Chapter 58: Chapter 58: New Threat - Nightthorn Triad
The kings stayed close but gave me space. Darius scanned the horizon with that cold focus he wore like armor. Kane kept one hand near his knife, his scarred fingers relaxed but ready. Rylan leaned on the parapet, his gaze sweeping the tree line like he could will any threat to show itself. They had learned to stand with me instead of over me. The night before had settled that between us.
A shout rose from the gate below. A rider galloped in, cloak flapping, a second horse trailing behind him with a slumped figure tied across the saddle. Garrick met them in the bailey and looked up at the wall. His gesture was urgent.
We descended the stairs together in a rush of adrenaline trying to know what’s going on. The children stayed with me. I would not hide them from what the world sent our way.
The rider was one of ours, face pale with exhaustion.
The second horse carried a man I recognized from Shadowpine, one of the survivors who had asked to join us weeks ago. He was alive but barely, his chest rising in shallow gasps. Nightthorn runes had been carved deep into his skin, the marks still oozing blood. The symbols were deliberate, each line meant to send a message.
The pack gathered in a wide circle as I stepped forward. Garrick held the man upright while I knelt to look at the wounds. The runes spelled a single word across his chest: "Soon."
"He was found at the outer farm," the rider said panting. "He was callously left tied to a post with a note pinned to his sleeve. The note said Vespera sends her regards and that the children’s blood will remake the curse into something she can control. She wants them alive."
The words spread through the pack like fire through dry grass. Whispers turned to murmurs. Calder stood at the edge of the circle, his face tight, but he kept silent this time.
I rose from my chair, the children still held close. Lila stared at the carved man with wide eyes but did not cry. Thorne and Elara watched the scene with the same quiet curiosity they brought to everything new.
I turned to the pack.
"This is the new threat," I said. "Not Caius’s remnants. Not my father’s ghosts. A triad from the far west led by a woman named Vespera. She believes the broken curse in my children can be turned into a weapon for her empire. She wants them alive. She will carve her way through anyone who stands between her and what she desires."
I looked at the man on the ground, his breathing ragged, his eyes pleading.
"He was one of ours," I said. "He asked to join us. He was given safety. Vespera used him to send this message. We will answer it the only way she understands."
I drew the blade from my thigh. The pack watched in silence as I knelt again and ended the man’s suffering with one clean cut across his throat. His body sagged. Blood pooled on the stones.
There was no cheers. No gasps. No sound followed. Just the quiet acceptance that the line had been drawn again.
I wiped the blade and sheathed it. "We do not wait for Vespera to strike. We prepare. We train. We strike first. The children stay inside the walls under the strongest guard. The rest of us ride when the time comes."
" Aye, aye my queen." Somebody in the crowd said out loud.
The kings moved closer. Darius placed a hand on my shoulder. Kane rested his palm on Lila’s back. Rylan’s fingers brushed the sling where the twins lay.
I looked at them, then at the pack.
"The Nightthorn Triad thinks they can take what is ours," I said. "They will learn the hard way that this keep and the people within does not break easily."
The pack began to disperse, voices low but purposeful. I stayed in the bailey a moment longer, the children warm against me, the kings at my sides. The wind carried the scent of pine and wet earth. The ridges stood dark against the rising sun.
I turned to the kings and spoke the words that had been building since the feather first arrived.
"We will not wait for them to come to us," I said. "We take the fight to the Nightthorn Triad. We make that Vespera bitch pay for what she’s done!"
The alphas just gave a low growl with a stern grin in unison.
The bond between us surged, steady and fierce. The keep was still ours.
And we would defend it with everything we had.
The runner reached the gates before noon, horse lathered and eyes wide. I met him in the bailey with the kings at my side, Lila balanced on my hip and the twins secured in the wide sling across my chest. The man slid from the saddle, boots hitting the mud with a wet slap, and delivered the news in short, breathless bursts.
" I bring sad news my queen. Three villagers dead at the lower spring. More bodies were found at first light, faces twisted, lips blue. No wounds. Just the water. And beside the spring, driven into the soft earth with a stake, a small wooden wolf carved from dark pine.
I handed Lila to Darius without a word and mounted the nearest horse. The kings followed my lead, Kane on my left, Rylan on my right.
We rode out with a small escort, the spring only a short distance beyond the outer fields. The air smelled of wet soil and new growth, but the closer we got, the heavier the silence became.
The spring sat in a shallow hollow, water bubbling clear from the rock face into a stone basin the pack had built years ago. Three bodies lay where they had fallen, two men and a woman, their skin pale and lips stained dark. The carved wolf stood upright in the mud, its muzzle pointed toward the keep like a silent accusation.
I dismounted and knelt beside the nearest body. The man’s eyes were open, fixed on nothing. I dipped a finger in the basin and brought it to my nose. The water carried a faint, bitter edge beneath the usual mineral tang. It was poison.
Kane crouched beside me, scarred fingers testing the water the same way. "Fucking Nightthorn," he said quietly. "They know we rely on these springs for the outer farms."
Rylan walked the perimeter, axe loose in his grip, eyes scanning the tree line. "There are no tracks. They came at night, did their evil work, and left the carving as a signature."
I stood up, the twins shifting in the sling, their small kicks pressing against my ribs. The carved wolf stared back at me, its lines crude but deliberate. This was a message. Not from Caius’s remnants. Something new. Something that wanted us to know they could reach inside our territory and strike where we thought we were safe.
We burned the bodies on the spot and sealed the spring with rocks and earth. The escort carried the carved wolf back with us, wrapped in cloth. The ride home was quiet, the weight of what we had seen settling over all of us like a second cloak.
Council convened as soon as we returned. The hall filled quickly, gammas taking their seats, eyes on the cloth-wrapped carving I placed on the table. Calder stood before I could speak, his voice cutting through the room.
"There was another attack on our land," he said. "Three of our own dead from poisoned water. And what do we do? We train girls with blades and tell pups they can speak their minds. The old ways would have kept the springs guarded. Your new rules leave us open to this kind of strike."
The hall tensed. A few older gammas nodded. The rest waited, eyes on me.
I frowned and stood up, the twins still in the sling, their small hands gripping my tunic. Lila had stayed in the nursery this time, safe with the women. I looked straight at Calder and let the silence stretch.
"You call it openness," I said. "I call it trust. The pack that guards every spring with armed men is a pack that lives in fear. The pack that teaches every member to watch for poison and report it is a pack that survives. We sealed the spring. We burned the bodies. We will find who did this and make them answer. But we will not go back to the old ways that kept us chained to suspicion and silver."
Calder’s face flushed. "And what happens when the next spring is tainted? When the next child drinks and dies? Will you tell their parents that trust was more important than protection?"
I stepped around the table, the twins’ weight steady against me. The pack leaned forward.
"I will tell their parents that we learned from this," I said. "That we now test every spring daily. That we teach every family how to spot the signs. That we stand together instead of hiding behind old fears. The east wants us divided. They want us to turn on each other over every loss. I will not give them that victory."
