Chapter 15 Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Mira POV
The ground shuddered, but it did not tear open. The magic faded in a rough pulse that burned across the stones and then slipped away, like a dying heartbeat. The Queen stepped back with a frustrated lift of her chin, clearly displeased that the force she expected had not answered her call.
Good.
I was tired of her prophecies and half-truths.
This was not ancient destiny.
This was a woman playing a dangerous game with bloodlines she barely understood.
Jason sagged against me, breath uneven. I tightened my hold and steadied him until he found his footing. His fingers curled weakly into my arm.
“I am alright,” he muttered.
He was not.
Magic exhaustion hummed through his body, hot and heavy. His wolf was pushing back against whatever spell she had attempted to use on him, and I could feel the strain.
The Queen observed us with a faint smile. “How disappointing. I expected the bond to trigger a reaction. Instead, I see nothing but stubbornness.”
Jason glared at her. “Your tricks are failing.”
“Not failing,” she said, “only delayed.”
I stepped forward. My shadows followed me in a slow, controlled wave. “Your ritual does not exist. You cannot summon anything with my blood.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps not what I intended. But your blood still holds power. Power enough to control the Council. Power enough to break the kingdom.”
She folded her hands calmly. “You think you are here by accident. You think you survived on your own. You think your rebellion is of your making.” She leaned in slightly. “You were shaped.”
My pulse hardened.
Jason moved beside me, steadying his stance. “Stop trying to twist the story. You torture your own people. You destroyed Mira’s family. You enslaved the Council.”
Her eyes flashed. “And I will continue until the kingdom is safe.”
“Safe for who,” I asked coldly. “For you?”
“For all of us,” she said. “Mira, you are dangerous. Your power is not normal. Your control is imperfect. You are a threat as large as any rebellion.”
Jason stepped fully between us, blocking her view of me. “If she is a threat to you, that is your fear speaking, not the truth.”
Her gaze sharpened. “You speak boldly for someone who will soon be replaced.”
Jason stilled. “Replaced.”
“Yes,” she said with smooth certainty. “The kingdom needs a ruler who will obey. Someone predictable. Someone who understands order.”
“You will not touch him,” I said.
“Do you think you can stop me,” she asked.
“Yes,” I said.
My shadows surged outward. Jason caught my wrist, grounding me before they lashed too far.
“Mira,” he whispered, “not yet.”
His touch steadied me. I hated how easily it did.
The Queen lifted her chin. “You have both made your positions clear. Then let us speak plainly.” She pointed at me. “Come with me willingly. Return to the palace. Give me the power of your bloodline. And he will be spared.”
Jason stiffened. “No. Mira, do not listen.”
I stared at the Queen in silence.
She thought she understood me.
She thought she could bargain with lives.
She thought fear would move me.
“Mira,” Jason said again. His voice was tight, shaken. “You do not owe her anything.”
I kept my eyes on the Queen. “If I refuse, you kill him.”
“If you refuse,” she said, “I replace him. The kingdom will not collapse without a king. But without your power, I cannot stop the chaos. You created this rebellion. You end it.”
I stepped closer.
“You will not kill Jason,” I said.
“And why not,” she asked.
I let the truth fall from my lips with precision.
“Because I will burn your palace to the ground if you touch him.”
The Queen’s eyes widened just slightly.
Jason inhaled sharply behind me.
For one beat, the air trembled between us.
Then the Queen smiled. “So it is true. You do care.”
My chest tightened painfully. Jason took a step toward me, but I held up a hand.
“Do not twist it,” I said to the Queen. “My care does not protect you.”
“Your care binds you,” she said. “You pretend you are free, but you are not. You run to him. You fight beside him. You kiss him like he is the only thing that keeps you alive.”
Heat rushed up my neck. My shadows flickered around my ankles.
Jason stepped forward, voice sharp. “Enough.”
“You cannot hide it,” the Queen said softly. “The bond between you is real.”
I felt Jason tense at my side.
I did not want this conversation.
Not here.
Not with her.
Not with the memory of his lips still burning against mine.
The Queen continued. “You two were always meant to be a pair. The Council tried to stop it. I tried to stop it. Yet here you stand. I imagine it is infuriating.”
I glared at her. “Not everything is fate. Some things are choices.”
“And your choice,” she said, “has led you both to destruction.”
Jason’s hand brushed mine, a soft, instinctive gesture of defiance. I pulled my hand away instantly. Too fast. Too defensive. His face tightened in hurt that he tried to mask.
I hated that she saw it.
The Queen sighed. “Enough discussion. You will both return to the palace now.”
“No,” Jason said.
“No,” I echoed.
Her eyebrows lifted calmly. “Then I will take you by force.”
Riven burst into the ruins at that moment, five rebels behind him. His eyes went straight to me, full of alarm.
“Mira,” he shouted. “We felt the magic. Are you safe?”
The Queen’s guards emerged from the shadows behind her at the same time, surrounding her in a half circle of swords and armor.
Jason stepped to my right. Riven took my left. Rebels behind us. Guards before us.
A stand off.
The Queen smiled faintly. “I suppose this was inevitable.”
Her gaze landed on me again. “You choose him. You choose them. You choose rebellion.”
She shook her head. “Very well. Then the kingdom will suffer for your stubbornness.”
Jason drew his sword. “We are leaving.”
“No,” she said. “Only one of you leaves alive.”
She raised her hand.
Magic flared.
Her guards charged.
Riven shouted orders. Rebels leapt into the fight. Steel clashed against steel.
Jason grabbed my arm. “Mira, stay close. Do not get separated.”
But I was already moving.
My shadows flared across the temple floor, sweeping two guards off their feet. Jason parried a strike aimed at my ribs, his blade ringing sharply. Riven took on three guards at once, fighting with fierce precision.
The Queen watched with calm eyes, letting her soldiers weaken us before she acted herself.
Jason fought beside me, breath rough, movements sharp. He blocked an attack aimed at my throat and shoved the attacker back. I spun behind him, slicing another guard across the leg. Our movements meshed effortlessly, instinctively.
We fought as one.
But the Queen waited behind her wall of soldiers, perfectly untouched.
This was not a battle.
This was a message.
She wanted to show us how easily she could corner us.
Then a guard struck Jason across the shoulder. He staggered. I lunged forward, shadows slicing across the guard’s chest. Jason gripped his wound, breathing hard.
“You are hurt,” I said.
“I am fine,” he muttered.
He was lying. His wolf was healing slowly, too slowly. The Queen’s earlier spell on him was still clinging to his veins.
A guard ran toward him again.
I moved faster.
I grabbed Jason by the front of his armor and pulled him into me to avoid the blade. His body collided with mine. My shadows rose to strike, but his breath hitched against my neck.
He whispered. “Mira.”
His voice carried pain. And something more dangerous.
My heart raced.
The guard swung again. I twisted, the movement forcing Jason’s body flush against mine to avoid the strike.
I could feel his heartbeat.
Fast.
Wild.
Alive.
His hand grabbed my waist instinctively, steadying himself.
Our faces were close. Too close.
I met his eyes at the same instant he met mine.
His voice was raw. “I should not have kissed you.”
My breath caught.
“But I would do it again,” he said softly.
Then his lips crashed into mine.
The second kiss hit harder than the first.
It was heat.
It was fury.
It was desperation.
It was fear.
It was desire that refused to be denied.
His hand slid to the back of my neck, pulling me closer. My fingers curled into his armor. My shadows wrapped around him completely, instinctive and protective. His wolf surged beneath his skin, reacting to mine.
The world spun around us.
The Queen’s guards.
The rebels shouting.
The clash of blades.
The smell of blood and magic.
None of it mattered.
Only him.
Only the kiss.
He tasted like everything I had lost and everything I had tried to kill inside myself.
When he finally pulled back, panting, his forehead rested against mine.
“Mira,” he whispered, breath shaking, “tell me you did not feel that.”
I could not speak.
Because I had.
Too much.
Riven’s shout broke the moment. “Mira. The Queen is retreating. Go. Now.”
Jason pulled away reluctantly. My shadows recoiled reluctantly. Our lips were inches apart, breath still tangled.
He stared at me like he saw the truth behind my silence.
The Queen vanished into the forest with her guards, leaving destruction behind her and a promise of war.
Jason stepped beside me, chest rising with heavy breaths.
“That kiss,” he said quietly, “was real. Whatever happens next, remember that.”
I turned away before my heart betrayed me again.
“We return to the camp,” I said.
The rebels gathered around us. Riven watched Jason with suspicion. Jason watched me with something far more dangerous.
And beneath the ruined moon temple, surrounded by blood and tension and impossible choices, I knew one thing:
Nothing between us could ever go back to what it was.
And nothing would ever stop what was coming next.