Her eyes tracked the carvings, the water channels, the central dais etched with concentric rings and glyphs that pulsed faintly beneath the stone. She stilled completely, like a system locking into place.
“This isn’t laid out like a reservoir,” she said slowly. “There are no containment marks. No reinforcement sigils. Everything is directional.”
Hadrian’s lips curved in amusement.
She stepped half a pace closer to me, speaking faster now. “The journal kept talking about balance and exchange. It kept describing power as something that moved,” she said. “Flowing. And this place is built the same way. I thought it was metaphor, but it’s not. Arthur, this place isn’t holding power.”
She looked up at the dais, then back at the water channels. “It’s moving it.”
Hadrian laughed mockingly. “Smart girl.”
She ignored him, turning fully toward me despite the guards. “It’s a conduit,” she said. “Whatever is happening to your people isn’t originating here. It’s being routed through this temple. Redirected. Controlled.”
She was right. My unease settled as the shape of it came into focus. Too many fragments were starting to align.
Hadrian clapped his hands together. “Excellent. Truly. You humans do have your uses.”
“That’s enough,” I said, my voice sharper than I intended.
Artemis reached to quiet me. “Arthur, let him speak. His hubris is enlightening. Let’s see whereit takes him.”
The courtyard went still. Hadrian turned toward me, brows lifting in mild surprise.
“No,” I continued, “if you address her at all, you will do so with respect.”
Hadrian studied me, then he gave me an amused but condescending smile.
He stepped into the courtyard, arms spreading wide like a man presenting a masterpiece. “Our first ancestor understood what this place was meant to do. Power drawn into order. Prosperity shaped from chaos. He bound our bloodline to what lies at the heart of this temple and elevated us beyond the petty limits of the other clans.”
My claws flexed, itching beneath my skin.
“Until our precious,forgottenancestor lost his nerve. He mistook fear for morality. Severed the flow because he could not bear what hethoughtit demanded.”
I shifted closer to Artemis, every instinct screaming.
“So… you don’t know what this will cost,” I said. “This so-called power. Restoring it to our family.”
Hadrian’s gaze sharpened. “I know what it has cost us already,” he replied. “Generations of weakening magic. Shrinking influence. A people meant to lead reduced to hiding.” He gestured to the carvings above us. “I will restore what was broken. Reinstate the connection. Return our bloodline to its rightful place. I will become the alpha our people deserve.” Then his eyes locked on mine. “Because you are not that, Arthur.”
The words lanced through me.
“You look for understanding when what our people need is action,” Hadrian went on. “You dig through history like it’s something to be debated instead of wielded. You hesitate. You question.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You let humans into your confidence. You worry about consequences instead of results. And while you weigh every possible cost, our people continue to weaken. You were never meant to inherit your father’s legacy.”
My father.
My father had loved me openly. He had simply never believed I would rule the way he did. He had always said I was thoughtful. Never formidable. Most alphas took up space. I had always preferred to understand it. I had always been insecure about that.
Heat flared behind my eyes.
Hadrian smiled like he could see it. “I was meant for it.”
The rest blurred beneath the roar of blood in my ears as my thoughts raced ahead, mapping escape routes, calculating risks, weighing impossible odds.
“I will get you out of this,”I promised Artemis. “No matter what it costs me.”
