The sun dipped below the Thaelorian mountains as Myrelion returned from another grueling quest. His armor, still dusted with ash and blood, bore the signs of a skirmish with a rogue wyvern outside the capital.
As he entered the manor's courtyard, the gentle scent of herbs and roasted venison greeted him—home.
Inside, by the hearth, Lira sat serenely on a cushioned chair, cradling and breastfeeding one of their twin daughters—Auralyn, the one with her mother's reddish-orange hair and fox-like features.
"Welcome home, love," she whispered with a warm smile, her soft voice melting the tension from his shoulders. She leaned up, gave him a lingering kiss, and handed him a sealed letter.
The Brackwood crest—an obsidian tree intertwined with a silver serpent—glared back at him in wax.
Myrelion's expression tightened.
He excused himself and entered his study. There, in the flickering candlelight, he broke the seal.
As his eyes scanned the handwritten note, his heart dropped.
> *"To Myrelion Brackwood,
I write to you not as your elder brother, but as the new head of House Brackwood.
Our father, Lord Corwin Brackwood, is dead.
There is no ceremony yet, only silence and secrets. You must come to the ancestral castle at once.
For there is a truth—buried in lies and shadow—that Father kept hidden from us all. It concerns you… and Mother."
– Bramir Brackwood"*
Myrelion sat back, hand trembling slightly. Dead? The man who cast him out, who shunned his existence and never once called him son… was gone?
But it was the final line that etched confusion deeper than grief: "It concerns you… and Mother."