Chapter 4 “The Prince And The Healer”

The chamber they gave me was beautiful, but it felt like a cage.

Silver drapes hung from the tall windows, filtering pale light across stone walls carved with runes that pulsed faintly whenever I approached. Every surface shimmered — polished, perfect, cold. Even the air seemed to hum with quiet magic, a warning that this room was not mine to leave.

I tried the door once. It didn’t budge.

Hours passed in uneasy silence. My thoughts wouldn’t settle. I replayed the Queen’s words, the sight of Kael’s golden eyes, the pulse beneath my skin that beat in rhythm with his.

Until the knock came.

Three sharp raps against the door — deliberate, steady. Before I could answer, the door opened, and a soldier stepped inside.

“His Highness summons you,” he said flatly. “Now.”

I followed without a word.

They led me through a series of long corridors lined with banners — silver wolves embroidered on black silk, their eyes stitched in gold thread. The walls bore portraits of rulers past, each more regal and severe than the last. My footsteps echoed softly against the marble.

Finally, we stopped before a set of tall oak doors. The guard opened them and gestured for me to enter.

The room beyond was smaller than the throne hall, but no less intimidating. A fire burned in the hearth, casting gold light across shelves filled with old books and scrolls. At the center stood Prince Kael, his back to me, studying a map laid across a wide table.

He didn’t turn right away.

“Leave us,” he said to the guard.

The door closed with a soft thud. Silence fell.

Then Kael straightened and faced me.

Even in human form, I could see it — the same grace, the same wild power that had radiated from the wolf I found in the forest. His eyes caught the firelight, glowing faintly gold. He wore a dark tunic embroidered with silver threads, the crest of a crescent moon on his chest.

“You look better than when I last saw you,” he said finally. His tone was even, almost calm.

“I didn’t know you saw me,” I replied.

“I did,” he said. “Between pain and darkness, there was your voice. I thought it was a dream.”

My heart twisted. “You were dying. I had to help.”

He studied me for a moment — long enough for the silence to thicken. “And you did more than that.”

I hesitated. “The bond?”

He nodded slowly, stepping closer. “The Blood Moon bond is rare even among our kind. It only forms when two souls share the same heartbeat at the edge of death.” His gaze flickered to my wrist — where faint silver veins still glimmered under my skin. “You didn’t just heal me. You tied our lives together.”

“I didn’t choose that,” I said quietly.

“No,” he admitted. “But neither did I.”

The air between us grew heavy. The fire popped, the sound startlingly loud.

He moved around the table, stopping only a few feet away. I could feel it — the strange, magnetic pull that had begun in the forest, stronger now, like invisible threads connecting us.

“I need to know why you were in our lands,” he said.

“I wasn’t trespassing on purpose,” I said quickly. “The storm forced me off the main road. I didn’t even know your realm existed.”

His expression softened slightly, though his eyes remained guarded. “Most humans don’t. And those who do… don’t live long enough to speak of it.”

A chill ran through me.

He noticed. “You’re not a prisoner,” he said, though his tone made it sound like a question. “Not exactly. The Queen wishes to study the bond — to understand why it chose you.”

“Study me?” I repeated, incredulous.

“Not harm you,” he said. “You saved my life. That matters here.”

For a moment, silence again. His eyes — those impossible eyes — held mine, and I felt the echo of his heartbeat inside me. It was faster now.

“Do you remember,” he said quietly, “what you felt in the forest when you touched me?”

I swallowed. “Yes.”

He took one step closer. “That warmth — that pulse — it wasn’t magic. It was the bond forming.”

My breath hitched. “So when you woke up… you already knew it was me?”

“I knew it the moment I opened my eyes,” he admitted, his voice low. “The scent, the heartbeat… they were already mine.”

The way he said it — mine — sent a shiver down my spine.

“I don’t belong here, Kael,” I whispered. “Your mother wants me gone. Your people look at me like I’m cursed.”

His jaw tightened. “They fear what they don’t understand. A human tied to the Silverfang heir has never happened before. It’s a threat to the old order.”

“And what do you think I am?”

He paused — and in that pause, I saw the war behind his eyes. “I think you’re the reason I’m still breathing,” he said finally. “And I don’t know what that means yet.”

A faint tremor ran through the ground then — so soft I almost missed it. Kael’s expression shifted instantly, alert. He turned toward the window, where the light had dimmed unnaturally.

“The Moon shifts,” he murmured. “Her power is stirring.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

He looked back at me, his gaze sharp. “It means our time is shorter than I thought. The bond will only grow stronger — and when the next Blood Moon rises, whatever it wants from us will be revealed.”

My pulse raced. “And until then?”

He stepped closer still, until only a breath separated us. The air between us hummed with energy.

“Until then,” he said softly, “you stay alive. For both our sakes.”

He turned before I could speak, walking toward the door. But just as his hand touched the handle, he paused.

Without looking back, he said, “You have a healer’s hands, but a wolf’s heart. Don’t let either be tamed.”

Then he was gone, the echo of his words lingering like the fire’s last whisper.

I stood there long after, my heart pounding — not just from fear, but from something deeper.

Something wild.