The forest was still—but not silent. Not to Aurelia.
She stood barefoot at the edge of the tree line, her toes sinking into the cold earth. The wind tugged at her hair, but she didn't flinch. Her breathing was steady, but her senses were wide open. Every vibration in the air, every creak of the trees, every distant howl from beyond the ridge—it all echoed through her as if the forest itself had become an extension of her body.
They were there, the wolves. She could feel them.
Not just the sound of them, not just the threat—they were visceral to her now. Hunger. Wariness. Fear. Recognition. They knew she was here.
Her eyes slipped shut. The cold wrapped around her, but her skin felt warm from the inside out, like something ancient had settled beneath it and was finally waking up.
"This…" she murmured, her breath curling into the air, "this is what I was meant to be. Not caged. Not controlled."
The earth pulsed beneath her feet. She could feel the rhythm of it, ancient and alive. The wind shifted through the trees like a whisper that had been waiting centuries to be heard.
But then—something twisted.
The hum beneath her skin turned sharp, like a dissonant note in a song she hadn't realized she was singing. It was a warning. A memory. Something buried far deeper than the collar could ever have reached.
Her voice dropped, softer than before. "But at what cost?"
Kaelen stood alone in the war room, leaning against the cold stone wall. Maps and battle plans were scattered across the long table, untouched. The fire in the hearth crackled behind him, its warmth doing little to reach the tension locked in his shoulders.
"She's changed," he muttered. "Stronger. Wilder."
He ran a hand through his hair, fingers tightening at the roots before dropping to his side.
"I should never have put that damn collar on her."
The words hung in the room, empty and bitter.
He hadn't slept in days. His thoughts kept circling the same truths he'd been avoiding for too long. He couldn't control her anymore. That time—if it had ever truly existed—was gone.
She wasn't a weapon. Not his weapon, at least.
And she never had been.
Aurelia found him in the throne room later that day.
She stepped through the tall doors without hesitation. Her footsteps echoed in the vast space, sharp against the stone floor. Kaelen stood at the far end of the room, back to her, shoulders tense.
"You look like hell," she said flatly, arms crossing over her chest.
He didn't turn. "I feel worse."
"Good," she snapped. "At least you feel something."
That made him turn. Slowly.
The moment his eyes met hers, he saw it. The quiet storm behind her gaze. Her eyes still flickered faintly with the afterglow of magic—gold laced with shadow. But it wasn't just the power that struck him. It was the control.
She wasn't afraid anymore.
"You made me into a monster," she said, voice calm, but hard-edged.
"I didn't—"
"Yes. You did," she interrupted, stepping closer. "You didn't give me a choice. You put that thing around my neck, you kept me locked up, and now—look at what's left."
He didn't argue. He couldn't.
Her voice cracked, the heat of her anger slipping into something rawer. "What am I supposed to be now? A weapon for your court? A monster for your enemies to fear? A pawn?"
"I never wanted that for you," Kaelen said, his voice quiet. Strained. "I didn't know what that collar would do. I didn't know what you were—what you'd become."
"Neither did I," she said, her voice rising. "But maybe if you'd treated me like a person instead of a threat, we could've figured it out together."
The silence that followed felt heavy, like the last breath before a fall.
She turned from him, pacing now, the air around her thrumming with energy. "I've been used by everyone. My own pack. Yours. You. And for what? So someone else could decide what I was worth?"
Kaelen stayed where he was, eyes on the ground.
"I kept waiting for someone to tell me who I was," she continued, her voice softer now, almost to herself. "What I could be. But no one ever did. They all just saw power and figured out how to use it."
"I never wanted to use you," Kaelen said.
She turned to face him again, and this time her expression was unreadable. "But you did."
And he didn't try to deny it.
Her shoulders rose with a shaky breath. "You don't get to decide who I become anymore. That power's mine now."
She turned to leave.
But the door opened before she reached it.
Renna stepped inside, elegant and composed, flanked by two guards who stopped just short of the threshold. Her presence filled the room like a cold wind. Calm. Calculating. Dangerous.
Aurelia sighed, her voice dry. "Of course."
Kaelen's tone shifted immediately. "Renna. This doesn't concern you."
Renna ignored him completely. Her gaze was fixed on Aurelia. "I couldn't help overhearing," she said, voice smooth as silk. "Quite the transformation."
Aurelia narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?"
"To offer you something you're not getting from him," Renna replied.
Kaelen moved closer. "Don't."
Renna didn't even look at him. "You don't need his rules. His leash. I can help you. We can help each other."
Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "You? The one who's been slithering around this place since the day I arrived? Whispering in his ear like a second conscience?"
Renna's smile was cool. "You think Kaelen's the only one with secrets? There's a reason the collar reacted the way it did. Why your powers came back in pieces. You think he understands what you are? He doesn't. But I do."
Kaelen's jaw clenched. "She's lying."
"Am I?" Renna turned her eyes on him briefly, then back to Aurelia. "He's been keeping things from you. Since the beginning."
Aurelia folded her arms. "Then what does that make you? Another enemy?"
"No," Renna said. "An option."
The room stilled. Kaelen looked ready to rip the air apart. But Aurelia… didn't move.
Finally, she spoke. "Why would you want to help me?"
Renna didn't miss a beat. "Because I've seen what happens when power like yours is left unchecked. And because if the truth gets out, I lose just as much as you."
Aurelia stared at her, weighing each word. "Then start talking."
Kaelen stepped between them. "Don't trust her. She's a manipulator. She twists everything to serve herself."
"I trusted you," Aurelia said, voice flat. "And look where that got me."
The words landed like a slap. Kaelen's expression didn't change, but something behind his eyes fractured.
No one spoke.
And then, slowly, Aurelia turned back to Renna.
"I'm listening."
Just like that, the power in the room shifted.
Not in Kaelen's favor.
Renna smiled, triumphant and subtle.
Kaelen watched, silent, as Aurelia chose—for the first time—not him.
And deep down, he knew:
The bond they once shared hadn't just strained.
It had broken.