Chapter 76: Chapter 76 – The Body That Was Never Meant to Survive This

Chapter 76 – The Body That Was Never Meant to Survive This

POV: Liora

The moment Kael left the fortress, I regretted letting him go.

Not because I thought he was incapable of handling himself. If there was one thing nobody questioned in Blackmoor, it was Kael’s ability to survive almost anything thrown at him.

But lately, survival didn’t feel as certain as it used to.

Too many things had happened.

Too many people had secrets.

Too many enemies were moving in shadows while pretending loyalty in daylight.

I sat near the window for most of the afternoon, pretending to read and failing miserably at it.

The same page had been open for nearly twenty minutes.

I hadn’t absorbed a single word.

Every few minutes I found myself looking toward the courtyard instead.

Watching guards move.

Watching servants cross from one building to another.

Watching absolutely nothing happen.

My mind refused to stay still.

What if the report was fake?

What if it wasn’t?

What if someone wanted him away from the fortress?

What if they wanted him dead?

I hated those thoughts.

Mostly because I couldn’t dismiss them.

Amelia’s warning from yesterday kept returning no matter how many times I tried pushing it away.

You don’t have two chances left... you have far less than you think.

I still didn’t fully understand what she meant.

Part of me didn’t want to.

The number was already terrifying enough.

Two.

For weeks that number had followed me everywhere.

Two healings.

Two burns.

Two chances.

Now Amelia was telling me even that wasn’t true.

I pressed a hand against my stomach and leaned back in my chair.

The strange awareness inside me had been quiet all morning.

For once, the voice hadn’t returned.

I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.

Neither feeling made much sense.

A sudden commotion outside interrupted my thoughts.

At first I ignored it.

Blackmoor was never completely quiet.

But then the shouting grew louder.

Urgent.

Panicked.

I straightened immediately.

Something was wrong.

The realization hit before anyone knocked on my door.

The bond.

For a brief moment it surged violently through my chest.

Pain.

Not mine.

Kael’s.

My heart stopped.

The book slipped from my lap and hit the floor.

"No."

The word escaped before I could stop it.

Another wave crashed through the bond.

This one worse.

Much worse.

I was already moving before I consciously decided to.

The door flew open.

Two guards stationed outside immediately turned toward me.

"My Luna—"

"Move."

The sharpness in my voice surprised even me.

They exchanged a quick glance.

Neither moved.

"My Luna, please be careful."

The older guard stepped forward cautiously.

"We’ve received reports—"

"I said move."

Something in my expression must have convinced him because he stepped aside immediately.

I didn’t wait for anything else.

I ran.

The corridors blurred around me.

Servants pressed themselves against walls as I passed.

Several people called after me.

I ignored every single one.

My lungs burned.

My body protested.

Someone behind me reminded me I was pregnant.

The words barely registered.

Careful?

How exactly was I supposed to be careful?

The one person standing between me and half the dangers inside this fortress was dying.

The one person who knew the truth about my healing.

The one person who knew exactly how little time I had left.

The one person who had spent months protecting me from enemies I didn’t even know existed.

And now everyone wanted me to slow down?

I reached the medical wing breathless.

The scene outside told me everything before I even entered.

Blood.

So much blood.

Warriors stood outside covered in injuries.

Several healers moved frantically between rooms.

Nobody looked relieved.

Nobody looked hopeful.

The moment I stepped inside, silence spread through the nearest section of the room.

I hated that silence.

People only went quiet like that when the news was bad enough that nobody wanted to say it first.

Then I saw him.

And for a second the entire room disappeared.

Kael lay on the bed completely still.

His skin looked pale beneath the blood.

Bandages covered most of his torso.

Fresh blood stained several of them anyway.

The sight hit harder than I expected.

I had seen him injured before.

I had seen him exhausted.

I had seen him poisoned.

This was different.

This looked like death waiting patiently.

A healer stepped directly into my path.

"My Luna—"

"How bad?"

The man hesitated.

That was answer enough.

"How bad?" I repeated.

His expression tightened.

"Critical."

I looked back at Kael.

Critical.

The word felt absurd.

Critical sounded temporary.

Recoverable.

Manageable.

Nothing about what I was seeing looked manageable.

"What happened?"

"An ambush."

The healer exhaled slowly.

"There was poison involved. Multiple internal injuries. Severe blood loss. Damage to his wolf."

My stomach dropped.

Damage to his wolf.

That wasn’t something healers casually mentioned.

Wolves healed.

That was what they did.

If the wolf itself was injured—

The thought refused to finish.

Several healers continued working around the bed.

None of them looked confident.

That frightened me more than anything else.

I moved closer.

Close enough to see the tension still locked into Kael’s face.

Even unconscious, he looked like he was fighting.

A memory surfaced suddenly.

The last time the bond had pulled me toward him.

The last time I stood beside his bed.

The last time I chose not to heal him.

At the time I thought it was difficult.

Now it felt laughable.

Compared to this, that choice had been easy.

The healer approached again.

"My Luna."

I turned toward him.

The expression on his face had changed.

He looked like someone preparing to deliver bad news.

"I need the truth."

I almost laughed.

The truth?

I already knew the truth.

I just needed him to say it out loud.

"Can you save him?"

The healer’s jaw tightened.

"No."

The answer landed exactly where I expected it to.

No shock.

No surprise.

Just confirmation.

"What can you do?"

"We can slow the damage."

His voice sounded exhausted.

"We can manage the symptoms temporarily. We can reduce the strain on his organs."

Temporarily.

Another useless word.

"Temporarily means what?"

Hours passed before he answered.

Or maybe it only felt that way.

"A day. Maybe two."

The room became strangely quiet.

Not outside.

Inside my head.

Because now there was no uncertainty left.

No possibility of misunderstanding.

No room for hope.

The healers couldn’t save him.

Medicine couldn’t save him.

Time couldn’t save him.

There was only one thing left.

Me.

The realization settled heavily into my chest.

I looked back at Kael.

The bond felt weaker now.

Fragile.

Like a thread stretched too far.

My fingers curled slightly.

Instinct immediately responded.

Heal him.

The command came from somewhere deep inside me.

Familiar.

Automatic.

The same instinct that had followed me my entire life.

Heal him.

I already knew what it would cost.

That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was something worse.

I wasn’t sure one healing would be enough.

The thought arrived quietly.

Then refused to leave.

I studied his condition again.

The poison.

The blood loss.

The internal damage.

The wolf.

Everything stacked together.

Everything feeding into everything else.

One healing wouldn’t stabilize that.

One healing might not even be enough to wake him.

A cold feeling spread through my chest.

"No."

The word escaped softly.

The healer looked at me.

"What is it?"

I swallowed.

Nothing.

Everything.

I wasn’t sure.

My gaze remained fixed on Kael.

One healing wasn’t enough.

I knew it.

The healer knew it.

Even if he didn’t understand why.

As if reading my thoughts, the older healer finally spoke.

"If a healing ability were involved..."

I looked toward him immediately.

His expression turned grim.

"...the amount of damage would require multiple restoration cycles."

My heart sank.

"How many?"

The question came out quieter than I intended.

The healer hesitated.

Then answered.

"At least two."

The room seemed to tilt slightly.

Not from weakness.

Not from fear.

From certainty.

Two.

Not one.

Two.

Every remaining chance.

Every remaining burn.

Everything Amelia had warned me about.

Everything I had left.

The healer continued speaking.

Explaining something.

I didn’t hear most of it.

Because I was staring at Kael.

At the man who had protected me when he should have walked away.

At the man who had almost died before because of me.

At the man currently dying because someone had built a trap specifically for him.

Two.

The number repeated itself endlessly.

Not one.

Everything.

If I did this, there would be nothing left afterward.

No safety net.

No second chance.

No future mistake I could survive.

Nothing.

I stared at Kael’s face and tried to imagine walking away from this room.

I tried to imagine letting him die.

I tried to imagine choosing myself.

And for the first time, I understood why Amelia looked at me with pity.

Because this was never a choice.

If I healed him, I lost everything I had left.

If I didn’t...

I lost him.

My hand slowly settled against my stomach.

The movement felt automatic.

Protective.

Helpless.

And as I stood there between the man I loved and the life growing inside me, the truth finally settled with devastating clarity.

That’s everything I have left.