Chapter 5: Never Meant To Be

Elara’s POV

The moment Aiden hit the ground, everything around me exploded into noise. Guards rushed forward, voices overlapping, but I couldn’t move. I just stared at him lying there, while my ankle throbbed and my chest tightened.

Someone grabbed my arm. “Move, servant. Don’t stand there.”

Another lifted Aiden yelling Alpha. They carried him toward the infirmary while the others kept staring at me like I had caused all of it.

I limped behind them, each step shooting pain up my leg, but I couldn’t stop. Not while he was unconscious. Not while his last word was ‘Mate.’

The word kept echoing inside me, even though I didn’t know if I had imagined it.

When we reached the healer's wing, they laid him on a bed and monitors flared to life. Nurses surrounded him. I stood in the corner, shaking.

Then the door slammed open. I already knew who it was, Alpha Rowan.

His expression was sharp. He didn’t look at anyone else except me.

“Outside, Now!" he said.

My heart dropped. I limped after him into the hallway, my ankle burning.

Rowan stepped closer, his presence heavy. “Tell me exactly what happened!”

I swallowed hard. “I was doing chores. I slipped. Aiden, he tried to help me up. Then he saw my face and—”

“And what?” Rowan cut in.

My voice cracked. “He said… mate.”

Rowan froze. The hallway went quiet, and tense, like he was processing the one thing he prayed he’d never hear again.

“And then he fainted.”

Rowan’s jaw tightened so sharply I thought it might crack. “You triggered him.”

“No,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean—”

“You triggered the bond,” he snapped. “Even after I told you to stay away. Even after everything we did to protect him.”

My eyes stung. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even speak to him.”

“Your presence alone is the danger,” he said, stepping closer. “And because you ignored my warnings, because you allowed him to get close—now he’s unconscious again.”

I shook my head. “That’s not fair—”

“You’re right,” Rowan said quietly. “It isn’t fair. None of this is. But you knew the cost.”

The hallway seemed to shrink around me.

“Elara Fighlo,” Rowan said, voice hardening, “you’re banished from Aiden’s vicinity and from the upper grounds. Effective immediately.”

I stared at him, unable to breathe. “Banished?”

“Yes.”

A tear escaped before I could stop it. “You can’t do that. If something happens to him. I would never be able to forgive myself,”

Rowan’s eyes flashed. “Something did happen to him. And it’s because of you.”

I tried to breathe, it felt like too many things were happening at once.

“Go pack your things. You’ll be moved before dawn.”

“Alpha, please. I beg you.”

“Don’t beg,” he said. “It changes nothing.”

But before I could speak again, a frantic voice broke into the hallway.

“Alpha!” It was Lira, one of the best healer across the lands “You need to hear this now.”

Rowan’s brow furrowed. “What?”

Lira looked at me, then back at Rowan. “It’s about Aiden. And her.”

I followed them back into the room, heart pounding. Aiden was still unconscious, but the machines around him were reacting strangely, lights flickering, readings jumping.

Lira touched the monitors. “When Elara stepped out, his vitals plummeted. When she came back in, they stabilized.”

Rowan stared at her. “Explain.”

“Their bond isn’t normal,” Lira said. “This isn’t a typical mate link. It’s something deeper. If she goes too far from him, his system destabilizes. Literally. If you send her away, Alpha, he won’t survive.”

Rowan’s hands curled into fists. “That’s impossible. We suppressed the bond.”

“You suppressed memory,” Lira corrected softly. “It's almost impossible to suppress a true bond.”

Silence wrapped around us like ice.

Rowan turned slowly toward me, eyes darker than before. “You did this.”

“No,” I whispered. “I didn’t even know—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “The damage is done.”

My chest shook, too tight to breathe normally.

Aiden stirred suddenly.

My eyes flew to him. His lashes moved, his breathing changed, and then, he opened his eyes.

“Aiden,” Rowan said, stepping forward. “Can you hear me?”

Aiden blinked around the room, confused but awake. “Yeah. Why is everyone here?”

Lira exhaled, relieved. “You fainted.”

Aiden frowned. “I did? I… don’t really remember.”

My heart squeezed painfully.

Rowan asked, voice steady, “Do you remember what you said before you collapsed?”

Aiden looked puzzled. “No. What did I say?”

I felt something crack inside me.

Rowan’s gaze flicked to me. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Aiden said, confident. “All I remember is helping a servant because she looked like she was about to fall. That’s it.”

Just helping a servant?

I swallowed hard, forcing my expression to stay steady.

Lira stepped forward. “Aiden, are you feeling any pull? Any surge in your chest?”

“No,” he said immediately. “I feel fine.”

Rowan exhaled slowly. “Good. Then the banishment stands.”

Aiden blinked. “Banishment? Who?”

“Elara,” Rowan said.

Aiden stiffened. “Wait what?”

“For provoking instability,” Rowan said. “And disobeying direct orders.”

Aiden opened his mouth, but Rowan lifted a hand. “The decision is final.”

He turned to the guards waiting outside.

“Take her to confinement. She’ll remain there until further notice.”

My breath caught. “Alpha, please. Listen—”

“You disobeyed me,” he said quietly. “You endangered him. This is mercy.”

The guards stepped in. Aiden looked between us, confused and frustrated. “Wait—she didn’t do anything wrong. She slipped. That’s it.”

Rowan didn’t flinch. “She has to go.”

The guards reached for me. I didn't resist. Not exactly because I had no fight left, but because somewhere beneath the fear and the grief and the unbearable smallness of this moment, I understood. If my absence was what kept him safe, then my absence was what I would give. It was the only thing I had ever been able to offer him that actually mattered.

As they pulled me toward the door, I heard a voice call out to me,

“Elara!"