Chapter 20 Twenty
Ryan
The mountains were empty. Or at least, that’s what I told myself as I climbed higher.
I had left her alone in the forest, vulnerable, with that… that thing. Kael.
And now every beat of my heart throbbed with guilt, with jealousy, with a sense of helplessness I had never known.
I told myself I’d done it for her own safety.
But even as I convinced myself, a dull, bitter knot settled in my stomach: I had abandoned her to him.
The wind howled through the peaks, a raw, merciless sound.
I pulled my cloak tighter, but warmth eluded me.
My body ached. Every muscle protested, and I could feel the bruises from the forest encounter burning beneath my skin.
Still, I walked.
Above me, a branch snapped.
Blade in hand, I froze and listened.
Everything was transported by the mountain air, even the distant crow's call and the whisper of snow falling.
Then I noticed it: a wolf, bigger than any other animal. Its low, menacing snarl flowed through the trees.
My instinct made me become the first to move.
I sidestepped the wolf's lunge and slashed my blade along its flank. It was a short but vicious struggle.
The fight was brief but brutal.
My muscles burned, my breath came in ragged bursts, and yet I felt no satisfaction in victory.
I cut it down, coldly.
I could feel her—Lilith—through the bond, faint but alive.
And I couldn’t help it: my mind dragged her image into the fight.
The thought that Kael was near her, touching her, calling her name, made my blood boil hotter than any wound.
I stumbled back, breath heaving, and sank to one knee.
The forest was silent again, but the threat remained—not just the mountain, not just the hunters, but him.
Kael.
And I hated him.
The world tilted suddenly.
My vision blurred.
My knees buckled, and I fell to the snow.
Something tugged at me—a pull from the depths of my own blood, a whisper I recognized instantly.
Lilith…
It wasn’t her voice.
But it carried her heartbeat, her presence.
And beneath it, there was something else: Kael.
The warmth, the certainty, the quiet ownership in that invisible thread made my chest tighten until I could hardly breathe.
I curled into myself, muttering under my breath, and the world shifted.
Suddenly, I was somewhere else.
I saw fragments: Lilith standing in the misty forest, her eyes wide with shock and wonder.
Kael’s hand hovering near her wrist, his presence glowing faintly in golden light.
I clenched my fists so hard that my nails bit into my palms.
No.
I could feel the bond between them, subtle but undeniable, pulsing beneath the surface like a heartbeat I couldn’t stop.
The jealousy, the helplessness, twisted in my chest until it was raw.
My vision blurred with rage and fear.
She’s mine, I whispered, almost violently.
I will not lose her.
The vision broke like glass.
I collapsed fully into the snow, gasping.
I stayed there, pressed against the cold earth, trying to steady my racing thoughts.
I had to focus.
I had to survive.
I had to find her before he did—or before the council did.
I rose to my feet, muscles trembling from exertion and cold.
My hands shook as I gripped my blade.
I couldn’t rest—not yet.
Not until I had a plan.
Not until I could reclaim what had been torn from me.
I kept moving.
The wind cut like a knife, but I ignored it.
My focus was Lilith.
My need.
My fear.
I felt it again.
That pulse.
That presence.
Kael.
Not here, not close, but near enough to remind me of my impotence.
And that only fueled my resolve.
I paused at a ridge overlooking a valley bathed in silver fog.
My eyes swept across it, searching for any sign of movement.
I closed my eyes, focusing.
I reached into the bond, searching for her, and felt it—the ghost of a heartbeat, like a whisper through glass.
And with it, a sudden clarity: she was afraid.
Not of me, not of the mountain, not entirely of the hunters… but of him.
Kael.
I swore under my breath.
I had to reach her.
Now.
I had to remind her that I was here.
That I was hers.
That no matter what fate or blood or bond said, I would not let her go.
I kept moving.
The pull came.
Stronger this time.
Not fear, not instinct—but the bond itself.
Kael.
I felt him like a presence in my chest, an invisible hand wrapped around something I had always believed was mine.
The anger flared hotter than any fire.
I wanted to kill him.
I wanted to tear him from her.
I wanted to prove that no bond, no destiny, no magic could separate what had been ours.
I ran.
Through snow and mist, over broken rocks and jagged roots, my muscles screaming, my breath burning, I ran toward her.
Every step carried the weight of my promise, the anger at Kael, the longing for Lilith.
Every heartbeat was hers.
And then, just as the sky began to lighten with the first hints of dawn, I stopped.
The mist cleared.
The forest spread before me, vast, silent, waiting.
I could sense her again—closer now, alive, trembling—but safe, for the moment, in a fragile bubble of the world that was ours alone.
Kael was there, somewhere beyond the veil of my senses.
But I didn’t care.
I was coming for her.
I was coming to reclaim what was mine.
No matter the cost.
No matter the bond.
No matter the fate.