Chapter 107: The True Trial
The white light burst outward. Darian felt his brothers’ hands grip his tighter as the cave shook around them.
When his eyes cleared, two identical women stood facing each other. Both looked like Luna Evelyn. Both had the same gentle eyes and knowing smile. "Which one is real?" Ronan yelled over Elara’s screams.
"Both," Elder Vera whispered. "And neither." The Manipulator wearing their mother’s face growled.
"Clever old woman. But you’re too late. The child comes now, and chaos has already won." "Has it?" Real Luna Evelyn stepped forward quietly. "Look at your kids, creature. Really look." Darian looked at his brothers. Kael’s ice skills weren’t wild anymore.
They formed protective walls around Elara instead of weapons against his family. Ronan’s berserker rage had cooled into focused power. And his own shadows moved to back his brothers instead of plotting against them.
"We’re not fighting," he realized out loud. "Impossible!" The Manipulator shrieked. "The trials broke you! I saw your minds break!" "You saw what you wanted to see," Luna Evelyn said softly.
"But trials don’t break ties. They reveal them." Elara doubled over with another contraction. "The baby won’t wait for your family reunion!" Kael dropped to his knees beside her. "What do you need?" "All of you," she gasped.
"The ceremony. We have to finish it now." Tobias opened the leather notebook with shaking hands. "The True Bonding needs absolute trust. No lies. No lies.
No hidden goals." "Easy to say," Ronan mumbled. "Harder to do."