🌠Chapter Thirteen: The Forbidden Pull
664 Words
🌠Chapter Thirteen: The Forbidden Pull
Elara couldn’t sleep.
The cavern was quiet, the brothers scattered in their usual patterns — Kael restless near the fire, Riven sprawled on his bedroll with his dagger balanced across his chest, Theron meditating by the Veilwater, Darius watchful in the shadows.
But Elara’s heart was loud. Too loud. The invisible tether coiled around her ribs, tugging insistently, like a whisper brushing against her soul.
Come.
She pressed a hand to her sternum, biting back a gasp. She couldn’t tell them — not Kael with his fire-tinged warnings, not Theron with his gentle patience, not Riven with his false bravado, not even Darius with his unreadable eyes.
This was hers.
Her starfire stirred, threads of light dancing along her skin. She let it guide her as she crept past the brothers, each step careful, quiet, her pulse hammering in her throat.
The pull drew her to the Veilwater. Its surface shimmered as though aware of her intent, rippling with light like a second sky.
“Elara.”
The voice wasn’t in the room. It was inside her. Familiar already, though she had never heard it while awake.
She knelt by the water, trembling. “Who are you?” she whispered.
The surface quivered — and then fractured. A shape began to form in the reflection, not her face but his: sharp lines, storm-dark eyes, chains faintly glowing against broad shoulders.
“The one they fear,” he said, voice threaded with both ruin and wonder. “The one you were always meant to find.”
Her starfire flared, nearly pulling her into the water itself. The bond between them pulsed like a living thing, fierce and undeniable.
“Elara!”
She startled, the vision shattering like glass. Kael’s furious voice echoed through the cavern. She spun to see him striding toward her, fire blazing in his eyes, the others stirring awake.
“What do you think you’re doing?” His anger barely masked his fear.
Her lips parted, but she couldn’t form the truth — not when the pull inside her still throbbed with forbidden promise.
Kael’s firelight spilled across the cavern, his eyes locked on her like twin blades. “Answer me, Elara. What were you doing by the Veilwater?”
The others stirred — Riven sat up, rubbing his eyes but watching keenly, Theron rose from his meditation with quiet concern, and Darius’s gaze sharpened from the darkness.
Elara’s heart thrashed against her ribs. If she told the truth — that she had seen the chained brother, spoken to him — they would never let her near the water again. Maybe never let her out of their sight.
So she swallowed, forcing calm into her voice. “I couldn’t sleep. I thought the water might help.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed, heat rolling off him in waves. “The Veilwater isn’t a toy. You could have—” He cut himself off, fists clenching.
Riven smirked, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Relax, Flame. She’s not exactly throwing herself in. Maybe she just likes the view.”
Elara managed a small, shaky smile, though guilt coiled tight in her stomach.
Theron stepped closer, laying a steadying hand on her shoulder. His touch was grounding, his gaze gentle. “If you can’t sleep, you can come to me next time. The water holds echoes… some of them dangerous.”
“I will,” she lied softly.
But Darius… Darius was silent, his expression unreadable. His shadowed eyes lingered on her longer than the others’, as if he could see the secret pulsing beneath her skin.
The invisible tether thrummed again, insistent, reminding her of the chains, the storm-dark eyes, the whispered You were always meant to find me.
Elara lowered her gaze, willing her pulse to steady. The brothers believed her — for now. But she knew the truth was only growing heavier.
And when it broke free, nothing between them would ever be the same.
- Writer
