Page 144 of Unravelled
"It is documented that the gifts of the Navigators favor unbroken bloodlines, yet no gift is without sacrifice. The cost must be paid before the previous bearer’s final breath."
A weight settled deep in Mira’s chest. She turned another page, scanning the dense script. She lifted her gaze. Sharp now. Calculating. Mira froze. These gifts weren't metaphorical. They were real. Dangerous. Ancient.
Her breath caught as her eyes met Caelric’s. And in that stillness, she saw, buried beneath his composed exterior, behind the coolness of his gaze, heartfire. Banked, but burning. Controlled, but not dormant. He had hidden it. She had never noticed. No one had. Not until now.
Mira understood the danger she was in. Her blood turned cold. This wasn’t some scholarly indulgence or idle remembrance of power. He had called her here. Alone. With the doors sealed behind her. And he had to know.The bond. The truth she and Ren had kept buried, he had unearthed it.
Standing here, unguarded and unarmed, Mira was suddenly very aware of just how much she didn’t know about the man before her.
Her voice was barely above a whisper. “You inherited this.”
“Yes,” he said, without flinching She hesitated,searching his face.
Her voice came softer still, but sharper, edged with the need to know. “From who?”
He looked at her, quiet. Then, deliberately, “Would you like to guess?”
The blood drained from her face. “…Your father?”
Caelric's laugh was low and without warmth. “No.”
Mira felt the unease rise. It curled through her chest like smoke. “I took it from my bonded's father,” he said, softly.
“For her.” She blinked. “The Queen?”
Caelric nodded once. “She was meant to inherit. But we had just lost our first child. A daughter. She wasn’t strong enough.”
Mira swallowed hard and looked away, “So you took it. To spare her.”
He nodded. "It was not without protest. But I promised I would ensure Bharas's gift would return to their bloodline"
The weight of it all pressed down on her. Her thoughts spun, tracing backward, re-threading the tapestry. A pattern began to form.
Her voice cracked as she spoke. “Then that’s why Ren felt me. Before our bond. Bharas’s blood runs through him.”
The words lingered between them. The way Ren had looked at her from the start. The way he reached for her, even before they knew what they were. The way he loved, not gently, not cautiously, but with the kind of fire that consumed. Ren carried that same flame. That same impossible depth. Caelric said nothing.
Mira stepped back, her pulse a thunder in her ears. “You want him to inherit Bharas' gift,” she said. “But he can’t. Not without…” Her voice faltered. “Not without sacrifice,” she whispered.
Caelric gently closed the book. The sound was deafening.
“I had hoped,” he said quietly, “to be on my deathbed.” Mira’s stomach turned. “I am ensuring his birthright.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Caelric stepped closer. His expression was unreadable.
“Because I had hoped you would understand. That you would see what must be done. That you would accept it.”
Her eyes sharpened. “I won't submit” Somethingflickered in his expression. Not cruelty. Not coldness. But conviction. Immovable. Mira understood. He would go through with it with or without her permission
She stared at him, eyes burning. “Don’t.”
“I cannot,” he said before Caelric lunged.
Fire. A blinding, searing pain behind her eyes, deep in her mind. Her knees buckled as her world fractured. She felt Ren’s voice. His laughter. Their whispered vows under moonlight. All of it was torn away.
The last thing she heard before the dark swallowed her whole was Caelric’s voice.
“Forgive me.” And then, silence.
