Chapter 69: Chapter 69 : The Body That Won’t Obey

Chapter 69 : The Body That Won’t Obey

POV: Liora

By the third day of training, my body had stopped pretending to cooperate.

Everything hurt in ways that felt deeper than simple exhaustion. My muscles ached constantly, my balance had become inconsistent, and the strange instability that had started after the pregnancy only seemed to get worse the harder I pushed myself. Some mornings I woke up feeling almost normal, only for my strength to disappear halfway through the day without warning. Other times my reflexes sharpened so suddenly it felt unnatural, like my body was overcorrecting for something I didn’t fully understand.

I hated it.

More than the pain, more than the fear, I hated not understanding what was happening to me.

Mira watched me carefully from across the training floor as I tried to steady my breathing again. We were using one of the smaller inner training rooms today instead of the courtyard to avoid attention, though at this point I suspected Kael already knew exactly what I was doing.

He just hadn’t stopped me.

Yet.

"You’re distracted again," Mira said.

"I’m not distracted."

"You missed the same step three times."

I tightened my grip around the practice blade in my hand and forced myself to reposition. The weapon still felt unfamiliar no matter how many times I held it. Wolves trained differently because most of them relied heavily on instincts once they shifted. Combat came naturally to them in ways it never would for me.

I didn’t have that advantage.

Every movement had to be learned manually.

Every reaction had to be intentional.

Which meant every mistake mattered more.

"I said again," Mira warned before striking toward me.

This time I blocked correctly, the impact forcing my arms back harder than I expected as I stumbled slightly before regaining balance. Mira pulled back immediately, but not enough to let me recover fully before the next attack came.

Left.

Block.

Turn.

Too slow.

The wooden blade struck my shoulder hard enough to send pain shooting down my arm.

I hissed quietly through my teeth and corrected my footing.

"Your body reacts before your mind commits," Mira said as she circled me carefully. "That hesitation is dangerous."

"I know."

"No, you understand it. That’s different."

Another strike came toward my side.

I moved faster this time, avoiding it barely before attempting to counter. Mira blocked easily and stepped back.

Frustration settled heavily in my chest.

I was improving, technically. My movements were cleaner than they had been days ago, and Mira had stopped treating me like someone fragile after the first session, which I appreciated more than I admitted aloud.

But improvement didn’t feel fast enough anymore.

Not with everything happening around us.

Not with the constant feeling that time was closing in around me faster than I could prepare for it.

"Again," I said.

Mira studied me for a second before nodding once.

This time she moved harder.

Not enough to seriously hurt me, but enough that I stopped thinking of it as practice within seconds. The pressure forced instinct to take over as I blocked another strike before twisting away from the next one, my breathing sharpening slightly as I tried to keep pace with her movements.

The room echoed with the repeated sound of wood colliding against wood.

I missed another step.

Recovered.

Blocked low.

Turned too slowly again.

Mira’s blade clipped my wrist sharply enough to knock my grip loose.

The practice weapon hit the floor with a loud crack.

"Pick it up," she said immediately.

I bent quickly, reaching for it...

And that was my mistake.

Mira moved automatically, probably expecting me to dodge the next strike while recovering, but my balance shifted wrong beneath me at the exact moment she stepped forward.

The impact came faster than I could avoid.

The wooden edge slammed directly against my forearm with enough force to split skin immediately.

Pain shot up my arm sharply.

I sucked in a breath and stepped back instinctively as blood surfaced almost instantly across the cut.

Mira froze.

"Liora..."

"I’m fine."

The words came too quickly.

Too defensive.

Because the problem wasn’t the injury itself.

It was what happened immediately after.

Heat surged beneath my skin so suddenly my entire body tensed.

The reaction hit harder than before, immediate and aggressive, like my body had been waiting for an excuse to respond. The familiar burning sensation spread outward from the scars hidden beneath my sleeves, sharp enough this time that I nearly lost focus completely.

No.

Not now.

I clenched my jaw hard as the instinct rose violently inside me.

Heal it.

The command didn’t feel emotional anymore. It felt biological.

Automatic.

The cut along my arm pulsed painfully as warmth gathered beneath the wound, and for one terrifying second I felt my body trying to force the process forward without my permission.

Mira stepped closer immediately. "You’re bleeding."

"I said I’m fine."

My voice came out sharper than intended.

Her expression shifted slightly at my reaction, suspicion flickering across her face before concern replaced it again.

The heat spread higher up my arm.

I could feel it happening.

The tissue beneath the wound tightening unnaturally.

Trying to close. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Panic hit me harder than the injury itself.

I turned away quickly before Mira could get too close, pressing my hand hard against the cut as if physical pressure alone could stop what my body was attempting to do.

"Liora," Mira said carefully, "look at me."

I shook my head once immediately.

The burning intensified.

God.

It was trying to heal automatically.

That had never happened before.

My breathing became uneven as I focused everything on suppressing the reaction. Usually healing required intention, instinct, a conscious choice to use the ability.

This felt different.

Like my body no longer trusted me to decide.

The skin around the wound pulled tightly enough that pain shot through my arm again, and when I finally looked down I saw the edges of the cut shifting unnaturally, trying to force themselves closed.

Then suddenly...

It stopped.

Just stopped.

The heat vanished so abruptly it made me dizzy.

I stared at the injury in confusion.

The wound remained partially closed, but not fully healed. The skin looked wrong now, uneven where the process had interrupted itself midway through completion.

Blood still slid slowly down my arm.

Mira grabbed my wrist carefully before I could pull away this time, her eyes narrowing immediately as she looked down at the injury.

For a second neither of us spoke.

Because it didn’t look normal.

Not wounded enough for the amount of blood that should still be there.

Not healed enough to explain why it had partially closed already.

Mira’s grip tightened slightly.

"What was that?"

I forced myself to stay calm even though my chest had already started tightening.

"I don’t know."

That part, at least, wasn’t a lie.

Mira looked up at me slowly, searching my face carefully like she was trying to decide whether to push harder or let it go.

Then her gaze shifted briefly toward the scars barely visible near my wrist where my sleeve had pulled back slightly during the struggle.

Understanding flickered across her expression instantly.

Not complete understanding.

But enough.

"You were trying not to heal," she said quietly.

I said nothing.

Her jaw tightened.

"Liora..."

"I said I’m fine."

"No," Mira replied immediately, her voice sharper now. "You’re not."

The room suddenly felt too small again.

I pulled my arm back carefully, ignoring the lingering pain as I reached for the cloth resting near the edge of the training table and wrapped it tightly around the wound.

The movement made the half-healed skin sting badly enough that I almost reacted outwardly.

Almost.

Mira watched all of it silently.

"You should stop training today," she said after a moment.

"I can still continue."

"That’s not the point."

I looked away before answering because I already knew what she meant.

The problem wasn’t the injury.

It was the reaction.

My body shouldn’t have attempted healing automatically like that. And it definitely shouldn’t have failed halfway through the process.

That part unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.

Because healing had always been the one thing I could rely on completely. Dangerous or not, painful or not, it had always worked.

Always.

Until now.

"What happens if it stops completely?" Mira asked quietly.

The question settled heavily between us.

I didn’t answer because I couldn’t.

Because for the first time since discovering what I could do, I genuinely didn’t know.

The silence stretched long enough that Mira finally stepped closer again, her expression calmer now but still tense around the edges.

"You’re pushing yourself too hard," she said carefully. "Your body keeps warning you and you keep ignoring it."

"I don’t have time to slow down."

"That doesn’t mean you destroy yourself."

I almost laughed at that.

The problem was that destruction no longer felt dramatic.

It felt realistic.

Practical, even.

Every day something new changed inside me. The visions. The instability. The voice. The bond reacting unpredictably. My body trying to heal without permission and then failing before completion.

None of that felt temporary anymore.

Something was happening to me.

And I was running out of time to understand it before it reached a point I couldn’t control.

"I need to keep going," I said finally.

Mira looked exhausted hearing it.

"You sound like someone preparing for war."

Maybe I was.

The thought stayed unspoken.

My arm throbbed steadily beneath the cloth wrapping, the incomplete healing leaving the injury in an uncomfortable state between damaged and repaired.

It should have frightened me more than it did.

Instead it clarified something.

Slowly, quietly, but unmistakably.

I looked down at the wound again, really looked at it this time, and understanding settled heavily into my chest.

My power wasn’t stable anymore.

Maybe it never had been.

But now even my body seemed uncertain about whether it could sustain it.

And if healing failed completely—

No.

I forced the thought away immediately before it could fully form.

But it came back anyway.

Stronger this time.

Because the truth was already there whether I wanted to face it or not.

If I got seriously injured now...

there was a very real chance I wouldn’t survive it.