Chapter Seven: Vow Of A Broken Promise
1236 Words
Liora sat whispering to herself beside Kael where a pale ribbon of dawn seeped through the cracks in the window. His breathing had settled down during the night and the heat had at last begun to pass out of his body yet still the sweat stood upon his forehead. Her fingers touched his as near as possible, but reluctant to disturb him, yet unable to remove them.
She had not slept.
Rhydian vanished before dawn, leaving behind a folded note on the table and a new bandage for Kael’s injury. No farewells, no reasons. Just a single line scrawled in sharp ink:
“Tell him. Or I will.”
Liora went over it repeatedly, nausea rising in her throat.
Kael stirred just after daybreak. His eyes slowly opened, red but alert. Upon seeing her, his body eased, as if he had been afraid of awakening by himself.
“You remained,” he murmured, his tone hoarse.
She nodded but didn’t smile. “You nearly died.”
He rose with difficulty, grunting as his muscles complained. "Where is Rhydian?"
“Gone,” she said simply. “He helped… then left.”
Kael’s jaw flexed as he tried to stand. “We need to move. If Torin knows we’re here—”
“We're staying right here until you confess the truth,” she cut in, her tone crisp and resolute. “All of it.”
Kael froze. Gradually, he spun around to confront her. "What are you saying?"
“Stop that,” she retorted. "Don’t act as if you’re unaware." Rhydian shared all the details with me. About the agreement. About my father. About how you knew my name before I ever came near those mountains.”
His eyes grew dark at once, his wrinkles contracted.
He had not said a lie, but there was something in his tone that show it.
“No, no,” she said bitterly, “you just pushed the truth far enough under the ground so that you did not have to see it. That’s worse.”
Kael reached for her but she stepped back.
“You don’t understand what was at stake—”
“Then help me understand!” she yelled. “Because right now, I feel like a prize being passed around between monsters. My father made a deal. You accepted it. "So now I’m expected to think that what we have is genuine?”
Kael tightened his fists, attempting to hold back the frustration that surged within him.
"I never consented to their conditions," he stated, his tone subdued. “I was chosen, yes. But I refused. I told the elders I wouldn’t force a bond on someone who didn’t choose it.”
“But you let it happen anyway,” she whispered. “You let it unfold like fate. Like it was some kind of destiny when you already knew who I was.”
“I didn’t recognize you,” he snapped, the shame creeping into his voice. “When I met you in the cavern, I didn’t realize… I felt the bond, same as you. That wasn’t planned. That was real.”
Liora folded her arms, her chest aching. “Then why didn’t you tell me when you remembered? When did you realize who I was?”
His silence was a confession.
Kael looked away. “Because I was afraid you’d run.”
She said, “I ought to have,” in a voice like broken glass.
A dense, stifling silence reigned around. There was an ember noise between them all that there was.
“I was going to tell you,” Kael said finally. “After the deadline. Once we were safe.”
She laughed, bitter and dry. “After I was marked. After I turned into something I didn’t understand. You were going to let me give up everything… without knowing the truth.”
“I was trying to protect you,” he said. “To keep you alive.”
Her voice trembled as she met his eyes. "You maintained your title. You didn't defend me."
Kael stepped nearer and stretched out his hand in her direction, yet she did not move. His thumb brushed gently against her wrist, causing their connection to spark softly again, both warm and tentative.
He said, “I am unable to change what has already occurred. Yet I promise you, Liora, I never meant to mislead you.” You are important to me. Beyond the label. "Greater than the group."
“But what would I do, lost in trust? she inquired.
The suffering which she saw pictured on his face almost broke her heart. “To that already, I have lost everything.”
As yet she had not answered, when there came a gentle knock at the door.
They both froze.
Kael gestured for her to remain behind and approached the entrance, his claws extending gradually as he raised the latch. The door slowly opened with a creak.
Rhyssa, Kael's cousin, stood outside, her red cloak drenched by the rain, her face serious.
“You need to come right away,” she said without a greeting. “It’s Torin. He’s issued the challenge.”
Kael’s body tensed. “What?”
Rhyssa nodded. “At the elder’s circle. Sunset tonight. He’s invoking the ancient rite, trial by combat. If you’re not there, they crown him by default.”
Kael glanced back at Liora, then back to Rhyssa. “That’s suicide. I’m barely healed.”
Rhyssa looked at Liora next, her expression unreadable. “He’s wagering more than the title, Kael. He’s put her name in the circle.”
Liora stepped forward. “What does that mean?”
Rhyssa turned to her, eyes like stone. “If Kael loses… you die.”
The room swayed around her, but she held her ground. “Then he can’t fight.”
“That’s not how this works,” Kael said, his jaw clenched. “If I don’t show, he wins. He becomes Alpha. And the first thing he’ll do is destroy the bond by force.”
Liora looked between them, her stomach in knots. “So either way, we’re running out of time.”
Kael nodded slowly. “Unless we do the one thing no one expects.”
She frowned. “What?”
He stepped closer, the firelight catching the edge of his amber eyes.
“We mark you. Tonight.”
Liora froze. Her breath caught in her chest. “But what if it fails? What if I can’t shift?”
Kael took her hands gently, pulling her closer.
“Then I die fighting. Yes, we did everything.
Then a sudden gust of wind banged the door wide open and threw Rhyssa on the ground, and was about to answer just as the gust of wind came. The hearth fire went out instantly, leaving the room in a complete darkness.
In the doorway hung a shadow. Not a wolf. Not a man.
Both.
Torin, His gaze shone like golden coins in the tempest, and his tone was as frigid as the breeze outdoors.
"You won't have to battle, cousin," he remarked, entering the room. “Since you have already been defeated.”
He then charged forward, quicker than Kael was able to respond.
Liora yelled as Kael collided with the wall, claws tearing into the wood.
And at that instant, something within her broke apart and ignited.
The bond didn’t flicker, It exploded.
- Writer
