~Aethelia~
I do not know how long I have been here.
Time does not move inside this cell. It only sinks.
The walls are cold. The air is still. Even the guards outside barely speak. It feels like the world has already forgotten me. It feels like there is no more hope for me.
So this is how it ends.
Not in battle. Not in fire.
But in silence.
I sit on the floor, my back against the stone. My hands rest on my knees. I try to stay still. If I move too much, I think I might break.
I killed Evra.
The thought comes back again without warning. It always does.
Her face. Her voice. The way she laughed.
I try to avoid it. But I cannot.
She is gone because of me. And I will always blame myself for it.
My chest tightens, but no tears come. I think I already used them all on her.
A small sound escapes my throat anyway. Not a cry. Just something empty.
"I didn't mean to," I whisper.
The cell does not answer. Of course it does not. No one ever answers.
I lower my head. My hair falls around my face. I close my eyes, trying to push everything away.
Then it hits.
A sharp burn at my neck.
I gasp and grab the tiny circle mark. My fingers press hard against it, but it does nothing. The heat spreads under my skin, sudden and wrong.
"No," I breathe.
It is not the night of the new moon.
This should not be happening again.
I do not trust the sacred rope they used to bind me. I do not trust the cruel thing living inside me anymore. I do not want to make my crime worse when I have not even faced what I have already done.
My heart starts to race. My body tenses.
Inside me, Kora stirs, restless and uneasy.
Something is wrong.
I force myself to stand, but my legs feel weak. The room tilts a little.
"Stop," I whisper inside me. "Hold it, Kora."
But it does not stop.
The burn pulses again.
Then it fades. Not slowly. Suddenly. Like someone reached through the bond and stopped it.
I freeze.
That often happens when Kael is near. When we lock eyes. When he touches me. Sometimes even when he stands close enough for me to feel him.
My breath catches.
"No," I say quickly. "He is not here."
He cannot be.
Another thought rises in me at once.
But he said I am under his protection. And he has not come back since the guards returned me to the cell.
Or does this mean he agreed to my death tonight?
I force that thought away. I force myself to be hopeful for once.
I sigh slowly.
"I can feel it again," I whisper. "His scent."
My throat tightens.
"Maybe it is him. Maybe he has come to visit his rejected Luna."
The words feel dangerous, but I let them stay.
For one moment, I believe them.
I take one step back, then another. My eyes search the empty cell, then fix on the door. Maybe it will open. Maybe he will stand there.
Nothing.
Just stone. Just silence.
But my body does not believe it.
A strange warmth settles behind me. Soft. Familiar.
I turn fast.
Still nothing.
Yet the warmth stays.
"It's him," I whisper. "My mind would never deceive me."
My heartbeat quickens again, but not from fear.
I feel it.
Not see it.
I feel it like he is standing close. Too close.
My breathing steadies on its own.
"Kael…?" I whisper.
His name feels dangerous on my tongue.
I cannot hold his name in my mind. I am afraid the thought of him will hurt more than the silence does.
I call his name again.
There is no answer.
But the warmth deepens.
My shoulders loosen without permission. The tightness in my chest eases. Kora quiets inside me.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
"This is not real," I tell myself. "You are imagining it."
I turn away sharply and press my back to the opposite wall, as if I can escape what I feel.
It should disappear now.
It does not.
The warmth follows me.
My breath trembles.
"No," I whisper again, weaker now. "No, this is not real."
I cover my ears, as if that might help.
As if I can block him out.
But it is not a sound.
It is him.
I slide down the wall until I am sitting again. My knees pull to my chest. My arms wrap around them.
"Go away," I whisper.
But my body does not want him to go.
Heat spreads over me, slow and deep. The bond between us surges hard. Pain cuts under my ribs, and the sacred rope seems to bite me all over again.
Inside me, Kora screams, "It will be dangerous if we lose him now."
The pain holds me for a long moment.
Then it breaks, like he has commanded it to leave.
I cough until my throat burns.
That is what terrifies me more.
He is inevitable.
Slowly, without thinking, I let one hand fall.
The air feels warmer there. Like standing close to a fire I cannot see.
My fingers hover. Then move, just a little, as if reaching for something that is not there.
My breath shakes.
"If this is madness," I whisper, "why does it feel like you?"
The words echo softly.
No answer comes.
But my heart calms.
The pain and the burn at my neck are gone now, completely, as if they never came at all.
I close my eyes again.
This time, I do not turn away.
I let myself feel it.
The warmth. The steadiness.
The way Kora leans toward it instead of fighting it, like she has finally found something she knows. Something safe. Something we both need.
A tear slips down my cheek. I do not wipe it away.
"I don't understand this," I whisper.
My voice breaks.
"You should hate me. Why do you act like you do not see what I have done?"
Another tear follows.
"I killed someone. That should have been enough to keep you away."
My chest tightens again, but not the same way.
This pain is different. Quieter. Deeper.
"But when you look at me," I continue softly, "you never show hatred. Not even a little. Not anger. Not blame. Nothing."
I swallow hard.
"Why am I so special to you?"
My hand presses lightly against my chest. My heart beats slower now.
Stronger.
Because of him.
Even when he is not here.
I inhale slowly.
Then exhale.
Something inside me shifts.
I am still afraid. Still guilty. Still trapped.
But that is not all I feel anymore.
"I don't want to die like this," I whisper.
The words are clear now. Not desperate. Not panicked. Certain.
I lower my head slightly.
"If I die without understanding this, without understanding why he keeps choosing to protect me…"
My fingers curl.
"…then it will mean nothing. It will feel like I leave with something unfinished."
Another breath.
Steadier this time.
"Not before I understand him," I whisper.
Silence answers me again.
But it feels different now.
Not empty.
Waiting.
I lift my head slowly. My eyes move toward the cell door again.
He is not there. I know that.
But memory rushes back anyway.
The way he stops my possession. The way he protects me without fear. The way he stands between me and the pack even when they hate him for it. The way he promised me, without saying it in words, that he will not let me fall alone.
Those memories push the fear back.
A new one rises in its place.
He will come.
I do not know why I believe that so strongly.
I just do.
I straighten a little, even though my body is weak.
I will not beg. I will not try to escape again. I will wait. I will face what comes.
But I will not face it like before.
Not alone.
"If you are real," I whisper, barely louder than breath, "then come."
The warmth lingers.
And for the first time since they locked me here, I want to live long enough to see why he is my mate.
I am not afraid of the silence anymore. Maybe I am afraid of the blade that is coming for me before the night ends.