The ground shifted beneath her feet, and Elara knew the choice had finally caught up with her.
She stopped walking.
The morning mist still clung to Frostveil's lower paths, pale and cold, curling around her boots like a warning. Mira slept against her chest, small breaths steady, trusting. Too trusting. That was the part that hurt most.
Elara pressed her palm flat against the stone wall beside her, grounding herself. The land hummed softly in response, a low pulse she had learned to recognize.
Stay. Protect. Hide.
Or leave. Confront. Risk everything.
She had crossed borders once already. She knew what it cost.
Behind her, boots crunched on gravel.
"You felt it too," Rowan said.
Elara did not turn. "He's close."
"Yes."
"How close?" Her voice stayed calm, but it took effort.
"Close enough that the bond noticed," Rowan replied. "Not close enough to see Frostveil yet."
Elara exhaled slowly. The bond had been quiet for years. Dormant. Not gone, just ignored, like a wound wrapped too tightly to bleed.
Until now.
Mira stirred, blinking awake. "Mama?"
Elara adjusted her grip instinctively. "I'm here."
Mira yawned, then frowned. "Why does the air feel loud?"
Rowan's gaze sharpened.
Elara brushed Mira's hair back gently. "Because someone is listening who hasn't in a long time."
Mira considered that. "Do we have to talk to him?"
The question cut deeper than any demand ever could.
Elara swallowed. "No. We don't have to do anything."
"But you want to," Mira said quietly.
Elara closed her eyes.
The traders arrived before noon.
Not merchants this time. Scouts. Pack wolves wearing neutral colors, but moving with trained ease. Frostveil's guards stiffened along the outer ridge.
Elara stood among them, Mira now on her feet beside her, fingers wrapped tightly in Elara's sleeve.
"He sent observers," Rowan muttered. "Testing."
Elara nodded. "He always did."
One of the scouts stepped forward, hands open. "We come in peace."
Mira leaned closer. "They always say that."
The scout glanced down, startled. His gaze lingered on the child longer than necessary.
Something shifted.
Elara felt it.
The land did too.
"State your message," Rowan said flatly.
The scout cleared his throat. "Alpha Kael requests confirmation of a rumor."
Elara stepped forward before Rowan could answer.
"Then he already knows it's true," she said.
The scout's eyes widened. "You're"
"Elara," she finished. "And I won't travel to satisfy his curiosity."
The scout hesitated. "He felt the bond react. Violently."
A murmur rippled through Frostveil's guards.
Elara's jaw tightened. "That is not my concern."
"He believes the child."
"She is not a bargaining chip," Elara snapped, steel breaking through her calm.
The scout raised his hands quickly. "He wants answers."
Elara laughed once. Short. Sharp. "So did I. For years."
She turned away. "Leave."
The scouts retreated, tension thick behind them.
Mira watched them go. "He sounds scared."
"He should be," Rowan said under his breath.
Elara said nothing.
That night, sleep refused to come.
Elara lay awake, Mira curled against her side, the child's warmth anchoring her while her thoughts spiraled. The bond stirred restlessly now, no longer content to stay silent.
She had built something here. A fragile peace. A life where Mira laughed freely, where no one bowed or demanded loyalty.
If Kael crossed the border, that peace would shatter.
If she crossed it first, she would bring the storm to him instead.
The choice felt heavier than any crown ever could.
"Mama?" Mira whispered in the dark.
"Yes?"
"Are you going to leave again?"
Elara's chest tightened. "Why would you ask that?"
"Because you get quiet before you do hard things."
Elara smiled faintly. Children saw too much.
"I won't leave you," she said firmly.
"I know," Mira replied. "But you might leave with me."
That was worse.
Elara pulled Mira closer. "If I go, it's to make sure no one ever takes you from me."
Mira nodded, satisfied. "Then that's okay."
Elara stared at the ceiling long after Mira fell asleep again.
Kael dropped to one knee without meaning to.
The bond slammed through him like a blade, sharp and unforgiving, ripping the breath from his lungs. He gripped the dirt beneath his fingers, vision blurring.
Alive.
Gone.
Both at once.
"She's alive," he rasped.
His beta turned sharply. "My Alpha?"
"The bond," Kael said hoarsely. "It woke."
Shock rippled through the camp.
"But you rejected her," someone said quietly.
Kael's jaw clenched. "I ignored her. There's a difference."
One that haunted him now.
Images crashed through his mind. Elara standing unbowed. A child's presence like a second heartbeat layered over the bond.
"A child?" his beta whispered.
Kael forced himself upright. "Yes."
The weight of it pressed down hard. He had chosen power over truth. Silence over responsibility.
And now the cost stood breathing somewhere beyond his reach.
"Prepare a formal envoy," Kael ordered. "No threats. No banners."
"And if she refuses?"
Kael stared toward the distant mountains. "Then I go alone."
Frostveil woke to tension thick as fog.
Elara felt it before anyone spoke. The land thrummed beneath her feet, alert, uneasy.
Rowan found her at the ridge. "He's coming himself."
Elara nodded. "I know."
"Do you want Frostveil to bar him?"
Elara hesitated.
Stay, the land whispered.
Protect.
Hide.
She looked down at Mira, who stood between two guards, utterly unafraid.
"No," Elara said softly. "If I hide now, I teach her fear."
Rowan studied her. "Then what do you choose?"
Elara straightened. "I choose to end the silence."
She turned toward the border.
Kael felt it the moment she stepped closer.
Not the bond. Not yet.
Her presence.
He lifted his head as the wind shifted, carrying a scent he would never forget.
"Elara," he breathed.
She stood across the border line, spine straight, expression calm. Mira stood beside her, small hand wrapped firmly in Elara's fingers.
Kael took one step forward.
The bond snapped.
Pain tore through him, raw and bright, dragging a groan from his chest. He dropped again, gasping.
Elara did not move.
She watched him suffer without satisfaction. Without cruelty.
Only resolve.
"So," she said calmly. "Now you feel it."
Kael looked up at her, eyes burning. His gaze flicked to Mira.
The truth hit him like a second blow.
The Luna I rejected had returned. And she wasn't mine anymore.