All Chapters of Bound to the moon: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Thorne was still asleep when I left him.Not unconscious.Just quiet.Breathing steady, skin warm again, but distant, like part of him was still stuck in that other place. The bond was flickering through me, faint and cautious.I didn’t wake him.I kissed his forehead and walked out.Because today, I had to face a different kind of danger.The Seer waited for me at the courtyard fountain, dressed in a deep blue robe stitched with gold thread. She didn’t smile when she saw me, just motioned to the bench beside her.“You’ve stirred something ancient,” she said.“I know.”“No, you don’t.”Her eyes met mine.“It’s not just the bond. Or the Gate. It’s what Celeste left inside you.”“I burned her projection,” I said.“She’s not a projection. She’s a parasite. And you invited her in.”I didn’t answer.Because she wasn’t wrong.The Seer handed me a sealed letter.Unmarked.Wolven paper. Elder wax.My name was carved across it in heat-charred lines.“Who gave this to you?”“I found it on my al

I didn’t sleep.Neither did Riven.We stayed in the moonblind chamber long after the shadow disappeared. The mark on his back had faded to a dull red; no more pulses, no more whispers, but it hadn’t vanished.I traced the edge of it with my finger, gently.“I thought I could carry it,” he said, voice hoarse.“You don’t have to.”He gave a faint smile. “We both know that’s not true.”I pressed my forehead to his.For one moment, we didn’t talk about the bond. Or the Gate. Or the prophecy.We just breathed.But peace never lasted here.An hour after sunrise, the Seer’s raven tapped against the high window, claws clicking against the old stone.A message tied to its leg.I opened it without thinking.Five words written in black ink.Thorne is awake. And asking.We ran.Up from the lower chambers, past the ruined watchtower stairs, through the warded corridor. My heart beat faster with every step.Not fear.Not excitement.Something stranger.Something like… calling.When I stepped into th

The Council summoned me at dawn.No warning.No time to breathe.No room to run.The Seer said nothing as she handed me the summons, just pressed the folded paper into my palm with fingers that trembled, even if her face didn’t.“They’re afraid of what you remember,” she said softly. “And what you might become.”I didn’t reply.Because I already knew.The Council Chamber hadn’t changed in centuries.Thirteen black stone thrones. Wolf heads carved into every pillar. A fireless hearth in the center, cold, dark, and ceremonial.And all of them watching me as I walked in.Kael, Riven, and Thorne were not allowed inside.This was my trial.Elder Darius was the first to speak.His voice echoed with gravel and age. “Do you know why you’ve been called?”“I remember,” I said.“Then say it.”I stepped to the center of the circle.“My name is Elouria. I was the First Flame. The one who wrote the prophecy. The one who sealed the Gate before any of you were born.”The murmurs erupted instantly, so

Darkness.That’s how it started.Not silence. Not sleeping.Just… nothing.Then I heard a whisper.“Wake up.”My eyes opened to a sky I didn’t recognize.Red clouds spun overhead, the sun half-dead and glowing like an infected wound.I sat up slowly.Stone beneath me.Black earth. Dry. Cracked.The ruins of the fortress were around me, but twisted. Burned. Overgrown with vines that pulsed like veins.And in the center of it all,The Gate.Not sealed.Not guarded.Open.I stood, heart pounding.This wasn’t real.It couldn’t be.But my body felt too solid. The wind was too sharp. The scent of ash in my lungs was too familiar.And when I pressed my hand to my stomach,I felt the mark.Still burning.Still mine.Then I heard it.A child’s cry.Not close.But not far.The sound echoed through the dead wind as if it had nowhere else to go.I turned toward the sound.The forest was gone.Only the bones of trees remained, ash-gray spines with no leaves, their branches reaching like claws towa

The words wouldn’t stop echoing.“If you don’t end one of these bonds soon… the child will come through anyway.”The room hadn’t moved.But everything inside it had changed.Riven stood at the doorway.Kael stared at the stone like it betrayed him.Thorne looked at me like he already knew what I had to do.And me?I couldn’t feel my hands.Just my heartbeat.And his.The one I didn’t carry yet, but somehow already did.“We need to choose,” I said, finally.My voice cracked as I said it, but I didn’t take it back.Riven stepped forward. “Don’t say ‘we.’ Say you.”I looked at him. “Don’t do that.”“I’m not the one who opened the Gate.”Kael’s voice snapped from the shadows. “Then why is your mark glowing right now?”