Chapter 42
The storm rolled in without warning.
Thad just finished organizing the last of my sketches, the ones I planned to submit for the Florence competition, when the first crack of thunder rattled the windows of the Alpha maner
Rain lashed against the glass panes, wind howling through the ancient corridors like a pack of lost
Francesco wasn’t home. He had left with Beta Alfonso to investigate rogue activity near the southern border, and though he had kissed me goodbye with promises of returning before midnight, a strange unease twisted in my stomach.
I stood near the window in our bedroom, arms wrapped around myself.
The storm felt different–wild, like something was string just beneath the surface of the world.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the olive trees that dotted the hills beyond.
That’s when I felt it.
A tug…
Not physical, not even a mind–link. It was more like a calling. A whisper in my bones
My feet moved on their own, down the grand staircase, past the darkened halls of the manor. I didn’t call Audrey or Manica. I didn’t alert the guards. Something told me this moment wasn’t meant for anyone else.
The pull led me to the west wing
A part of the manor rarely used, cloaked in dust and silence.
Thad only passed by it once before, told by Patricia that the rooms there were sealed for years–remnants of the old Alpha and his grief.
A heavy oak door stood at the end of the corridor, marked with runes I couldn’t read. The air shimmered around it, like heat waves on summer asphalt. But it wasn’t hot. It was freezing.
My fingers hovered over the handle.
The moment I touched it, the runes flared–a dull blue glow–and the door creaked open slowly, groaning like it hadn’t moved in a century.
Inside, the air felt charged.
It was a room untouched by time. Shelves lined with spellbooks, dried herbs hanging from beams, a crystal mirror cracked down the middle.
in the center, a worn velvet chair sat in front of an arched window, and beside it, a single silver locket rested on a
a small wooden table.
I stepped inside..
As soon as my foot crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind me.
Candies lit themselves one by one.
The storm outside hushed into a strange stillnes
Then saw her.
Afigure materialized in the chair–slowly, like mist gathering into form
Chapter 42
Long silver–blonde hair fell over her shoulders, her eyes a solt violet, plowing faintly.
She was beautiful in a timeless, fragile way. Not terrifying, but tragic.
“You came,” she said, her voice like the echo of wind through trees. “I’ve been waiting, Elaine
My heart thadded in my chest. I knew, without her saying, who she was
“Anastasia,” breathed
She nodded, her fingers resting on the locket. “There is much me. I’ve held on longer than I should, tethered here by magic and regret. But now, the veil is thinning. And you need to know the truth,”
Tswallowed. “Why me?“;
She smiled, sad and soft. “Because you are the one who was meant to break the spell. The one who was meant to love him. Truly”
Lightning flashed again, but the sound was distant now, like it belonged to another world.
Anastasia litted her hand, and the mirror behind her shimmered. “Let me show you.”
Visions began to swirl inside it. I saw a younger Francesco–brooding, powerful, but clearly lost. Then, Anastasia–entering his life in a cloud of smoke
and seduction.
was sent by the rogue leader,” she said, voice distant, “to spy on him, to win his trust and destroy him from within.”
I watched in disbelief as the visions showed her weaving enchantments around Francesco, gently drawing him in.
But something changed…
“I fell in love with him,” she whispered. “He was meant to be my mark, but I couldn’t go through with it. So I betrayed the rogue leader. I gave up everything to protect Francesco”
The mirror flared with violent red light.
“He found out,” she said. “The rogue leader. He killed me–not just in body, but in spirit. He cursed me to remain here, trapped between this world and the next, a reminder to all witches what happens when we betray our kind.”
She looked at me then, her eyes shimmering with a mix of pride and sorrow.
“But that wasn’t the worst part,” she continued. “The spell cast–the one that mimicked the mate bond–it worked. Too well. Francesco believed I was his. He never questioned it”
My breath caught in my throat.
Oh, my God!
“But you, Ellaine,” she said, standing slowly, her feet barely touching the floor, “You are his true mate. His fated one. The one the moon created for him.”
Tears welled in my eyes.
“don’t know if I’m strong enough,” I whispered. All of this… it’s too
co truchTM
Anastasia drifted closer, “You are more than strong enough, Ellaine. You have already changed him more than I ever could. I softened the man. You’ve awakened the Alpha,”
She led the locket and pressed it into my palm. “Keep this. It holds a fragment of my magic. Should you ever need clarity again, open it.”
The candles began to flicker. The wind picked up
2/3
Mon,
Chapter 42
“My time is ending. But I’m glad I could tell you this before acted Please love him fiercely. Protect him in ways I could not. And when you stand by hy side, do not let the past make you doubt your place.”
Istepped forward instinctively, reaching out to her, but my hand passed through air.
Anastasia’s form was already dissolving, like mist under sunlight.
Her final smile was full of peace,
“Thank you for loving him,” she whispered, and then she was gone.
The candles snuffed out all at once.
1stood in darkness, the locket cold in my hand, my heart pounding,
I didn’t know how long I stayed in that room.
When I finally stepped out, the storm had ended.
The sky was just beginning to blush with the first colors of dawn.
as soon as I stepped inside, Francesco looks up from his seat like he’s waiting for me.
I walked back to our room in a daze,
but as so
His arms wrapped around me before I could say anything.
“Luna mia,” he murmured worriedly, “You’re cold. Where were you?”
I hesitated, resting my head against his chest.
“Just rediscovering a piece of your past,” I said softly,
His arms tightened around me. “Are you alright?”
I looked up at him, brushing my fingers over his jaw. I could feel the bond between us buzzing with new intensity. Stronger. Realer.
“I am now.”
He didn’t ask more. He just held me, our heartbeats syncing, and for the first time, I felt like I truly belonged
I wasn’t in the shadow of another. I wasn’t a replacement.
I was his
And
d he was mine.
Forever
