Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Astrid’s POV
"Your previous mate."
My mind refused to accept it. It was like trying to solve an equation where the numbers made no sense. It was like there was just a piece that did not quite fit no matter how hard I tried to make it fit. This wasn’t possible right?
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. The movement was small and jerky. "No, that’s... that’s not possible."
Elara fixed her gaze on me, her eyes pitiful as she stared at me. She didn’t argue. She just waited, letting the truth sink into the cracks of my denial. It was like she knew I was just denying everything right now.
"How?" I asked, my voice pleading for a different answer, a different explanation. "The mating bond... It’s a sacred ritual. It has to be completed by both people. We never... I never did that with him. The only person I have ever completed the bond with is Kaeleen. My soul is his. We are bound to each other."
"And that is the truth," Elara affirmed, her voice gentle but firm. "Your soul chose its rightful mate, just like the moon goddess had planned. But this thing... this tether... it is not a bond. It is a curse. It is a one-sided claim, a brand forced upon you without your consent. It does not require the sacred ritual because it is not sacred. It is black magic, child. A perversion of the Goddess’s most holy laws. And it’s forbidden but sadly people still practice it."
She released my shoulders and turned away, her movements suddenly frantic. She swept towards the massive oak tree at the center of the stone circle. Tucked into a hollow at its base was a series of wooden cabinets, dark with age. She pulled one open with a creak, revealing rows upon rows of clay jars and glass vials filled with dried herbs, strange liquids, and powdered minerals.
"I am such a fool," she muttered, her back to me as her hands flew over the jars, selecting some and discarding others. "Such an old, blind fool. I should have known this was going to turn out like this but I turned a blind eye to everything."
The disappointment she felt towards not noticing this was so intense it felt like another presence in the grove. "I saw a shadow on your aura when you first came to us. I thought it was just the lingering trauma of your past, the residue of an unhealthy relationship. Many of us carry such scars. Like I said before, I had believed that when you finally found your true mate, his light, his love, would be enough to heal it. I never suspected... I never imagined it was something rooted so deeply. Something so deliberately malevolent."
She slammed a jar down on a stone table, the sound making me jump. "This is not a scar, it is a chain. And he is pulling on it."