[Kaelen's POV]
The warmth of her body vanished from my arms, leaving a sudden, shocking void.
"You're moving out?" I stared at her, the words echoing in the silent room.
"Yes," her voice was unnervingly calm. "You couldn't possibly think I'd continue to live here after what happened. Besides, our bond will be severed soon. I'm just leaving a few days early."
"Severed?" My brow furrowed. "You can't be talking about that ridiculous agreement you signed with my mother. She tricked me into signing it. I told you, I have never wanted to end our bond!" I had learned all about the dissolution agreement and the thousand Moon-crystal payout from my mother during her interrogation at the Enforcer's station.
"Whether you knew or not is irrelevant to me now," Elara said flatly. "I'm the one who wants to end it."
"Is it because of Malachi? Or that Northwind Alpha who drove you home? Have you already found your next meal ticket?" Jealousy, raw and acidic, burned in my throat.
Elara looked at me as if I were a pathetic joke. "Kaelen, when I accepted your mark, you were a newly ascended Alpha, besieged by enemies. The very first funds you used to stabilize your Pack came from my parents' legacy. If I were a social climber, I never would have chosen you in the first place."
The blood drained from my face.
I remembered. I remembered being a young, powerless leader, scorned by my own Pack's elders. She had been the only one who gave me her unwavering respect and support, the one who gave me the confidence to secure my position. When I had asked her to be my mate, it was like a drowning man clinging to the only piece of driftwood in a raging sea.
"If it's not for another male, then what is it? Is it for the thousand Moon-crystals my mother promised you?" I demanded, staring at her, trying to find a reason that made sense.
Her expression didn't change. "I'm tired. Three years of this mating has left me exhausted. It has worn away every last feeling I had for you. So, I want to end it."
Her calm tone, her placid expression, the dead stillness in her eyes—it was like looking into a bottomless, frozen lake. But my own heart began to hammer against my ribs, a frantic, wild rhythm. A cold dread spread through my limbs, and a clammy sweat broke out on my palms.
"You… you don't feel anything for me anymore?" The question was a ghost of a whisper, and I was horrified to hear my own voice tremble.
"That's right. There's nothing left," Elara confirmed.
In an instant, my face contorted into a mask of rage and wounded pride. "Just because of my mother and sister? Yes, they schemed against you, but you were scheming right back, weren't you?"
"How else could you have filmed everything and broadcast it to the entire ballroom? You didn't have to be so cruel!" I snarled, the words a desperate attempt to vent the fear and inadequacy coiling in my gut. "You could have contacted me sooner! None of this would have happened if you had just called me!"
"I did contact you," she said suddenly.
"What?" I froze.
"At the very beginning, when your mother and sister first set their trap, I reached out to you through the mind-link." She looked at me, her ice-blue eyes devoid of any emotion. "If you had answered then, things wouldn't have gone this far. It might have ended quietly. But you severed the connection."
My body went rigid.
I remembered. At the gala, just before Malachi had entered, I had felt the pulse of her mind-link. But I had been with Seraphina, and I'd been afraid Elara would cause a scene. So I had cut her off without a second thought.
If… if I had just answered that call…
A wave of regret so powerful it was physically painful crashed over me.
"Elara, I… I didn't know it was… I was busy with something, I…"
"You didn't answer because you have never truly valued me. My concerns, my calls—they were things you could dismiss at will. And because you showed me no respect, your family showed me none either."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I pleaded, reaching for her, but she stepped back, out of my grasp.
Her expression remained a placid mask. "Even without what happened, my feelings for you were already gone. Kaelen, let's just end this peacefully."
Her casual tone was like a physical blow. She spoke of ending our bond as if she were discussing the weather. Her indifference was more humiliating than any rage.
Why? How could she be so calm? How could she say she had no feelings left? Did our three years together mean nothing to her?
"There will be no peaceful end!" My pride, shredded and bleeding, roared back. "Or is this just about the money? The thousand Moon-crystals?" It was the only reason I could cling to, the only thing that made sense.
She gave a short, scornful laugh, then her answer came, swift and clean as a guillotine's blade. "Fine. You don't have to give me a single Moon-crystal. We can end the bond."
I was completely stunned.
I had expected her to hesitate, to haggle. But she had agreed instantly.
She was that desperate to be free of me.
The realization was a brand of pure, searing humiliation.
"If you go through with this, you'll have nothing! You should think this over carefully!" I said, then turned and fled the room, almost running.
I was terrified of the answer I knew she would give.
The room fell silent.
Elara looked around at the space she had called home for three years.
It was time to leave.
Not that she had much to pack.