Reject me twice (Kira and Theron) novel Chapter 27

The council chamber is packed with witnesses when they bring in the witch.

She’s ancient, her skin like weathered parchment, her eyes milky white. Guards flank her, but she doesn’t look afraid. Just tired. Resigned.

“State your name,” the King commands from his seat. He’s stronger today, the poison slowly leaving his system—though I notice the way his hand grips the armrest, knuckles white, and how he shifts his weight as though even sitting requires effort. The healers say recovery will be slow. I tell myself that’s all it is.

“Morgath. Of the Shadow Coven.”

“You were hired by Queen Seraphine to create a mate bond,” Marcus steps forward. “Between Princess Lyralei and Theron Nightshade. Is this true?”

“Yes.”

The word drops like a stone. Beside me, I feel Damon’s steady presence through our twin bond. Malik stands at my other side. But my eyes are on Theron across the room.

He’s gone very, very still. “What do you mean, create a bond?”

Morgath’s blind eyes somehow find him. “The bond was never natural, Alpha. It was crafted. Woven from dark magic and blood sacrifice.”

“That’s impossible. My wolf recognized her—”

“You felt what you were meant to feel.” The witch’s voice is emotionless. “But the spell had another purpose.”

“What purpose?” The King leans forward, and I catch the tremor in his hand as he braces against the table. A flicker of concern crosses Marcus’s face—quickly hidden.

“To drain the princess’s power.” Morgath turns toward me. “Royal blood is potent. The Queen Mother wanted it contained. So she had me channel it elsewhere.”

My stomach drops. Through the bond, Damon’s fury spikes.

“To the Alpha.” Morgath continues. “Every hour, your magic bled through the false bond into him. It made him stronger, more volatile, and the bond nearly impossible to break.”

Theron staggers back like he’s been struck. His face has gone white. “I stole from her. All those years, I was taking her power, her strength, and using it against her. I rejected her while literally feeding off her magic—”

“You didn’t know,” I say, and everyone turns to look at me. “You were a pawn in this too. We all were.”

But Theron isn’t listening. He’s staring at his hands. “The strength I had. The way my wolf felt invincible. That wasn’t mine.” His eyes meet mine. “Moon Goddess. What did I do?”

“What the Queen Mother designed you to do.” Malik’s voice is hard. “The question is—can it be undone?”

“Yes,” Morgath says. “Both parties must willingly reject the bond, with my counterspell. But there is a cost. The stolen magic returns to its rightful owner. You will be diminished, Alpha.”

“I don’t care. If it frees her, I don’t care.”

The King nods. “Tonight. In the sacred grove.”

When we arrive, Morgath prepares the ritual circle with ash and salt. The King watches from the clearing’s edge, seated in a chair his attendants carried because he could no longer stand through a ceremony. He gripped Marcus’s arm lowering himself into it, and something cold touched my spine. He looked thinner than a week ago. Grayer.

Theron and I face each other across the circle. He looks different. Vulnerable. Human.

“I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “For all of it.”

“We were both trapped,” I say. “But we know now. We can end this.”

Morgath gestures us forward. “Hands over each other’s hearts. Speak the words. Mean them.”

“I, Theron Nightshade, reject the bond forced upon us. I return what was stolen. I release what was never mine to hold.”

“I, Lyralei Moonblood, reject the bond forced upon us. I reclaim what was taken. I release what was never yours to give.”

Morgath begins to chant. The counterspell hits.

Pain lances through my chest—a deep, bone-aching pull. Through our weakening connection, I feel Theron’s pain too. The power that was never his rips away, flowing back through the severed bond.

Theron looks at me with clarity in his eyes for the first time. “I can see you clearly now. Without the magic distorting everything.” He takes a shaky breath. “And I see what I did to you. All of it.”

“Can you live with it?”

“I have to.”

We sit there in the grove, two people who destroyed each other, finally free.

Theron stands first, offering me his hand. I take it. For a moment, we just stand there, and it feels like goodbye.

“I hope you find happiness,” he says. “With someone who chooses you without magic forcing them.”

I glance at Malik, watching from the edge of the clearing. “I think I already have.”

Something bittersweet crosses Theron’s face. “Good. You deserve it.”

He leaves, and for the first time, I’m calm. The corrupted bond is broken. For the first time in years, I’m not being pulled in directions I don’t want to go.

I’m just… me.

Whole and free and finally able to choose my own path.

Though as I walked back toward the palace, I flexed my fingers and watched silver light flicker at my fingertips—uninvited, uncontrolled—and Morgath’s words settled into my mind like a stone dropped into deep water.

If you can learn it at all.