ログインHe pressed a slow kiss to Claudian's temple. The child leaned into him, but his worried gaze never left his mother's face.
The boy looked up. "You promise?"
Claude kissed his hair this time before the blue-lit woman answered.
"I promise," she said.
He pressed a slow kiss to Claudian's temple. The child leaned into him, but his worried gaze never left his mother's face.The boy looked up. "You promise?"Claude kissed his hair this time before the blue-lit woman answered."I promise," she said.Certainty entered her voice without arrogance.She knelt between the moonlit pools and placed one palm above Rachelle's chest and the other above Euphyllia's. Blue light descended from her hands without touching their skin.Her eyes brightened to the color of a winter sky."Iseldis," I said.
Silence possessed weight.It settled beneath my ribs where Asterion's winter and Faolan's flame had lived only moments ago. I waited for the familiar pressure of their emotions to cross into me.Nothing came.Both men remained across the ruined ritual circle.Asterion touched the tear upon his cheek as though it belonged to someone else. Faolan allowed his to fall without attempting to bury the emotion beneath a grin.I wanted to know why they were crying.For the first time since the auction, wanting did not become knowing.I took one step toward them.No invisible thread pulled me forward. No bond demanded that I close the distance. My body moved because I commanded it to.Asterion and Faolan watched me approach, but neither reached for me.They waited.The restraint hurt more than I expected.I stopped before them and lifted my hands."May I touch both of you?"Asterion's cold expression broke first."Yes, my moon."Faolan swallowed. "If you still want to.""I would not have asked
Elixane lifted both hands.Violet light descended from her palms and surrounded our bodies. It did not touch the threads. It sank deeper, passing through bone and blood until it enclosed three souls.Ragriel's layered voice filled the clearing."I, Ragriel, the first daughter of the Moon Goddess, am the Goddess of Mate Bonds who shall sever the four threads binding these three werewolves: Pandora Seitz, Asterion Seitz, and Faolan Seitz."These bonds were formed through blood without equal choice. They were strengthened by fear, punishment, abandonment, grief, and pain."By the divine authority granted to me on behalf of the Moon Goddess, I call every hidden thr
The day of the ritual passed with insulting ordinariness.Asterion reviewed reports at the desk near the windows. Faolan cheated at cards and became offended whenever I caught him. I wrote over another one of Father's conclusions in his diary, correcting the place where he had described obedience as evidence of successful conditioning.We ate when food arrived.We argued over whether Faolan had hidden a card beneath his sleeve.He had.None of us mentioned the full moon waiting beneath the horizon.Whenever Asterion left the room to speak with a warrior, I searched for his winter through the bond. Whenever Faolan disappeared to harass the kitchen staff, I followed the heat of his flame until he returned carrying something he had convinced a cook to surrender.Neither thread had been severed, yet I was already mourning them.That realization irritated me.The bonds had not become innocent simply because I had grown accustomed to their presence. They had been born from blood, fear, and
PANDORAI glanced at him."You were terrifying when impatient.""You cannot know what you would have chosen.""Neither can you," Asterion said. "That is why tomorrow matters."The truth hurt. His refusal to soften it steadied me anyway.Faolan crouched beside the foundation. "Perhaps we would have followed you. Perhaps we would have left years later. Perhaps we would have returned."Every possibility should have belonged to them."I should have allowed you to choose any of those paths.""Yes," Asterion said.His gaze held mine."What would you have done if we refused?"The answer I wanted to give arrived easily. I would have accepted their decision. I would have ensured they possessed food, shelter, and enough coin to escape Crescent Ice without owing me anything.That was the answer of the woman standing among the ruins now.The girl who first found them had been different."I do not know," I admitted. "I might have continued offering reasons until your refusal sounded like agreement
PANDORAI awakened beneath the weight of two males who had apparently mistaken me for bedding.Faolan's arm remained locked around my waist. His face was buried against the back of my neck, each slow breath stirring the loose strands of my hair. Asterion lay before me with one hand wrapped around my wrist, his thumb resting over my pulse.Neither was truly asleep.The bonds betrayed them.Faolan's anxiety burned beneath a thin layer of exhaustion. Asterion's fear was colder, compressed so tightly that another person might have mistaken it for calm.Tomorrow night, those emotions would no longer enter me without permission.For years, I had treated the ability to feel them as proof that I understood them. Now I wondered how often I had mistaken access for knowledge.I shifted carefully.Two arms tightened."Rachelle instructed us to behave as though the bonds were not compelling us to remain together," I murmured.Faolan's eyes remained closed. "The bond is not making me hold you."Ast







