Fiona's pov The corridor twisted beneath our feet as we ran, Logan limping, blood trailing from a wound he wouldn’t acknowledge, the dagger pulsing between us like a second heartbeat.Walls groaned and cracked overhead, each sound a reminder: Mia knew exactly what she was doing. She’d laid the trap, fed us the illusion of choice, and watched us bleed ourselves dry on our own hope.Now, she was gone, now slipped into shadow. And we were left to pick up the pieces of a bond half-shattered.Ahead, the corridor split.“Down,” Logan said, voice hoarse. “That leads to the inner rampart. The others might’ve fallen back there.”I nodded and pushed forward, steadying him when his knees buckled. His skin was pale under the smears of dirt and blood, but he didn’t complain. He never did.We turned the corner and stopped dead.The hallway was littered with bodies. Some ours. Some not.The Thornwood soldiers hadn’t just come to break walls, they’d come to slaughter.I stepped carefully between the
Fiona's pov“The dagger. You can use it,” Mia said again, her voice carefully neutral. No pity this time only ice.“I can’t,” I whispered, though my voice cracked under the weight of everything we’d been through.“You have to.” She stepped forward, her eyes glittering in the torchlight. “Sever the bond and you save him. You save yourself.”I looked down at Logan kneeling in agony beneath the weight of the world. His chest heaved, his breaths shallow, each one ragged with pain. The bond was tearing him apart, and yet… I couldn’t let go. Not now.“This isn’t about saving him,” I said slowly, pushing to my feet. My magic pulsed under my skin like caged fire. “It’s about control. Your control.”Mia’s smile never wavered. “You’re learning at last,” she murmured. “Stay out of this and walk away. The bond is fatal. Let me do what’s necessary.”Her calm tone betrayed nothing yet I heard the whip-crack of betrayal etched into its edges.“Necessary?” I spat. “You sent soldiers. You brought blac
Fiona's pov I was halfway through the Ashmere pass when the forest went too quiet.No birds, Just the creak of my horse’s reins and the low thunder of something approaching far, far off.That’s when I felt it, magic.Not mine and neither Logan’s. Something familiar but wrong.I reined in my horse just as a blade hissed past my cheek, catching the edge of my cloak.I jumped to the ground, already summoning a pulse of energy to my palm, but it fizzled and then muted, as if something was pulling it from me.Three figures stepped out from the trees, silent as ghosts. Black cloaks. Masks.And then a fourth followed.No mask.Just Mia.Her eyes met mine without hesitation.“Hello, Fi.....”It felt like the world tilted sideways. “Mia,” I whispered, disbelief clawing up my throat. “What are you doing?”She stopped a few paces away, lowering her hood. Her braid was tucked tight, her expression unreadable. Except for the regret I thought I saw regret there.“I didn’t want it to be like this,”
Fiona's pov “You always get that look when you’re about to do something dangerous,” Logan said softly.I smiled, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes. “What look?”“The one that says you’re going to lie to me and pretend you’re just going for a walk.”We were alone in the stillness of early morning, wrapped in the quiet hush before the storm. The fire behind us had burned low, throwing lazy shadows across the stone walls. Logan’s shirt was half-buttoned, bandages peeking out where the healing hadn't caught up yet. He leaned against the hearth like standing took effort but his gaze was steady, fixed on me like I was the only thing anchoring him.I stepped closer and brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. “I’m not lying.”“But you’re still leaving.”I nodded. “Thornwood’s unraveling. I need to see it for myself.”His jaw tightened. “Let me come with you.”“You’re still recovering.”“Doesn’t matter.”“It does to me,” I said gently. I took his hand, pressing my fingers to the inside of
Fiona's pov The dungeon was cold.Stone walls, rough-hewn and dripping with moisture, closed in around me as I stepped into the cell. The torchlight flickered, casting long shadows over Rowan’s bruised face. He sat slumped against the far wall, his shirt torn, blood crusted along his temple.The remnants of the bond's magic still shimmered faintly in the air, a warning left behind by the blast that had flung him into the corridor like a rag doll.He didn’t look up when I entered.I didn’t speak right away. I stood just outside the iron bars, hands trembling at my sides, not from fear but fury and heartbreak.Finally, I broke the silence."Why?"His head lifted slowly, green eyes dull and swollen. A bitter smile cracked his lip. “You already know why.”“I want to hear you say it.” My voice wavered, not with weakness, but the kind of grief that comes when a truth you hoped wasn’t real finally claws its way out.Rowan sighed and leaned back against the wall. “Because you were never supp
Fiona's pov "Fiona," Logan whispered, still holding me in the dim, trembling cavern. “What did she mean, that we were never meant to survive this bond?"I shook my head slowly, swallowing against the thick knot in my throat. The air still shimmered with red light, the altar pulsing faintly like a dying heart. “I don’t know,” I said, barely above a breath. “But I saw it, Logan. The First Luna, the First Alpha. They burned for this, bled for this.”He tightened his arms around me, his breath hot against my temple. “I saw them too. And I felt it. Like… like their choices are tangled in ours. Like we’re not walking forward—we’re just repeating them.”A silence settled, but it wasn’t peace. It was the hush before a collapse.I pulled back slightly to look into his eyes. “Logan… something’s happening to you. Your power. It’s not just growing, it’s changing you.”His jaw clenched, and I could feel the truth quivering inside him before he said it. “I can’t always feel where I end anymore, F