The Price of Rejection

CHAPTER SIX

AMELIA'S POV

The prophecy was clear. Our rejection hadn't just been a personal choice; it had been a catalyst. By rejecting Lucien, I hadn't saved my people. I had opened the door for the very enemy we were now fighting.

The bond wasn't just a romantic tie. It was a seal, and I had broken it.

For several minutes, I remained on the cold stone floor, staring at the open book as though the words might rearrange themselves into something less terrifying. I wanted to believe there was another explanation, some missing passage that would prove I had misunderstood everything. But the ancient writing remained unchanged, its crimson ink dark against the yellowed pages.

I had rejected the Vampire King because I believed I was protecting my people. I had watched seven of my soldiers lie dead in the forest, their blood drained from their bodies, and I had blamed his kind. Even after discovering that someone was framing both kingdoms, I had continued to treat Lucien as an enemy I could tolerate only when necessary.

Now I was beginning to understand how much my decision might cost.

"Alpha?"

I jerked my head toward the entrance.

Rowan stood at the foot of the narrow staircase, holding a lantern in one hand. His gaze moved from my face to the ancient book lying open on the floor.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked. "I've been looking for you for nearly an hour."

I quickly wiped the tears gathering beneath my eyes and reached for the book.

"Nothing."

Rowan gave me a look that told me he didn't believe me. "You came into the forbidden archives, didn't you?"

I said nothing.

He sighed and approached me. "Your father made me promise I wouldn't let you enter this place until you were ready."

"Then you should have stopped me."

"I would have, if I had known you were coming." His gaze settled on the silver chains scattered beside the book. His expression changed. "Amelia, what have you found?"

I hesitated before turning the book toward him.

"Read it."

Rowan leaned closer to the pages. He struggled with the ancient language at first, but as he reached the translated passage written in the margins, the color slowly drained from his face.

"Is this real?" he whispered.

"I wish I knew."

He read the passage again, moving his lips silently before looking at me.

"The rejected bond is the key. The heartbreak of the fated is the door." His eyes lifted to mine. "You and Lucien."

I nodded.

Rowan stepped away from the book as though it had suddenly become dangerous to touch. "Then we need to undo the rejection."

"I know."

"Can you do that?"

The question struck harder than I expected.

I was the Alpha of Mooncrest. My people looked to me for answers, and I had spent the past week pretending I knew what I was doing. I had defeated four challengers, taken my father's place, and promised my pack that I would protect them.

Yet here I was, standing before a prophecy I couldn't understand, with no idea how to repair the damage I had caused.

"I don't know," I admitted.

Rowan studied me for a moment before placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Then we find someone who does."

I looked down at the book again. "There is something else."

"What?"

"'One shall fall so the other may rise.' What does that mean, Rowan? Who is supposed to fall? Me or Lucien?"

He didn't answer.

That frightened me more than anything he could have said.

I closed the book and wrapped it in the cloth I had found beside the shelves. If this prophecy was real, I couldn't afford to let the council discover it before I understood its meaning. They would see Lucien as a threat, and the moment they learned that I was his fated mate, half of them would demand that I kill him while the other half would question my right to lead.

I wasn't prepared to lose my position.

More importantly, I wasn't prepared to lose my pack.

"Keep this between us," I told Rowan.

His eyebrows drew together. "You're asking me to hide a prophecy that could determine the fate of both kingdoms?"

"I'm asking you to give me time to understand it before everyone starts making decisions based on fear."

He looked as though he wanted to argue, but eventually nodded.

"All right. But you cannot handle this alone."

"I won't."

The words came out more quickly than I intended, because for the first time since I had become Alpha, I knew exactly who I needed to speak to.

Lucien.

The thought of seeing him again made my wolf stir restlessly.

Our mate.

"Stop calling him that," I snapped silently.

He is our mate whether you like it or not.

I pressed my fingers against my temples.

I had spent my entire life believing that strength meant never allowing anyone to gain power over me. Yet the one person my wolf insisted belonged beside me was the very man I had rejected in front of his guards.

And if the prophecy was right, our rejection had endangered everyone.

---

I left Mooncrest before sunrise.

I hadn't slept. I had spent the entire night studying the book, searching for another passage that might explain how to restore the bond. There were references to blood, the moon, and an ancient vow, but nothing that offered a clear answer.

By the time I reached the border, my patience had worn thin.

Lucien had agreed to meet me at the abandoned watchtower between our territories. It was an old stone structure that neither kingdom used anymore, situated on neutral ground where neither wolves nor vampires could claim an advantage.

I found him standing near the broken archway, dressed in black from his boots to the high collar of his coat. He looked as though he had been waiting for hours, although his expression suggested he would rather die than admit it.

His crimson eyes settled on me.

"You look terrible, Alpha."

I stopped several feet away. "Good morning to you too, Your Majesty."

"Have you come to insult me, or is there an actual reason you've decided to grace me with your presence before sunrise?"

"I found something."

His teasing expression faded when he noticed the seriousness in my voice.

"What kind of something?"

I pulled the folded pages I had copied from the ancient book out of my coat and handed them to him.

Lucien accepted them, his fingers brushing mine.

The contact sent a strange warmth through my body. My wolf immediately lifted her head, and I felt the familiar tug of the bond we had both tried to destroy.

I withdrew my hand.

Lucien noticed, but he said nothing. Instead, he unfolded the pages and began reading.

I watched his expression carefully.

At first, he looked merely curious. Then his jaw tightened, and the amusement disappeared from his eyes. By the time he reached the final lines, his fingers had curled around the paper so tightly that it began to crumple.

"Where did you find this?"

"Mooncrest's forbidden archives."

He looked up sharply. "You have a copy of a prophecy concerning our bond hidden beneath your castle, and you're only telling me now?"

"I discovered it last night."

He glanced back at the page.

"'Should the bond be severed by choice, the Void shall awaken.'"

"Yes."

"The heartbreak of the fated is the door." He paused, his eyes returning to mine. "You rejected me, Amelia. I rejected you in return. If this is accurate, we may have opened something neither of us can close."

"I am aware of that."

"Are you?" His voice sharpened. "Because I distinctly remember you looking me in the eyes and telling me that you wanted nothing to do with me."

I stiffened. "And I remember you agreeing with me."

"Because you made it perfectly clear that having a vampire for a mate was beneath you."

"That is not what I said."

"It was certainly what you meant."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

The truth was that I had been afraid. I had looked at Lucien and seen everything my father had taught me to hate. I had thought accepting him would make me vulnerable, and I had chosen pride over the possibility of trusting him.

But I wasn't ready to tell him that.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

Lucien studied me for a long moment before looking down at the prophecy again.

"First, we determine whether it is genuine. Then we discover what the Void is and how to stop it."

"And the bond?"

His gaze lifted to mine.

"That depends on whether you are willing to accept what you rejected."

My heart gave an uncomfortable twist.

"I didn't come here to discuss our feelings."

"Of course not. You came because an ancient prophecy frightened you."

"Would you prefer I ignored it?"

"No." He folded the pages carefully. "But I would appreciate it if you stopped pretending that our bond is nothing more than an inconvenience."

I looked away.

The silence between us stretched until Lucien finally exhaled.

"There is someone who might be able to help us."

"Who?"

"An oracle who lives in the northern mountains. She has studied the old covenants between our species for centuries. If anyone knows the truth about this prophecy, it will be her."

"Then we'll go to her."

Lucien raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"Unless you would prefer to explain to her alone why we have managed to put two kingdoms in danger because we couldn't stand the thought of being mates."

For the first time that morning, he almost smiled.

"Careful, Amelia. That sounded remarkably like an apology."

"Don't get used to it."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Despite myself, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch.

It disappeared quickly, but Lucien saw it. His expression softened for a fraction of a second before he turned toward the northern path.

"We should leave immediately. If the Order of the Void is responsible for the attacks, they may already know we've discovered the prophecy."

I followed him, keeping a careful distance between us.

We had barely reached the end of the watchtower's grounds when a sharp cry rang out from the trees.

Lucien stopped.

My hand flew to the sword at my waist.

Another cry followed, then the unmistakable sound of someone struggling.

We rushed toward the noise.

A young wolf lay against the roots of a fallen tree, his clothes torn and his body covered in blood. He couldn't have been more than eighteen. His breathing was shallow, and dark veins spread beneath the skin around a wound on his shoulder.

I dropped beside him.

"Can you hear me?"

His eyes fluttered open.

"Alpha," he rasped.

I recognized him then. He was one of Mooncrest's border scouts.

"What happened to you?"

His gaze shifted toward Lucien, and terror flooded his face.

"The shadows," he whispered. "They came out of the ground."

Lucien crouched beside us, his expression suddenly grim.

"Who attacked you?"

The young wolf began shaking.

"They said the bond must remain broken. They said the Alpha and the King must never be joined."

My blood turned cold.

Lucien and I exchanged a look.

The scout grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.

"Don't let them take you to the mountain," he whispered. "That's where they want you."

His body went rigid.

I felt his pulse flutter beneath my fingers, then disappear.

"No." I pressed my hand against his chest. "No, stay with me!"

But it was too late.

The young wolf was dead.

I stared at him, unable to move, while the weight of his final words settled over me.

They knew about the prophecy.

They knew about our rejection.

And somehow, they knew where we were going.

Lucien rose slowly, his crimson eyes fixed on the dark forest.

"They're closer than I thought."

I stood, drawing my sword as a cold wind swept through the trees.

Something moved between the trunks.

Then another shape appeared.

And another.

They were tall, dressed in dark robes, their faces hidden beneath pale masks. They emerged from the forest without a sound, surrounding the clearing until Lucien and I stood with our backs nearly touching.

One of them stepped forward.

"Amelia Vale," the stranger said, his voice distorted beneath the mask. "You should have left the prophecy buried."

I tightened my grip on my sword.

"Who are you?"

The stranger tilted his head.

"We are the ones who will finish what your ancestors failed to accomplish."

Lucien's fangs descended.

The stranger laughed softly.

"Go ahead, Vampire King. Attack us. Every drop of blood you spill will bring the Void closer to awakening."

The ground beneath my feet began to tremble.

My wolf snarled inside me, and Lucien's hand closed around my arm as a dark crack spread across the earth between us.

From somewhere deep beneath the forest came a sound that made every instinct in my body scream.

A heartbeat.

Slow.

Heavy.

Ancient.

The masked stranger turned toward the opening in the ground.

"At last," he whispered. "The first seal is broken."

Then the earth split wider, and something beneath it opened its eyes.