The hall of mirrors stood silent.
Elara stepped inside slowly, eyes adjusting to the dim blue glow. The floor was polished obsidian. The walls shimmered, glass bending the light into illusions—too many versions of herself staring back.
She was alone.
Or so she thought.
> "Welcome to my mind," Cassian's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
She turned—but there was no one.
The door slammed shut behind her.
"Trial Two," Cassian purred. "You don't have to run this time. You only have to see the truth."
Suddenly, all the mirrors shimmered.
And began to show her memories.
Her mother screaming.
Her village burning.
The moment she was dragged to the altar.
The fear. The helplessness. The betrayal in the eyes of people she loved.
She backed away, shaking her head. "Stop it."
Cassian's voice was soft now. Closer. "Why? This is all you've hidden. All you've buried. And it's only the beginning."
She spun—and he was there, behind one of the mirrors, dressed in black velvet, no weapons, no armor.
Just words.
"Your power doesn't lie in your Mark, Elara," he said. "It lies in your memories. And you've locked them away."
Elara stepped closer to a mirror showing her as a child, laughing with a woman—her mother? No… the face was shifting. Blurred.
"Who is she?" Elara whispered.
Cassian's eyes sharpened. "That's the question, isn't it? You don't know who you are. What you are. And that makes you weak."
She faced him. "I survived Talon."
Cassian stepped forward, gently brushing hair from her face. "Talon tests your body. Rael will test your will. But I test your soul."
He leaned in. "Do you want to know the secret they're all hiding?"
Her pulse raced.
> "You weren't chosen by the moon," he whispered. "You were cursed by something older."
Suddenly the mirrors shattered.
All except one.
In it—Elara stood crowned, her eyes glowing silver, wolves kneeling before her… and blood on her hands.
She gasped. "That's not real."
Cassian stepped back, serious now. "It is a possibility. One of many. The question is: Will you become the queen… or the weapon?"
Elara turned to him. "Is this my trial?"
Cassian smiled. "No."
He raised his hand—
And the entire hall twisted, the floor disappearing, the glass turning to smoke.
"Now it begins."
Elara fell.
Through dreams. Through time.
Until she landed—in a memory that wasn't hers.
Flames.
A silver crown shattering.
Three Alphas kneeling before a dying girl marked in moonfire.
A voice whispering: "She will return. And choose."
Elara screamed—
And woke up in Cassian's arms.
"You passed," he murmured.
She shoved him away. "What the hell was that?"
He grinned. "Me, showing you what you are."
Her Mark throbbed violently.
Cassian's eyes glowed. "One more trial, little flame."
His smile darkened.
> "And then you'll belong to someone. Whether you want to or not."