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Chapter 4 - The Bloodline Awakens

Giselle stared down at the kneeling King, her crimson eyes wide with disbelief. "L-Luna?" she stammered, shaking her head. "You... you must be mistaken. I’m nobody. I’m just a cursed outcast. My own family locked me in an attic because of how I look."

Stellan looked up, his golden eyes burning with an intense, fierce devotion. He reached out, gently cupping her cold cheek with his warm hand. "They were blind, Giselle. And they were fools."

Before Giselle could process his words, a strange warmth bloomed deep within her chest. It started as a faint ember, then rapidly expanded into a raging fire that raced through her veins. She gasped, arching her back as a wave of intense heat washed over her. Her skin flushed, and her vision flashed white.

Deep within her mind, a long-dormant consciousness stirred—a primal, majestic voice that had been suppressed by human superstition for nineteen years.

We have been found, her inner wolf whispered, surging to life with unimaginable strength.

Stellan watched her face closely, a proud, triumphant smile touching his lips. "You felt it, didn't you? That isn't a human curse, Giselle. That is royal blood. You are the last surviving direct descendant of the Frostfang Lycan lineage—a bloodline thought slaughtered a century ago."

Giselle’s breath hitched. "My... my parents said I was a monster."

"Your parents were terrified thieves who stole you away from the ruins of your true home to hide their own crimes," Stellan growled softly, rising to his feet and lifting Giselle effortlessly into his arms. She weighed almost nothing against his muscular frame. "They traded a queen for five thousand gold coins. And they will pay for that treason in blood."

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Cradled against his chest, Giselle felt safe for the first time in her entire life. As the Lycan pack reformed around them, turning their march northward toward the gleaming ice-spire fortress of the northern capital, Giselle looked up at the fierce King who carried her.

The ghost of the attic was gone. In her place, a queen was waking up.

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