Chapter 39 | Noct Family Secrets | Kael
On the third day of our journey, I tell her about Ophelia.
We're resting by a stream, the midday sun warm on our faces. Leah is washing her feet in the cool water, wincing at the blisters but not complaining. The forest has thinned out into scrubland, and the terrain is easier now. We're making good progress.
"I had a sister," I say, the words coming out without planning. "Ophelia."
Leah looks up, surprised. "You never mentioned her."
"I don't mention a lot of things." I sit down beside her, trailing my fingers in the water. "She died three hundred years ago."
"How?"
I take a breath. The memory still hurts, like a wound that never really healed. "She was captured by our enemies. House Frost, actually. Valeria's great-grandfather. They used her to pressure me."
"Pressure you for what?"
"Council votes. Territory. Political deals." My voice gets hard. "I refused to negotiate. I thought—I thought if I stayed strong, if I didn't give in to their demands, they would let her go."
"But they didn't."
"They killed her." The words come out flat, hiding the pain underneath. "Slowly. In public. As a warning to anyone who went against House Frost."
Leah doesn't say anything. Then she reaches out and puts her hand over mine. "I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault."
"I'm still sorry." Her fingers squeeze mine. "No one should lose someone they love."
I look at her. At her honey-brown eyes, her tired face, her constant kindness. She should hate me. I couldn't save my sister. Why would she think I can save her?
"After Ophelia died," I go on, "I promised myself I'd never love anyone again. Never create a weakness that could be used against me. Three hundred years alone. Three hundred years keeping everyone at a distance."
"Until me."
"Until you." I turn my hand and lace our fingers together. "The Bloodbond should have been a warning. Instead, I welcomed it. I wanted it. Because it gave me a reason to feel what I'd spent centuries pushing away."
"And now? The bond is fading."
"And I still feel it." I look into her eyes. "Not the bond. The—" I search for the right words. "The caring. The worry. The need to protect you, not because any magic is forcing me to, but because I want to."
She looks at me for a long moment. Then she leans in, pressing her forehead against mine.
"I choose you too," she whispers. "Bond or no bond. Prince or not. I choose you, Kael de Noct. Not because of power or bloodline or fate. Because you're the man who waited for me. The man who taught me. The man who—" her voice catches slightly, "—who makes me feel seen."
We sit by the stream, foreheads touching, hands held tight. The water flows past, the sun warms our skin, and for a moment, the chase, the danger, the unknown future—all of it disappears.
"There's more," I say after a while. "About House Noct. About my family."
"Tell me."
"The Nocts were the Progenitor Queen's personal guards. Her protectors. We made an oath—to defend her bloodline, to protect her legacy, to make sure her power never fell into the wrong hands."
"That's why you were drawn to me." Leah's voice is quiet. "The Progenitor's bloodline."
"At first," I admit. "But it turned into something else. Something more."
"What?"
I look at her, at this girl who breaks all the rules, who defies every expectation, who loves without holding back.
"It became love," I say. "Not bloodline connection. Not magical force. Just... love."
She kisses me. Soft, slow, tasting like stream water and sunlight. When we pull apart, her eyes are shining with tears.
"I love you too," she says. "I think I have since the Forgotten Walk. Since you said 'mine' and I said 'yours' and neither of us knew what it meant."
We hold each other by the stream, two runaways in a dangerous world, sharing feelings that shouldn't be possible. A Prince and a Nullblood. Ancient and young. Powerful and powerless.
But right now, none of that matters. We're just Kael and Leah. Two people who found each other in the dark and decided to walk toward the light.
"We should go," I say finally. "The sun is moving."
"Yes." She stands up, brushing dirt off her dress. "The free cities are waiting."
We keep walking, hand in hand, the Bloodbond connection now just a faint whisper between us. But we don't need it anymore. We have something stronger.
We have choice.