CHAPTER FOUR — THE MOTHER’S DEFIANCE
1364 Words
The throne hall exploded into chaos.
Wolves gasped. Soldiers reached for their weapons. Advisors whispered in frantic, hissing voices. The air vibrated with tension, magic, and the unmistakable scent of rage—
But none of it compared to the sight of my mother standing in the center of the room.
Alone.
Fierce.
Wild-eyed.
Her cloak was torn, hair tangled from running, cheeks streaked wet as she scanned the hall. And when her gaze found me—
Her whole body shook.
“Aria,” she whispered. Not like a word—like a prayer. Or a wound.
I stepped forward instinctively, but Kael’s hand clamped around my wrist.
“No,” he warned softly.
I turned on him, anger exploding through my chest. “Are you insane?! That’s my mother!”
He didn’t flinch. “This hall is dangerous. Even for you. Especially for her.”
I jerked my arm, but his grip didn’t budge. His eyes flicked over the crowd—calculating, assessing threats, choosing who to kill first if it came to that.
He was ready to fight an entire room for me.
But my mother wasn’t waiting.
She ran.
Her feet hit the marble floor in frantic, echoing steps, and then she was in front of me, grabbing my face with trembling hands.
“Aria—Aria—by the moon goddess, you’re alive—” Her voice cracked, breaking something open in my chest. “I thought—I thought I’d never see you again—”
I folded into her arms without thinking. The feel of her—warm, real—knocked the air out of me. I choked on a sob I hadn’t expected.
“Mom—” My voice broke completely. “Mom, I’m sorry—I didn’t—Kael—he—”
Her grip tightened, nails digging into my back. “You’re not hurt? Did he hurt you?”
I stiffened.
Kael straightened slowly, head lifting, every muscle coiled with warning.
“No,” I said quickly. “He didn’t hurt me.”
My mother’s eyes narrowed, darting between us. “He took you.”
“And I’ll take her again,” Kael said calmly, “if this conversation becomes a threat.”
My mother moved so fast even I flinched.
She shoved me behind her, stepping into Kael’s line of sight with a ferocity that turned whispers into silence.
“You will not touch my daughter.”
The entire hall froze.
Kael blinked once.
Then his eyes darkened to molten amber.
“Move,” he said quietly.
“I won’t.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. Wolves around us hunched instinctively—prey instincts reacting to a predator’s rising aura.
“Woman,” Kael said, tone dangerously soft, “I am your king.”
“You are not mine.”
Gasps tore through the hall.
Kael took one slow, lethal step forward.
And my mother… didn’t move.
She held her ground like a human shield made of pure will.
“If you want her,” she said, voice shaking but unbroken, “you go through me.”
“Mom, don’t—” I reached for her arm, but she pulled away sharply.
“No.” She didn’t take her eyes off Kael. “She’s just a girl. A healer. She cannot survive your world, your throne, your enemies. Give her back.”
Kael’s jaw flexed.
“I cannot,” he said.
“You will.”
Something ugly twisted through Kael’s aura—possessiveness, frustration, something almost… pained.
“The bond is sealed,” he said. “Taking her back changes nothing.”
My mother’s breath stuttered.
“You should have told her,” she whispered. “You should have waited. She wasn’t ready.”
Kael’s eyes snapped to me, then back to her.
“She was burning,” he said. “The mark was killing her by the hour. Leaving her unclaimed would have ended her life long before my warriors reached your border.”
I froze.
“What?” I asked, voice barely there.
Kael looked at me, gaze intense. “Your body was rejecting the bond. It needed me to complete the mark. The longer I stayed away, the more it would have hurt you.”
My mother’s face crumpled.
“Oh goddess,” she whispered, covering her mouth. “The fever… the shaking… I thought it was nerves—”
“It was death,” Kael said quietly.
My heart hammered. “Why didn’t you—why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Kael’s eyes softened—for the first time since I met him.
“You were afraid,” he said. “I didn’t want to give you more fear.”
My throat hurt.
My mother turned toward me slowly, hands trembling. “Aria… I didn’t know. I would never have let you suffer like that if—”
Her voice broke.
I reached out and took her hand.
But before I could speak, a cold, mocking voice cut through the hall:
“How touching.”
We all turned.
A slim man stepped forward from the shadows—his robes dark green, his expression disturbingly calm. His eyes gleamed like polished stone.
Councilor Vael.
Kael’s lip curled. “I didn’t summon you.”
“No,” Vael said, “but you brought something interesting to my doorstep.”
His gaze landed on me—too long, too slow, too curious.
My skin crawled.
“She’s fragile,” Vael said, voice dripping false pity. “A human mate? To a king? What will the realm say?”
Kael moved so fast the air shuddered—
But Vael lifted a single hand.
“Careful, my King,” he said smoothly. “Strike me in your own hall, before your own council, over a human… and they will question your judgment.”
Kael’s growl vibrated the stones.
Vael’s eyes slid to my mother. “And this one? She trespasses into royal grounds. An offense punishable by—”
“You finish that sentence,” Kael said, voice low and deadly, “and I will decorate the hall with your spine.”
Vael’s smile sharpened. “Violence does not change the law.”
Kael turned to a guard. “Bring me the scroll on laws regarding fated mates.”
The guard bolted out immediately.
Then Kael met Vael’s gaze again.
“And bring me a quill.”
“Planning to write your own laws now?” Vael asked.
Kael smiled.
Dark.
Cold.
Lethal.
“I already have.”
The guard returned, breathless, holding a scroll and ink.
Kael tore the scroll open.
“Effective today,” he announced, voice booming through the hall, “anyone who threatens the life, safety, or dignity of my mate or her blood shall be—”
He dipped the quill.
“—executed.”
The hall went dead silent.
Vael’s face paled.
My chest locked.
My mother’s fingers squeezed mine.
Kael met her eyes.
“You are safe here,” he said.
Not gently.
Not softly.
With absolute command.
My mother swallowed hard. “She needs to come home.”
Kael shook his head. “She lives here now.”
My mother opened her mouth—
Then swayed.
Her knees buckled.
“Mom!” I caught her as she collapsed.
Kael’s head whipped toward us, eyes widening in a flash of concern so raw it stole my breath.
He dropped to one knee beside us.
“What happened?” he demanded.
I touched her forehead—
Cold.
Too cold.
Not normal.
“She’s burning,” I whispered. “But freezing. Something’s wrong—something’s very wrong.”
Kael leaned in, scenting the air around her.
His expression changed instantly.
Darkened.
Hardened.
“Poison,” he said.
The hall erupted.
My heart stopped. “WHAT?!”
He lifted my mother into his arms effortlessly, voice booming through the room:
“SARINA! GET THE HEALERS!”
“What kind of poison?” I cried.
Kael looked at Vael.
Then at the other councilors.
Then back at Vael.
“Ask him,” he said coldly. “He knows.”
Vael smiled thinly.
“Welcome to Nightfang, little mate.”
- Writer
