Three days passed after Kael told me about the challenge.
Three days of training. Three days of watching him prepare to fight for his life. Three days of pretending I wasn't terrified.
The Rite of Ascent was tomorrow at dawn.
I hadn't slept in forty-eight hours.
---
It was 2 AM when I heard it.
A creak. Not the house settling. Not the wind.
Footsteps.
Soft. Deliberate. Stopping right outside my bedroom door.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I didn't move. Didn't breathe. Just lay there in the dark, staring at the sliver of light under the door.
The footsteps didn't move away.
Someone was standing there. Listening.
---
I thought about calling out for Kael. His room was three doors down. But if I screamed, whoever was out there would run. And I needed to know who it was.
I needed to see their face.
Slowly, silently, I slid out of bed. My bare feet touched the cold floor. I didn't make a sound.
The footsteps shifted.
They knew I was awake.
I reached the door. Pressed my ear against the wood.
Breathing. Shallow. Nervous.
Not Kael's breathing. Too quick. Too light.
I grabbed the handle. Took a breath. And yanked the door open.
---
The hallway was empty.
No one.
But the air was still warm where they'd been standing.
And on the floor, right outside my door, was a single black feather.
---
I didn't sleep after that.
I sat in the window seat with the feather in my hand, watching the gardens turn gray with dawn. A black feather. Not from any bird I knew. Too large. Too smooth. It almost looked... wolflike.
That didn't make sense. Wolves didn't have feathers.
But something about it made my skin crawl.
---
At 6 AM, I found Kael in the training yard.
He was already sweating. His knuckles were wrapped fresh. He didn't look up when I approached.
"You're early," he said.
"Someone was outside my door last night."
He stopped mid-punch. Turned.
"What?"
"Footsteps. Breathing. They stood there for almost a minute. When I opened the door, they were gone." I held up the feather. "This was on the floor."
Kael took it. His face went pale.
"Where did you get this?"
"It was outside my room. I told you."
He stared at the feather like it was a snake.
"That's not possible," he said quietly.
"What?"
"The black feather. It's a marker. The council's spies use them to mark targets." His jaw tightened. "But the only person who carries these is —" He stopped.
"Who?"
Kael didn't answer.
He turned and walked toward the house, the feather still in his hand.
"Kael! Who?"
He didn't look back.
---
I followed him inside. Through the kitchen. Down the hallway. Past the library.
He stopped outside a door I'd never noticed before. Tucked away at the end of the corridor. Locked.
He pulled a key from his pocket.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"My mother's room."
The door swung open.
---
The room was frozen in time.
A bed with yellowed sheets. A vanity with silver brushes. Dresses hanging in the closet, faded but beautiful. Photographs on every surface.
And on the wall — feathers.
Dozens of them. Black. Arranged in a pattern I didn't understand.
Kael stood in the center of the room, the feather still in his hand.
"My mother was the council's spy," he said. "Before she married my father. Before she became Alpha Female. She used these feathers to mark targets for assassination."
I couldn't breathe.
"After she died, I thought I'd destroyed them all. Burned them. Buried them." He looked at the feather in his hand. "But someone found one."
"Who?"
"The same person who's been listening outside your door. The same person who told the council about the pregnancy."
"A spy," I whispered. "In this house."
Kael turned to me.
"Yes."
---
We searched the house.
Every room. Every closet. Every basement corner.
We found nothing.
But I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching. Every time I turned around, the hair on my neck stood up. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard breathing.
That night, Kael moved me into his room.
"Until we find whoever it is," he said, "you don't sleep alone."
I didn't argue.
---
His room was different from mine. Darker. Fewer windows. But his bed was warm, and he slept on the far edge, giving me space.
I lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
"Kael?"
"Hmm."
"Who else knew about the feather?"
A pause.
"Marta."
"Marta?"
"She was my mother's handmaiden. She knew everything." He turned to look at me. "But Marta wouldn't betray us."
"Then who?"
He was quiet for a long moment.
"Dorian."
"Your beta?"
"He's been with the pack for twenty years. But he's been acting strange lately. Jumpy. Avoiding my eyes."
"Dorian brought me breakfast yesterday," I said slowly. "He asked how I was sleeping. I thought it was small talk."
Kael sat up.
"What else did he ask?"
"Whether I'd heard anything strange at night. Whether I felt safe."
Kael's face hardened.
"Dorian knows about the feather. I showed it to him two days ago." He threw off the covers. "Stay here. Lock the door behind me. Don't open it for anyone but me."
"Kael —"
"I mean it, Elara."
He was gone before I could argue.
---
I locked the door.
Then I sat on his bed, knees to my chest, and waited.
The minutes crawled by. Five. Ten. Fifteen.
Footsteps in the hallway. Fast. Angry.
Then a door slammed somewhere in the house.
Then shouting.
I couldn't make out the words. But I recognized Kael's voice. And another voice. Dorian's.
More shouting.
Then silence.
---
The knock came at 3 AM.
"Elara. It's me."
I unlocked the door.
Kael stood in the hallway. Alone. His face was stone, but his hands were shaking.
"It wasn't Dorian," he said.
"Then who?"
He stepped inside. Locked the door behind him.
"It was Finn. Dorian's younger brother."
"Finn?"
"He's been spying for the council for months. Dorian didn't know. When I confronted him, he broke down. Confessed everything." Kael sat on the edge of the bed. "The council promised Finn a position in the new pack if he helped them take me down."
"Where is Finn now?"
"Gone. I banished him."
"Just banished? He was going to let them take me to the Nursery. He was going to let them take my baby."
Kael looked at me.
"He's eighteen years old, Elara. He was scared. The council threatened his family."
"So you let him go."
"I let him go."
I wanted to be angry. I wanted to scream that it wasn't fair. But looking at Kael's face — exhausted, haunted, trying so hard to be something other than the Ice Alpha — I couldn't.
"You're a better man than they think," I said quietly.
He reached for my hand.
"I'm trying to be."
---
We slept side by side that night.
Not touching. But close enough that I could hear him breathing.
And for the first time since I'd arrived, I didn't hear footsteps outside the door.
The spy was gone.
But the council wasn't.
And tomorrow, Kael would fight for his life.