Chapter 103: The Alpha With No Pack

The white-ink mirror appeared in the nursery wall without summoning. One moment the stone was bare. The next, a sheet of silver frost spread across the surface, and the face of a man Nora had never met looked through at her. He was not old. But his eyes carried the weight of someone who had watched too many fires burn too long. His jaw was clean-shaven, his collar cut high against a throat that bore no pack mark. Behind him, a room of pale wood and empty chairs stretched into shadow. "Nora Ashford," he said. His voice was quiet, deliberate. "I am Elias Voss." Darius stepped between Nora and the mirror before she could answer. His hand dropped to the blade at his hip, the motion economical, unhurried, certain. "The border treaty doesn't permit unsealed communication across Frosthold wards. Explain how you broke them, or I will close your throat from this side." Elias did not flinch. "I didn't break your wards, King Frost. I asked a girl in your kitchens to carry a silver coin to the nursery door. The wards recognized her as yours. They let her pass." Nora's stomach tightened. She turned her head toward the hallway, but the corridor was empty. Hope was asleep in the cradle three feet away, her small hand curled beside her cheek. "You used a child to breach my wall," Darius said, his voice dropping to a register that made the floorboards creak. "I used a volunteer," Elias replied. "She wanted to know if her mother was alive. I told her I'd find the answer if she helped me. I keep my word." He paused. "Do you keep yours, King Frost? Or do you only keep the wolves who are useful?" Nora stepped past Darius. She stood directly in front of the mirror, her arms crossed, her spine straight. "You came through a child's hands to speak to me. That tells me you have no authority to summon an audience through proper channels. So speak fast. What do you want?" Elias studied her for a long moment. Then he smiled, and the smile did not reach his eyes. "I want to end the crown-moon bloodline before it becomes a war." The words hung in the air like frost on glass. Nora felt Darius shift behind her, felt the heat of his anger pressing against her back. But she did not turn. She kept her eyes on Elias. "You misunderstand the crown-moon," she said. "It's not a throne. It's a release." "I know what it is," Elias said. "I know what it was meant to be. And I know what Seraphine tried to turn it into. You stopped her. That makes you either a savior or a fool, and I haven't decided which yet." He leaned closer to the mirror's surface. "But I also know what the old law says. The first map of stolen daughters. The names that were erased. The debt that no living Alpha has paid." Nora's pulse hammered in her throat. "If you know about the map, then you know the debt isn't mine to carry alone." "I'm not asking you to carry it alone." Elias's voice softened. "I'm offering to burn it. The map, the mark, the whole bloodline. I have the resources. I have the legal standing. All I need from you is the child." Darius moved. His blade came up, the edge catching the light from the mirror. "You will not finish that sentence." But Elias was already looking past Darius, past Nora, past everything except the cradle. "She's beautiful," he said. "She looks like her grandmother. Did you know that, Nora? Did you know your mother held her once, before the manor doors closed?" Nora's breath stopped. Elias's smile widened. "Hello, Lilian," he said, using a name Nora had never spoken. Not to anyone. Not even to herself. The baby's name from a nightmare she had never told. The mirror went dark.