Chapter 444: Our Bond

Zephan;

Our bond has always felt like warmth.

It’s never been some constant noise in my head or some hum I notice every waking second. It’s just always...been there, low and steady, the way you don’t think about your own heartbeat until something makes you listen for it.

A quiet thread running from my chest to somewhere I can’t see, always pointing back toward him. Since the day I marked him, that bond has felt real, and true...and pure.

I’ve felt it shift before. Grief, when he’s sad. Fear, sharp and sudden, more than once since Gravemaw. I’ve learned the particular texture of each version of him over these past months, and learned to read our bond the way you learn to read a person’s face.

Our bond has allowed me to see through him and him many emotions multiple times, but what I’m feeling right now isn’t any of those.

I’m still busy trying to hold Koda back when it happens.

I stop talking. My hands drop from Koda’s shoulders, and he stares at me with creased brows.

My hand moves to my chest as a certain, sour feeling of wrongness coats me.

Elián...

I reach for him again. The way I always reach. The way I’ve been pointlessly reaching for him for the past few minutes— instinctively... drilled into me from weeks of doing it without thinking.

This time, however, what answers isn’t him. It’s wrong in a way I don’t have language for yet.

He’s still there. I can feel that much, some faint trace of him still tethered to the other end of this bond, still technically existing somewhere I can’t see. But it’s thin. Stretched impossibly thin, like a thread pulled so tight it’s begun to fray at the edges, and underneath that thinness, rests something else entirely... an absence where his presence should fully reside. A gap... A silence sitting exactly where the warmth of him used to be.

He’s there, and he isn’t. Both at once.

"That’s not—" I say it out loud, my voice coming out strange and distant even to my own ears, and this time Koda grabs my shoulder.

"That’s not possible," I mutter, and Koda tilts his head as he tries to get me to talk to him, but right now, I can not focus on Koda.

I’ve heard of bonds fading with distance. I’ve felt that myself, the way the connection thins slightly whenever he’s on the far side of the kingdom instead of close by. But I’ve never felt anything like this. This isn’t distance. This is something structural. Something has happened to the bond itself...to some fundamental piece of what makes it work, and I don’t have a name for what is happening, or what it means, except that it terrifies me more than I’d like to admit.

I press a hand flat against my chest, right over where our bond usually pulsed... like I can somehow make it steady with pressure alone.

"Elián," I say his name out loud this time, and when I look up at Koda, I see a Flicker of both worry and understanding in his face.

Nothing answers my call, though. It’s not silence exactly—silence would almost be a relief, something clean and simple to grieve. This is worse. This is reaching for something and finding it there and not there...simultaneously, a paradox my own bond refuses to resolve no matter how hard I strain against it.

Something has happened to Elián.

Not death. Goddess forbid it, but I’d know death. I’ve heard what that specific horror feels like, and this isn’t it.

This is something else. Something I have no word or understanding for and of at all.

My legs are already moving in the direction of the structure. Going against the advice I gave Koda just seconds ago.

I can sense Elián is in there. I need to get to him. He needs me. I can sense it. I need to know what’s wrong.

How have they hurt him? What are they doing to him? Why does it suddenly feel like he’s fading rapidly...and the more seconds we stay out here, the higher our chances of losing him forever??

Someone suddenly yanks me back, and I gulp as I look up at my older brother.

"What’s going on? Seconds ago you were asking me to relax. Can you sense something? Can you feel something I can’t? Tell me. Is he fine?" Koda asks, worried as I look at him.

"You feel it too," he says after a few seconds of my silence as realisation settles on him.

"Something’s wrong with the bond," I say, breathless, my hand still pressed hard against my chest. "He’s there, Koda, but he’s not—I can’t explain it; it’s like he exists and doesn’t at the same time, like something fractured—" I try to explain, and Koda nods.

"I know. I can feel that too. Whatever they’re doing to him, we have to stop them." Koda replies, and I simply nod and stare in silent compliance.

"I can feel her. My daughter. She’s pulling me toward them. They’re in there." He adds, and that lands hard.

"She’s frightened, Zephan. Terrified. And Elián’s in pain—I felt it, sharp and sudden, and then gone, and I don’t know what that means, and I am not standing here waiting to find out." He adds, and once again, I nod.

"I felt something similar," I say, forcing my voice steady even though nothing inside me feels remotely steady right now. "Not pain exactly. More like—" I struggle for the words, because there aren’t polished ones for this. "Like part of him has gone somewhere the bond can’t follow. Like there’s a version of him I still have access to, and another version that’s simply not reachable at all."

Koda’s jaw tightens. "He needs us. We should go."

I nod immediately.

There is no argument left to make. No reason to wait.

We turn toward the structure together, but we barely make it a few steps before the sound of approaching horses reaches us through the trees.

Koda stops, and I turn sharply, my hand instinctively moving toward my weapon.

For a moment, I can’t see anything through the thick branches and shadows... Then the trees part, and several Nagarian guards emerge first, weapons drawn and horses breathing heavily from the pace they’ve been pushed to maintain.

And behind them—Aunt Selthia and Father. Relief hits me so suddenly at the sight of them that my shoulders almost sag.

They’ve finally caught up.

"Queen Selthía," Koda breathes.

She is already dismounting before her horse has fully stopped. Her eyes sweep over both of us, taking in the tension in our faces, the weapons at our sides, and finally the ancient structure waiting ahead.

"What happened?" she demands, and I swallow.

"They’re inside," Koda answers immediately. "Elián, my baby...The sect. They’re all inside."

Something flashes across her face at the words. Her gaze shifts toward the structure.

Then she looks at me.

"What do you feel?"

"Elián," I answer. "He’s alive, but something is wrong. Our bond has changed. I can still feel him, but barely. Whatever they’re doing to him, it’s hurting him."

Koda steps closer as I speak those words.

"And my daughter is frightened. She’s the one who led me here." He explains. Aunt Selthía’s expression changes at that.

She looks toward the structure again, studying the darkness surrounding it as though she can see something hidden beneath the surface. Something we can’t.

"Then we cannot waste another moment. But you both can’t just barge in there. You’d do more harm than good." She says as she looks back at us and lifts both hands.

"Stand still." She orders. I obey immediately, and Koda does the same.

A faint light begins gathering around her palms, soft at first, then brighter; lines of pale magic wrap between her fingers, and I watch in silence. She steps toward Koda first.

"Koda." She calls, and he moves closer.

She places one hand against his chest and the other against his shoulder. The magic spreads instantly.

A translucent layer of light wraps around his body, settling over his skin like an invisible second layer. It travels down his arms, across his torso, around his back and legs, before settling into a faint shimmer around his head and full body.

Koda looks down at himself.

"What is this?"

"A protective ward," she answers. "The Sect is powerful, and whatever lies inside that structure may be worse than anything we’ve encountered. This will not make you invincible, but it may keep their magic from taking hold of you immediately."

Her gaze shifts to me. Then she does the same.

The moment her magic touches my chest, I feel warmth spread through me, settling around the bond I share with Elián as though it is deliberately shielding the fragile thread.

I suck in a breath.

For the first time since I felt something go wrong, the bond doesn’t feel quite so exposed. It still feels fractured. Still frighteningly thin.

But now...It also feels protected.

"Thank you," I breathe.

Aunt Selthía gives me a small nod before turning toward the structure again.

"We go together." She says, and this time, Father interrupts.

"No."

We all turn to him, and we see that he has already dismounted his horse.

One of the guards reaches for his reins, but Father barely acknowledges him as he walks toward us, his eyes fixed on the ancient structure ahead.

"Father," Koda calls in confusion, and Father stops beside us.

"You will stay here," he says, looking directly at Aunt Selthía. "You will maintain the magic ward and keep the guards ready."

Aunt Selthía’s brows pull together at that.

"And you?"

"I am going in," Father replies, and Koda immediately shakes his head.

"Father—" He begins, but Father doesn’t let him land.

"No." Father’s voice is firm enough to silence him.

He looks between us, and his expression grows harder than I have seen it in years.

"I will not sit on my hands while my son-in-law and my first ever grandchild are in danger." He breathes, and the words press into me heavily.

This is Father accepting and seeing Elian as family. As one of us. Under different circumstances, I would celebrate that. But for now, I can only relish the small bit of joy that it brings me.

His gaze moves toward the structure again. Then something darker enters his expression.

"And besides," Father continues, "I have unfinished business with the Black Sect."

Silence follows, and Koda looks at me for just one worried second.

"They made a mistake tonight." Father sighs as he looks back at us with his eyes softening.

It almost looks as if he’s bidding us farewell with those eyes.

"They came after my family." His voice lowers. "And they came after BeastHeaven’s heir."

Koda’s expression hardens. Father reaches for his sword. The blade slides free with a quiet metallic sound.

"So no," Father continues, stepping forward. "I will not remain outside while you go into that place."

Aunt Selthía watches him for a long moment. Then she sighs.

"I knew you would say that."

Wilhelm gives her the faintest hint of a smile.

"You stayed by my side knowing I was stubborn." He replies, and she scoffs with a half smile.

"No, I stayed by your side, knowing you were impossible." She replies.

Father exhales through his nose, almost a laugh despite everything. The moment passes quickly, though.

Aunt Selthía’s expression becomes serious again.

"Then we go together. My son is there. I’m not explaining beyond that. " She says as she raises one hand. Another layer of protective magic spreads outward, touching Father before settling around him.

He looks down briefly at the faint shimmer surrounding his body.

She looks at us and takes a deep breath. "Koda leads us to the child. Zephan stays close to him. Wilhelm and I will handle whatever magical defences we encounter." She orders, and we both nod.

Koda’s hand tightens around his sword. I look toward the structure...and the darkness around it seems to breathe.

Somewhere beyond those ancient walls, Elián is hurting.

The fragile thread inside my chest pulls again.

This time, I feel something beneath the fear. A faint, desperate tug.

I look at Koda.

"We have to move." I breathe, and his eyes harden.

He nods, and with that, we begin heading towards the ancient structure as the rest of the guards surround the premises.

Whatever happens today...I will protect Elian.

No matter the cost.

I will protect him from these monsters. I will save him. I must.