Chapter 13. The Impostor Queen

Selene heard her before she saw her.

The sound was subtle—bare feet brushing through fallen leaves, careful breaths measured to avoid notice, a cadence that struck her like a half-remembered heartbeat. Then the scent followed, rolling through the clearing with quiet insistence: ash and pine, old blood and cold air—and something that made her spine stiffen.

Herself.

Alaric stepped forward at her side, his posture sharpening as the bond stirred between them. He felt it too. Not danger exactly, but recognition twisted just enough to feel wrong. Familiarity bent out of true, like a reflection warped by flawed glass.

The trees parted.

The girl emerged from the shadows.

Selene forgot how to b