Chapter 10 — Bound by Blood
1129 Words
Darkness.
That was all I could see, all I could feel. Heavy, endless, suffocating darkness.
Then came the whisper.
“Wake up, Blood Luna…”
I gasped and sat up — only to find that I wasn’t in my room anymore.
The air smelled of smoke and pine. Around me stretched a forest bathed in silver light. The trees were taller than any I’d ever seen, their roots twisted like veins beneath the soil.
And at the center of the clearing stood a small cabin — burning.
Flames clawed at its walls, licking the night sky. The heat pressed against my skin, but I didn’t feel pain. Only a strange, deep ache in my chest — like I’d been here before.
Then I heard a sound that shattered my heart.
A cry.
A baby’s cry.
I stumbled forward, the ground soft and unreal beneath my feet. “Hello?” I called out. “Is anyone there?”
No answer — only the crackle of fire and that tiny, desperate wail.
I pushed through the doorway, and the world twisted. The flames no longer burned; they danced like light and shadow, moving in slow motion.
And then I saw him.
Kael.
Younger, thinner, his eyes filled with terror. He was on his knees, holding a small bundle — a baby wrapped in silver cloth. The same one from my vision at the altar.
My breath caught. “This can’t be real.”
He couldn’t hear me. He couldn’t see me.
A figure appeared behind him — a woman cloaked in red, her hair silver as moonlight. My mother.
She looked just as I remembered her. Strong. Serene. Broken.
“Kael,” she said softly, her voice trembling. “It’s too late. The curse has awakened.”
He shook his head desperately. “There must be a way! Tell me what to do!”
“You can’t save me,” she whispered. “But you can save her.”
Kael’s eyes filled with tears. “Your daughter?”
“She carries what I cannot contain,” my mother said. “The moon’s power burns too fiercely in my veins. I’ll burn the world if I stay.”
She reached out, touching his face with trembling fingers. “Promise me, Kael. Protect her. Even if it means she hates you one day.”
He bowed his head. “I swear it.”
Then, without warning, the ground trembled. A violent surge of red light burst from the forest, and my mother turned toward it.
“The curse is coming,” she said. “Go!”
But Kael didn’t move. He was staring at her — at the woman he clearly didn’t just respect, but loved in some quiet, hidden way.
“I can’t leave you,” he whispered.
“You must,” she said firmly. “I’ll hold it back.”
The flames rose higher. My mother’s eyes glowed silver as she raised her hands, chanting words I didn’t understand. The energy crackled through the air, tearing open the ground beneath her.
Kael turned and ran, clutching the baby — me — as the forest behind him exploded in light.
“Mother!” I screamed, reaching out — but my hand passed right through her.
Her eyes flicked toward me, even though she shouldn’t have been able to see me.
“Aria,” she said softly, through the roar of the flames. “Don’t let the curse destroy him like it did me.”
And then everything went white.
⸻
When I woke again, I was lying on the cold stone floor of the ritual chamber. My body ached, my heart racing as if I’d run for miles.
Kael was beside me, unconscious but breathing.
I sat up, gasping for air, the echo of my mother’s voice still ringing in my ears. I touched the new mark on my chest — it pulsed once, then faded.
He stirred beside me. “Aria…”
I turned to him, eyes burning. “I saw it.”
His brow furrowed. “Saw what?”
“The night of the fire. My mother. You. Everything.”
He froze.
“She saved you,” I said quietly. “You were just a boy. You didn’t kill her — she chose to protect you.”
He looked down, guilt still shadowing his features. “It doesn’t change what happened. She died because of me.”
“It changes everything,” I whispered. “Because she trusted you. She made you promise to protect me — and you kept that promise, even when I didn’t know it.”
He looked at me, golden eyes soft and tormented. “I tried. But the curse—”
“The curse isn’t your fault,” I interrupted. “It’s ours. It’s what ties us together.”
He shook his head slowly. “No, Aria. You don’t understand. What happened in that vision… that was only the beginning.”
“What do you mean?”
His voice was hoarse. “The curse feeds on love. The stronger the bond between us grows, the stronger it becomes. And when it reaches its peak… one of us will die.”
The words cut through me like a blade.
“That’s not true,” I whispered. “There has to be a way to stop it.”
“There isn’t,” he said, his voice breaking. “That’s why I tried to keep you at a distance. Why I lied. Because every time I feel something for you, every time I want to protect you, it awakens the curse more.”
Silence filled the room, thick and suffocating.
And then, softly, I said, “Then maybe the only way to fight it… is to stop running from it.”
He looked at me, stunned.
“I saw the way my mother looked at you,” I said. “She didn’t see a monster. She saw hope. Maybe that’s what the curse is afraid of — not power, not blood, but love itself.”
Kael reached out slowly, brushing his fingers against mine. “You’re not afraid of me?”
“I should be,” I whispered. “But I’m not.”
For a moment, everything was still. The faint hum of the moonlight filled the air again, wrapping around us in a soft glow.
Our marks pulsed in unison — his on his neck, mine over my heart.
And then, somewhere deep within the forest, the Blood Luna’s voice echoed once more:
“When the moon turns black, one will fall, and one will rise.”
Kael’s hand tightened around mine. “It’s starting again.”
The light in the room flickered. The moon outside shifted — not red, but darker. Shadowed.
The prophecy had awakened.
- Writer
