It sounded ridiculous. Absurd, even.
Me? One of the keys that could unseal the wards of the UnderSea Tower? And not just that—I was supposed to sense the other keys scattered across an entire continent?
The thought was madness. Yet the book lay open in front of me, the pages showing the different keys, including Bone Light, Millow Shade, and then that damned poem that pointed to a woman they all insisted was me.
Could it really be me?
The poem didn’t even make much sense to me.
The Alpha strongly believes you are the woman in the poem, so just do what you need to do and let them handle the rest, Leika said.
I had already made a bargain, and bargains were chains of their own. Whether Rion’s plan succeeded or crumbled into nothing, he would be bound to fulfill his end of the deal. If this turned out fruitless, then so be it—I would have done my part, and that was all anyone could demand.
I forced the words out, calmly, even as doubt knotted inside me. "Fine. We’ll do that then."
"But even if I can sense the other keys... on a continent this vast, it won’t be easy to find them."
"We’ve been searching," Ares said. "It won’t be easy, yes, but not impossible. After all, we already have four."
Four?
I lifted my eyes to Rion. His silver hair glowed faintly under the lights, his expression a fortress I couldn’t scale. "If you can feel the Celestial Wolf’s energy on me, then it must be the same with the other keys. Why involve me at all? Wouldn’t you have a better chance at finding them?"
Rion didn’t answer immediately. He sat motionless, as if weighing my question. Then, with one sharp shake of his head, he dismissed the idea entirely.
"I believe it is better to have your help."
I blinked. "Why?"
"The keys are tied to each other," he said simply, like he was stating the color of the sky. "Drawn together. When we found the Bone Light, it was hidden near Levian Pack territory. That discovery eventually led me to you. And when you were brought here, I was able to claim the Millow Shade because of you. Arjan brought it here in exchange for you, remember?"
The words slid into place like stones forming a path, and damn it, they made sense.
It was like a domino effect. You find one key and then the others would follow.
I sat back in my chair, my fingers tightening around the book’s edge as my thoughts tangled. If what he said was true, then the keys weren’t scattered aimlessly. They were pulling at each other, tethered by some invisible current. And I was caught in the middle of it.
Still, questions swarmed inside me like restless wasps. How exactly had the first key led him to me? And how had he reached into my dreams before I ever stepped into his world? Was that truly the pull of the Celestial Wolf’s energy—or something else entirely? Something his power alone could do?
I swallowed, the taste of ash sharp on my tongue. I didn’t ask.
I turned to the last page of the book, my fingertip tracing the rough edge of parchment worn thin by time. Like the pages before, there were no sketches of jeweled locks, no symbols, not even a single line of text.
Just emptiness. Except... not quite.
Dark stains bled across the surface like ink spilled, the kind that seeped deep into the fibers. At first, they seemed like meaningless blotches. But the longer I stared, the more they shifted, curling and stretching until they looked less like ink and more like shadows caught in place. Shadows drawn into shapes I couldn’t quite name.
My pulse quickened. I lifted my gaze, and my lips parted before I could stop them.
"You," I whispered, staring at Rion. "You... are one of the keys too."
For a fleeting heartbeat, silence pressed against my ears. Then, for the first time since I entered this room, I saw it—a smirk pulling at Rion’s mouth.
"Two being able to sense the other keys are better than one," Diaval said lazily, though his eyes glimmered with an edge far from idle.
That explained why Rion could feel the Celestial Wolf’s energy, because he too, was one of the keys.
My gaze shifted from one face to another, from Raye beside me, to Diaval across the the table, sprawled in that careless way that only made him seem more dangerous; Ares, grinning beside him.
Finally, I looked back at Rion. His presence filled the space without a single word.
I drew in a slow breath, then asked the question that had been kept in my mind since the moment Rion told me that he wanted me because of the Celestial Wolf.
"What’s your goal, then?"
My voice wasn’t sharp, not laced with accusation. I wasn’t trying to provoke. I was curious and wanted to understand where they were coming from.
"I know mating with the Celestial Wolf means power. But what will you do with it? Undercity is already strong enough to stand on its own. You’ve built something vast down here, a world apart from theirs. Do you want to conquer the world aboveground too?"
I glanced at Raye, Diaval and Ares. Were they following Rion only because he was Alpha, because power meant survival? Or was there something deeper in their loyalty, something beyond ambition?
At my side, Raye’s expression tightened. The word conquer seemed to sit wrong with her, twisting her features as though it soured in her mouth. She opened her lips, ready to speak, but she didn’t get the chance.
Another voice cut in, beating her to it.
"What’s wrong with wanting to conquer the world aboveground?"
Rion’s tone burned with mischief and rebellion, as if his words were carved from anger long kept alive.
"What’s wrong with wanting everyone who shunned us, who cast us out, to finally kneel? To see for themselves that they are beneath us?"