Kane Blackwood's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Kane woke on the third morning in Seraphina's home and knew the bond was fading. The scent that had filled his chest since the blood moon now sat thin, like smoke from a dying fire. He breathed her in across the room and barely caught rain on cedar. He had days, maybe fewer. When the bond died, so did his proof. She would send him home a stranger. A guard came at dawn. "The council has called her," he said. "You will come too." The council met in an old hall wrapped in living vines. Dragonflies drifted through the open arches. Seraphina stood before a stone seat, wings folded tight. An old elf with a long white beard watched from the side. His robe was green and gold, and he held a blue stone at his chest. Kane read his eyes and found no hatred there. Only weight. "Elandril Silverleaf," Seraphina said. "Speak your charge." The old elder did not rush. "A wolf sleeps in your house," he said. "The council fears you traded our treaty for a beast's bed." His voice stayed gentle, but the room went still. Before Kane could answer, a tall elf stepped through the arch. He had no wings. His smile came slow and sharp. "I am her betrothed," he said to Kane. "Or I was, before you crawled north." His hand dropped to his blade. "Leave, dog, or bleed here." Kane rose. His shoulders filled the arch. "The moon named her mine," he said. "I don't run from a knife." "Enough." Seraphina's voice cut both of them. She turned to Elandril. "I made no trade. The wolf came uninvited. I told him to go and he did not." She looked at Kane, and her face softened only a breath. "But I felt the bond too. I will not lie to this council to keep peace." The hall broke into noise. The winged elder raised his stone, and the dragonflies scattered. "Then we test the truth," Elandril said. "A false bond fades. A true one does not. Wolf, come near her." Kane crossed the floor. He stopped a hand's width from Seraphina and breathed. The thin scent flared. Warm skin, rain on cedar, whole and strong again the moment she was close. His wolf pressed against his ribs. He knew then the bond only dulled with distance. Near her, it burned. "It holds," Kane said. "It always held. I just kept leaving her side." Elandril lowered his stone. "The bond is true," he told the council. "I will not spill blood over what the moon made." The wingless betrothed spat on the floor and stormed out. That night Seraphina led Kane to a cave with a firepit at its heart. Rough stone walls held the warmth close. She sat beside him and did not fly away. "The council knows now," she said. "There's no undoing it." Kane took her hand. The scent no longer faded. But her council was awake, and her enemies now had a name for what he was.