Chapter 3 - Stonehaven Sanctuary and the Forged Letter
By dawn, Elara was traveling toward Stonehaven Free Territory. Royal trackers found her before she reached the border, and she barely escaped across Silver Creek before four Stonehaven wolves surrounded her. Their leader shifted—Alpha Gabriel Stone, whose scarred face showed no sympathy.
JPG+ 2
“You crossed my border with royal trackers behind you and crown blood in your scent.”
JPG
“I claim sanctuary.”
JPG
“That remains to be proven.”
JPG
At the border lodge, Gabriel questioned her until sunrise. When Elara told him why she had fled, his expression changed. “A forged trial? An executed brother? And the father of your children is the man who allowed it?”
JPG+ 4
Elara placed both hands over her stomach. “He chose the law that killed him.”
JPG+ 1
Gabriel gave her thirty days of protection. That night, Elara wrote to Cassian—she did not beg, nor ask to return, but told him she carried twins, offered supervised contact, and stated the children would remain under her custody in neutral territory, pressing two small crescent moons into white wax at the bottom.
JPG+ 1
The letter reached Nightfall, but Cassian never saw it. Isolda Varon—daughter of Grand Judge Allaric—intercepted it. She read every line, summoned a loyal seal-maker, and commanded him to copy the king’s private mark. Three days later, Elara received Cassian’s supposed reply beside Gabriel’s fire.
JPG+ 3
The first sentence read: I refuse recognition of any child conceived before your desertion.
JPG
Elara read it twice—no concern, no question, no request to verify the pregnancy, only rejection. Gabriel stood near the window. “Is the seal genuine?”
JPG+ 2
“It appears genuine.”
JPG
“That wasn’t my question.”
JPG
May you like
Elara remembered Cassian’s private stamp—the slight rightward pressure caused by an old injury in his thumb—and this seal carried the same flaw. “Yes,” she whispered, believing it, and that belief changed everything.
JPG+ 1
