Chapter 32: Chapter Thirty -two

Chapter 32

Lia's POV

The wind in Duskwood whispered my name, but I didn’t look back.

I walked with measured steps, afraid that rushing might shatter what little resolve I had left. My bag was small, bare essentials, a worn journal, and the silver locket my mother left me, cool against my chest. There was no trace of wolf in my scent. No lingering hint of the bond that once pulsed so fiercely in my veins like wildfire.

I didn’t shift. I didn’t need to.

I was walking away, as human as I ever felt.

The streets were slick with morning dew, the cobblestones glistening beneath the pale glow of dawn. A few early vendors pushed open their stall doors, yawning into the silence, unaware of the storm that had broken last night. Not outside. But in my heart. Fractured.

I passed a butcher rinsing blood from his block. A baker dusting flour from her sleeves. A child clutching her mother’s skirt. Life went on, blissfully oblivious. As if my world hadn’t just splintered into pieces too sharp to hold.

I reached the town’s edge, where the trees loomed like sentinels guarding the unknown. Mist coiled between their roots, and the scent of pine mingled with something older like memory, or grief. I turned once, just once, for a final look at the place I once tried to call home.

“Elena.”

Her name caught in my throat when I heard her familiar steps behind me.

“I knew I’d find you here,” Elena said softly, arms folded across her chest, her dark cloak flapping gently in the wind. “You didn’t even say goodbye.”

I tightened my grip on my bag’s strap, my eyes fixed on the dirt path ahead. “It’s easier that way.”

“For who?”

Silence settled between us, the kind that made my chest ache.

“He’s not who I thought he was,” I finally said. “None of this is. I came here looking for peace… and all I found was war.”

Elena stepped closer, her boots crunching softly against the gravel. “And now what? You’ll vanish? Just like that?”

My lips trembled, but I forced my chin up. “Maybe we’ll all go back to our normal lives. Maybe Edgar will realize I was never supposed to be here. Maybe”

“Maybe you’ll become your mother.”

The words struck harder than any blade.

I froze.

Elena’s voice didn’t rise. But it cuts like the truth often does. “She ran too, didn’t she? When things got hard. When the bond scared her. She walked away. Left you behind to wonder who she was. What she was running from.”

“That’s not fair,” I whispered, the weight of my mother’s shadow pressing down on my chest like stone. “You don’t know what she went through.”

“I know exactly what she went through. She was Moonbound. Just like you. And instead of fighting, she fled.”

Tears gathered in my eyes, hot and unwanted. But I blinked them away, refusing to let them fall. “And what did it give her, Elena? Peace? Safety? No. Just pain. Fear. A child she had to raise alone. Maybe she was right. Maybe there’s no place for people like us.”

“No.” Elena’s voice broke through my spiraling thoughts. “She was afraid. But you’re not her, Lia. You’re stronger. You became something she couldn’t. You fought, even when you were still half-human. Even when no one believed in you. Think about your Moonbound army, they need you. You gave them a reason to hope.”

“I can’t lead an army when I don’t even know who I am anymore,” I said bitterly. “I feel hollow. Like the bond took everything good in me and burned it away.”

“You still feel, don’t you?” Elena’s eyes were fierce now, determined. “You still ache. That means you’re not done. You’re just scared. And you have every right to be. But running won’t save you from it. You’ll carry it wherever you go.”

I looked down at my hands. My fingers bore the faint marks of battle, scratches, calluses, memories. My hands had built. Protected. Clung to a love I thought was eternal. Now they just shook.

“I can’t stay here,” I whispered. “Not when every corner reminds me of him. Not when I sleep and hear him call me a liar. A witch. Like I was something vile.”

“And what about the bond?” Elena asked, softer now. “You think distance will sever it? You’ll feel him every full moon. You’ll dream of him. You’ll wake up in cold sweats wondering what would’ve happened if you stayed.”

“I’d rather wonder,” I said, my voice cracking, “than keep breaking.”

The silence between us stretched like dusk shadows, long and full of things unsaid.

Elena stepped closer, her expression finally softening. “You’ll be missed. By more than just him. You know that, right?”

I nodded slowly, my breath hitching. “I love you, Elena. You were more of a sister than I ever had. Thank you… for everything.”

Elena didn’t speak again. She just wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. The hug was tight, grounding, and warm.

“When you’re ready to come home,” she murmured against my hair, “you won’t need to knock.”

I clung to her for a breath longer. Then I stepped back, wiped my cheeks, and turned toward the forest.

The path ahead was untamed. Cold. But it was mine now.

One step.

Then another.

The trees swallowed me whole.

And I didn’t look back.