Chapter 47

I Choose Him

For a long time, Lyra said nothing.

The silver realm remained still around her while moonlight drifted softly through ancient trees and the goddess waited beside the glowing river with the patience of something that had existed long before humans learned how to measure time.

No pressure.

No manipulation.

Which somehow made the offer more dangerous.

Stay here.

No pain.

No grief.

No fear of losing him.

The temptation terrified her.

Because part of her understood it immediately.

Lyra looked down at the silver water again.

The river still reflected fragments of memory across its surface.

Her mother running through burning kingdoms.

Kael collapsing into the snow.

The battlefield.

The blood.

All of it waiting for her if she returned.

And beneath everything else—

the bond.

Faint now.

Fragile.

Still there.

The goddess watched her quietly.

“You are exhausted.”

The words landed gently.

Too gently.

Lyra laughed once beneath her breath.

“I burned half a battlefield down emotionally.”

“A reasonable reaction given the circumstances.”

That should not have almost sounded comforting.

The silver realm shimmered softly around them while moonlight reflected endlessly across the river.

Lyra looked toward the goddess carefully then.

“You stayed here.”

The goddess tilted her head slightly.

“Yes.”

“You left the mortal world behind.”

The ancient woman’s expression shifted.

Not regret exactly.

Something quieter.

“Eventually,” she said softly, “everything mortal becomes memory.”

The loneliness inside the sentence hit harder than the divine power did.

Lyra suddenly understood something important.

The silver realm wasn’t peaceful because nothing painful existed here.

It was peaceful because nothing changed.

No grief.

No love.

No risk.

No one close enough to lose.

The realization settled heavily into her chest.

“And you want me to become like you.”

The goddess looked toward the silver trees beyond the river.

“I want you spared from what comes next.”

Honest.

Again.

Lyra closed her eyes briefly.

And immediately—

Kael flooded through the bond.

Not clearly.

Fragments.

His hand trembling while trying to hold pressure against the moonsteel wound.

The terrible stubborn instinct to stay alive because she asked him to once beside a frozen river weeks ago.

The overwhelming panic still bleeding through him even unconscious because somewhere deep inside, he thought she might not come back.

Lyra’s chest physically hurt.

The goddess watched her expression carefully.

“You feel him.”

“Yes.”

“Even now.”

Lyra opened her eyes slowly.

The silver light around her flickered softly in response.

“He thinks I’m leaving.”

The words came quieter than intended.

And somewhere beneath the bond—

she felt it again.

That old fear inside Kael.

The certainty that eventually everyone walked away.

The goddess spoke gently.

“He would mourn you for the rest of his mortal life.”

The sentence nearly shattered her.

Because Lyra knew exactly what that grief would look like.

Kael standing beside cold fortress windows long after wars ended.

Sleeping alone in rooms still carrying traces of her scent.

Continuing to rule because duty demanded it while some unbearable part of him remained frozen forever beside a battlefield soaked in silver fire.

The bond pulsed suddenly.

Weakening.

Panic slammed through Lyra instantly.

Far away—

Kael was dying.

The goddess stepped closer carefully.

“If you return now, mortality will claim you eventually too.” Her silver eyes held Lyra’s steadily. “Love always ends in grief.”

Lyra stared at her for a long moment after that.

Then quietly:

“Maybe.”

The silver realm stilled.

“But that doesn’t make it meaningless.”

Something changed in the goddess’s expression then.

Tiny.

Almost invisible.

Still there.

Lyra looked toward the glowing river again.

At the endless moonlight.

At eternity.

And suddenly—

it all felt unbearably empty compared to one stubborn terrifying wolf who loved her so violently he tore through kingdoms to reach her.

She smiled softly before she could stop herself.

Because honestly—

Kael would absolutely hate this place.

Too peaceful.

Not enough weapons.

The thought nearly made her cry.

“He asked me once why I kept walking closer when he was emotionally compromised,” Lyra murmured quietly.

The goddess listened silently.

“And I think…” Lyra swallowed hard. “I think it’s because no one ever stayed close to him before.”

The bond pulsed again.

Fading now.

Fast.

The panic sharpened violently inside her chest.

No.

No no no.

Lyra looked up sharply toward the goddess.

“If I go back—”

“You choose mortality fully.”

The answer came immediately.

“You choose grief. Loss. Time.” The goddess paused slightly. “You choose him.”

The silver world around them brightened softly.

Waiting.

And suddenly the decision felt simple.

Not easy.

Simple.

Lyra stepped backward away from the glowing river.

Away from eternity.

Away from safety.

“I choose him.”

The words echoed quietly through the silver realm.

And somewhere far away—

the bond reignited.

Violently.

The force of it nearly dropped Lyra to her knees as Kael’s emotions slammed back into her all at once.

Relief.

Overwhelming relief so raw it hurt.

Then panic.

Then desperate aching love flooding through the connection hard enough to make the entire silver realm tremble faintly around her.

The goddess closed her eyes briefly.

Not angry.

Almost sad.

“He will break your heart someday.”

Lyra smiled shakily through sudden tears.

“Probably.”

The goddess opened her eyes again.

“And still?”

Lyra thought of Kael kneeling beside her in snow.

Kael looking at her like survival itself had become personal.

Kael touching her face like gentleness was something he still couldn’t quite believe belonged to him too.

“Still.”

The answer came instantly.

Certain.

The silver realm cracked open afterward.

Moonlight shattered violently around Lyra while the bond surged brighter and brighter beneath her skin until every silver mark across her body ignited like living fire.

And for the first time since the mating bond began—

it stabilized fully.

No pain.

No instability.

No fear of separation tearing it apart.

Just certainty.

Ancient and terrifying and complete.

The goddess stepped back slowly while silver wind rushed violently through the trees around them.

“You love him enough to remain mortal.”

Something almost like amusement touched her voice then.

“That has always been the Lunar daughters’ greatest weakness.”

Lyra wiped quickly at tears burning down her face.

“Feels rude to say that right now honestly.”

A faint smile finally appeared on the goddess’s lips.

Then the silver realm disappeared completely.

And somewhere back in the mortal world—

Kael’s heart started beating steadily again the exact moment Lyra returned to him.