We ran up the stone steps to the battlement. Below, the fight was ugly already. Lycan defenders poured out a side sally port and slammed into the Shadowpine flank. Steel rang. Fur flew. I spotted Merja: my mom on a horse at the very back, hood up, face pale. She wasn't fighting. She was watching me. Even from this distance I saw her lips move. Praying? Warning? I couldn't tell.
An arrow zipped past my ear and buried in the stone behind me. Gunnar yanked me down behind a merlon. "Get your head down, damn it! You tryna get yourself killed?!"
I peeked anyway. Jakob had dismounted and was shoving forward with a shield, three warriors around him. He looked up, straight at me, and bellowed, "Elva! Last chance! Come down and I swear we'll make it quick. Your blood is too dangerous to leave loose!"
Dangerous. The word lit the fire higher. My bitten arm burned like it was on fire. I clutched it and felt something shift under the skin like claws pushing, like my wolf finally answering but bigger, meaner. A low growl slipped out of my throat before I could stop it.
Gunnar heard. His eyes widened a fraction. "There she is," he said, almost soft. "Whatever you are, let it out when you're ready. Not a second before."
Below, Matthías led a counter-charge and crashed into Jakob's group. Swords flashed. A Lycan went down screaming. Jakob parried, took a cut across his cheek, but kept coming. He was close to the gate now. Too close.
Nina appeared at the top of the steps, breathing hard. "King, scout from the north. Sunna Gunnarsdóttir slipped through the lines. She's inside the keep. Says she has a message from Merja Niskanen. For Elva only."
My head snapped around. Sunna. Here. Now.
Gunnar cursed. "Bring her up. Fast."
Two guards hauled Sunna onto the battlement a minute later. She looked wrecked: cloak torn, dirt on her face, but her eyes were wild and alive. She spotted me and rushed over, grabbing my hands.
"Elva... your mom. She sent this." Sunna pressed a small leather pouch into my palm. Inside was a folded scrap of paper and a thin silver chain with a black stone pendant. "She says the stone blocks the elders' tracking spell. Put it on now. And the note; read it later, when you're alone. Jakob doesn't know she sent me. He thinks I'm still loyal. But she's done covering for him. She wants you to live."
I slipped the chain over my head. The stone settled cold between my breasts. The fire in my arm eased a notch. Not gone, but quieter. Like something had just bought me time.
Sunna glanced at Gunnar, then back at me. "There's more. Your bloodline isn't just Lycan. It's tied to the old kings. The ones before the packs split. Jakob's terrified because if you awaken fully, you could claim every territory from here to the sea. He'd rather kill you than lose control."
Gunnar's jaw tightened. "That explains the war party."
A horn blasted outside again. Guards shouted. Someone yelled, "Riders at the south gate. Looks like Shadowpine banners!"
My stomach clenched. It was six hours early. Jakob had pushed them hard.
Gunnar's hand tightened on my back. "Looks like your father couldn't wait."
I stared at the open doors, heart pounding, that buried fire in my veins roaring to life. Whatever secret they'd tried to bury with me was done hiding.
And it was about to meet the Lycan King head-on.
Below us a roar went up. Jakob had reached the gate. He slammed his shield against the iron and shouted, "Daughter! One last time, come out or I swear on every moon I'll burn this keep with you inside it!"
The fire surged again. My vision went sharp and red at the edges. I stepped to the edge of the battlement, looked down at the man who used to be my father, and let the words rip out of me raw.
"You already burned me, Jakob. In front of the whole pack. Now it's my turn."
I didn't know what the hell I was yet. But standing there with Gunnar at my back, Sunna at my side, and that black stone cool against my skin, I felt it for the first time.
I wasn't broken.
I was the fucking match.
And the whole damn forest was about to find out.
My words still echoed off the stone when the first arrow whistled back up at us. It smacked the merlon an inch from my head and splintered. I ducked on instinct, my heart slamming, but I wasn't scared anymore. That fire under my skin had turned into something alive, something that wanted out.
Gunnar grabbed my shoulder and yanked me down behind the wall. "Stay low, damn it. You're not immortal yet."
Sunna crouched beside me, breathing hard. "Elva, your mom said the stone buys time, not miracles. Don't push it."
Below, Jakob roared and the gate shook under another ram. Wood and iron groaned. Lycans on the walls answered with a fresh volley of arrows. I peeked through a gap and saw my old pack scattering, some shifting mid-run, others dragging wounded. One of them: Matthías Bjarnason's blade caught a Shadowpine warrior clean across the chest. Blood sprayed the grass. Good timing. Let them feel what I felt in that cell.
The black stone pendant burned cold against my chest. It dulled the fire a little, like a hand pressing down on a flame, but the flame wasn't done. My bitten arm itched worse. I scratched it and felt the skin split open again, warm blood gushing out. Not pain. Power. Like claws trying to punch through.
Nina Logar slid in next to Gunnar, crossbow already cocked. "King, they're splitting. Twenty breaking for the east postern. Jakob's staying at the gate like he thinks he can talk his way in."
Gunnar's jaw flexed. "Take ten men and cut them off. I want Jakob alive if possible. Dead works too." He looked at me. Silver eyes hard but something softer underneath. "You hear that roar in your head? That's your wolf. Or whatever the hell your blood cooked up. Let it ride but don't lose control."
I nodded once. Words felt useless right now. I just wanted to bite something.
A horn blasted once more from outside. Not ours. Jakob's signal. The wolves at the gate surged forward again, shields up, and slammed a fresh log into the iron gates. The whole wall vibrated. Someone on our side screamed as a lucky arrow found a gap and took him through the throat. He toppled off the battlement and hit the courtyard stones with a wet crack.
"Fuck," I muttered. That could've been me.
Sunna grabbed my hand. "Your mom's note... read it quick. Before shit gets worse."
I pulled the folded scrap from the pouch and opened it with bloody fingers. Merja's handwriting, small and shaky.
"Elva, Your father buried the truth to save his own skin. Your grandmother wasn't just Lycan. She was the last daughter of the Old Kings. The ones who bound the packs under one moon. Jakob made a deal with the elders to suppress it. The stone will hide you for three days. After that, the bond with Gunnar is the only thing that can wake you without killing you. Trust the King. He's the only one strong enough. I'm sorry. I was weak. Come find me when you can. Alive.
I stared at the paper until the words blurred. Mom. Crying in the back line while her husband tried to kill me. Sorry wasn't enough, but it was something. I shoved the note in my shirt and stood up before Gunnar could stop me.
"Jakob!" I shouted down. "You read this? Your own wife just sold you out. Three days. That's all you've got before I come for you myself."
He looked up, face twisted with rage. "Lies! She's dead to me. You're dead to me!" He raised his sword to give a command and immediately after, the gate took another hit. Wood splintered this time. The bars on the gate started to bend.