Chapter 22 “Blood Moon Bargain”
The moon rose red that night.
Not the gentle blush of twilight, but deep, pulsing crimson — like the sky itself was bleeding.
The villagers whispered about omens. They said the Blood Moon marked endings, the unraveling of vows. I didn’t believe them. Not until I felt the ache in my chest begin to change.
At first, it was faint — a slow tug, a shift beneath my ribs where the mark lay. Then it deepened, a strange pulse that didn’t belong to me.
It was his heartbeat… faltering.
I pressed a hand over my collarbone, trying to steady the warmth that used to comfort me. It flickered, then steadied again — weaker this time.
“Aiden?” I whispered into the stillness.
Nothing answered. Only the wind, soft and hollow, moving through the cabin walls like a sigh.
I closed my eyes and reached inward, toward the connection that had become my compass in the dark. But instead of the familiar pull of his presence, I found… static. A wall.
Like something ancient and unseen was pressing between us.
Liam watched me from the doorway. He hadn’t said much since that night — since I’d admitted what I felt. His silence was heavier than anger, and it followed me everywhere.
Now, in the crimson light, his face looked carved from stone.
“You should rest,” he said quietly.
“I can’t,” I murmured. “Something’s wrong.”
His jaw tightened. “Maybe it’s just in your head. You’ve been—”
“It’s not.” I looked up sharply. “I can feel him. And it’s changing. Like… someone’s trying to cut the thread between us.”
He flinched. It was quick — but I saw it.
“Elera,” he began, stepping closer, “you don’t know what this thing is. Maybe it’s dangerous. Maybe losing it would save you.”
“I don’t want to be saved,” I snapped, surprising even myself. The air around us stirred, faintly silver, shimmering with the rune’s energy. “You don’t understand — that bond is part of me now.”
His eyes darkened. “Part of you? Or part of him?”
I hesitated, my throat tightening. “Both,” I whispered.
Liam’s expression shuttered. “Then you’ve already chosen.”
He turned and left before I could speak again, the door closing with a sound that felt too final.
The forest was restless that night.
Silver mist drifted low across the ground, and the trees seemed to hum in a language I almost understood. I followed the sound, drawn by the faint glow that pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Every step felt heavier, the pull stronger — until I reached the clearing where the ancient roots coiled. The place where I’d first touched the rune.
It was awake again.
The roots shimmered beneath the Blood Moon, symbols crawling like fire through the soil. I knelt, brushing my fingers over the lines. They felt warm — alive.
And then the visions came.
Flashes of Aiden — his hands gripping the Heartstone, his face strained in the glow of twin moons. His voice, distant, echoing through the veil.
Elera… hold on.
I gasped, clutching my mark. The warmth surged up my arm, spreading through my veins until I could almost see his world again — towers of stone and silver, wolves howling in unison beneath a fractured sky.
But something dark moved between us.
A shadow. Cold and heavy. It pressed against the light, cracking the vision like glass.
A woman’s voice slipped through, soft and sharp at once.
Love is a chain, little flame. It burns whoever holds too tightly.
I stumbled back, my breath catching. “Who are you?”
The voice chuckled, low and dangerous. Someone who answers prayers the gods refuse to hear.
The air shuddered, and I saw — just for an instant — a figure cloaked in mist, her eyes like frost.
The same woman who’d whispered to me once before, in dreams I’d tried to forget.
But this time, she wasn’t looking at me.
She was looking through me. Toward something — or someone — behind me.
And then she smiled.
He’s already chosen his price.
The rune flared white-hot beneath my hands, searing my skin. I cried out, the mark at my collarbone blazing in response. Pain tore through me — not mine alone, but his. Aiden’s.
Our bond snapped taut like a string pulled too far.
I heard his voice again, faint, strained. Elera, don’t—
Then silence.
The light went out.
I collapsed against the roots, shaking. The forest was still again, but the quiet was wrong. Hollow.
The bond that had once hummed in every breath — that steady, living pulse — was gone.
Not broken completely, but dimmed.
Muted.
Like someone had wrapped it in chains.
By dawn, the Blood Moon had faded. The sky was pale and strange, and the world felt emptier than it had in months.
Liam was outside, splitting wood. He didn’t look at me when I stepped onto the porch.
“What happened last night?” I asked. My voice sounded small.
He paused mid-swing. “You tell me.”
“I saw something — a woman, cloaked in mist. She said…” My throat closed. “She said someone had made a choice.”
He lowered the axe slowly, his hands trembling just enough for me to notice.
“Liam,” I whispered, dread coiling in my chest, “what did you do?”
He met my eyes at last — and what I saw there terrified me more than any magic ever could.
Love. Regret. And something else.
Something dark.
“I did what I had to,” he said softly. “To keep you safe.”
Safe. The word felt like a lie.
My mark burned faintly again, a pulse of pain that didn’t belong to me. Somewhere far beyond this world, I could feel Aiden trying to reach me — trapped behind whatever wall had risen between us.
“Liam…” My voice cracked. “You don’t know what you’ve done.”
He turned away, his jaw set. “No,” he said. “You don’t know what he would’ve done.”
The air between us felt colder than the morning frost.
As he walked back toward the cabin, the forest shifted behind him — shadows curling through the trees like smoke.
And for the first time since meeting Aiden, I felt truly alone.