chapter 44

Elara's POV

The kiss barely broke before Kael's head snapped toward the sound, every ounce of the soft, reverent warmth from a moment ago hardening instantly into the sharp, focused King I'd first met in the forest, and I felt my own pulse spike in response, the joy of the completed vows tangling immediately with the fear we'd spent weeks preparing to face.

"It's done," Nyra said quickly, her voice steady despite the shouting growing louder beyond the chapel walls. "The bond is sealed, fully, completely. Whatever they intended to disrupt, they're already too late."

"That doesn't mean they'll simply leave quietly," Kael said, already moving toward the chapel doors, though he kept one hand firmly wrapped around mine, refusing to let the distance between us grow even as his attention split toward whatever was unfolding in the garden.

"Soren should have this contained. I need to see for myself."

"Then I'm coming with you," I said, and though I saw the flicker of protective instinct rise in his expression, the same instinct that had wanted to keep me safely behind him at the border months ago, he didn't argue this time, only nodded once, understanding now, fully, that facing danger together had become simply how we operated.

We moved quickly through the castle halls, Mira and the guards falling into step around us, and by the time we reached the edge of the garden, the scene spread out before us told a story already mostly resolved, guards positioned exactly where Soren had planned, several hooded figures restrained on the ground, the lantern still burning steadily in the window exactly where Wren had placed it, having drawn the old cause's attention precisely into the trap we'd built for them.

"Six of them," Soren reported, jogging over the moment he spotted us, a shallow cut along one arm the only visible sign of any real struggle.

"Caught the moment they breached the garden wall, expecting an empty ceremony still in progress. They weren't prepared for guards already in position."

"Casualties," Kael asked, scanning the scene with sharp, careful eyes.

"None on our side. A few injuries among them, nothing fatal." Soren's expression turned grimmer. "One thing you should know, though.

The woman leading them, the one with the signet ring matching what Mathis described, she's not among the restrained. She got away before we could close the perimeter fully."

The relief of the successful trap dimmed slightly at that news, and I felt Kael's hand tighten around mine, some of the fierce satisfaction from a moment ago giving way to renewed wariness.

"We'll find her," Kael said, though his voice carried more determination than certainty. "For now, let's see what the ones we did catch are willing to tell us."

The restrained figures offered little at first, sullen and silent despite Soren's careful questioning, though one among them, younger than the others, visibly shaken by the sudden collapse of whatever plan they'd carried into the garden, finally broke under the weight of his own fear.

"She'll kill us for failing," he said, his voice cracking. "Please. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, if it means protection from what happens once she learns we failed."

"Who is she," Kael asked, crouching down to meet the young man's eyes directly. "Give us a name, and we'll ensure your safety."

"Selene," the young man said. "That's all I know her as. She leads the old cause now, has for the past decade, since her own mother led it before her. She won't simply give up because tonight failed. She's spent her whole life believing this is her purpose, protecting what she calls the natural order."

"Where would she go now," I asked, stepping forward despite Kael's protective instinct visibly wanting to keep me back. "If tonight's plan failed, where would she regroup?"

The young man hesitated, clearly weighing fear against whatever loyalty remained, before finally answering. "The chapel ruin. Where you've already discovered us meeting before. It's the only place she'd consider safe enough to reconvene, especially now that she knows the wedding itself is already beyond reach."

Kael exchanged a look with Soren, something decided passing silently between them, and I recognized immediately the shape of whatever plan was already forming in both their minds.

"We move on the ruin," Kael said. "Tonight, while she's still reeling from tonight's failure, before she has time to regroup fully or relocate somewhere we can't easily trace."

"Kael," I said carefully, "it's our wedding night."

Something softened in his expression at that, guilt and determination warring visibly behind his eyes. "I know. I hate that I even have to consider this tonight, of all nights.

But if we wait, if we give her time to recover and plan again, we simply postpone this exact danger to whatever moment she chooses next, and I refuse to spend the rest of our lives together waiting for the next attempt instead of ending this properly while we finally have the advantage."

I thought about it for a long moment, the fear of moving against them so directly warring against the exhaustion of a threat that had followed us since before the engagement even began, and finally, I nodded, understanding settling into place alongside my own fierce resolve.

"Then let's go together," I said. "Tonight. I won't let this shadow follow us into our marriage a single day longer than it has to."

Kael studied me for a long moment, something proud and fierce and achingly tender all mingled together in his expression, before he finally nodded, turning to Soren with quiet, decisive authority.

"Gather what guards we can spare without leaving the castle vulnerable," he said. "We ride within the hour. Tonight, we end this properly, once and for all."