Chapter Twenty-Three: The Debt

I didn’t realize when I fell asleep.

One moment I was awake, staring at the carved ceiling above Kael’s bed, aware of his arm heavy across my waist, aware of the steady rhythm of his breathing against my shoulder.

He had taken my first time, and I had let him.

The next, dawn was bleeding through the curtains in thin gray strips, and my body felt slow, my thigh felt sore and warm in a way that almost convinced me last night had been something ordinary.

It wasn’t.

The amphitheater. The blood on stone. The crack of bone when he snapped the elders neck. The way the pack had watched in stunned silence while their Alpha chose me without asking anyone’s permission.

And the way he had looked at me after. Not victorious. Not triumphant. Just... raw.

His fingers tightened slightly at my hip as if he felt me waking.

"You’re thinking too loud," he muttered, voice rough with sleep.

"I wasn’t aware that was possible."

"It is when you tense every time you breathe."

I didn’t deny it. I had never been good at pretending with him. Not when we were this close.

For a moment neither of us moved. His chest rose and fell against my back. My hand rested over his forearm, feeling the quiet strength there. If someone walked in now, they would see something almost gentle. Almost peaceful.

But there was a weight under it.

He shifted, pushing himself up on one elbow, looking down at me. His hair was still disheveled from sleep. There was a faint shadow along his jaw. He didn’t look like the man who had ordered an execution hours ago.

He looked tired.

"Does it hurt?" he asked quietly.

I knew what he meant.

"The marks?" I asked.

His jaw tightened. "I counted thirty-three."

I held his gaze. "You weren’t supposed to."

"You weren’t supposed to lie."

The room went still.

"I didn’t lie," I said carefully. "I just didn’t explain."

"That’s the same thing."

"No. It isn’t."

He studied me for a long moment, like he was trying to decide whether to press harder. I saw the questions behind his eyes. How? Why? Since when? What?

He didn’t ask.

Instead, he leaned down and brushed his mouth against my shoulder, light but deliberate. Not demanding. Not heated. Just grounding.

"Eat with me," he said after a moment. "Before the day starts."

I almost laughed. "You make it sound like we’re a normal pair."

"We’re not," he said flatly. "But we can pretend for ten minutes."

Ten minutes. I nodded.

We rose together. I wrapped myself in a robe while he pulled on dark trousers and a loose shirt. His movements were controlled, but I noticed it then , the slight stiffness in his shoulders, the way his fingers flexed like he was testing their strength.

"You didn’t sleep," I said.

"I did."

"Not enough."

He didn’t answer.

There was a knock at the door. Elara entered quietly with a tray, her eyes flicking between us. She saw everything. She always did. The rumpled sheets. The blood , The closeness. The tension that hadn’t gone anywhere.

"Good morning, my lady. Alpha," she said evenly.

"Thank you," Kael replied.

Elara set the tray down and hesitated for a fraction too long before stepping back. Her gaze lingered on Kael’s face.

"Are you well, Alpha?" she asked carefully.

He didn’t like that question. I saw it in the way his jaw tightened.

"I’m fine."

She bowed and left.

We sat across from each other at the small table near the window. Bread. Fruit. Tea.

For a few minutes we managed something resembling normal conversation. He asked about my shoulder where one of the older scars had been irritated. I told him it was fine. I asked if the council would convene after yesterday.

"They will," he said. "They won’t like what happened."

"You don’t care."

"I care," he corrected. "I just won’t apologize."

There it was again. That edge.

He reached for his cup and his hand shook.

Just slightly. But I saw it.

His fingers tightened around the ceramic. He set it down slowly.

"Kael," I said quietly.

"I’m fine."

"You’re not."

He exhaled once, sharp through his nose, like he was annoyed with himself. "It’s nothing."

It wasn’t nothing.

I felt it before I saw it, a strange tightening along the bond between us. Not pain. Not exactly. More like something thinning. Like a rope being pulled too tight.

He stiffened.

His chair scraped harshly against stone as he stood.

"Kael?"

He braced both hands on the table, head lowered. His breathing changed. Shorter. Controlled.

"Don’t," he said when I moved toward him.

"Don’t what?"

"Touch me."

That made me stop.

His knuckles went white where they pressed into the wood. A muscle ticked violently in his jaw. I watched as his spine locked, as if he were fighting something inside his own body.

The air shifted.

Not magic I could see. Not a glow or a spark. Just... wrongness.

His eyes flickered.

Gold bled into them for a split second before he forced it back, just like last time.

"Kael," I whispered, panic rising despite myself.

He staggered back from the table, one hand flying to his chest. His breath hitched, and for a moment I saw something I had never seen on his face before.

Fear. Not for me. For himself.

The bond pulled sharply, like someone had hooked it and yanked.

I gasped, pressing a hand to my own sternum.

It felt like something was draining from him. Or being withheld.

He dropped to one knee.

The sound of it hitting stone echoed too loudly in the room.

"Kael!"

"I said—" His voice broke into a low, rough sound that wasn’t entirely human. "Stay back."

His shoulders shook once, violently, like he was resisting a shift. His nails scraped against the floor. I saw them darken at the edges before he forced them back.

This wasn’t weakness from lack of sleep.

This was something else. It lasted less than a minute. But it felt endless.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, it eased.

He sucked in a ragged breath. Another. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself to his feet.

The gold faded from his eyes. The tremor in his hands didn’t. He didn’t look at me.

"I have to go," he said.

"Go where?" My voice sounded too sharp in my own ears.

"You don’t need to know where I’m going"

My stomach dropped.

"I’m coming," I said immediately.

"No." The word was automatic. Commanding. "You’re staying here."

"I just watched you collapse."

"I didn’t collapse."

"You were on your knees."

His eyes snapped to mine. "I will not discuss this."

"Then what will you discuss? The nine women before me? The council? The way your body is breaking in front of me?"

That made him freeze. For a heartbeat, I thought he might tell me.

Instead, he turned away and walked toward the door.

"Stay here, Liora."

The door shut behind him.

I stood there for three breaths.

Four.

Five.

Then I moved.

Elara was at the end of the corridor, clearly waiting.

"My lady—"

"Don’t," I said quietly.

"He told you to remain."

"I know what he told me."

She searched my face.

"You feel it too," she said softly.

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.

I walked past her. She didn’t stop me.

The west wing was quieter at dawn. Torches burned low in their brackets. The stone beneath my bare feet was cold enough to bite, but I didn’t slow.

I didn’t need to ask where he was going. I could feel it now, the direction of the pull.

Seraphina’s chambers.

I slowed only when I reached the final corridor. Voices carried faintly through the thick door ahead.

I pressed myself against the wall beside it, heart hammering.

"You’re late," Seraphina’s voice said coolly from inside.

"I came as soon as I could." Kael’s voice sounded steadier now, but strained.

"I felt it," she said. "The bond straining against the vial. You should have come sooner."

A pause.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You know."

"I don’t."

"Since when?"

Silence.

"Since when did you bond to her? I thought she is wolfless? How is that even possible?" Seraphina demanded.

The word bond made my throat tighten.

"It wasn’t intentional," he said.

"Don’t insult me."

A sharp sound followed, something striking wood. I flinched.

"You think I didn’t notice?" she continued. "You think I didn’t feel the shift in your magic? The way the vial’s hold weakened the moment she marked you?"

He exhaled harshly. "She didn’t mark me."

"You marked each other," Seraphina snapped. "And you hid it."

"I didn’t hide anything."

"You didn’t tell me."

"You didn’t ask."

The silence that followed was colder than shouting.

"You think this bond will save you?" she asked finally, voice dropping. "That it makes you stronger? Don’t fool yourself. I can kill her right now."

Something in me went ice-cold.

"Don’t you dare," Kael said.

"Say that again," she replied softly, dangerously. "And I will take this vial back with me."

Vial. So that was it.

I leaned closer to the door without meaning to.

"Don’t lay a finger on her," Kael said, his voice no longer strained but deadly quiet. "You’ve done enough."

A sharp laugh escaped Seraphina. "Enough? I don’t remember you having any right to care about other lives."

There was a faint clink of glass.

"I already sacrificed nine wives for you," he said.

The words hit like a blow. Sacrificed.

"I saved your life," she shot back. "You owe me everything."

"And I paid you back," he said. "Nine times."

My chest felt tight. Hard to breathe.

Nine wives. Not accidents. Not tragedy.

Payment.

"You are alive because of me," Seraphina continued. "When your father’s curse was rotting you from the inside, when the pack was ready to put you down like a rabid beast, who stood in front of them? Who found a way to hold your wolf together? Me."

A curse. My mind raced.

"I was seventeen," Kael said.

"You were dying."

Silence. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Why? Are you eager to die in her stead?" Seraphina smirk and continue

"You can’t survive without the via , do you have any idea of how long you can stay without it?"

Silence

" Three days, perhaps four. Then the wolf begins to override you. You lose control. The pack will see what you truly are."

"Seraphina!"

"You live. As long as you obey."

The vial wasn’t just control. It was survival.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

"The same as always," she replied smoothly. "Continue to obey my orders. Continue taking in brides from each pack. Not some wolfless idiot you picked on impulse. Until I find her."

"Find who?"

"The last blood of that damned bloodline."

My heart skipped. He was silent.

"You think I married you to political daughters for amusement?" she continued. "Each pack carries histories. Genealogies. Hidden branches. I am not finished searching."

"And when you find her?" he asked.

"That depends."

"You kill her?"

"If she is useless."

"And if she isn’t?"

Another pause. "That will not concern you."

"Seraphina—"

"How dare you address me like that?" she snapped. "I am your aunt."

The word hung heavy in the air. Family.

"I’m warning you," he said. "Don’t touch Liora."

"I don’t remember you caring about collateral before."

"She’s not collateral."

"She’s temporary," Seraphina corrected. "She makes you predictable. That is useful. For now."

The door felt too thin between us.

"Don’t forget," she added softly, "you will become a laughing stock without this vial. I know you understand that much. So don’t pretend you have choices."

Silence.

Then, quieter: "Give it to me."

I heard the faint scrape of glass being handed over.

A moment later, a swallow. Another.

The bond between us shifted. Stabilized.

The terrible thinning eased.

"Good," Seraphina said. "Now go. And remember your place."

Footsteps approached the door.

I stepped back quickly, pressing myself into the shadows of the corridor.

The door opened. Kael walked out.

He looked composed. Controlled. As if nothing had happened.

But I saw it now.

The faint sheen of sweat at his temples.

The tension in his jaw. The way his fingers flexed once before going still.

He didn’t see me.

He turned toward our chambers and walked away.

I stayed where I was for a long moment, staring at the closed door behind him.

Nine wives.

A curse. A bloodline hunt.

Three days to madness without that vial.

And me?

Temporary. Useful. Expendable.

I thought I would feel anger first.

Instead, I felt something colder.

Understanding.

He hadn’t married nine women because he wanted to.

He married them because he was dying.

He let them die because he chose to live.

And now I was here. Not because I was special.

But because I had bonded with him by accident.

And that made me leverage.

And strangely... I didn’t blame him.

He was surviving.

Just like I was.

for the fact that he tried to protect me ,shift something in me : what if he tried to protect the previous nine wife’s but couldn’t?

And if he should hand me over to her,I would not blame him

I pushed away from the wall and walked back through the corridor slowly.