Page 25 of Blood Marked

“He told you about the bond backlash?”

Selene nodded. “Enough to terrify me.”

“Good,” Nyra said with no irony. “You should be terrified. But also… not.”

Selene glanced at her. “That’s not vague at all.”

Nyra exhaled through her nose, more serious now. “Kael… he doesn’t show it, but he’s been through worse. This—you—are not the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.”

Selene frowned. “I didn’t think I was.”

“You’re not,” Nyra said, eyes fixed ahead. “But he thinks you might be. Not because of you—but because hefeelsagain. And that’s dangerous for him.”

Selene slowed her steps. “Why?”

Nyra paused by a low stone bench overlooking the edge of the cliffs. The wind tugged at her cloak as she sat, hands braced behind her.

“He loved someone once,” she said quietly. “Back when we were still being raised in the old ways. Her name was Elara. She was from one of the lesser moonborn clans. They met during his first tour as heir. She challenged him. Made him laugh. She didn’t care about court or bloodlines. Justhim.”

Selene said nothing. The air was colder suddenly. The sharp kind that burned your throat.

“She died,” Nyra said, simple and final. “In a raid meant for him. House Duskthorn arranged it. Varyn’s uncle. Kael never talks about it, but I was there. I saw him shift in the woods, halfout of his mind with rage. It took five warriors to pull him off the one who set the trap.”

Selene sat down slowly beside her, the wind lifting strands of her hair.

“He doesn’t talk about it,” Nyra said again, softer now. “Not because he’s ashamed. But because it broke something in him. Loving her made himsoft. And soft gets you killed here.”

Selene’s throat tightened.

She hadn’t come out here looking for answers. She’d just wanted air. Space. Silence from Kael’s maddening presence, from her own confusion. But now…

Now she wasn’t sure what to do with this heavy, aching knowledge sitting in her chest.

“You still think he’s capable of that?” Selene asked quietly. “Of loving?”

Nyra turned toward her with a look that was all sharp truth.

“I think he already does,” she said. “He just doesn’t know how to name it without bleeding.”

Selene’s heart thudded once, hard.

She stood too quickly.

Nyra didn’t rise. Just looked up at her, calm and a little sad.

“You don’t have to forgive him,” she said. “But if you’re going to survive here, you should at leastunderstandhim.”

Selene nodded once, wordless, and turned back toward the citadel.

Her anger hadn’t vanished.

But it wasn’t as clean now.

It had edges softened by empathy and those were the most dangerous ones of all.

TWELVE

KAEL

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