Page 52 of Beyond the Treaty

would have married us on the day of finding out.”

The messenger emitted a soft, dark chuckle. “Is it?”

I shook my head. “No. That can’t be right. I was never bound

to Kaelen. I never...” My voice trailed off as my mind raced, the weight of the revelation bearing down on me.

The messenger studied me intently. “Have you ever won- dered why you were chosen? Why did it have to be you and no one else?”

A cold shiver passed over me. I had thought about that myself.

The council had always asserted that it was for stability and peace; our marriage would unite the land and prevent war. Yet, it had never made sense.

Not until now.

I forced the words from my lips. “Kaelen and I... were bound?”

The messenger’s golden eyes gleamed. “Not merely bound. Created to be bound.” A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

Created?

The air around me felt too thin; my thoughts were tangled and chaotic. I searched for something, anything, that could prove him wrong.

“Kaelen and I hardly knew one another,” I whispered. “We were strangers. How could we be Blood-Bound?”

The messenger exhaled softly. “Blood-Bound magic is not formed through love, Elara. It is formed through purpose.”

I shook my head again, more forcefully this time. “But why? Why would they do this?”

The messenger’s voice deepened, a shadow of somethingancient lacing his tone. “Because Kaelen was never meant to survive alone.”

The weight of those words settled in my chest like a stone. My thoughts reeled.

Kaelen had been created as aweapon, a tool forged by the council to reshape the world in their image. He is a direct descendant of Lord Garth. But if that were true, if the Blood- Bound Cursewasreal, then that meant...

He hadalwaysrelied on me to survive it.

I suddenly felt sick.

“Their experiment failed,” the messenger continued, his

voice low. “Kaelen broke free of their control. And you, the one meant totetherhim, were kept in the dark.”

My heart pounded wildly. “And now?”

The messenger’s expression darkened. “Now, the bond fractures. And when it breaks completely, you will lose him.”

My stomach twisted violently. Lose him?

The thought sent terror through me, raw and honest.

Azrael’s voice cut through the silence, steady and sharp. “How do we stop it?”

The messenger turned his gaze to him, something flickering behind his golden eyes, approval, perhaps. “You can’t.”

The words hit like a physical blow.

I clenched my jaw, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “Therehasto be a way.”

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