Vengeance

Chapter 15

I watched Ewen disappear into the trees, his footsteps fading until silence settled over the clearing. My chest ached with the weight of his words, but I forced myself to turn back to Hela and Zion.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice trembling with more than exhaustion. “I need time to think before making any rash decisions. Ewen isn’t wrong—he made a point I can’t ignore. I don’t truly know Zion in this life, not the way I once did. And the choices before me…” My throat tightened, the truth bitter on my tongue. “The only ways I see to free you both are to kill the king, or to… bind myself to Zion. Both paths carry consequences I may never be able to undo. Please, just give me a few days.”

Hela’s eyes softened with understanding, though worry shadowed her expression. She knelt, brushing damp hair from Zion’s fevered brow as his body shuddered with weakness. “I understand,” she said quietly. Her gaze lifted, meeting mine with a steady resolve that cut through the uncertainty twisting inside me. “Zion means the world to me, just as you mean the world to Ewen. I know how it feels—to love someone so deeply that their pain becomes your own. But you should speak to him. The star bond ties you and Ewen together, leaving it strained will only bring you both harm.”

I nodded, her words sinking into me like stones into deep water. Then, without another word, I turned and run after Ewen, desperate to reach him before distance grew into something unbridgeable.

Do not feel guilty for the choices before you, child.

The voice unfurls inside my mind, ancient and familiar, curling through me like smoke. My body stills mid-stride as its presence pulses against the dark mark etched in my skin, sending a tingling sensation up my arm and into my chest.

You stand between two paths, both sharp-edged and perilous. Neither will leave you unscarred. But listen well—my counsel is not given lightly. Mate with the boy.

The words wrap around me, heavy as chains.

You are strong, stronger than most who walk this earth, but you are not yet strong enough to kill a king. Not him. Not now. That time will come, but not before you are ready. Go to Aurelian Academy. Learn. Grow. Gather your strength and your allies. In Aurelia, you and those bound to you will be safe. For now.

The mark burns faintly, as if agreeing with every syllable, and my heart pounds as though caught between destiny and desire.

I step into the clearing, and my breath catches when I see Ewen. He’s pacing like a caged animal, his hands tangled in his hair, lips moving with words I can’t hear. The sight of him—so restless, so wounded—sends a sharp ache through my chest. The bond between us throbs, fraying at the edges, and the pain is almost unbearable.

Slowly, I move toward him, my steps quiet on the forest floor. “Ewen…” My voice is soft, hesitant, but it still slices through his muttering. He freezes mid-step, shoulders rigid, before turning to face me.

The sorrow in his eyes nearly breaks me. It’s raw, unguarded—a storm of grief, anger, and desperation—and it mirrors the ache gnawing at my own soul. I swallow hard, reaching out, and my fingers brush against his hand. The moment our skin meets, the bond thrums, fierce and demanding, like it’s begging us not to let go.

“It hurts,” I whisper, unable to keep the tremor from my voice. “I don’t like the way the bond feels right now. It’s tearing at me.”

For a long moment, he just stares down at our joined hands, his jaw tight. Then, finally, he nods, his voice low and rough. “Yeah… let’s talk.”

I guide him away from the clearing, deeper into the shadows of the trees until we find a quiet, hidden spot. A fallen trunk rests beneath the canopy, and I sink onto it, tugging him gently to sit beside me. He doesn’t release my hand, his grip warm and grounding, as if letting go would shatter him. Or maybe me.

“I know you’re angry,” I begin, my voice trembling as I search his face. “And I don’t blame you. The choices I’ve been given are impossible—unfair, even. But, Ewen…” I draw in a shaky breath. “I can’t deny that there’s a pull toward Zion. It isn’t something I can ignore, no matter how much I might want to. That bond exists, just as mine with you does.”

His eyes flicker with pain, but I continue, forcing the truth out between us. “I told Hela I needed time before making any decisions. She agreed to give me a few days. She understands your anger, too. She knows what it means to have your bond threatened, because Zion means as much to her as you do to me. She’s fighting for him in the only way she knows how, just like you’re fighting for me.”

My free hand lifts, almost on instinct, and I cradle his cheek in my palm. His skin is warm beneath my touch, and his eyes soften, though the storm hasn’t left them. “But don’t think for a moment that this bond with you means less,” I whisper. “You hold a piece of me no one else can ever touch. That will never change. Even if my path is tangled and uncertain, even if I am pulled in two directions, there is no one who can take away the part of me that belongs to you.”

The bond hums again between us, no longer sharp and jagged but low and aching, as if it’s listening, as if it, too, longs for reconciliation. I lean my forehead against his, breathing in the closeness, the safety, the love that still lingers beneath the hurt. “Please… don’t give up on me, Ewen. Don’t give up on us.”

Ewen takes a shaky breath, his voice rough with suppressed emotion. “I know… I know you’ve been placed in an impossible position, Calista, but the thought of someone else touching you—it feels like a knife straight through my heart. I told you before, every bond is different, but I already understand ours. It isn’t filial. It isn’t platonic. It’s something deeper, something unshakable. I love you, Calista. With every fiber of who I am, with every breath I take, I am yours. And when I heard what Hela said—that more will come, that others will try to claim you, that they’ll want pieces of your heart—it felt like my entire world threatened to shatter. But I don’t want to be one of many. I want to be the first. I want to be the one you lean on, the one who shields you when the world grows too heavy. I want to be your first line of defense, always.”

My breath catches at the raw devotion in his words, my chest tightening with both awe and fear at the depth of his love. I reach out, cupping his cheek in both of my hands now, forcing him to see the truth in my eyes. “Ewen, you will always be my first line. Nothing—no one—could ever take that from you. We are bound together irrevocably, body and soul. Even before I understood it, you were made for me. You were carved into the very fabric of my existence. There is no universe where I would ever let you go.”

I swallow hard, my thumb brushing across his cheekbone as his breath hitches beneath my touch. “You are not in competition with anyone, Ewen. Do you hear me? The bond I share with you… it’s singular. It’s yours and yours alone. Whatever the future brings, whatever choices I am forced to make, you are a part of me in a way no one else can be. I don’t just love you, Ewen. I need you. And that will never change.”

Ewen’s gaze locks onto mine, unflinching, his devotion laid bare in the depths of his eyes. His voice trembles with intensity as he speaks. “I may be bound to you in soul, Calista, but that isn’t enough for me. I don’t just want a bond written in destiny. I want my body to belong to you too. I want to love you as only lovers can—fully, completely, without hesitation. I know, to the outside world, we are still practically strangers. But in here—” he presses a hand to his chest, over his racing heart, “—in here, I have known you for an eternity. Every beat of my heart has been waiting for you. I’ve existed in a kind of limbo, searching, aching for this moment… for you. And now that I’ve found you, please—” his voice cracks, raw and pleading, “—don’t push me away. Let me love you.”

He pulls me closer, our foreheads almost brushing, our lips hovering so near that the space between us feels unbearable. His breath ghosts over my cheek, warm and trembling, and in that heartbeat of hesitation, I realize how deeply I want him too. I can’t hold back.

With a sudden rush of need, I close the last fraction of distance and pull him into a kiss. Fierce. Consuming. A kiss that feels like fire racing through my veins, burning away everything else. The world vanishes—no bonds, no fears, no other lives but ours. Just us. Just this. Just the undeniable truth of what we are to each other.

Ewen breaks the kiss only when he has to, his chest heaving, his lips swollen from the force of our need. His eyes search mine in wonder, in disbelief, as though afraid he dreamed what just happened. “Calista…” he whispers, his voice rough, “does this mean… you love me too? That you feel it, the way I do? Will you let me keep you close—for just a little longer? Even if the world tries to tear us apart?”

His words hang between us, fragile and desperate, and I feel the weight of them sink into my very bones.