Novel-novel oleh Layomi

EPILOGUE: Where Light and Shadow DanceELARA'S POV"Mama, do I look okay?"I turned from the window. Twenty-two years. My daughter stood before me. No longer the glowing baby we'd found in that dark chamber. A woman now. Beautiful. Powerful. Ours."You look perfect, sweetling," I said. The old nickname still fits somehow.She wore white. Traditional for bonding ceremonies. Her dark hair cascaded down her back. Those silver eyes sparkled with nervous excitement. Light and shadow danced beneath her skin. Balanced. Beautiful. Everything we'd hoped she'd become."I'm terrified," she admitted. Laughed shakily. "Is that normal?""Completely normal." I walked to her. Took her hands. "I was terrified at my bonding ceremony too.""You had two mates though." She grinned. "That's twice the terror."Twenty years. Twenty years since we'd sealed the wound. Since we'd learned to love imperfectly. Since we'd built this life.The valley had grown. Our small sanctuary had become legendary. Wolves came

ELARA'S POV"Mama, watch this!"Our daughter stood in the garden. Six months since the mountain. Six months of healing. Growing. Becoming.She raised both hands. Light blazed from her right palm. Shadow swirled from her left. Then she brought them together.The magic merged. Created something entirely new. A flower bloomed between her hands. Half silver-light. Half midnight-shadow. Absolutely breathtaking."Beautiful, sweetling," I called. I meant it completely.She grinned. Ran to show the other children. Five of them now. All with difficult magic. All sent here by desperate parents. All thriving under our teaching.We'd become something unexpected. A sanctuary. Not just for light magic. Not just for shadow. For everything in between. For the complicated. It's frightening. The difference.Kael taught them structure. Control. How to channel power through discipline and focus.Ronan taught them patience. Gentleness. How to nurture magic instead of forcing it.I taught them wisdom. Bala

COMING BACK HOME RONAN'S POV"Look! She's in the garden!"Mara pointed as we approached the house. I could see our daughter from here. Sitting cross-legged in the dirt. Hands outstretched.We ran. All three of us. Desperate to reach her. To hold her. To prove she was really okay.She didn't notice us at first. Too focused on what she was doing. Creating something with her magic.Flowers bloomed around her. But not normal blooms. Half were made of pure light. Glowing silver-white. Beautiful. The other half were made of shadow. Dark but not evil. Elegant. Mysterious.She was weaving them together. Light and shadow flowers growing side by side. Creating patterns. Making beauty from both.No fighting. No opposition. Just harmony."Sweetling," I called softly. I didn't want to startle her.Her head whipped around. Those silver eyes went huge. "You came back!"She scrambled up. Ran toward us. We met her halfway. Dropped to our knees. Caught her together.She crashed into us. Sobbing. Cling

KAEL'S POV"We will try again today."I said it as dawn broke. Third morning on this cursed mountain. But something felt different. Lighter somehow.Ronan nodded. No argument. "Together this time. Really together."Elara stood. Stretched. I looked at both of us. "Not trying to fix each other. Just accepting each other."Simple words. But they meant everything.We'd talked through the night. Really talked. About our fears. Our failures. Our fundamental differences. And somehow, in admitting we were all broken, we'd started becoming whole again.The walk back to the wound site felt different. We walked side by side. Not ahead. Not behind. Together.The corruption had spread overnight. The chasm was wider. Darker. Hungrier.But I wasn't afraid anymore. Not the same way."Ready?" I asked."Ready," they answered together.We formed our triangle. Joined hands. This time I didn't try to force my way. I didn't try to make them follow my discipline. My structure. My methods.I channeled warrio

ELARA'S POV"Message incoming!"The shout jolted me awake. Dawn is barely breaking. I'd finally fallen asleep after hours of lying awake in guilt and fear.A messenger bird circled overhead. Valley markings. Urgent flight pattern.Kael caught it. Unrolled the tiny scroll. His face went white."What is it?" I scrambled up. My heart is pounding.He handed it to me. Hands shaking. The words blurred. I had to read them twice.*The baby is sick. Burning with fever. Magic consuming her from inside. Light and shadow fighting. She's crying for you. Keep asking why you left. Come home. Please. —Mara*"No," I breathed. "No no no."Ronan grabbed the scroll. Read it. Made a sound like he'd been punched. "We have to go back. Now.""We can't," Kael said. Voice tight. Controlled. "The corruption is spreading. If we don't seal it—""Our daughter is dying!" Ronan shouted. Got in Kael's face. "Nothing else matters!""Everything else matters!" Kael shoved him back. "If we don't fix this, there won't be

RONAN'S POV"We have to go back."Kael's voice was flat. Final. No room for argument.Our daughter looked up from her breakfast. Those silver eyes went wide with fear. "Back where?""To the mountain," Elara said gently. Knelt beside her chair. "Where we found you. Where the Guardian fell. We need to see what's happening there.""No!" Our daughter grabbed Elara's arm. Desperate. "Don't go to the dark place. It's calling me there. It wants me."My blood went cold. "What do you mean it wants you?""In my dreams. The voice says come home. Says I belong there. In the dark." Tears streamed down her face. "Don't go there. Please don't go.""We have to, sweetling," I said. My heart is breaking. "To fix what's broken. To stop the corruption.""Then I'm coming too!" She stood on her chair. Defiant despite the tears. "You can't leave me again!""It's too dangerous," Kael said. Firm. Alpha command creeping into his voice. "You're staying here.""No! I won't! You can't make me!" Her magic flared.

ELARA'S POVCallie’s eyes widened when she saw the guy who was with me. The two of us seemed to catch the attention of the people inside the bar. I looked down at the floor to hide my face.How could we not catch attention when Kael walks like a model with his hand holding mine while the other is inside his pocket? He’s wearing a black shirt and black denim pants paired with white rubber shoes. It’s simple yet eye-catching.This guy can’t stop confusing me, I thought.I sat on my usual seat while Kael grabbed the chair to our left. He then sat down and rested his right arm on the top rail of my seat. He leaned closer to me, and our bodies touched, making me shiver. It felt like an electric bolt surged through my system. He then pressed my arm from behind. I looked at him and glared, giving him a don’t-you-dare look.Kael just smirked and averted his gaze forward, playing innocent.God! Kael and his man whore skills. Does he need to press my arm? I thought.I looked at Callie, and she

Elara's POV.This was just what Kael liked we stayed in his place. We did nothing but cuddle on his huge comfy bed.The clock hit one in the afternoon when I woke up. It was a miracle and a record-breaking for us not to do such a thing aside from cuddling. We just slept together until we gained what we needed.My eyes met the Greek God-like Kael Draven Beaumont, with his long eyelashes, sharp nose, and cute re-pink lips. The latter thought made me gulp.Whoever the girl he wanted to be with for the rest of his life would be fortunate.I wished I was, I thought.But here came the reality I could never have him. I was just nobody. He wasn't serious about our setup. All along I knew it was just a game.I slowly moved away from his arm that rested on my tummy, hugging me. When done, I then stood up, went out of the room, and walked straight to the kitchen to prepare some food. It was past lunch, and my stomach was grumbling. And I bet, when the beast woke up, he needed to be fed too.Kael

ELARA'S POV “How many days that you haven’t let your veggie be watered, Elara?”“What the…” I covered Callie’s mouth and looked around. Damn! “Will you please shut this mouth?” I said as I removed my hand from her mouth.For goodness’ sake, we’re inside of a fancy restaurant, full of well-known business royalties.“What?” Callie mumbled and smirked at me.“Will you please lower down your voice?”Callie rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I’m just asking you a question, right Vivi?” she asked Vivi who is busy on her phone.“Ha?” is all that Vivi uttered.“Seriously, Vivi? Is there something I need to fish out?” Callie asked and raised her left brow.“N-Nothing, of course,” Vivi answered and put down her phone at the table. “So, I heard Kael is in France. Why is that?” she then asked, seems to catch up to our topic.I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Business?”“You’re not sure? Aren’t you two dating?” asked Callie, with her mocking tone.“Says who? We go out just for a business thing,” I repl

ELARA'S POV “It’s impossible that I can make Kael fall for me,” I said, seeming hopeless.“What? Of course, you can,” said Callie as she sat down beside me.We’re inside my condo and it’s past three in the afternoon already. We just had a movie marathon and a girl’s talk. Callie and Vivi said that they will go home before five o’clock.“Why did you say that it is impossible?” asked Vivi.I reached out for the glass of juice and drank. I then put it back on the table. “Well, first, Kael hates commitment. And we all know that since the beginning. Second, I don’t know why he hates it,” I said and laughed.My friends threw a piece of biscuits in my direction. “Crazy,” Callie mumbled.“Of course, he was afraid to be hurt to be broken. Few think that if they enter a commitment, it seems like they are burying themselves. You know, they don’t want to be strangled,” Vivi explained.“Strangle? Those men have no balls,” said Callie, with bitterness in her voice. “They don’t know how to take a r

ELARA'S POV It was eight in the morning when Callie and Vivi picked me up. They invited me over for breakfast in Callie’s restaurant. My friends kept interrogating me. But I didn’t know what to answer or where to start. I just told them that I would answer after breakfast so they would stop. Besides, after it, we would be hanging out in my condo.My father called me over the phone and said that I had a trip abroad for business matters. I declined it but he blackmailed me and said that I would not inherit any single pound from our company. I just scoffed and laughed. As if he could do it. Knowing my mother? She wouldn’t agree with it. My mother loves me so much that she won’t let it happen.So, if Elara said no, then it’s a no. My father does the business thing on that trip.Yes. I’m hardheaded. But no one can blame me, I hate business. When I was young, I always wanted to be a doctor, but it turns out I became a businesswoman.There’s nothing wrong with being a businesswoman either.

ELARA'S POV I woke up groggy, a tickling sensation stirring the lower part of my body. Something warm seemed to caress me, sending shivers through my skin. “Hmm…” I mumbled, my eyes fluttering open. Darkness enveloped me, and I blinked to adjust my vision. My breath caught when I saw the silhouette of a man whose sharp features were unmistakable. It was definitely Kael.“What are you doing?” I asked, pulling myself up and leaning against the headboard. I cursed silently. For heaven’s sake, I was naked. My eyes darted to the digital clock beside the lamp.4:18 AMKael moved closer. I grabbed the duvet, yanking it over my body to cover my nakedness. He smirked, his eyes glinting in the dim light.“You don’t need to hide it. I’ve already seen it and touched it,” he said, his voice dripping with mockery. He crawled toward me like a playful child, and despite myself, I smiled. His brows furrowed. “Is something funny?” he asked.I sat up straighter, shaking my head. “Nothing.”He