CHAPTER 4 — The Boy Who Was Not Supposed to Survive
By sunset, the whole kingdom had changed.
The boy who had entered the arena as a sacrifice now stood inside the royal palace.
Elias had never seen floors that shined like frozen water.
He had never eaten from golden plates.
He had never slept in a bed softer than hay.
But none of it felt like home.
His real mother — the queen — followed him everywhere with trembling hands and tear-filled eyes.
She wanted to hug him.
To call him son.
To erase fifteen years of silence.
But Elias could barely look at her.
Because while she lived behind palace walls…
His adoptive mother had starved in a broken farmhouse.
His little sister had cried herself to sleep.
And no one in the palace had ever come for them.
That night, the king announced before the nobles:
“Elias is my lost son. From this day forward, he will be restored as prince.”
The room went silent.
Then whispers began.
A farm boy?
A dirty child?
A monster’s pet?
Some nobles smiled politely.
Others stared at him like he was a disease.
But one person smiled more than anyone.
Prince Adrian.
The king’s older son.
The boy who had spent his whole life believing the throne was his.
He raised his cup and said softly,
“Welcome home, little brother.”
But his eyes said something else.
Elias felt it immediately.
The wolf had protected him from claws and swords.
But inside the palace…
The real predators wore silk.
That night, Elias woke to a strange sound outside his door.
A scratching.
Slow.
Deliberate.
When he opened it, he found a dead black wolf pup lying on the marble floor.
Pinned to its fur was a note written in red ink:
“Monsters belong in cages. So do the boys they raise.”
Elias stepped back, horrified.
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At the end of the hallway…
Prince Adrian disappeared into the shadows.
