“Then you know he was pushed out,” I said. “That he was made to feel like a failure because he didn’t want what Malore wanted and because he didn’t look like you.”
Caleb didn’t look away. “I know.”
The simplicity of that answer hurt more than denial would have.
“Did you agree with him?” I asked, my voice quiet but unsteady. “With Malore?”
Silence stretched between us, heavy with all the things not said.
Behind Caleb, the other shifters watched with careful attention, not intruding but not disengaged either. This wasn’tjust my conversation anymore. It was clan history unfolding in real time.
Caleb drew a slow breath.
“At the time,” he said, choosing his words with care, “I was young. Loyal. I believed strength looked one way.”
My jaw tightened. “And now?”
His gaze softened, just a fraction. “Now I know better.”
I didn’t know whether to believe him.
Everything in me recoiled at the thought of history repeating itself. Of standing here, vulnerable and exposed, only to be judged and fooled.
I’d ended the Hunger Path because it was necessary, because it was right. But what if that wasn’t enough for them? What if blood and legacy mattered more than choice?
What if this Bellemore was just another Malore, waiting to decide whether I was worth acknowledging?
“You didn’t come here to reopen old wounds,” I said carefully. “So why tell me your name?”
Caleb studied me for a long moment, his gaze thoughtful and unreadable.
“Because you needed to know who you were standing in front of,” he said. “And because the clan needs to decide what the name Bellemore means going forward.”
My breath caught.
That wasn’t an answer.
It was an opening or a threat.
I wasn’t sure which.
The Academy hummed softly behind me, its stone warm and attentive. Keegan’s presence steadied me, but the ground beneath my feet felt suddenly less certain.
I met Caleb’s gaze, heart pounding, every instinct screaming that this moment mattered more than any spell I’d cast.
Whatever he was about to say next would change something fundamental.
And I had the sinking, unmistakable feeling that my family’s past, and its future, were about to collide in ways I wasn’t prepared for.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I drew a steady breath and let it out slowly, aware of how much hung in the balance of what I said next.
“There are vampires inside the Academy,” I told him. “Helping me prepare to meet with the orcs heading north.”
Caleb blinked once, and then he laughed.
He didn’t seem to be cruel. It was more of an incredulous bark, like someone reacting to a story that made absolutely no sense.
