Chapter 233 – Call Has Been Answered

Chapter 233 – Call Has Been Answered

Liora

I haven’t blink in days.

All I do was sink in the Soul Reviver book reading ana mastering the spells.

Eagqr to wake him up.

Sleep never date come. Because each time I close my eyes, I hear his voice. Soft. Broken. Whispering my name wanting to come back.

“Liora…”

Every passing day it feels closer. Because I've learn something more... getting closer.

I convinced myself I’m only doing what's right. He didn’t deserve to die. But deep down, I know the truth. It feels wrong but I just can’t let go.

The Soul Reviver lies open in front of me, tracing the red symbols with trembling fingers.

The air smells of old book, and lavender. Somewhere in that scent, faint and sharp, is the trace of earth ... his scent. It feels like he's near.

“Snowfall…” I whisper, my voice hoarse.

My wolf nuzzled, restless and alert. You shouldn’t fight it, she murmurs. He’s calling. I can feel the bond trembling.

“I know,” I sighed, clutching my chest eith my hand. My heartbeat beats faster. “But Eira said it’s forbidden ... she said the Goddess would punish me.”

Snowfall’s growl is low, defiant. The Goddess took him first. Why should you obey the one who broke you?

My throat tightens. I close my eyes. “Because if I lose myself, he’ll never find me.”

There was silence for a minute the only sound was that of the wind on the open windows.

Then Snowfall murmured, sadly. You already lost yourself when he died.

Her words hit hard. Because the Liora before would never be search a forbidden book.

I swallow hard pushing the thought away. forcing myself to focus on the book.

The letters are strange, alive. Sometimes they seem to move when guiding me.

Days pass by in a blur. As Silvermoon celebrates Keal’s coronation of Keal. Father decided to renew his coronation since the last one end in tears.

To have a proper one.

Keal stands tall, his Alpha’s mark shining faintly against his neck. Lily beside him looks radiant, her eyes soft and steady. They bow before Father as he crowns him with the symbol of the Alpha... a silver circlet carved with moons.

Everyone cheers. Aurelie weeps softly beside me. Happy and sad at the time. Sad when she remember mother. Happy her twin is officially the Alpha.

But I on the other hand, barely concentrate in anything other than wanting to go back to the book.

I see their smiles, their peace, their new beginnings...and I envy them.

Because mine ended the moment Lucian stopped breathing.

When Father lifts his gaze and smiles at me, I force my lips to move, but it feels wrong. Heavy. Like lying with my face.

When it wzs night, I quickly returned nack to my room. Turn the light and grab the Soul Reviver, my fingers shaking as I trace the words.

The red ink glows faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat.

I heard his voice again... closer now, clearer.

“Liora… I’m waiting.”

Tears slide down my cheeks before I even realize it. I whispered. “Where are you?”

Snowfall answered instead, getting strength. He’s in between the worlds, between life and death. You can pull him back… you just have to finish what you started.

“But what if I lose myself?”

Then we’ll both be lost. But together.

Her words make my heart ache. I press my palm against the page, and msking me feel warm.

That’s when the door bursts open.

“Liora!”

Keal’s voice.

I jerk my hand back making the candle on the table flare.

He storms in, his expression wild, his steps heavy. Behind him, Aurelie lingers, her face pale.

“Keal, what...”

He walked and stood in front of me, grabbing the book, and shutting it down. The sound echoes in the room.

“You can’t bring him back this way!” he shouts, his voice breaking towards the end. “You’ll become like Marcus! You’ll curse yourself!”

The name feels like a slap. Marcus... the monster who make Lucian carried his sins.

“Then let me!” I scream back, tears blurring my sight. “If that’s what it takes! If it means I can see him again, I’ll do it!”

Keal’s chest heaves. His jaw tightens. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do!” My voice was shaking I was desperate. “You don’t understand what it’s like to wake up and feel half of your soul missing! Every breath hurts, Keal! Every heartbeat... empty!”

Aurelie steps forward, trembling. Her eyes filled with tears. “Liora, please. Black magic never gives what you want ...without taking much from you. You’ll lose yourself, and Lucian wouldn’t want that.”

I shake my head. “You don’t know what he would want. He promised he’d come back to me.”

Aurelie’s voice cracks. “Then let the Goddess decide, not you.”

But Snowfall growls, her voice slicing through my thoughts. Mate calls. Heart follows.

Keal rubs his face, exhausted. “You think this is love, but it’s not... it’s grief, Liora. It’s tearing you apart.”

I stare at him, chest burning. “And what’s the difference when both hurt the same?”

Everyone was silent, no one speaks. Only the sound of the wind outside.

I turn amd open the book but making one of the candles fell makingit flare.

The flame burn high, twisting like a living thing.

Keal steps back instinctively, his hand raised. “What the...”

Aurelie gasps. “The mark... look!”

Within the fire, faint and silver, forms a shape... the same curse pattern of Lucian’s palm.

My heart stops.

The flame dances, flickers... and then a whisper cuts through the air, low and clear, carried by the wind.

“I am close.”

I freeze.

The sound is unmistakable. That voice...deep, rough, familiar enough to shatter me.

Keal’s eyes widen. “Liora… what did you do?”

Tears spill down my face as I stare at the fire. “I didn’t do anything,” I whisper. “The goddess did. She answered me.”

"That wasn't the goddess." Keal argued.

The flame flickers once more, then dies out, leaving only smoke curling through the air... smoke that smells like blood and ash.

Snowfall’s voice trembles inside me. He’s near, Liora… the veil is thinning.

I press a shaking hand to my chest, my heartbeat pounding like a drum.

“I know,” I whisper. “I can feel him.”

And somewhere, deep in the silence beyond the living world…

I swear I hear him whisper back.

“Don’t stop calling me.”

As the last candle fade out, leaving the room with one faint glow.

The Soul Reviver come to live, its pages warm under my hand.

The ink shifts again... silver bleeding into red... forming new words that make my blood run cold.

“Your call has been answered.”