LOGINLENORAHeather tried to stop me twice before I even reached the serving trays.Once with her hand on my wrist, gentle but firm, and once with her voice soft, almost pleading, like she could talk me out of what was already happening.“Lenora,” she said quietly, stepping into my path as I adjusted the tray of snacks in my hands. “You don’t have to do this alone. I can ask someone else to.”“I have to do it,” I replied before she could finish.Her brows pulled together. “No, you don’t. This isn’t a punishment detail.”I tightened my grip on the tray slightly, forcing my fingers to stop trembling. “It’s a request from the council,” I said flatly. “Refusing it would only make things worse.”Heather exhaled slowly, frustration flickering across her face. “It’s not a request, it’s a test.”“I know.”“No,” she insisted, softer now, stepping closer again. “You don’t. You think this is about serving her, but it’s not. Xarian’s family doesn’t operate like that. They—”“I don’t care how they oper
LENORAThe corridor outside the council chamber felt longer than it had any right to be.Each step I took echoed softly against the polished stone, swallowed almost immediately by the hush that followed us out of the chamber doors. Heather kept a steady hold on my arm, her grip firm but careful, like she was afraid I might crumble if she loosened it even slightly. Imogen walked on my other side, her presence quieter, more measured, but no less protective.No one spoke at first.Not until the heavy doors shut behind us with a dull finality that made my chest tighten in reflex, as if the sound itself had sealed something irreversible inside me.Heather exhaled slowly, then pulled me gently toward a side corridor. “Let’s get you somewhere quieter,” she said softly, her voice strained with concern. “Away from them.”I nodded once, though I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to.My body followed without protest, but my mind lagged behind, still trapped in that chamber, still hearing the echo
LENORA “I reject you.” For a moment, I thought I had heard wrong. The words hung in the air, heavy and unmistakable, echoing against the stone walls of the council chamber as if they wanted to make sure I couldn’t escape them. My breath caught somewhere between my chest and my throat, refusing to move as I stared at him, waiting, hoping for something to change. It didn’t. Orion stood exactly where he was, unmoving, his gaze fixed on me now, steady and unreadable. There was no hesitation in his posture, no visible crack in his expression, nothing that suggested he hadn’t meant every single word. My lips parted slightly. “What…?” The bond twisted sharply, not like before, not uneven or strained, but violent, tearing through my chest with a force that made my knees weaken. I staggered back a step, my hand flying to my side as the pain spread, hot and suffocating, like something inside me was being ripped apart without mercy. “No…” The word slipped out before I could stop it, barel
LENORA The shift in the room was immediate. It wasn’t subtle, not even close. The moment Orion stepped fully into the chamber, every elder who had been seated rose to their feet as if pulled by the same invisible thread. Heads lowered, hands pressed to chests in respect, voices that had been sharp and argumentative only seconds ago now softened into careful obedience. “Your Highness,” the first elder said, bowing deeply. “We were not expecting—” “That much is obvious,” Orion cut in, his voice calm but edged with something that silenced the rest of the sentence before it could finish. No one spoke after that. I stood exactly where they had left me, still surrounded by guards who now seemed uncertain whether they were supposed to hold me or step back. Their grip loosened slightly, just enough for me to feel the difference. But I didn’t move. I couldn’t. The bond twisted sharply in my chest, not with the familiar pull I had begun to recognize, but with something heavier, somethin
LENORA The walk to the council chamber felt longer than it should have. Cold stone stretched endlessly beneath my bare feet, each step echoing too loudly in the narrow corridor as the guards escorted me forward. Their grips were firm, unyielding, fingers digging into my arms as if I might try to run. I didn’t resist. There was nowhere to go, and even if there had been, my body still hadn’t recovered from the earlier blow. My head throbbed faintly with every step, a dull reminder of how easily I could be broken if they chose to. “Keep moving,” one of them muttered impatiently when my pace slowed for half a second. “I am moving,” I replied, my voice quieter than I intended but steady enough to hold. I refused to give them the satisfaction of hearing fear. The large doors at the end of the corridor came into view, towering and carved with intricate symbols that marked authority and judgment. I had never seen them this close before, but I didn’t need anyone to tell me what waited on t
ORION The moment it happened, I felt it. It wasn’t gradual. It wasn’t subtle. It hit like a blade driven straight through my skull—sharp, violent, and impossible to ignore. Pain, but mine. Hers. My body reacted before my mind could catch up. I staggered slightly, my hand bracing against the edge of the table beside me as the sensation ripped through my chest, spreading fast, suffocating in its intensity. “What the hell?” I muttered under my breath, my voice tightening as the feeling surged again. Fear followed and my head snapped up. Lenora. The realization settled instantly, and with it came a second wave—stronger this time. Not just pain, but panic, distress, a sharp edge of helplessness that didn’t belong to me. Something inside me snapped. The table beneath my hand cracked before I even realized I had applied pressure. Wood splintered under my grip, the sharp sound echoing through the chamber. “Orion.” I barely registered the voice. Another pulse hit. My chest tighte
~Orion~Lenora.The name settled into my mind the moment it left her lips, repeating itself with a weight I had not expected, as though it carried something more than a simple sound. It lingered there, pressing against my thoughts, refusing to be dismissed no matter how I tried to move past it.“Le
~Eric~I woke with a violent jerk, my chest heaving as though I had been running for miles, my heart slamming so hard against my ribs that it felt like it might break free entirely. The darkness of my room pressed in around me, thick and suffocating, and for a moment, I could not separate dream fro
LenoraThe silence felt different tonight.It was not hust about the quiet stillness of the mountain’s corridors, nor the controlled whisper of guarded halls where every movement had purpose. It pulsed faintly beneath my skin, brushing against my senses like something unseen waiting to be acknowled
~Orion~I didn't understand this girl.The moment her voice dropped to that quiet whisper, barely more than a breath as she answered my question with a single word, I felt something shift within me that I could not immediately name.‘Nowhere,’ She had said, like it was a realization she only made j







