The wind howled low over the high towers of the castle, brushing its icy fingers across Selene's skin as she stood at the edge of the courtyard. Snow clung to her cloak like fragile ghosts. The sky was iron-grey, the kind that weighed heavy with silence before a storm. Dawn had barely broken, but the entire world seemed to hold its breath.
Behind her, the castle stirred with murmurs of disbelief. Some still didn't believe she was real—others believed she shouldn't be. But Selene didn't look back. The frost valley called, and she would answer.
"Are you sure about this?" Dorian's voice broke the hush, edged with both worry and warning.
She turned to him, her expression calm but resolute. "There's no other way. If the Moon Queen's legacy lies buried in that valley, I must reclaim it. We can't afford to wait."
He looked at the party gathered around her. Vespera, cloaked in midnight wool and wearing her usual scowl; General Kael, armored and brooding; and a newcomer—Eira, a tracker with long scars down her cheek and pale, colorless eyes that missed nothing.
"It's dangerous," Dorian said. "And many in the court still want your head, Selene. Leave now, and your enemies will stir."
Selene tightened her gloves and reached for the reins of her horse. "Let them stir. If they want a queen, they'll have one. But not one who hides in hallways and shadows."
Without another word, she mounted, and the small party rode out into the north.
---
The journey grew colder with every mile.
Snow blanketed the ground, soft at first, then crusted with ice. Trees thinned, their bare branches clawing at the sky like skeletal fingers. Wildlife had vanished. The air was too still, the forest too quiet.
Vespera rode beside Selene, her tone unusually hushed. "They say the frost valley was where the Moon Queen sealed her strength after the Great Betrayal. The magic there—it's old. Hungry."
"I feel it," Selene murmured. "Like something under the surface is watching."
Kael grunted from behind. "I don't like this place. Too many places to ambush from. Nothing natural stays this quiet."
But Eira only smiled thinly, leading them along a narrow path few would recognize. "The forest listens. That's all. It remembers her."
---
By the third day, they reached the edge of the valley.
A wall of silver mist clung to the trees, so dense it obscured even light. The entrance gaped like a wound in the landscape. The frost valley was not a place for the living.
Selene dismounted.
"You'll have to go alone," Eira said. "The barrier won't let the rest of us through."
"How do you know?" Kael demanded.
Eira tilted her head. "Because I've been here before."
Before anyone could ask more, Selene stepped into the mist.
---
The world beyond was frozen still.
Not just cold—timeless. Snowflakes hung in the air, unmoving. Trees arched in twisted spirals, their trunks glistening with hoarfrost. Selene took one step, then another. The mist curled around her feet like silk.
Then, from the white, a figure emerged.
It was not fully formed—more wraith than woman, a shadow stitched from moonlight and grief. Her eyes shimmered with memories Selene hadn't yet lived. Her voice was a whisper of wind:
"Who are you, to walk where Queens fall?"
Selene stood tall. "I am no ghost. I am Selene. I am not who I was—I am who I chose to become."
The wraith raised a spectral hand. Visions slammed into Selene's mind: blood on marble, flames consuming her nursery, the sound of Alaric's voice screaming her name—too late.
Her knees buckled. Tears froze on her cheeks. But she did not fall.
"I remember," she whispered. "I remember it all. And still I rise."
The wraith's hand lowered.
"Then claim your inheritance."
The mist parted.
---
At the heart of the valley stood an altar of obsidian, half-buried in snow. Upon it rested a sword—dark as void, lined with glowing runes.
Selene stepped forward. The Veilfire Blade.
As her fingers closed around the hilt, fire burst from its center—blue and white and blazing like the heart of a star. The ice beneath her melted in a perfect circle.
The blade pulsed with life, and in its beat she heard words—not spoken, but felt.
> "The wolf's throne shall fall to fire and frost when the blade returns to the moon-blooded hand."
She turned.
The mists withdrew, and the forest exhaled.
---
When she returned, Vespera's eyes widened. "You carry it."
"I do."
"And something else."
They all turned as Eira tensed.
A figure stood at the top of a distant ridge, watching.
Cloaked in ash-grey robes, silver eyes gleaming in the snow. Inhuman. Un
moving.
Selene's breath caught.
"He shouldn't exist," she whispered. "Not after what we did to stop them."