The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 133

Learning About the Past-2

Clam

“But even then,” Lori continued, “they kept going. Sending letters to other packs… making inquiries… trying to track you down.”

A cold shiver ran down Iva’s spine.

Her fingers curled slightly.

“Probably because they lost their bargaining chip…” she said tensely, her voice low.

Lori hesitated.

“…I don’t know,” she admitted softly.

Then-

She shifted slightly.

“There’s something else, and after everything I am not sure you want to hear about him,” she added.

Iva looked at her, wary now.

“What…?”

Lori studied her for a moment before speaking.

“Nick.”

The name alone made something inside Iva twist painfully.

“What about him…?” she asked quietly.

Lori exhaled slowly.

“After you left… he was a mess.”

Iva frowned slightly, confusion flickering across her face.

“A mess…?” she repeated.

“Especially after what happened at graduation,” Lori clarified.

Iva blinked.

“What happened…?”

And then-

Lori told her.

About the scene.

About the tension.

す

15

Learning About the Part 2

About how everything spiralled after Iva disappeared.

About Nick.

How he broke.

How he lost control.

How something in him seemed to shatter after that day.

“He collapsed,” Lori said quietly. “Right there.”

Iva’s breath caught.

“…What?”

Claim

“There was chaos,” Lori continued. “Arguments… accusations… things came out… things that were never supposed to…”

Her expression darkened.

“And after that… he just… disappeared.”

Silence.

Heavy.

“No one saw him for weeks. Only because my parents are doctors I was able to find out that it was because of the broken bond,” she added.

Iva’s chest tightened.

“… That’s when I accepted his rejection,” she whispered softly. “Before I crossed the border…”

Lori nodded slowly.

A pause.

“He’s like a shadow of himself now.”

Iva didn’t speak.

Couldn’t.

Because something about that-

Something about all of it-

す

Didn’t sit right.

Didn’t make sense.

And deep inside-

A quiet unease began to grow.

25

Learning Abett the Past 2

Claim

Lori hesitated for a moment, as if weighing how much more to say, but then she sighed softly and continued, her voice quieter now, less sharp, but still carrying the weight of everything she had witnessed.

“He almost didn’t go to the military academy,” she said, glancing at Iva carefully, observing her reaction.” You know how important that was for him… it was his entire future, everything he worked for… and he almost threw it away.”

Iva blinked slowly, absorbing the words, but to Lori’s surprise-

There was no visible reaction.

No sharp inhale.

No pain flashing across her face.

Nothing.

Instead, Iva lowered her gaze slightly, her expression distant, almost detached, as if she was looking at something far away rather than processing something personal.

“… Looking back now,” she said quietly, her voice strangely calm, almost empty. “I feel… hollow.”

Lori frowned.

“I don’t feel anything anymore,” Iva added softly, her fingers loosely intertwined in her lap. “Not like before.”

There was no bitterness in her tone.

No anger.

Just… absence.

And that-

That unsettled Lori more than anything else.

“… That’s normal,” Lori said after a moment, though her voice carried a hint of concern. “Especially after everything… and now…”

Her gaze dropped again to Iva’s neck.

“To be marked by someone else… it changes things.”

Iva nodded faintly.

She knew that.

She felt that.

The bond with Caleb was overwhelming, consuming, rewriting parts of her that she didn’t even fully understand yet.

It dulled some things.

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5

Learning Abert the Past 2

Amplified others.

Confused everything in between.

Silence settled between them again, but this time it wasn’t heavy with tension.

It was… fragile.

Careful.

As if both of them were avoiding stepping on something too delicate.

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