A Deal In Blood
764 Words
Chapter Five: A Deal in Blood
Midnight.
The shadows whispered as Aria slipped through the servant passage.
Lucien’s bond still pulsed faintly inside her chest, but she’d learned how to dampen it—to mask her thoughts under fire and fury. It kept him confused. Restless.
It bought her time.
She moved quickly, barefoot, her body still sore from the mark and its aftermath. But her steps were silent.
She was done waiting for freedom.
She would carve her own.
---
Earlier that day
A maid had dared speak to her. Not directly—Aria knew Lucien had them muzzled with fear—but the girl had dropped a name in her chamber, whispered behind the guise of folding linens:
> "Kael Blackthorn watches the borders... not all Alphas fear the crown."
The girl was gone by nightfall.
Killed or hidden—Aria didn’t know.
But the name remained.
Kael Blackthorn.
The exiled Alpha.
Lucien’s equal—and his first real threat.
---
Present – Border Forest
The edge of Draven territory crackled with danger. Aria had escaped with one goal in mind: find Kael. Send him a message only he would understand. One that tied back to her mother.
Her blood.
She knelt at the ancient stone altar deep in the woods—where blood pacts were once made between old packs—and cut her palm with a silver-dipped blade.
The scent rose into the night.
Not just blood.
Cursed blood.
It would draw something. Someone.
And it did.
The shadows shifted.
A tall figure emerged, hooded, silent. The scent of wildness and frost clung to him.
He said nothing as he approached. But his golden eyes glowed like fire through snow.
> “Only one other bled here like that,” he said. “Twenty years ago.”
Aria stood, hand still bleeding. “My mother.”
He pulled down his hood.
Kael.
Scarred. Beautiful. Dangerous.
His face went still when he saw her.
> “You’re her.”
Aria nodded. “I need your help.”
Kael tilted his head, wolf-sense assessing her. “And why would I give it? You carry his scent.”
“I didn’t ask for his mark.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s there.”
Aria stepped closer, the wound in her palm still dripping. “He thinks he owns me. But you knew my mother. You knew what she was. What I might be.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Do you even know what flows in your blood, girl?”
“I know enough to scare him.”
Kael’s mouth curved. “Good.”
He reached into his cloak, pulled out a small, obsidian vial.
“Then take this.”
“What is it?”
“A breaker.”
“A breaker?”
He looked at her with something between pity and admiration. “If you drink it, the bond won’t hold. Not fully. But it will cost you.”
“Cost me what?”
Kael smiled, sharp as broken glass. “You’ll lose the bond—but you’ll keep the fire. And it’ll burn everything in your path. Including him. Including you.”
Aria stared at the vial.
Lucien’s face burned in her mind.
His voice. His touch. The mark on her throat.
She wanted it gone.
And yet…
Something deep inside her screamed that breaking the bond wasn’t the end. It was the beginning.
Still—she took the vial.
Not to use it yet.
But to own the choice.
---
Back in Draven Territory – Lucien’s study
Lucien stood before the fire, gripping the edge of his desk.
Something had shifted.
The bond was there—but thinner.
Fractured.
> She was hiding something.
He could feel her distance. Her silence. And it drove him mad.
His Beta approached cautiously.
“Alpha,” he said, “we picked up Blackthorn’s scent near the southern stones.”
Lucien turned slowly. “He’s crossed into my lands?”
“No. But someone sent a message. With blood.”
Lucien’s eyes glowed.
And then—he snarled, loud and brutal.
He knew.
He didn’t know how.
But he knew who had bled.
---
Back in Aria’s chamber – hours later
She sat on the bed again, the vial hidden beneath her mattress, her palm bandaged.
Lucien hadn’t come.
But his rage did.
It buzzed through the bond like a hornet’s nest. Furious. Scalding.
She closed her eyes and whispered, “Good.”
Because now it was her move.
She wasn’t just a prisoner anymore.
She was a player.
And her next step would change everything.
- Writer
