Rex stared at her hand. He smelled it—her blood—and it hit him like lightning. The scent slammed into his senses, primal and all-consuming. His wolf howled in his chest, claws scraping for control. His whole body locked, heart hammering, breath caught somewhere between desire and panic.
An overwhelming, brutal urge to mate with her tore through him. He froze, trying to steady himself, but every breath he drew dragged more of her scent into him, drowning out thought, reason, everything.
He fought it — gods, he fought it — and just when he managed to steady his pulse, his wolf lunged again, trying to surface, desperate to mark her. Claim her. Take what was his.
Aegon: Mate her. Mark her. She's meant to be yours.
Rex's eyes flared a bright, molten gold for a heartbeat. But discipline held. Barely. He shoved the wolf down, jaw clenched hard, his hand still gripping her wrist.
Then the whispers broke through his trance — low, ancient, echoing from the basin.
The dragon prince must also bleed.
Only then may both hands be put into the flame for judgment.
Nova's eyes flickered green. She stared down at her own hand hovering over the basin. She looked at him, confusion clear in her eyes. But he knew.
He let go of her wrist and pulled the rock from her grasp. With firm precision he drew it across his own palm. Crimson welled instantly, bright and clean. He squeezed his blood into the basin beside hers, never breaking eye contact.
Submit your hands to the flame for judgment.
His fingers slid through hers, intertwining, their blood already mixing. He guided her hand into the flickering flame, his steady grip coaxing her forward without hesitation.
Rex wrapped his free hand around her waist. Neither of them felt the fire that licked at their skin.
For the second time, the urge to mate with her slammed into him again — violent and consuming. Rex stilled, jaw tight, holding his breath until the wave passed.
Their hands were still submerged in the basin's dim fire when a sudden roar split the chamber.
A column of ruby-red flame surged upward, striking the ceiling fifty feet above. The force shook the room, knocking Redmoon, Elle, Marra, and Cael off their feet.
The ruby flame held for a moment, before shifting into a pure, brilliant gold. It held they stood rooted in place, hands still inside the roaring fire, untouched.
Rex then heard whispers.
Dragon-King Incarnate, descendant of the First Redmoon King, we have awaited your return.
Your path was altered in the turning of this life.
The Shadowclaw King is woven of the same golden thread. Both of you fated to the one carved in the Moon Goddess's image.
Both were summoned toward union with the Ashbane Princess, knowing nothing of the design that called you, nor the hand that shaped your steps.
In this life, you turned from the invitation, desiring another. The Shadowclaw King answered and fate unveiled its reward.
Yet by his own choosing, he did not claim her. He turned from the path set before him. He endured months of torment to shield his people, and in his suffering, he forgot the single truth that mattered most.
Had you answered the call, you would have chosen her. You choose her in every life.
Though the Shadowclaw King seeks to mend what was broken, the weaving does not change. Her soul is fractured from breaking the bond she forged with the one who defied fate. The one who also chooses her in every life. The one who loves her so deeply, fate itself yielded. Their souls are bound now in this timeline, and in every future that follows.
She fades with each day and will not endure past two full moons.
You are meant to stand with her at the gate. Only with your blade beside her will she survive what waits beyond it. You are bound to her mark, and through that mark your full power will be unsealed.
For this fate was woven into you at the beginning of all things and the end of that thread draws near. Your life rests within her hands, after the gate.
To everyone else, it appeared as nothing more than an extended, unsettling silence. When the fire dimmed, Gold and ruby magic streamed into Rex and Nova. But neither of them seemed to notice.
Alpha Redmoon noticed Cael, Marra, and Elle all looking shockingly unsurprised — as though occurrences like this were becoming routine in her presence.
He did not need to hear the whispers to understand what this meant. He was a wise man, well read, and intimately familiar with ancient phenomena such as this.
He already knew Nova was tied to Rex through their shared bond with Onyx. She would never burn in Draken fire; her soul was already woven to Rex's.
But he had not anticipated the flame spiraling into the ceiling, blazing in gold and ruby. He knew what that meant, and therein was the surprise.
She wasn't just connected through a shared bond with Onyx.
She was his son's true fated mate.
The one whose bond endured across lifetimes.
Chosen by his ancestors.
A bond such as this was sacred and extremely rare.
Redmoon kept his expression perfectly composed, refusing to betray a single thought. But his mind was already racing.
It explained much. Rex's responses around her. His inexplicable ability to feel her even when she was clear across Varos. Such sensitivity belonged only to true fated mates.
And yet—never, in any recorded history—had a fated mate also been bound to a dragon.
That, combined with the Shadowclaw King's devotion to her, had led Redmoon to dismiss the idea outright. It had seemed impossible.
He needed to speak with Hyran — immediately.
Cael mindlinked Elle.
Cael: No reaction at all from Redmoon. See that?
Elle: Things like this are more normal here.
Cael: No they are not.
Then Fin's voice cut through their mindlink.
Fin: Where are you?
Cael answered dryly, irritation bleeding through every word.
Cael: Make a portal and find out.
As Rex pulled his hand from the fire beside Nova, Hyran's voice cut into his mind, overlapping with Redmoon's.
Hyran: Bloodmoon is secured. We are back. Alpha Shadowclaw wants to see Nova. Where is she?
Redmoon: We are in a newly revealed chamber within the library. Though he likely already knows — his Betas have been mindlinking.
Hyran: A newly revealed chamber… without my presence. I was the one who proposed bringing her there in the first place.
Redmoon: The Shadowclaw Betas are to blame.
Hyran: We will be there soon.
A deep stone-on-stone grind shuddered through the chamber. Redmoon and Rex's eyes met at the sound, both sensing the shift in the air as an altar rose from the floor, the marble surface sliding upward like something ancient waking.
On it were two gold rings, one larger, one smaller.
Nova's eyes burned silver as she stepped toward the altar, her movements smooth and trance-bound. Rex moved with her, breath catching as that same old pull stirred inside him. He was certain that the smaller ring was his gift to her, given long before memory.
Nova lifted the larger ring. Rex lifted the smaller.
The instant their hands touched, a blinding white eruption tore through the chamber. The light was so powerful that Redmoon, Marra, Cael, and Elle threw up their arms, eyes squeezed shut, unable to see anything at all.
Inside that veil of white, unseen by anyone but each other, Rex guided Nova's hand and slipped the smaller ring onto her finger, their forms outlined only by the pulsing brilliance surrounding them.
Still in her silver-eyed trance, Nova raised the larger ring and slid it onto Rex's finger.
When both rings settled into place, another explosion of blinding white light tore through the chamber. A deep vibration followed. A pulse, shaking the entire palace down to its foundation.
Across the other side of Redmoon's fortress, Fin and Jax halted mid-stride, exchanging a sharp glance. They had been following Hyran toward the library, but that sound… that was not natural.
Hyran felt it before they did. His head snapped toward the source, and without a word he broke into a run. They didn't realize that it wasn't out of fear — not even close. It was because he sensed something extraordinary unfolding beneath their feet. Aeron bolted after him, the same realization etched across his face.
Hyran stopped abruptly, eyes widening as though he had just realized something utterly absurd. Without hesitation, he tore open a portal to the library.
"Good thinking," Aeron said quietly, his tone grave. This was no time for jokes.
Hyran and Aeron dove through the portal, Fin and Jax close behind, concern etched across their normally unshakeable faces. If these two calm, controlled mages were running, something was very wrong.
The portal opened into the restricted section. Hyran stepped through first, the wave of magic slamming into him so hard his expression twisted instantly into irritation.
"I can't believe I missed this," he muttered under his breath, sounding genuinely offended.
Aeron followed, his expression no better. "Of course," he said flatly. "Why wait for your mage, Nova, when you can disappear into a trance."
Hyran sprinted toward the source of the magic and skidded to a halt just as a burst of golden light erupted from a staircase on the far wall. One he most certainly had never seen before. It spiraled downward into the earth where solid floor had existed that morning.
Aeron crashed into his back, and Fin and Jax collided into both of them, forming a clumsy, irritated stack of worry and power.
"This is new," Hyran said softly, staring at the staircase.
One of the mage-librarians called out, voice trembling, "She opened it with Draken-Vorah."
Hyran's expression collapsed into pure, dramatic despair — the kind worn by a man who cannot believe the universe continues to mock him personally. He bolted down the staircase, the others thundering after him.
At the bottom, they arrived just in time to see a second pedestal rising from the ground. Upon it lay a sword, its pommel crowned with a deep ruby that caught the torchlight like a living heartbeat. The blade vibrated once — and the shockwave blasted them all backward. Everyone but Rex and Nova.
Rex's eyes glowed molten gold, the light so fierce it looked as though he too had fallen into a trance. He reached for the weapon. The moment his fingers brushed the hilt, the sword shuddered violently. Another shockwave detonated outward.
A third pedestal rose from the floor, slow and ominous. Upon it sat a lever — iron-black, cold, wrong.
Her eyes flickered green. She shook her head and stumbled, as if she was trying to fight something. But her eyes flared back even brighter silver and she started moving towards it. Fin sensed the hesitation in her and saw her struggle, brief as it was. He also heard the low hum coming from the pedestal, a sound that was entirely wrong.
"Nova, do not touch that!" He shouted.
In one blur of alpha speed and magic he ran across the water, his feet never breaking under the surface.
His arm swept around her waist and he lifted her over his shoulder in a single powerful motion. She twisted and fought to break free, but he held her easily.
Her eyes flared brighter—no pupils now, only pure molten silver. Her hands glowed the same savage light, silver magic sparking against his back.
He felt her rage through the bond, sharp and electric. But her magic? He couldn't feel it. Not even a flicker on his skin.
He smothered a laugh. Gods, she probably looked adorable.
Golden magic burst from Fin's free hand, pure light erupting in a sudden flare. The lever answered with a surge of dark energy, but the moment the two forces met, the darkness disintegrated under the weight of his gold magic.
Fin glanced at Rex in middle of this.
"If you unsheathe that, a vision will play where one or all of us will die." He said, conversationally, as if this were part of a routine checklist rather than a life-altering moment.
Elle burst out laughing. Aeron muttered something irritated under his breath, the words muffled but unmistakably unflattering.
Hyran and Alpha Redmoon did not look at each other, yet the same thought crossed both their minds with identical, exhausted clarity: this group was going to shorten their lifespan.
"You can touch it now. I am sorry, baby," he said, leaning in to steal a quick kiss on her cheek while her face remained perfectly focused, eyes still glowing silver. She did not seem to notice him at all when he set her down.
She turned and pulled the lever.
A thunderous grind answered her movement, and a massive double door formed on the far side of the room, stone shifting as gold runes carved themselves across its surface, glowing faintly in the torchlight.
Nova stepped forward and began to read the ancient script in the same language she had spoken before. Hyran glanced at Aeron, who remained expressionless. Rex did not react, and neither did Redmoon. Hyran smoothed his features into a neutral mask.
When Nova fell silent, additional glyphs ignited around the doors, each one glowing a bright, molten gold. The spirits spoke again.
Descendant of the Moon Goddess.
You are too early for this task.
Return only after you have been called.
Only when the path is lit, and the gate opened, may you enter.
The light slowly faded, leaving the doors intact, sealed once more—waiting.
This time, Fin could hear it with Jax. Nova could too, but wouldn't remember any of this.
Rex however couldn't because he wasn't touching Nova.