Page 53 of Beyond the Treaty
The messenger studied me for a long moment before he finally spoke.
“The Blood-Bound Curse was meant to keep himstable and humaneven when the beast inside him clawed to take control. If you wish to reach and save him, you must restore what has already begun to break.”
I forced my breathing to steady. “How?”
The messenger’s gaze locked onto mine, piercing and unre- lenting.
“Find him before the crimson moon, within Ebonshade Keep,” he said. “Or lose him forever.”
A cold weight settled in my chest.
Thecrimson moon. The last line in the tome’s prophecy.
I swallowed hard, nodding. “Then we don’t waste any more
time.”
The messenger smiled, something eerie, something knowing.
“Good.”
And then, just like that, he stepped back into the swirling
shadows,
And vanished.
I stood there, breathing hard, my heart hammering against
my ribs.
Darius let out a low whistle. “Well. That was horrifying.”
Azrael exhaled sharply, his fingers curling into fists. “We have our answer.” He turned to me, his dark eyes burning with something fierce. “We need to move.”
I nodded, gripping the tome so tightly my knuckles ached. The countdown had begun.
Kaelen’s soul hung by a thread.
And we haduntil the crimson moonto save him.
CHAPTER 30
The wind howled around us as we stood facing each other, stirring the ash that clung to my boots. My pulse still pounded from the weight of the revelation, the knowledge pressing against my ribs like a vice.
Kaelen wasBlood-Boundto me. Not by fate, not by love, but bypurpose.
And that purpose was unravelling.
“We have to leave now,” Azrael said, his voice a firm anchor against the storm of my thoughts. He turned on his heel, striding towards his keep without hesitation.
Darius groaned, “We’ve just been told that if we don’t fix this mess, Kaelen will be lost forever. And instead of coming up with a plan, we are just going to run straight into a death trap?”
Azrael didn’t stop walking. “Yes.”
Darius threw his hands up. “Brilliant. Fantastic. No strategy, no rest, just immediate doom.” He muttered under his breath before sighing. “Fine. But if I die because of you two, I swear I will haunt the pair of you for eternity.”
“We are going to rest, only for a moment, whilst I replenish my energy and power at my Keep,” Azrael snaps. Something is bothering him.
