Page 36 of Traitor Wolf (Bonded by Fate Duet #1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

T he mountain shuddered, a deep, resonant quake that rattled the air in my lungs. Light speared through the stone, blinding, searing, and for a heartbeat, I thought the world itself had split in two.

When the glare faded, I was no longer in the labyrinth.

I stood on an endless expanse of white marble, polished so smooth it mirrored the stars above. The sky was black and vast, constellations glittering in unfamiliar shapes, as though I had stepped beyond the world I knew.

At the center of the marble plain stood a man clad in ancient silver armor. His eyes burned faintly gold, like embers trapped in glass. When he spoke, his voice rolled through the air from every direction at once, carrying the weight of command.

“Champion,” he said, the word like a crown placed on my head. “You have earned your place among the Chosen.”

Chosen. The word curled through me, heady and serious.

He took a step forward, the sound of his boots ringing like a bell across the marble.

“Few have survived the Arcane Trials. Fewer still have done so without the gift of magic in their veins. Yet you, magicless one, have triumphed.” His gaze held a kindness I wasn’t prepared for, a proudness.

“Now you will be offered a power that will be written into your blood, passed to every child born of your line until the stars themselves fade.”

A warm wind rose from nowhere, wrapping around me.

It wasn’t just air, it was raw magic, threaded with heat and cold, light and shadow.

It slid under my skin, a strange, intoxicating hum that made my pulse stutter.

I could feel what it promised: fire blooming at my fingertips, frost curling from my breath, storms bending to my will.

“With this gift,” he said, “you will never be helpless again. Men will kneel to your command. No enemy will survive your wrath. Your children will be born strong, and their children after them, until your name is legend. ”

For a moment, the marble floor rippled like water, showing me visions: my family, clean and fed, no longer in rags; the Dregs rebuilt into a community vast and strong and shining; me standing at the heart of it, magic bursting from my hands like I’d been born to it.

All I had to do was take it.

The man stepped closer to me, and my chest tightened. His power was nearly overwhelming. The magic in the air pressed close, coaxing me to surrender.

But somewhere beyond this place, Valkaryn pulsed faintly in my grip, though I could no longer see her. I remembered what Kaelric had told me, that without the blade, he could never reclaim Fenmyr.

‘There is something I need to tell you.’ Valkaryn pulsed in my mind, sharp and urgent. ‘If you accept this magic gift, you will be stronger than you have ever dreamed… but Kaelric will lose his only chance to redeem his people and avenge his lost family. To avenge me.’

Confusion washed over me. ‘What? Why?’

‘When you claim this magic, Kaelric will have an opportunity to wield me, and he will fail. I told you before, the power I carry breaks the greedy, and it drives the cruel mad. Kaelric is neither, but his heart is still not pure enough to wield my power. Only you can.’

My chest suddenly felt hollow. What was she saying? After all this, after everything Kaelric did to help me win, so that he could have her… she wouldn’t accept him?

‘He’s your son,’ I scolded her.

I felt her heartbreak in my bones. ‘Yes, which is why I’m begging you now: reject the mountain's gift. Keep me, and help free the wolfkin from a savage king. Together, we can conquer him and return Kaelric’s crown to him.’

I had to choose? Between Kaelric or my people? It was impossible. But as she said it, I thought of Kaelric, of his family slain when he was a young boy. How his crown was stolen from him. How he’d chosen to help my family.

‘Can I keep both?’ I asked her.

“No,” the man said, and I startled, looking up into his golden, compassionate eyes. His head was cocked to the side as he watched me weigh my decision, clearly able to hear what Valkaryn had said.

My family was without a home, currently en route to Fenmyr to live a new life, and that was because of Kaelric and his kindness in taking them in.

I couldn’t just leave him with nothing to avenge his people.

‘If I keep you, do you promise we will be strong enough to defeat this savage king?’ I asked her .

There was a hesitation I did not like. How strong was this wolfkin alpha imposter?

‘I will end his life or break my very steel and release my soul back to the heavenlies trying. ’

I couldn’t ask for more than that. So I chose the man I loved. I chose his happiness instead of mine. I trusted that he would provide for my family where I could not. I looked at the armored man in his golden eyes and smiled sadly.

“I’m sorry, but I reject your gift, though I ask to keep my sword.” I bowed my head once before looking back up.

His expression didn’t change, but the wind died instantly. The warmth drained away, and then the corner of the man’s mouth lifted in a radiant smile that felt like the sun was shining on me.

“A more worthy champion could not be found. So be it,” he said, and the marble cracked beneath my feet.

The world tore away, and I was back in the arena.

The labyrinth was gone. We stood on the dust-covered ground as the House sponsors spoke in hushed voices over Corvessa’s dead body.

Fatigue pulled too greatly at me then. I felt like I might pass out where I stood.

Valkaryn was warm and solid in my hand, and Kaelric stood before me, his grin shining brightly.

That grin slipped when he looked down at my chest .

“Your mark is gone.” His voice held fear.

I glanced down to see that my sponsor mark had vanished, pale skin in its place. And no Elite magic user mark to show that I had received magic from the mountain.

I looked back up at Kaelric, who eyed the blade at my hip.

“I’ll take that now,” he said, reaching out.

I swallowed hard, stepping back two paces, and the haunted look that came over his face broke my heart.

“No.” Kaelric shook his head. “Where is your magic mark? You won; you got magic.”

I tried but failed to keep my voice from shaking.

“I rejected it,” I told him, and his eyes went wide. Pelts of fur rippled down his neck. “So that I could keep Valkaryn and help you.”

I rushed forward, but now he was the one stepping backward.

“No. You have no idea what you’ve done.” He shook his head. “Ten years I’ve waited. I helped you win. I needed her. You stole her from me!” He shouted the last part in a desperate cry, and then his shift started. I don’t think he was able to stop it.

Tears flowed down my face as he dropped into his wolf form.

“No, you don’t understand,” I told him. “Val told me you wouldn’t be strong enough to wield her. I had to keep her, or we would both lose her.”

‘Lies,’ Kaelric said. ‘She was just a mother trying to protect her son. You never even gave me a chance. Who are you to say I’m not strong enough?’ He tipped his head back and howled into the sky, causing chills to rush forward on my arms.

‘You think you’re my mate? A mate would never do this. I’ll never forgive you for this.’ They were his last words before he darted off, away from the arena and towards the train.

I felt like I’d been kicked in the chest, my heart bleeding freely inside my ribcage as I watched him run off. After everything that just happened, I didn’t feel like a champion. I felt empty inside.

‘Please, forget what he said,’ Valkaryn begged. ‘He will understand in time. Go to Fenmyr. Help my people.’

What about my people? The ones I just left weak and magicless because I chose what I thought was love over them.

If Kaelric wasn’t going to be grateful for the sacrifices I made for him, then I wasn’t helping with anything. I had my own problems to worry about. Like the survival of my entire displaced community.

‘You tricked me,’ I decided, angrily gripping her hilt. ‘I lost the ability to bring magic to my people, and now I’ve lost Kaelric, too!’ I screamed, wanting to snap the blade in half.

She vibrated at my hip, her power slipping over me like a heavy blanket. ‘Trust me, young one, I need ? —’

‘I don’t care what you need anymore. I need to think about myself, my own people. Don’t talk to me anymore.’ I pulled her from her sheath and stormed out of the arena with her clenched in my grip.

I felt like a child who had given up everything for a boy without a second thought. Regret burned through me fast and hot. I passed the Elite sponsors, Kirk, Corvessa’s headless body, and left them all behind.

I felt so stupid, I wanted to hide. How did I tell my family that I won the Arcane Trials but did not have magic to bring home to them? They would be living in tents, ready to rebuild, and I had nothing to offer them.

‘Brynn, just—’ Valkaryn started.

‘Speak to me again and I’ll pay a metalsmith to melt you down!’ I snapped, and she went silent.

Never again. Never again would I put a man’s needs before my own.

“Brynn!” A strange female voice called as I stepped out of the arena and moved towards the train station.

I spun to see an Aerlyn messenger, out of breath with a scroll in her left hand.

“I missed the first train, and then you were inside the Arena.” She panted.

I looked her up and down. She wore the crimson cloak of a messenger from the city, but what was she doing all the way out here? And why did she call my name?

My mind was a mess from Kaelric and Valkaryn, and I couldn’t handle anything else.

“Is my family okay?” Maybe they never made it to Hildreth, maybe their train was attacked and?—

“I don’t know, but I have this for you.” She looked back over her shoulder like she expected someone to be watching her.

I took the scroll, and she peered at me again, not moving.

“Oh, I don’t have payment,” I told her.

She shook her head, looking embarrassed. “No. It’s not that. I just… You won?” She smiled.

I did. I won the Arcane Trials, and I had no magic to show for it.

“Yep.”

“Congrats.” She smiled. I peered at the Elite magic mark on her chest. She was a messenger, a menial job in Aerlyn. Definitely not of noble blood. Probably carried weak magic, but magic nonetheless.

“Thanks,” I said dryly, hoping she would leave so I could read whatever this letter said in peace.

“I’m sorry about what happened… the Dreg fi re. I asked my mom if we could send help…” She hedged. “But we were afraid of getting in trouble.”

So much had happened over the last twenty-four hours that I felt sick thinking about. The fire, the Watcher attack on the train, the trial, Kaelric.

“It’s fine,” I told her and then moved to the platform. “Thanks for the message.” I wondered if Kaelric and I would be on the same train, or if he would run all the way home in his wolf form.

“You’re a hero!” She called out after me.

A hero? To who? Not the Elite, and when I came home with no magic, not my people.

I slipped inside the train doors and collapsed into the empty car, pain and fatigue pulling at my limbs. Peeling open the scroll, my heart leapt into my throat when I noticed Cassian’s handwriting.

Dearest Brynn,

I found out who killed my brother. I had to flee. They were going to kill me, too. The fire, my brother, the attack in your dorm, it was Corvessa. Watch your back and, most importantly, win the trials. For me, for my brother, for Fiona, for your family. For yourself. I believe in you.

Magic for all.

I’ll find you,

Cassian

I gasped.

Cassian Draven was alive.