The Last Pureblood Healer

Chapter 2 Ash and Severance

Kaelen stared at me. Before he could reply, the ritual chamber doors burst open.

Lyra, the Pack’s eldest healer and my former mentor, rushed in. She knelt beside me, but her gnarled hands stopped above my scorched robes.

Color drained from her face as she traced the damage without touching it. She had taught me to find a cracked core; neither of us had ever seen one burned out.

“My child. Your core.” Her hand moved over the air above my chest, then pulled back. “It's shattered, Seraphina. It's gone. You won't be able to heal again.”

No healing core. No mate bond. The two things that had defined my life were gone.

Footsteps sounded behind us. Elara stood in the doorway, clutching my cloak around her shoulders. Her mouth pulled down, but her eyes stayed dry.

“Oh, sister. I heard what the healer said. It's a tragedy.”

She came closer and held out a scroll bearing the quartermaster's seal. “He has also filed a formal complaint. Several sacred formulas are missing from your stores. Kaelen is so disappointed.”

She smiled over the edge of the scroll. Now they had a theft charge to add to the ruined ritual.

Under the folds of my ruined tunic, my thumb found the smooth recording crystal I always carried. Its tiny light pulsed once and went dark.

“That’s enough, Elara.”

Kaelen strode into the room holding a scroll sealed with the Alpha's black wax. The Severance Agreement.

He didn’t even look at me. “Lyra, leave us.”

Lyra hesitated before bowing her head and leaving.

Kaelen unrolled the scroll and threw it onto the stone floor beside me. “Sign it.”

I pushed myself up. Pain ran through my chest, and the room tipped under my feet.

Kaelen's hand came up toward my elbow. Then he glanced at Elara and let it fall, closing it into a fist.

“I expected you to beg.” Kaelen looked at the blood on my robes. “I see I overestimated your attachment.”

I reached for the scroll. The edge of the shattered ritual bowl cut my thumb.

I pressed my bleeding thumb into the signature space and dragged it across the parchment. The blood seal took.

I rolled the scroll back up.

He held out his hand for the agreement.

Instead, I threw it. The heavy scroll struck his chest, and the last thread of our bond snapped.

The severing stole my breath. When the pain passed, there was only empty space between us, and for once it belonged to me.

His eyes widened. Panic showed for a heartbeat before his jaw locked.

“You are no longer Luna. You are no longer of the Shadow Pack. Be gone by sunrise, or you will be hunted as a traitor.”