Rowan collapsed in the training yard.
It came without warning—his heart seizing like a fist around glass. He dropped to his knees, vision tunneling, breath shredding his lungs.
"Alpha's son!" someone shouted.
Hands grabbed him. Voices blurred.
But none of it mattered.
All he could feel was her.
Elara's fear. Her pain. Her voice calling his name through the bond he'd tried to destroy.
"Let me go," Rowan rasped. "Please."
No one listened.
So he broke the chains himself.
He found her convulsing on the stone floor, silver blood seeping from her nose, her eyes unfocused.
"Elara," he whispered, collapsing beside her. "Look at me."
Her gaze found his.
The pain eased—just a little.
"You rejected me," she said faintly.
"I lied," he said, voice cracking. "I lied because I couldn't bear watching you die."
Tears slipped down her temples. "I'm dying anyway."
Rowan pressed his forehead to hers.
"Then I'll die with you."
The bond surged—violent, complete, unforgiving.
Outside the chamber, the Moon Oracle listened.
And smiled.