All Chapters of The Binding: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

When the Ground BreaksSaxaIt starts with a sound that isn’t a sound, not exactly. More like the moment before thunder, when the air tightens and the world seems to hold its breath. I’m halfway through slicing a loaf of bread when it happens.The knife pauses in my hand, something moves under my feet. Not enough to knock anything over and not enough that someone else might notice immediately. But it’s there—a deep shifting pressure that travels up through the floorboards and settles somewhere in the center of my chest.The mountain.My stomach twists.The bond between Eirik and I stirs faintly at the same time, a pulse of awareness that isn’t entirely mine.He feels it too. Not panic, not yet. Just attention.My fingers tighten around the handle of the knife. The kitchen suddenly feels smaller, the walls closer than they were just mere seconds ago.Gran glances up from the stove, watching me. “You felt that,” she says.It’s not a question.I nod slowly. “It’s moving,” I whisper.Gran’

The Shape of FateSaxaBy the time we get back to the house, my whole body feels like it’s listening.Not just my ears, not just my magic or my wolf.But everything.My skin feels too tight, my wolf restless beneath it, my bones humming with the same low throb that still echoes from the mountain. The valley had gone quiet on the walk back, but not calmer. The kind of quiet that comes after something huge shifts and everyone pretends not to notice because naming it would make it real.But it is real.The mountain is awake.And somehow—It’s helping him.The front door opens with a long, creaking groan. Warmth hits my face first, then the smell of woodsmoke, old tea, and that faint metallic edge that seems to live in the air now whenever too much magic has been stirred up in one place.Gran goes straight to the kitchen without a word.Ingrid paces once through the living room, then twice, then starts again like if she stops moving she’ll have to think.Vuk disappears down the hall to de

What he ChoseSaxaFor a long time after Elias reads the date aloud, no one speaks.The lantern crackles softly against the stone wall. Dusts floats through the warm light like ash suspended in water. Somewhere above us the mountain hums faintly through the ground, the vibration so low it barely registers unless you’re already listening for it.And right now—I can’t hear anything else.The page still rests in Elias’ hand.The night we were born.Gran slowly lowers herself onto the edge of the stone table like her knees suddenly forgot how to hold her upright. Her face has gone gray beneath the lantern light. “No,” she whispers again.But the word doesn’t carry conviction anymore. It just sounds like grief.Elias drags a hand over his mouth, staring down at the spread of papers like they might rearrange themselves if he looks long enough.“They planned it, they planned all of it.” he mutters.Kaia hasn’t moved.Her eyes are locked on the bundle of witch-script documents still resting

Movement in the TreesSaxa“Eirik!”Her voice cracks down the staircase above us, sharp. Urgent.Every head in the room snaps upward. For half a second no one moves. Then Ingrid’s voice comes again, louder this time.“There’s something moving through the woods!”The words slam into the archive room like a gunshot. Eirik is already moving before she finishes her sentence. The chair legs scrape violently across the stone as he shoves away from the table.“Where?” he calls, halfway up the stairwell.“North side!” Ingrid shouts back, “I saw it through the window—someone’s watching.”My wolf surges instantly, claws scraping under my skin as adrenaline floods my veins.“Is it someone from patrol?” Gran calls out.“No!” Ingrid yells back.The single word echoes down the stairwell, too fast. Too certain.“Stay behind me,” Eirik mutters over his shoulder.Like that’s ever going to happen. I’m on the stairs before he reaches the top. Cold air slams into my lungs the moment we burst out of the

The First TurnSaxa“Oh, my children,” he says softly. “You already are.”For half a second the world holds perfectly still.Then the mountain answers.The vibration that had been humming quietly beneath our feet all night suddenly deepens, rolling through the valley like distant thunder. Snow shivers across the clearing as the earth trembles beneath our feet.My wolf freezes.Not from fear. From recognition.The sensation crawls up my spine and explodes behind my ribs like lightning striking bone.Something inside me wakes up, Elias gasps next to me.The sound is sharp enough to slice through the air.“Saxa—”His voice breaks. I turn my head slightly, ears flickering toward him.And my wolf sees it.Light.Not the soft glow his magic usually carries.This is different.The glyph beneath his skin is blazing now, the lines burning through the fabric of his shirt like molten metal.Elias stumbles backward in the snow.“What the hell—” Ingrid breathes.Another pulse rips through the grou