Chapter 7 THE CURSE BOND
From between the trees, a wolf darted out, it was small, gray, and looked terrified. It whimpered and fled past them. Just a frightened scout, not an ambush. Still, Aria’s heart hammered.
Lucian’s gaze lingered on the shadows fading from her palm. “You seem to control it faster each time.”
“I’m not controlling it,” she said. “It feels like it’s controlling me.”
“Then learn before it does.” He started walking again, the faintest trace of warning in his tone. “Power that answers fear will always choose the stronger emotion.”
Aria followed, silent for a while. The forest grew thinner, the wind colder. The path sloped downward toward the river valley, where mist pooled like milk.
Behind them, Maeve’s hut was already swallowed by distance.
They had to leave Lucian vehicle, because they don't want to alert the warriors searching for Aria with the sound of it.
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By midday, they reached the ridge. Jagged stone rose from the earth, carved long ago by hands or claws. A dark opening yawned at its base, it's the tunnels Lucian had mentioned.
He motioned for her to stop. “We rest here before going in. Once inside, there’s no easy way out.”
Aria dropped her pack and sank onto a fallen log. Her pulse still matched his steadily. “Do you ever wonder,” she murmured, “what the Moon expects from us?”
Lucian sat opposite her, with his eyes unreadable. “Expectation is a human word. The Moon demands.”
“And if we refuse?”
He looked at her then, something ancient flickering behind his gaze. “Then she reminds us who owns the night.”
A shiver passed through her. She turned her face toward the valley, where the wind carried a faint echo, a howl, distant yet unmistakable. Silverfang scouts. Kael’s men.
Lucian heard it too. “They’re closer than I thought.”
Aria rose. “Then we should keep moving.”
They stepped toward the darkness of the cave mouth. The air inside was cold, laced with the scent of old stone and secrets. Just before they vanished from view, Aria glanced back once, the mist behind them was shifting like living smoke.
Far away, beyond the trees, Kael’s voice carried through the pack link, sharp and furious:
> "Find her. Bring me proof she lives or bring me her ashes."
Aria felt the bond flare, a wave of heat racing down her spine. Lucian caught her arm, steadying her before she stumbled.
“What did you feel?” he asked.
“His rage,” she whispered. “I think he can still sense me. He knows I'm still alive.”
Lucian’s eyes hardened. “Then we need to run until the Moon decides what to do with us. Cause if either one of us dies, the other die too ”
And together, bound by curse and destiny, they disappeared into the waiting darkness.
Every step Aria took echoed in a rhythm that's too steady to be only hers. The deeper she and Lucian went, the colder the air became, heavy with the scent of iron and earth.
Strange markings lined the walls, symbols that pulsed faintly in silver when their torchlight passed.
“This place wasn’t built by wolves,” she murmured.
Lucian’s voice was low. “No. It was built for them.”
The flames flickered, revealing more of the carvings, there were wolves bowing under a crescent moon and bound in chains of light. Between them, a single figure stood unbound, eyes blazing like fire.
Aria’s pulse quickened. “Who is she?”
Lucian hesitated. “Some say she's the first Luna. The Moon’s vessel before the packs existed. Her power was so great that it split the earth when she died.”
The tunnel curved downward, with the air thickening with mist. Shadows moved differently there, they were slower, heavier, as if aware of being watched.
Aria brushed her fingers along the carvings. The stone thrummed faintly under her touch. “It feels alive.”
Lucian’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t..."
Too late. The wall beneath her palm flared white, with light spilling down the tunnel like lightning. Aria gasped, stumbling backward as her mind split open with a surge of voices, thousands of whispers, layered and ancient.
> 'Daughter of the Moon… stolen crown… blood for balance…'
“Aria!” Lucian’s voice sounded distant, it muffled under the roar in her skull. Her knees hit the ground, and she clutched her head, her eyes starts glowing silver against the dark.
Images flashed—Kael kneeling beneath a blood-red moon, a blade glinting in his hand… a white wolf crying out in fire… and then, a woman’s voice, calm and terrible, filling the space inside her mind.
> ''Do you think vengeance is yours, child?''
The words came from everywhere and nowhere. The torchlight dimmed until only the silver glow from the carvings remained.
Aria whispered, “Who are you?”
> ''You already know. You wear my mark and call yourself Luna.''
“The Moon Goddess…” Her breath hitched. “Why are you showing me this?”
> "Because you are walking in my shadow. You seek revenge, but you carry something older than rage.''
The visions shifted—Aria saw herself standing in Kael’s throne room, her eyes are like storms, power rippling from her hands. Wolves knelt before her, not out of loyalty but out of fear. Her voice, in that vision, was not her own.
> "The curse you bear was meant for another, the Goddess said. But fate chose you instead."
Aria tried to speak, but pain burned behind her eyes. “What curse?”
> "The bond."
The word struck like a blade.
> "You think the bond tied you to the rogue by chance? No. It was the debt he owed me, it's the punishment of his defiance. You both are bound not by love, but by consequence."
The ground trembled. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Lucian caught her as she fell forward, shaking. “Aria, talk to me. What’s happening?”
She blinked rapidly, her pupils dilated and her breath ragged. “The Goddess—she said, this bond isn’t fate. It’s punishment.”
Lucian froze. “Punishment for what?”
