They drove south in silence.
Mira was at the wheel, her knuckles white. Lyra sat in the back, her phone in her hand, searching for any mention of the Silent Ones in her father's records. Kael stared out the window at the passing forest.
The Silent Ones. He'd never heard the name before. But the woman's words echoed in his head. Your kinds were separated for a reason.
What reason? Who would benefit from three centuries of war?
His phone buzzed. A message from his father.
"Heard about the northern bond. Good work. But there's something you need to know. Call me."
Kael dialed. Aldric answered on the first ring.
"Father. We were attacked. Hunters. They called themselves the Silent Ones."
A pause. "I was afraid of that."
"You knew about them?"
"I suspected. There have always been rumors. A group that operates in the shadows, ensuring the treaty holds. Not to maintain peace. To maintain division."
"Why?"
"I don't know. But your grandmother wrote about them. In the journals you haven't read yet. The last volumes. She believed the Silent Ones were responsible for the Blood Wars. That they manipulated both sides into conflict."
Kael's blood ran cold. "They started the wars?"
"I don't know. But they've been watching. Waiting. And if you're right—if they attacked you after you restored the second bond—then they're not going to let you reach the third."
Kael ended the call and relayed the information to Lyra and Mira.
"The Silent Ones started the Blood Wars," Lyra said. "Three hundred years of killing. Of hatred. And they manufactured it."
"Why?" Mira asked.
"That's what we need to find out."
Kael looked at the map. The third bond was somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Remote. Dangerous. And now they knew they were being hunted.
"We need to go east," he said. "Fast. Before they find the third bond first."
"And if they're already there?" Lyra asked.
"Then we fight. We didn't come this far to stop now."