Elara woke screaming.
Silver light tore through the chamber like lightning, ripping her from sleep as agony exploded in her chest. She clutched the sheets, gasping as the mate bond surged violently, burning through her veins as if it had been waiting for this moment.
"No—!" she cried.
The air shattered.
The wards slammed into place just as furniture lifted from the floor, suspended midair by raw lunar energy. The hearth flared white-hot, flames twisting unnaturally as the sigils carved into the walls glowed in alarm.
"Elara!"
Kael was at her side instantly.
He barely had time to reach for her before the pain hit him too—sharp, blinding, merciless. He dropped to one knee with a grunt, gripping his chest as the bond snapped taut between them like a chain pulled too hard.
This wasn't awakening.
This was backlash.
"You tried to suppress it," Kael realized through clenched teeth. "Didn't you?"
Elara shook her head violently, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't suppress it—I rejected it."
That was worse.
The bond roared in fury.
The world tilted.
And then—
They were no longer in the chamber.
They stood in a vast silver plain beneath an enormous moon.
The ground glowed softly beneath their feet, warm and alive. The air hummed with ancient power — calm, vast, and unforgiving.
Kael sucked in a sharp breath.
"This is—"
"The bond space," Elara finished quietly.
He turned to her in shock. "You know this place."
She nodded slowly.
"In my past life," she said, "I only came here once. Right before I died."
The moon pulsed above them.
A presence stirred.
You resist what has already been written.
The Moon Goddess' voice rolled across the plain, neither kind nor cruel — simply eternal.
Elara stepped forward. "I resist what killed me."
Kael's head snapped toward her.
The bond was never meant to end in death.
Elara laughed bitterly. "Then it shouldn't have been placed in the hands of cowards."
The air trembled.
Kael stiffened. "Elara—"
"No," she said sharply. "Let me speak."
She faced the moon, heart pounding but spine straight.
"You bound me to a man who loved power more than truth," Elara said. "You gave me devotion without protection. Faith without choice."
The moonlight intensified.
And yet you returned.
"Yes," Elara replied softly. "Because I was not finished living."
Silence stretched.
Then—
The bond will not release you.
Elara's breath hitched.
"But," the goddess continued, it will obey one law above all others.
"Which law?" Kael asked hoarsely.
Choice.
The moon flared once—blinding, final.
Elara jolted awake.
She was back in Kael's chamber, sprawled across the bed, drenched in sweat. Her chest ached as if something inside her had been forcibly realigned.
Kael sat on the floor beside the bed, back against the frame, head bowed.
Alive.
Breathing.
Connected.
"You saw it too," she whispered.
Kael looked up slowly.
"Yes."
Something had changed in his eyes.
Fear — not of her power, but of losing control.
"The bond won't stabilize unless we stop fighting it blindly," he said. "But it also won't force us."
Elara swallowed. "It wants choice."
Kael nodded.
"Which means," he said quietly, "every step forward… we decide."
She studied him carefully.
"In my past life," she said, "the bond was absolute. It overrode reason. Judgment. You trusted it more than me."
Pain crossed his face. "I know."
"Do you?" she asked softly. "Because trusting it again would be the same mistake."
Kael rose slowly to his feet.
"Then we won't trust it," he said. "We'll challenge it."
Elara blinked.
"You're serious."
"I've spent my life obeying forces older than myself," Kael said. "Throne. Council. Fate. Look where it led."
He met her gaze steadily.
"If this bond wants us… it answers to us this time."
The words sent a strange warmth through her chest — not the burning compulsion of before, but something steadier.
Chosen.
A sharp knock sounded at the door.
Kael turned instantly alert, his aura snapping back into place.
Rowan entered, face grim. "Your Majesty. The council has convened an emergency session."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Over what?"
"They're calling it… a lunar anomaly," Rowan said carefully. "They felt the surge."
Of course they did.
Elara pushed herself upright, ignoring the lingering ache in her body.
"They're afraid," she said. "Which means they'll act."
Kael looked at her. "Then we act first."
The bond stirred — not painfully this time, but attentively.
Watching.
Waiting.
Elara swung her legs off the bed.
"If the council thinks I'm a threat," she said, voice calm and deadly, "then it's time I stop pretending I'm not."
Kael's lips curved slightly — not in arrogance, but resolve.
"Then I'll stand beside you," he said. "Not as king. Not as mate."
She met his gaze.
"As what?"
"As a man asking for another chance," he said quietly. "To choose you."
Elara didn't answer immediately.
But she didn't step away either.
And somewhere deep beneath the palace, the ancient sigil pulsed again — no longer resisting.