GOLD & AZURE

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 20 : BONDS OF DESTINY AND THE VOLCANO’S BREATH

PART I: THE EMBRACE OF ASHES – MIA

The silence that followed the boat’s disappearance into the sulfurous fog was heavier than the din of battle. Upon the tall grass bordering the basalt beach, Mia collapsed, her legs refusing to bear the weight of her agony. She could still feel the bite of the silver shackles, but it was nothing compared to the gaping tear in her chest.

— “Bea!” She screamed, her voice shattering against the gray wall of mist.

She tried to rush toward the waves, but an irresistible force held her back. Zephyrin, Kian’s colossal silver-tinged wolf, had stepped between them, his jaws closing with protective gentleness on the hem of her tunic to prevent her from committing the irreparable. Mia struggled with the strength of despair, striking the predator’s powerful flanks.

— “Let me go!” She cried.

It was then that a familiar voice resonated in the sanctuary of her mind. It was Yara, her sister’s panther, whose echo reached her through their agonizing twin bond.

“Mia... look at him... this magnificent wolf... it is him. My destined Mate.”

Mia froze, tears blurring her vision. She looked up at the wolf holding her. She saw in his gaze a distress equal to her own, a contained fury behind pupils that searched the horizon in desperation.

Suddenly, a roar of pure hatred, capable of splitting granite, tore through the air. Thalys, the Alpha-King of the snow leopards and her eldest brother, emerged. In a visceral crack of bones, he shifted back to human form amidst the corpses of the Reapers. One of his warriors, emerging from the shadows, threw him a dark fur cape to cover his royal nakedness.

Thalys rushed toward Mia, plucking her from the wolf’s guard to press her against his powerful, reassuring chest.

— “I am here, my little Mia. I am here,” he whispered, his voice full of tenderness and trembling with an emotion rare for him.

Her brother’s hands were clammy with blood and salt, but his embrace was Mia’s only anchor. Around them, the clan warriors grew busy. With steel pliers and surgical precision, they snapped the silver locks, imprisoning the girl’s wrists and neck. Mia collapsed into her brother’s lap, convulsively sobbing and shaking her shoulders as her burned skin finally began to breathe.

PART II : THE MEETING OF SOULS

A movement to the left caught Thalys’s attention. A second wolf, almost identical to the first but with fur that seemed woven from threads of pure gold, approached with ceremonial slowness. It was Ian, the elder twin prince of the Sun-Bearers.

Before Mia’s eyes, he transformed. The twilight light seemed to cling to his matte skin as he resumed his human form. Before a warrior could hand him a cape, Mia glimpsed the power of this naked warrior’s body, sculpted by battles and the sun. She blushed violently, an ethereal heat rising from her core.

Within her, Zima, her snow panther, abruptly pricked up her ears and tail. She vibrated Mia’s ribcage with a purr so deep it was dizzying.

“Mate...” Her panther breathed. “The other half... The fire missing from our ice.”

Ian heard her, and his own wolf, Aurelius, entered a wild frenzy deep within his mind. “Mate! Mate! Our destined Mate!” the inner predator howled. Ian’s eyes changed instantly, turning to incandescent liquid gold, fixed on the tear-stained face of the young blonde beauty in Alpha Thalys’s arms.

Thalys immediately felt the change in atmosphere. He felt Mia tense in his arms, attempting to pull away from his protective embrace, drawn by an invisible force. He released his grip, incredulous. He watched Prince Ian and Mia take a step toward one another, like two magnets irresistibly condemned to unite.

— “By the ancients...” Thalys breathed, his jaw tight.

He turned his eyes away and saw a heartbreaking scene behind Prince Ian. Kian, the twin, was being held back by Alpha Samir and two betas. He fought like a man possessed, his eyes fixed on the foam where the boat had vanished.

— “Let me go!” Kian roared. “She is out there! I can feel her soul drifting away!”

The younger Prince’s gaze was that of a man whose heart had just been ripped out. Thalys understood everything in an instant. Destiny was playing a surprising and brutal symphony: two wolf twins destined for two leopard twins. With him and Elowen, the royal wolf pack and the leopard clan were no longer just allies; they were becoming one and the same flesh.

— “Kian, calm down!” Samir ordered. “If you dive in now, Alberik’s toxic fog will sear your lungs before you reach the first reef!”

PART III : WAR COUNCIL AND SCARS

The Alpha-King’s pragmatism took over. Thalys straightened up, his cape fluttering in the salt-laden wind. Everyone had now returned to human form, and the smell of Reaper carrion began to saturate the air.

— “We must act,” Thalys declared, his voice of authority restoring a semblance of order. “Mia is wounded, Bea is in the hands of a monster, and we are on an open beach.”

Elara approached. She carried a leather pouch containing rock moss ointments and soothing herbs. Under the dark, possessive eye of Prince Ian, who stayed no more than a meter from his new mate, she began to treat Mia’s silver wounds.

— “Gently, Elara,” Ian whispered, his hand almost brushing the young woman’s.

— “I know what I am doing, my Prince,” Elara replied with a smirk. “Your protection is touching, but let me heal my future queen.”

Ian cast a worried glance toward his twin, Kian, who had finally calmed down but remained prostrate on a rock, his gaze empty. In the battle, the warriors managed to capture two live Flayers : Gunter and another coward named Torsten. They lay bound, consumed by fear.

— “We will set up a command center at the foot of the Golden Mountains,” Thalys decided. “Ian, bring your Alphas. We need every blade and every strategic mind. Alberik is no longer just playing with magic; he is attacking royal bloodlines.”

THE WITCHES’ DILEMMA

Thalys stared at the horizon where the toxic mist seemed to throb like a diseased heart. His snow leopard eyes narrowed.

— “You don’t cross Alberik’s shroud with steel and muscle,” he said, his voice darkened by experience. “To break a sorcerer’s barrier, we need equivalent power. We need a witch.”

Ian stood tall, momentarily leaving Mia to join the command circle.

— “My people know a woman capable of twisting the winds and purifying the foulest air, he proposed. Vespara, the Golden Witch. She resides in the Desert of the Silk Wind Refuge. Her magic is that of purifying fire and swirling sand. If anyone can dispel this toxic fog without suffocating us, it is she. She owes us a blood debt.”

Kian, snapping out of his lethargy, stood up abruptly. His golden eyes shone with a feverish light.

— “Vespara? Are you serious, Ian? By the time we cross the dunes and convince her to leave her silk desert, Bea will already be sacrificed! No, we need proximity and ice. Astrild, the Silver Witch. She lives in the Refuge of Silent Snows, only a few leagues from here in the northern foothills. Her frost magic can freeze the toxic vapors and create a solid bridge to the island.”

Thalys crossed his arms, a look of doubt on his face.

— “Astrild is powerful, but she is unstable, Kian. Her magic is as cold as her heart. She could imprison us in ice along with the mist.”

The discussion heated up quickly. Kian took a step toward his twin, the aggressiveness of his wolf, Zephyrin, surfacing.

— “We don’t have time for diplomatic negotiations in the desert!” Kian roared. “Astrild responded with strength. I can force her!”

— “And risk her taking revenge by delivering us to Alberik?” Ian retorted with annoying calm. “Vespara is a loyal ally. Her light is the only thing that can counter the darkness of the Black Alabaster without corrupting us.”

— “Your loyalty will cost me my mate!” Kian shouted, his fists clenched.

Mia, whose wounds were beginning to tingle under the effect of Elara’s ointment, intervened in a weak but firm voice.

— “My brother is right on one point... Astrild is here, in our mountains. If we use my bond with Bea, Astrild might be able to locate her exact frequency through the frost. Vespara is magnificent and distant, true, but loyalty is paramount in times of uncertainty.”

Thalys observed his two future brothers-in-law. The contrast was striking: Ian, the calm and protective fire, and Kian, the storm unleashed by the loss of his half.

— “Listen to me,” Thalys cut in. “We do not have the luxury of a single choice. Elara, you will leave with a group of fast warriors for the Refuge of Silent Snows to “invite” Astrild. If she refuses, remind her that the leopard clan never forgets its borders. Ian, send your fastest messenger, your bird of light, to Vespara. If destiny is with us, one of the two will arrive in time. But know this: if Astrild comes, no one takes their eyes off her. She is as unpredictable as an avalanche.”

Kian seemed to relax slightly, though the tension remained palpable. The mention of Astrild gave him immediate hope, a straw to clutch in this ocean of mist.

FIRST ORDERS AND INTERROGATIONS

Thalys turned toward the two prisoners. The two Flayers seemed to have shriveled under the predatory glares of the surrounding wolves and leopards.

— “Gunter, is it ?” Thalys began in a honeyed tone that made even his own warriors shiver. “You’re going to tell us exactly how many of your brothers are waiting on that island. And you’re going to tell us what Alberik plans to do with my sister. If you lie, I’ll let Elara’s hound have some fun with your tendons. And believe me, he is very patient.”

The prisoner swallowed hard, his eyes darting toward the ocean.

— “There are hundreds...” He stammered. “Alberik... He’s looking for royal blood to awaken the magic of the volcano’s heart.”

A low growl rose from the chests of Kian and Ian simultaneously. The idea that their blood, their essence as Sun-Bearers, was to be the fuel for a sacrifice drove them mad.

— “We move!” Thalys ordered. “Ian, Kian, get your men ready. We’re establishing a camp at the edge of the Golden Mountains. That’s where the air currents are blocked. If a witch is to act, that is where she will have the most power.”

Thalys stepped aside for a moment to focus. He had to stabilize his own kingdom before launching this war. The mental link he was about to cast toward the Quartz Palace had to be flawless.

PART IV : THE KING’S DISCIPLINE

Thalys closed his eyes to send a mental link to his Quartz Palace. He sought stability, but what he received was a maelstrom of panic. The bonds of his sisters, Anastasia and Olga, hit him simultaneously, followed by the disordered voices of his three brothers, Xander, Matveï, and Maxim.

“Thalys! It’s Elowen!” “The light...” “Hakon is going mad, he wants to kill her!”

“SILENCE!” Thalys thundered through the link, using his authority as Alpha-King to crush the mental din.

Calm returned, fragile.

“Anastasia, take a deep breath. Give your report, now. And the rest of you, be quiet.”

As he listened to the account of Elowen’s spectacular transformation and Hakon’s verbal treason, Thalys’s face hardened into a mask of ice.

“Anastasia. Olga. My brothers. Listen to me well.” His mental voice rang out like a calm clap of thunder. “I know the Palace is trembling, but I am the Alpha and I am your King.”

He felt his sisters’ thoughts settle.

“Anastasia, you have your mission. The archives on the Sun-Bearers are vital. We have discovered that our bloodlines’ destinies are intertwined in ways we did not foresee. Elowen is not just a guest; she is the key to our alliance. Take her to the infirmary, surround her with care. Have Karl and Anton watch over her as soon as they regain their strength.”

Then, his tone became sharper, almost glacial.

“As for Hakon... He is no longer an uncle; he is a festering wound. Xander, Matveï, Maxim: I do not want to hear from him again; treat him as a traitor. The Northeast tower will be his only home until my return. Double the guard.”

A murmur of approval reached him from his brothers. They were relieved to have clear direction.

“Olga,” he continued. “Your role is the most difficult. You are the heart of this Palace in my absence. Keep the women and children calm. Tell them Mia is with me. Simply say the search continues with the help of the Sun Princes. Let everyone light a candle for our sisters’ return.”

Thalys broke the link, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. He turned to his allies.

— “The Palace is under control. Now, let us deal with this cursed island.”

Ian approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

— “You are a great leader, Thalys. But do not forget to rest. The fight ahead will demand all your strength.”

Thalys gave a short, dry laugh.

— “Rest, Prince Ian ? I will rest when my two sisters are side by side again and Alberik’s head decorates my ramparts. For now, humor is my only rest, and hatred is my only engine.”

He looked at Mia, who had stood up, supported by Elara. She seemed so fragile and yet so resolute.

— “Prepare yourselves,” she said, her eyes fixed on the mist. “I feel Bea. She is afraid, but she is fighting. We cannot leave her alone any longer.”

The army set itself in motion. The silhouettes of wolves and leopards blended into the shadows of the mountain foothills, forming a procession of predators united by a single goal: to tear Bea from the clutches of the void.

PART V : HUMOR IN THE STORM

On the beach, Alpha Samir approached Thalys, attempting to lighten the mood.

— “Well, Snow King... If I had known our territory would become the meeting place for soulmates, I would have opened a wedding inn instead of a guard post.”

Thalys flashed a bitter smile.

— “And you would have gone bankrupt, Alpha Samir. My sisters have expensive taste, and loaves of black bread would not have convinced them.”

Ian, listening in, could not help but intervene while looking at Mia.

— “I promise she will never eat black bread again. Even if I have to grow golden wheat myself.”

Mia let out a small, nervous laugh, the first in days, despite the tears still clinging to her lashes. Humor was a thin weapon against the darkness rising from Alberik’s island, but it was all they had to keep from sinking.

— “Prince Ian,” Thalys said more seriously. “Prepare your men. We are not just going on a rescue mission. We are going to extinguish a volcano and a sorcerer.”

Kian finally stood up, his golden eyes fixed on the distant island. His voice was terrifyingly calm:

— “I will personally rip out Varkas’s tongue and break Alberik’s staff. No one touches my mate and remains standing to tell the tale.”

The army of Sun and Ice began to form. An alliance the world had not seen for eons, sealed by the blood of traitors and the unbreakable bond of soulmates.

Violet Crosby Note: Will Chapter 21 reveal the arrival of the Golden Witch or the icy confrontation with Astrild ? Time is running out, for at the heart of the volcano, Alberik is already beginning his incantations.