Page 81 of Blood Marked

“You chose,” the third repeated, stepping closer. “As your foremothers did. You gave the bond to spare another. The cost of that choice is death.”

Selene’s chest tightened. Kael’s face rose behind her eyes. His arms around her. The pain. His voice breaking.

“I thought...” She swallowed. “I thought if I severed it, they wouldn’t be able to use him. The ritual would fall apart.”

“It did,” the first said.

“But you fractured your soul to do it,” the second added. “And you cannot return through the Veil unless you are whole.”

The third raised their hand.

“You must choose again.”

Selene stared at them. “Choose what?”

“Return as you are—and fade. Or reclaim what you left behind.”

“And what is that?”

A flicker—Kael’s smile, brief and stubborn. The way his eyes locked on hers as if she were the only steady thing in his world.

“Your bond,” the Veilwalker said. “Your magic. Your love.”

“But—he gave me a reason to walk away,” she whispered.

“He also gave you a reason to come back.”

The words shattered something in her. Because it was true.

He had pushed her away, yes. Lied. Pretended not to care.

But then he’d come. Healwayscame. And now he was calling her back.

Selene closed her eyes. And when she opened them, she wasn’t afraid.

“I’m not coming back because of prophecy,” she said.

The Veil shimmered with tension.

“I’m not coming back because I’m meant to, or because the world needs me, or because of some throne.” She lifted her chin. “I’m coming back becauseI choose him.”

The Veil answered with silence. And then, a rush.

Color and sound and fire and everything she’d ever been, slamming into her like a second heartbeat. The bond reformed, brilliant and blazing, not as a tether, but as a vow.

She gasped.

The world jolted into her chest like lightning.

She wasburning, not in pain, but in life.

Kael’s arms were around her, and his voice was the first thing she heard.

“Selene—Selene, gods—look at me,look at me?—”

Her eyes flew open.

He was crying. Her Alpha. Her chaos. Herwolf.

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