering the Oracle's words from before. "You said I carried the Flame."
She nodded. "You do. And when your bond to Kael is complete when your power fully awakens you may be able to reach her."
I sank back down, breath shallow. My mother wasn't dead. She wasn't even gone. She had chosen to sleep through all of this. Why?
And why was I only finding out now?
Outside, Kael waited near the edge of the cliff that overlooked the valley below. The breeze caught his dark hair and the edge of his cloak.
I told him everything.
He listened quietly, his eyes unreadable until I finished.
"So your mother is Katori," he said slowly, as if trying the words in his mouth. "The greatest Alpha of the last era."
"I don't feel like her daughter," I whispered.
Kael reached out and cupped my face gently. "You don't have to feel like her. You're you. And that's enough."
I leaned into his touch, drawing strength from his presence.
"I wish I knew why she left," I whispered. "What she saw."
"I think we'll find out," he said. "But there's something else too."
I looked up at him.
"I spoke to one of the elder rebels," he said. "He knew something about the Alpha… the one who raised me and Lucian."
My stomach clenched. "What?"
Kael hesitated. "He said he remembers a time before him. That the current Alpha didn't rise through the ranks he arrived. All at once. No lineage. No blood claim. Just appeared with power and took over."
"Like an imposter," I whispered.
Kael nodded. "And he wasn't alone."
"What do you mean?"
"The elder said there was another. A man named Malric. A warrior. A trueblood. Some believed he was meant to lead the pack but he died just before the Alpha took the throne."
My mind spun. "Malric… is that"
"They think he was my father," Kael said quietly. "Mine… and Lucian's."
My breath caught.
"They killed him," Kael continued, voice low. "Whoever took the throne, they made sure no one would stand in their way."
I wrapped my arms around him, feeling his chest rise and fall against mine.
"So your real father was murdered. And the imposter took his place."
"And raised us," Kael said, bitterly. "Like we were trophies. Or tools."
"Does Lucian know?"
Kael shook his head. "Not yet. But he will."
Later that night, as we gathered around the rebel's firepit with some of their elders, the conversation shifted to the Commission.
The name alone made the air heavier.
"They claim to protect balance," one of the rebels said, a scar running down his cheek. "But they're just tyrants. Power-hungry manipulators, hiding behind prophecy and purity."
"They were the ones who backed the imposter Alpha," another added. "They gave him legitimacy when we tried to protest."
"They decide which bonds are sacred and which ones are forbidden," the Oracle said. "They claim it's the Moon's will but it's their own. They've corrupted the entire system."
"So this… Commission," I asked, "is the true enemy?"
"Yes," the Oracle replied. "And they'll come for you, Aria. You and Kael together represent everything they fear."
"Freedom," Kael murmured.
"Truth," I added.
"Love," the Oracle finished.
We slept under the stars that night, wrapped in furs near the edge of the valley. My mind buzzed with everything I'd learned. Every answer only opened up more questions.
Who was Malric, really?
Why did Katori put herself to sleep?
What exactly was the Evolvement and what did she see that terrified her into silence?
And more than anything… how long before the Commission found us?
Kael lay beside me, his fingers tracing lazy patterns along my arm.
"You okay?" he asked.
"No," I said honestly. "But I'm not falling apart either."
He smiled faintly. "That's my girl."
I rolled to face him. "When this is over… what do you want?"
He didn't even pause.
"You. Somewhere quiet. With books and tea. Maybe a garden."
I laughed softly. "That sounds perfect."
"Then we fight until we have it."
And as I closed my eyes, I whispered a promise to the Moon:
I will wake her.
I will finish what she started.
And I will burn every lie the Commission ever told us to the ground.