The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 295

<The Valdyr secret

The Valdyr secret

(Isla)

+25 Points

Pryor kept his finger beside the Valdyr name. The family appeared several times through the Keeper records, and unlike Evander’s ancestor, none of them carried the mark for a broken oath. We already knew they had remained loyal to the Keeper order. What we didn’t know was what that loyalty had meant.

“Loyal to whom?”

Evander looked at me.

“The Keepers.”

That didn’t answer enough. Varen had convinced some Keepers that I needed to remain under their control, while others had helped remove me from Garron. The order had been divided long before I was placed into protected sleep.

“Which side were the Valdyrs on?”

Evander looked at the open record.

“Neither, at first.”

I frowned. I hadn’t expected that answer. Evander explained that the Valdyrs believed their duty was to protect knowledge rather than choose between Varen and the wolves who opposed him. That changed after I disappeared.

“What happened?”

“They started searching for you.”

I looked at Caius. Evander’s grandfather had helped hide me, yet the Valdyrs had apparently spent years trying to discover where I’d been taken. That could mean they wanted to protect me.

“Did they know your grandfather helped?”

“Eventually.”

i

Evander’s attention moved to the silver seal. His grandfather had disappeared from the Keeper order after helping remove me from Garron. By the time the Valdyrs learned what he’d done, he had already hidden every path that could lead them to me.

“Were they angry?”

“Yes.”

I could understand why. From their view, a Celestial child had vanished and one of their own had betrayed the order to make it happen. They wouldn’t have known whether I was alive.

Pryor looked farther down the page.

“Your family and the Valdyrs remained enemies?”

<The Valdysectet-

“For generations.”

+25 Point

That gave us something new. Evander’s family hadn’t simply left the Keepers and gone on with their lives. The choice his grandfather made had created a division that survived long after Varen died.

“Then how do you know they still exist?”

Evander looked at me.

“Because I met one.”

Caius moved nearer.

“When?”

Evander didn’t answer immediately. His eyes went toward the black box before returning to us. Whatever came next was something he’d kept hidden for years.

“Twenty years ago.”

I stared at him. That was around the same time Derek had received the letter telling him to retrieve me. Evander had met a Valdyr when my protected sleep was ending.

“Who?”

“Orin Valdyr.”

Pryor reached for another record. The name wasn’t among the older entries in front of us, which made sense if Orin had been born centuries later. We finally had the name of someone connected to the Keeper family in our own time.

“Where did you meet him?”

“At the Council.”

Evander explained that Orin had arrived without requesting a hearing. He hadn’t come for Council business either. He’d asked specifically for Evander.

“What did he want?”

Evander looked directly at me.

“To know whether the child had returned”

I felt every part of my attention settle on him. Orin had known my protected sleep was ending, just as whoever sent Derek’s letter had known. The Valdyr family had been waiting for me.

“What did you tell him?”

“That I didn’t know.”

That made sense if Evander hadn’t yet known where I was. Derek had taken me back to Ashcrest without understanding what he carried. Years would pass before anyone connected me to the Celestial child from

the old stories.

The Valdyrsettel

“Did Orin believe you?”

“No.”

+25 Points

Evander said Orin had warned him that the old promise would soon matter again. Evander hadn’t understood everything he meant at the time. His father had taught him the question about an unfamiliar name, but he’d never expected to use it.

“What else did Orin say?”

“That the Celestial wolf would remember.”

Vaela moved inside me.

‘Remember what?’

I had the same question. Her ability allowed her to see memories held by objects, but we still didn’t know everything she could do. Maybe the Valdyrs did.

“Did he know about Vaela’s ability?”

“Some of it.”

I thought about what we’d discovered in Frostvale. Vaela had reached memories no ordinary wolf could see. If Orin had known that would happen before I even woke, his family had kept knowledge that disappeared from the Council records.

“What did he tell you?”

Evander looked toward Pryor.

“That once her gift appeared, things hidden for centuries could be found.”

Pryor stopped looking through the records. That explained why Evander had become afraid once he realized I might be the Celestial from his family’s stories. He hadn’t simply feared my strength.

“You thought Vaela would uncover something about the Council.”

Evander nodded.

“Yes.”

My anger returned. Evander had chosen to suppress my first shift because he was afraid of what Vaela might discover. He’d repeated the same kind of choice his grandfather had once fought against.

“What were you trying to keep hidden?”

Evander looked at me.

“I didn’t know.”

I didn’t believe that was the entire truth.

“You used wolfsbane on me because of something you didn’t know?”

The Valdy secret-

“knew enough.”

Caius’s attention remained on him.

“Then tell us what you knew

+25 Points

Evander took a moment before answering. His family had carried a warning alongside the old promise. If the Celestial wolf ever began uncovering memories, the Keepers would return.

“Return from where?”

“I don’t know.”

Pryor looked down at the Valdyr name again. The Keeper order had disappeared from official Council records centuries ago, but that didn’t mean the families had stopped carrying out their duties. Some could have continued without the Council knowing.

“Did Orin ever contact you again?”

“Once.”

I leaned closer.

“When?”

“Five years after you woke.”

I thought immediately about what Helene had told us. A dark haired stranger had come to Ashcrest when

I was around five and asked whether the child Derek had taken in was healthy. We had never known who

he was.

“What did Orin look like?”

Evander described a man with dark hair who appeared to be around forty. I looked at Caius. He had already made the same connection.

“Helene saw him.”

Evander frowned.

“Where?”

“At Ashcrest.”

For once, Evander looked genuinely surprised. Orin hadn’t told him he’d found me. That meant the Valdyr had been watching me without Evander knowing.

“Why would he check on me?”

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