The Elder's Secret

Lyra's POV

Something was shaking me awake.

I jerked up from the cold stone floor, my heart racing. For a second, I thought Marcus had come back to hurt me again. But the penalty cell was dark and quiet.

Then I felt it again - a gentle touch on my shoulder.

"Child," breathed a voice so soft I almost missed it. "Wake up. We don't have much time."

I turned and saw an old man sitting in the corner of my cell. His hair was white as snow and his face was covered in lines, but his eyes were bright and kind. I'd seen him before in the slave cells, but we'd never talked.

"Elder Thorne?" I whispered back.

He nodded and moved closer to me. "They threw me in here an hour ago. Said I was asking too many questions about where you went." His voice was shaking, but not from fear. From anger.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

"Trouble?" Elder Thorne laughed, but it was a bitter sound. "Child, I've been in trouble for twenty years. Ever since the night your parents died."

My breath caught in my throat. "You knew my parents?"

Elder Thorne's eyes filled with tears. "I knew them very well. I was there the night you were born. I was there when they were killed. And I was there when they made me promise to keep you safe."

"But I thought-" I started.

"You thought you were just a slave," Elder Thorne said. "You thought you were nobody special. That's what they wanted you to think." He reached into his torn shirt and pulled out something that made my heart stop. It was a small piece of metal - silver with a star cut into it. Even in the darkness, it seemed to glow with its own light.

"This belonged to your mother," Elder Thorne said, pushing it into my hands. "Queen Celeste of the StarBlood line."

The metal felt warm against my palm. The moment I touched it, pictures flashed through my mind. A beautiful woman with gray hair and eyes like mine. A man with kind smile holding a baby. Flames. Screaming. Blood on the ground.

"My mother was a queen?" I whispered.

"The last StarBlood queen," Elder Thorne said. "And your father was King Orion. They ruled over all the werewolf packs before the covenant killed them."

My hands were shaking. "But that would make me..."

"A lady. The proper heir to the throne." Elder Thorne's voice was getting weaker. "The only living StarBlood left in the world."

I couldn't move. This was impossible. I was just a slave. I couldn't even shift into my wolf form properly. How could I be royalty? "I don't understand," I said. "If I'm so great, why can't I do anything? Why am I so weak?"

Elder Thorne's face reddened. "Because they've been killing you since you were a baby. That necklace Marcus gave you wasn't just draining your blood - it was stopping your true power."

"My power?"

"StarBlood wolves aren't like regular wolves," Elder Thorne explained. "We don't just shift. We can help others with our touch. We can speak to the souls of the dead. We can control the very elements themselves."

As he spoke, I felt something sparking deep inside me. Something that had been sleeping for a very long time.

"The covenant has been hunting StarBlood wolves for centuries," Elder Thorne continued. "They killed your parents because they were afraid of what we could do. They've been trying to finish the job ever since."

"But why keep me alive at all?" I asked.

"Because they need your blood for their rites. StarBlood is the key to ultimate power. They've been slowly harvesting it from you for years, waiting until you were old enough for the final offering."

Suddenly, footsteps sounded in the hallway outside our cell. Elder Thorne's eyes went wide with fear.

"They're coming back," he whispered. "It's starting."

I could hear voices getting closer. Marcus was talking to someone - someone with a voice like grinding glass.

"The girl is ready," Marcus was saying. "We can begin the ritual at midnight."

"Excellent," the other voice answered. "Twenty years of planning will finally pay off."

Elder Thorne grabbed my hands. His hands were shining with a soft blue light.

"Listen to me very carefully," he said anxiously. "I'm going to use the last of my power to break these locks. When I do, you have to run. Run as fast as you can."

"But where-" "The Shadowlands," Elder Thorne said. "It's the only place they can't follow you. Find the Phantom Alpha."

"The Phantom Alpha?"

"His real name is Darius Nightfall. He's been waiting for you." Elder Thorne's hands were getting brighter. "Tell him Elder Thorne sent you. Tell him it's time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to take back what was stolen from your family."

The voices were getting closer now. I could hear keys jingling.

Elder Thorne pressed both hands against the cell door. The blue light spread from his fingers to the metal bars. I heard a soft clicking sound as the locks started to open.

"Remember," Elder Thorne whispered, and I could see that using his magic was hurting him. His face was pale and he was breathing hard. "You are not a slave. You are StarBlood royalty. You are the daughter of kings and queens."

The cell door swung open with a creak.

"Go," Elder Thorne gasped. "Go now, before-"

"Well, well," Marcus's words cut through the darkness like a knife. "What do we have here?"

I spun around to see Marcus standing in the doorway with three masked figures behind him. Their faces were covered, but I could feel their eyes on me like ice.

"The old fool used magic," one of the hooded figures said. "How inconvenient."

Marcus stepped into the cell and looked down at Elder Thorne, who was now slumped against the wall, barely breathing.

"You should have minded your own business, old man," Marcus said.

"Run, Lyra," Elder Thorne whispered with his last breath. "Find Darius. Tell him... tell him the StarBlood princess has awakened."

The old man's eyes closed forever.

Marcus turned to me with that terrible smile. "Going somewhere, princess?"

But I was already going. I darted past Marcus and through the cell door, running toward the darkness of the hallway. Behind me, I heard Marcus shout: "After her! The ritual cannot wait!"