The Messenge (Iva and Nick) novel Chapter 433

Second Trial IT

Caleb’s stomach lurched

+25 Points

He wanted to look away, but his eyes refused to leave the mirror. He watched Attia say something that made Iva laugh again, watched the way she reached for his hand, and watched him pull her closer with an ease that made Caleb’s chest feel as though it were being crushed beneath an invisible weight.

Then Attia bent his head and kissed her.

Passionately.

Iva responded without hesitation, rising onto her toes and wrapping her arms around his neck as though she had been waiting for that’ kiss all her life.

Caleb stumbled backward.

“No.”

The word tore from his throat.

He struck the crystal wall behind him, barely registering the pain as he tried to force air into his lungs. His vision blurred, and a wave of nausea swept through him so violently that he pressed a hand against his

mouth.

He wanted to throw up.

He wanted to smash the mirror into a thousand pieces, rip the image away from his eyes, and destroy whatever cruel intelligence had decided that this was the most effective way to break him.

But the mirror did not shatter.

It only showed him more.

Iva rested her head against Attia’s chest, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

They looked like a family.

A real family.

A family that did not need Caleb.

“It’s not real,” Chaos growled, but his voice lacked its usual certainty. “It cannot be real. This place is manipulating us. It knows what we fear. It is showing us what will hurt us most.”

Caleb squeezed his eyes shut.

He wanted to believe that.

He desperately wanted to believe that every image was another illusion, another cruel trick designed to force him into making a mistake. But the ancient voice had said that the mirror showed the future, and the possibility that this might be true lodged itself inside him like a blade.

What if Iva really did find happiness with someone else?

1/5

< Second Talth–

+25 Points

What if, by the time he returned, she had recovered her memories only to realize that her heart no longer belonged to him?

What if the bond that had once tied them together could not survive everything that had happened?

His mind raced through every moment he had shared with her, every promise he had made, every time he had told himself that love meant fighting until there was nothing left to fight with.

He remembered her hand’s resting against his face.

The way she had looked at him when she first understood that they were fated mates.

And now the mirror showed him another man receiving the smile that had once been his.

Caleb opened his eyes.

The image changed again with intimate images of his mate.

There was no sign of Caleb.

No place set for him.

No shadow of his presence.

Only a life that had continued without him.

A life in which his absence had become so ordinary that nobody seemed to remember what it had cost him to stay away.

Caleb shook his head, tears burning behind his eyes.

“Stop it.”

The mirror remained unchanged.

“Stop showing me this!”

His voice cracked against the crystal walls, but the scene continued to unfold.

Iva kissed Attia’s cheek.

Atia whispered something into her ear.

She laughed.

And Caleb felt the pain of betrayal so intensely that it seemed to spread through every part of his body, as though the bond itself were being torn apart, strand by strand.

He sank to one knee as Chaos roared in pain.

The image of Iva’s happiness had become unbearable, not because he resented her for finding love, but because he understood, with a clarity that terrified him, that he would rather see her happy without him than miserable at his side.

Even if that happiness destroyed him.

2/5

<Second Trial-

Even if the future shown in the mirror was the one thing he had feared most.

The silver threads above him began to tremble.

+25 Points

A deep vibration filled the chamber, and the ancient voice returned, emerging from the mirror with a solemnity that made every hair on Caleb’s body rise.

You have seen what may await you, Caleb Adama.

He lifted his head, his face wet with tears.

The image of Iva and Atia remained suspended in the mirror, their happiness almost cruel in its perfection.

This mirror reveals the threads of future.

Caleb swallowed painfully.

“Then why show me this?” he demanded, his voice hoarse.

Because the second circle does not measure the strength of your body, nor the sharpness of your claws. It measures the truth of your devotion.

The silver threads descended a little farther.

You seek the Velinthra to restore your mate’s memories, free her wolf, and reclaim the life you once shared. But what if that life is no longer yours to reclaim? What if the woman you love will find happiness in another’s arms?

Caleb’s lips parted, but no words came.

The voice continued.

Will you still pay the price? Will you still surrender your strength, your memories, your very self, knowing that when the journey ends, she may choose another man?

The mirror brightened.

Caleb bowed his head.

For a moment, he could not move. His entire body trembled, and the tears he had fought to contain spilled down his cheeks. He had faced armies without fear, stood against enemies powerful enough to destroy kingdoms, and endured wounds that would have killed ordinary men.

None of it had prepared him for this.

Caleb dragged in a shaking breath and lifted his face toward the mirror.

“Yes.”

The word was barely audible.

He swallowed, fighting through the knot in his throat.

“Yes!” he shouted, his voice breaking as the pain tore through him. “I would still do it!”

3/5

< Second Trial+–

The chamber trembled.

Caleb pressed a fist against his chest, as though he could physically hold himself together.

+25 Points

“She deserves everything that is good in this world. She deserves to be loved, to be safe, to wake up every morning without fear, and to have a family that makes her happy. If that future is real, if she truly finds that happiness with someone else, then I will have to live with it.”

His voice faltered.

He looked at the image of Iva one last time, memorizing her smile even as it destroyed him.

“Even if it’s not with me.”

A sob escaped him.

He bent forward, his shoulders shaking as the pain became too much to contain.

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