Chapter 34
SEVERED
Malakai
The border dispute drags into its third hour, and I'm losing what little patience I have left.
"Lord Malakai," the messenger from the western territories insists, his Beta scent acrid with nervous sweat, "the Light Court patrols have crossed into neutral territory again. Three times this week. Our scouts report—"
"I'm aware of what your scouts report." I cut him off, shadows coiling restlessly around my feet.
The strange hollowness in my chest has been growing all morning—an absence where Seraphina's Omega presence usually burns warm and constant through our completed mate bond.
"Station additional guards. If they cross again, detain them. "
"But the diplomatic implications—"
"Are my concern, not yours." I wave him away dismissively, my attention drifting toward the windows. Where is she? The distance between us feels wrong, stretched too thin.
The shadow council chamber finally empties, aged shadowlords filing out with their usual wary backward glances. I've been keeping my distance from Seraphina since the garden incident—terrified of what my unstable shadows might do if I get too close. But this growing emptiness is worse than fear.
"The crown ceremony preparations are complete," Emmett reports, gathering documents scattered across the table. His Alpha scent is carefully controlled, professional, though I catch the undertone of concern he's trying to hide. "The Light Court delegation arrives at dawn."
I grunt in acknowledgment, moving toward the window. "Have the southern tower prepared for Councillor Marcus. I want him as far from Seraphina as possible."
"My lord," Emmett says carefully. "About Lady Seraphina—"
"I know." I cut him off, not wanting to discuss my cowardice in avoiding my own mate. "I'll speak to her after the council session. I need to explain about Julia, about the curse, about—" I stop, the words catching in my throat.
"Perhaps you should speak to her now," Emmett suggests quietly. "The distance between you... it's not healthy for a newly completed bond."
He's right. I've been putting it off, afraid of what might happen if I lose control again. But the hollowness is becoming unbearable.
"Find her," I command. "Tell her I require her presence in my study. It's time we talked."
Emmett nods and exits. I pace the council chamber, reaching repeatedly for the bond, finding only echoes where her presence should be strong and clear. She feels distant. Too distant. As if she's moved beyond the palace walls.
But that's impossible. She wouldn't leave without telling someone.
Would she?
Minutes stretch into what feels like hours. The unease builds with each passing moment until it's a physical weight in my chest. Where is she?
The door opens again, and Emmett returns—but his expression makes my blood run cold. His Alpha scent floods the room with sharp ozone and alarm.
"My lord, I cannot find Lady Seraphina."
"What do you mean, you cannot find her?"
"She's not in her chambers. Not in the gardens. Not in the library or the solarium." Emmett's jaw tightens. "I've searched everywhere. No one has seen her since last night."
The hollowness in my chest suddenly makes terrible sense. "Last night?"
"A horse was taken from the eastern stables sometime after midnight. The stable hand says Lady Seraphina took it herself."
"And no one thought to inform me that my Omega left the palace alone in the middle of the night?" Darkness lashes out, splitting the council table clean down the middle.
"The boy didn't realize she wasn't planning to return, my lord. He assumed it was a brief ride—"
"Brief ride?" I snarl, shadows erupting around me with such force that the windows crack. "In the middle of the night? Alone?"
I reach through our bond with desperate intensity, stretching my Alpha awareness as far as it will go. There—a faint pulse of life, distant and fading, like a star disappearing over the horizon. Moving away from me.
She left. My Omega left.
My Alpha howls with primal anguish. MATE. OMEGA. MINE. FIND HER.
"Find the fairy," I command, my voice deadly quiet. "Now."
"The fairy? My lord, I don't see how—"
"Seraphina tells her everything. If anyone knows where she went, it's Ivy." I'm already moving toward the door. "Bring her to me. Immediately."
Emmett hesitates only a moment before bowing. "As you command."
* * *
I pace my study like a caged beast, shadows writhing around me in violent patterns. Why would she leave? Where would she go? We're supposed to have the crown ceremony tomorrow—she knows the Light Court delegation is arriving.
Unless... unless she's more afraid of me than I realized.
The garden. The blood on her arm. The horror in my eyes when I saw what my shadows had done.
She's running from you, my Alpha snarls. Your Omega is running because you HURT her.
The door opens and Emmett enters with Ivy trailing behind him. The fairy looks genuinely confused, her silver-blonde hair shifting through curious shades of teal and gold.
"Well, this is dramatic," Ivy says, eyeing the sealed exits with raised eyebrows. "Should I be worried, or is this just your normal level of brooding intensity?"
"Where is she?" I demand, shadows sealing every exit.
Ivy blinks, her playful expression faltering. "Where is who? If you mean Sera, isn't she supposed to be in her chambers doing... lady things? Embroidery? Plotting world domination? The usual?"
"She left the palace last night," Emmett says quietly. "No one has seen her since."
The color drains from Ivy's face, her wings stuttering mid-beat. "She... what?"
"Don't pretend ignorance, fairy." I move closer, shadows coiling dangerously. "You're her closest confidante. If she planned to leave, you would know."
"I—" Ivy's usual bravado crumbles, and for once, she looks genuinely distressed. "Okay, fine. She told me she needed space. Yesterday. But she said she'd be back! She specifically said 'just a day or two to clear my head.”
"And you didn't think to inform me?"
"She asked me to cover for her!" Ivy's voice rises, defensive. "She said she just needed time to think without you hovering—which, by the way, you haven't been doing anyway since the whole garden incident—"
"What did she need to think about?" I cut her off, darkness pulsing dangerously. "What made her run?"
Ivy hesitates, her wings beating faster—nervous energy that she can't quite mask with sarcasm.
"Tell me," I command, my voice dropping dangerously low. "Now."
"Julia's journal," Ivy finally says, the words tumbling out. "We read Julia's journal. Well, Sera read it. I might have... helped her acquire it from your very locked, very private study."
Ice spreads across the floor. "You broke into my chambers."
"To protect her!" Ivy's hair flashes defensive red. "Look, one of your ancient servants told her about Julia—the whole tragic pregnant-mate-dies-mysteriously story. Sera was terrified she'd end up the same way. What was I supposed to do, just let her spiral?"
"So you helped her steal my dead mate's journal." My voice is deathly quiet now.
"When you put it like that, it sounds bad," Ivy mutters, then winces at my expression.
"Okay, it is bad. But we needed to know what really happened!
The journal talked about your shadows attacking Julia, about you losing control, about how scared she was.
Combined with what happened in the garden, with Sera's arm—" She stops, seeing my face.
"She was terrified, Malakai. Can you blame her? "
No. I can't. Because she's right.
I hurt my Omega. Lost control just like I lost control with Julia. Gave Seraphina every reason to fear me.
"Where?" I force the word through gritted teeth. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know exactly," Ivy admits, her voice small now, the playfulness completely gone. "She didn't tell me her plans. She just said she needed space to think—away from the palace, away from the bond. I thought she meant a day trip to clear her head. I didn't think she'd actually leave for real."
"But you have suspicions." I sense her hesitation. "Tell me."
Ivy swallows visibly. "She mentioned once... during her training days, she had a place she'd go. A clearing in the boundary territories with silver-barked trees. She said it helped her think when things got overwhelming."
I turn to Emmett. "The Twilight Forest."
He nods grimly. "Four hours' ride at normal pace. Three if we push hard."
"We leave immediately." I'm already moving toward the door. My Omega is out there alone—vulnerable to my enemies, to the prophecy hunters, to anyone who would use her against me. "Every guard, every tracker. I want her found."
"My lord," Ivy says hesitantly. "I should come with you."
I turn on her, shadows writhing. "You've done enough."
"I know fairy tracking magic," she insists, flying to block my path despite her obvious terror. "And she'll trust me when we find her. She needs to know you're not—that you didn't come to hurt her."
The words cut deeper than any blade, but I force myself to nod curtly. She's right. Seraphina might run from me, but she won't run from Ivy.
"If anything happens to her," I tell the fairy quietly, my voice carrying more menace than any roar, "there will not be a realm in existence where you can hide from me."
Ivy's wings tremble, but she nods. "I understand."
* * *
We ride through what remains of morning and into afternoon, a procession of shadow beasts carrying us across the boundary territories at punishing speed.
I lead, following the thinning thread of our mate bond.
Behind me, Emmett and a dozen shadow guards maintain formation, while Ivy streaks overhead, her fairy light cutting through the grey sky.
The guilt rides with me, heavier than any armor.