LOGINAiden has spent eighteen years believing he is human. That lie ends the night Lycan King Cael drags him to the ice court and sinks his teeth into his throat. The bite should have killed him; instead, it forges a bond that burns hotter than any mate mark. With his sister Maya chained to the First Tree and only three nights to live, Aiden must survive a court that wants his blood. He will walk into the heart of the tree with the king who claims him to save her. But the tree does not see mates. It sees blood, and it remembers the night their mother ran with two babies instead of one.
View More"My sons."The voice rolls through the opening in the tree like cold water down my spine, and I freeze with Cael's hand locked around my wrist, and the roots above us pulse with white light. The air smells like wet earth, old blood and pine from Cael's skin, and my heart beats so loud I hear it in my teeth.Through the split in the bark I see him, and my breath catches because he looks like an older, crueler version of Cael. King Roran stands on a stone altar, black hair threaded with grey, gold eyes unblinking, one boot resting beside Maya's head like she belongs to him. Maya lies unconscious on the cold stone, her skin is too pale, her lips drained of color, and her breathing is barely there.Roran smiles, but the smile never reaches his eyes as he spreads his hands wide. "Come closer," he says. "Let me see what twenty years of hiding bought me."Cael moves before I do, his shoulder slamming in front of mine, his growl vibrating through his chest and into my back. His eyes bleed fro
Cael's hand crushes mine because he sees it too. He does not breathe for three heartbeats. Then his whole body shakes because the vision is still in front of us.The picture moves because the tree is not done. We are in a small hut in the south where the fire is low and my mother is sitting on a dirt floor, both babies still held against her chest.She kisses the blue one's head, and tears run down her face before she hands him to a wolf guard she trusts because she knows she cannot keep both. She whispers, “Take him back and say he lived,” because she needs the king to believe only one son survived.She keeps the grey one because he is smaller and he is quiet. She tells herself, "I will hide this one as human," because she thinks the king will never look south. She names him Aiden after the human man who helps her because she needs a lie.The vision stops, and the tunnel goes dark again. My knees give out because my legs will not hold me. Cael catches me because his arm is around my
She whispers my name, and she does it soft like she did when we were little and she had a nightmare. She is not fighting anymore because she is tired. Her head drops forward because the vine is choking her.I remember her sleeping by the fire at home. I remember telling her no one would take her north. I remember thinking I was strong enough to stop this. My throat closes because I was so wrong.Cael howls, and the sound breaks the ice on the walls. The bond snaps tight in my ribs like a chain. I know if I let the tree take her, the bond will break because the tree promised a pure heart for a cursed one. I know if I let it take her, I will live and Cael will live and we will have our three nights. I know it is the easy way out because the tree is offering it.I do not take it.I grab Cael's bleeding hand with my bleeding hand because our blood is the same now. I press our joined palms to the trunk next to Maya because I will not trade her life for ours. I say, "Take us both," because
The lord's smile is slow and cruel, and the whole court holds its breath. Cael's arm locks harder around my waist because he refuses to choose.Cael growls, and the sound shakes the ice under my feet. He says, “I pick neither,” and his gold eyes burn because the court is pushing him to choose between me and Maya. My heart beats so fast it hurts because I know they want blood no matter what he says.My mother steps between us and the lord, and her hands are up. She says, "There is a way," and her voice cracks because she is scared. She says, "The Severing can be done now at the First Tree."The crowd sucks in air all at once because no one has tried the Severing in a hundred years, and the old wolves at the back step away from the throne because they remember the last pair that burned it. The air turns cold because everyone is holding their breath.The lord laughs, but it is a thin sound, and he waves his hand. He says, "Let the tree decide then," because he thinks we will die. Guards






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