Chapter 5

On the second day of the journey, I finally made myself leave the cave.

I slung on my pack, took an old hide map, and set out alone across the Sacred Grounds.

I climbed the snowy peaks to watch the legendary golden sunrise spill over the mountains.

I still couldn’t get used to Kael not being there.

Sometimes I would be walking, and tears would fall before I even realized it.

At a windy mountain pass strung with prayer flags, someone rode by on a massive black wolf.

He noticed my swollen eyes and stopped in front of me.

When I looked up, a white khata was already hanging before my face.

I knew what it meant. I had read enough before coming here.

It was one of the purest blessings in this land.

In broken Common, he said,

“Why sad? You are beautiful when crying. Beautiful when smiling too.”

“Beautiful lady, why unhappy?”

Kael had always known how to comfort me.

This stranger clearly didn’t.

His bluntness only made me more irritated.

So I turned away and kept walking.

Behind me, the giant wolf’s paws pressed steadily through the snow.

Not too close. Not too far.

The words I'd posted in our private channel kept spreading.

Eventually, they reached Kael and Seraphina in the Red Sand Desert.

That night, they both posted a response.

“Not mates. Just friends with the same taste in hunting.”

The moment I saw it, my heart steadied.

Kael never lied. If he had truly chosen a mate, he would have told the whole pack.

I sent the update to my friends at once, almost giddy with relief.

Then came the blow.

Both posts were visible only to me.

It wasn’t a public clarification.

It wasn’t an announcement to the pack.

It was only meant for me—

a quiet message telling me to stop.