CHAPTER THREE
1057 Words
Arden
I knew something was wrong the moment my vision blurred.
One second, I was standing in the throne room, barely listening to the droning of advisors who had grown too comfortable with the sound of their own voices.
Next, a sharp, icy pressure wrapped around my spine like a chain made of shadows.
My wolf snarled inside me.
Something is coming.
My jaw tightened.
"Everyone out."
The councillors blinked, stunned.
"Your Majesty?"
Elder Rowan stammered.
"I said,"
My voice cracked.
The pain hit me likr a blade plunged into my chest. I staggered forward, one hand slamming down on the armrest of my throne to keep myself upright.
Gasps echoed across the marble floor.
"Your Majesty!"
"What's happening to the king?"
I didn't answer, couldn't answer. The darkness in my veins surged like poison, cold and burning at the same time. My breath came sharp and shallow.
The room tilted.
My knees buckled.
And then
I collapsed.
Not from battle.
Not from exhaustion.
From something far, far worse.
My wolf roared, then whimpered.
She is gone. You pushed her away. Fate does not forgive this.
My fingers dug into the floor as the curse slithered beneath my skin, blackening the veins up my arms. A shudder rippled through me, violent and uncontrollable.
"Hold him down!"
"Get the royal physician!"
"No, he's shifting, gods, he's losing control."
Their voices were nothing but echoes.
I could barely breathe.
Every breath scraped like sand.
Every heartbeat felt weaker, slower, and wrong.
The castle walls pulsed with shadows. Or that was my vision dimming.
Then I heard it.
A strange, distant whisper curling through the room like smoke:
"You severed the bond, wolf king…
And now your kingdom pays the price."
My blood turned to ice.
Who spoke?
I forced my head up. The throne room glittered with moonlit marble floors, towering pillars, and the carved emblems of the Silvercrest lineage. But between two pillars, just for a heartbeat, stood a silhouette.
Tall.
Twisted.
Smiling.
A creature with eyes like liquid night.
The Bloodshade Wraith.
My breath caught in my throat.
Then it was gone.
The council rushed around me, unaware of what I'd seen.
"Arden, can you stand?" Elder Rowan grasped my arm.
I jerked away, not from him, but from the horrifying truth clawing at my mind.
"No one touches me."
My voice came out strained, broken.
Because I already knew what this was.
I knew the moment the omega ran from me, pain ripping through her like a blade.
I'd felt it.
I'd ignored it.
I thought rejecting her would protect the kingdom. Stop the prophecy. Break the bond before anyone can use her against me.
But now…
Now, the curse had my blood in its grip.
I forced myself upright, though the world swayed violently.
"Your Majesty, please," Rowan begged, "you cannot stand in this condition."
"I am your king," I snarled. "Not a child."
But even as I spoke, something warm slid down my nose.
I touched my upper lip.
Blood.
The councillors gasped.
"The king bleeds."
"The curse. Could it be?"
"Impossible."
"No wolf king has ever"
"Enough!"
My roar shook the room.
Silence fell instantly.
But inside me, my wolf trembled.
Not from fear of battle.
Not from injury.
But from the sickening realization that something… someone… was missing.
My chest tightened painfully.
The mate bond.
It should have faded instantly the moment I rejected her.
That was the point. That was why I did it. To break the prophecy. To keep power in the kingdom.
Except
It had not faded.
Not even a little.
Instead, it pulled at me now, faint, flickering, like a dying ember fighting to stay lit.
My wolf whined.
My breath hitched.
She's in danger.
I ignored him.
"She's gone," I said out loud, wiping the blood from my nose with the back of my hand. My voice was flat, hollow.
"The omega has fled."
"She was a threat to the kingdom," Elder Rowan said, nodding too eagerly.
"You did what was necessary."
Necessary.
Yes. That was what I kept telling myself.
Rejecting her was necessary.
For the kingdom.
For peace.
For control.
And yet every breath felt like a blade twisting deeper into my lungs.
A young warrior burst into the chamber, armor clattering.
"Your Majesty, wolves are collapsing across the barracks. Warriors can't shift. Many can't stand. Families are reporting strange weakness in children, too."
His voice cracked. "Sire, something is killing us."
A silence heavier than steel fell.
Then Elder Rowan whispered, "The curse."
My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached.
I forced myself to stand tall even as the darkness pulsed in my veins.
"This curse," I said slowly, "originated after the ceremony."
"After you rejected the omega," the warrior said before he could stop himself.
All heads turned to him.
He paled. "Forgive me, my king, I didn't mean"
But the damage was already done.
A cold dread settled in my gut.
I had known.
I had known from the moment pain had ripped across the bond. You couldn't reject a fated mate without consequences. You couldn't sever destiny and expect the gods to look away.
My wolf spoke again, broken but certain:
It's her. The curse follows us because you pushed her away.
My fists clenched until blood ran from my palms.
"She is nothing," I growled under my breath.
But for the first time in my life… I didn't believe my own words.
A ripple of weakness surged through me again. My knees buckled, but I caught myself on the armrest of the throne.
Dark veins crawled across my skin again, higher this time, reaching my shoulder.
The council stepped back, fear darting in their eyes.
"Your Majesty," Rowan whispered, “if this is connected to the girl."
"Find her," I commanded.
The room froze.
"Sire?"
"Find her."
My voice cracked like a whip. "Before the curse spreads beyond the palace walls.”
"But you rejected her," another councillor whispered. "If she returns… the truth of the bond will spread. Your enemies"
"If she is the key to saving my kingdom," I snarled, "I will drag her back myself."
The words scraped against something raw inside me.
Not because she is your mate, I told myself.
But because she is necessary.
My wolf didn't believe that for a second.
- Writer
