Chapter Eight: Sent Away
433 Words
Aria was awakened before dawn.
Two guards stood at the foot of her cot, faces blank. One held a small pack—hers.
“You’re leaving,” the taller one said.
Aria sat up slowly. “Where?”
“The border villages. Effective immediately.”
Her chest tightened. She already knew whose order this was.
She dressed in silence, fingers steady despite the storm inside her. As she stepped into the corridor, she felt it—the bond pulling hard, frantic, as if sensing what she did not yet know.
Kael.
He waited in the courtyard, cloaked, the morning mist curling around his boots. No Lyra. No witnesses.
Good.
“You’re sending me away,” Aria said flatly.
Kael didn’t meet her eyes. “It’s temporary.”
“For my safety,” she guessed.
His jaw flexed. “You’re not protected here.”
Aria laughed softly. “You made sure of that.”
He looked at her then—really looked. Bruises shadowed her cheek. A cut split her lip.
Rage flared in his eyes.
“I will handle Lyra,” he said.
“You already chose her,” Aria replied. “Handling comes too late.”
Silence stretched, heavy and raw.
Kael took a step closer. The bond surged—sharp, aching, desperate.
“If I don’t send you away,” he said quietly, “she will destroy you.”
“And if you do?” Aria asked.
“I might.”
The honesty in his voice stole her breath.
A horse was brought forward. Supplies tied to the saddle.
Aria took the reins. “When you look for me,” she said, “it won’t be because I need saving.”
Kael stiffened.
“You won’t come back the same,” he said.
“I hope not.”
For a moment—just a moment—his hand brushed hers.
The bond screamed.
Kael pulled back as if burned.
“Go,” he said roughly. “Before I change my mind.”
Aria mounted the horse and rode through the gates without looking back.
She didn’t see Kael drop to one knee the second she crossed the boundary.
Didn’t hear the roar of his wolf tearing through his chest.
Didn’t know that the pack felt it too—
the Alpha’s pain echoing like thunder.
Miles away, Aria gasped as the bond stretched thin—but did not break.
Tears finally fell.
Not from weakness.
From resolve.
Because whatever waited for her beyond the border,
she would return changed.
And this time,
no one would ever put her on her knees again.
- Writer
