Aria
The clearing Kael led her to felt ancient. The stones around its edge pulsed faintly with moonlight, even though the sun was still high above the trees.
"You feel it?" Kael asked, his voice low.
Aria closed her eyes. The ground thrummed under her bare feet. Not like before—not wild and chaotic—but steady. Alive.
"I do," she whispered.
"That's Selene's blessing. It lives in places like this. In you."
She opened her eyes. "So teach me."
He nodded once, and they began.
The training wasn't what she expected.
There were no weapons. No combat drills.
Kael taught her how to move with her wolf—how to listen to the wind, how to feel magic before it struck. How to call it, shape it, trust it.
The first time she summoned moonlight into her palm, it burned—but didn't hurt.
Kael only watched, reverent and quiet.
"You're more than a Sacred Luna," he said one night. "You're Selene's heir."
Dorian
The blood circle steamed with foul magic, thick and wrong. Dorian stood at the center, chest bare, arms marked with runes that stung and pulsed with every beat of his heart.
The witch moved around him, her chants low and rhythmic.
With each verse, he felt something dark slide beneath his skin.
He didn't care.
Carys's grave sat just beyond the trees, waiting.
Soon.
"She's resisting you," the witch said, as she drew a knife across her own palm.
"She still feels something," he growled. "She has to."
"She feels your shadow. Not your love."
Dorian's fists clenched. "Then I'll remind her who she belongs to."
Aria
The wind shifted as she meditated.
Her wolf—strong now, fully present—stirred in warning.
He's reaching for you.
Aria's eyes flew open. Pain stabbed through her chest—not physical, but through the bond. A dark pull. A sick heat.
"Dorian," she hissed.
Kael was at her side in an instant. "What is it?"
"He's doing something. It's… wrong."
The moon above them dimmed behind clouds. Even the forest seemed to flinch.
"He's trying to complete the binding," Kael whispered, eyes narrowing. "Even if it kills you."
Aria stood, her voice like iron. "Then it's time I finish it first."