All Chapters of Bloodbound Destiny : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

My father isn’t just going to let you go roaming the countryside,Tristan whispered under his breath as he went with me back to the great hall.“Not with half the Alpha in the Southern region desiring to capture or kill you, and the other half on their way to Tendon to meet you. You’re too valuable to allow out of his eyes.He’ll simply have your mother hauled here to offer answers.” “No.” My voice was flat. “Bad enough that Declan and Eleanor chose to put themselves within reach by coming to Tendon, I won’t put my mother at risk as well.”“Then I fail to see a solution.” Tristan pulled to a halt, disregarding the way others on the streets gave us wide space. I had a more difficult time casting aside the scared expressions several of them gave me.“It is a full day’s ride to Moonlit pack and another back. Impossible to accomplish without your absence being noted.”I rubbed at my scarred palm, thinking hard. Then an idea occurred to me. “I need to find Philomela.”Tristan's eyes narrow

“There is another one,” my mother interrupted. “We’ve never spoken to you of this, but Declan he was a sickly baby. The healers could do nothing, and informed us the humane decision would be to put him out for the cold and the wolves, but…I couldn’t do it.”It was the way of our people, I understood that. Had known mothers who carried frail kids that were in their arms one day and then gone the next, never spoken of again.But to think that my mother was commanded to do such a thing to my brother made my blood run cold. “It is well you didn’t, Mother, for they were wrong. He grew up strong.” Of the body, at least.“They weren’t wrong.” My mother’s throat twitched as she swallowed, and I glanced at Tristian. He was fast making his way through the pile, tattooed skin gleaming with perspiration, and not out of earshot. “What happened?” I asked.“I prayed to the gods to spare him,” my mother murmured. “Prayed to Freyja and Eir and all who’d listen, offering up sacrifices to show my devoti

Why didn’t you tell me? “ I…” His throat twitched as he swallowed. “It was a long time ago when I was still a boy, but I remember it clearly.”“You seem to remember everything about her very clearly and yet communicate none of it,” I snapped. “What did she say?”Tristan was silent, and sickness tortured my intestines. For what he might say.And the fact that he concealed it from me at all.“She went into these strange trances when she was being told something by Odin,” he eventually responded.“I was alone with her when she was suddenly seized by one. She informed me that the warrior Princess would unify the Southern region,but that tens of thousands would be left dead in your wake. That you’d tread upon the land like a disease, setting friend against friend, brother against brother, and that everyone would fear you.”His words sunk into my core, and I strained to breathe. “Whatever she saw terrified her,” he added. “I was young, and it sank into my mind that the warrior Princess woul

Tristan stood, dragging me up with him and then leading me back to the horses. “Do you honestly think your mother won’t tell her everything she wishes to know?”I bit my lip, tears threatening. “That’s not what I asked.” “Theodora ‘s a killer,” Tristan responded. “But she’s loyal to Maximus and won’t go against his orders.”“Tristan…” Tears flowed down my cheeks since I was the reason Theodora was here. I was the reason my mother was in danger. “Will Theodora hurt her?”“I don’t know.” Tristan kicked a rock. “This…I don’t know what he plans, just that if we go after them, we’ll be giving him exactly what he wants.”I’d informed my mother that I was over with her. It’s time you make your path in the world. A lie, because I refused to forsake her.Catching my horse’s reins, I swung onto the mare’s back. “Are you coming with me, or do I need to do this alone?”Tristan swung onto his saddle. “Where you go, I go, Born-inFire. Even if it’s to the gates of the Underworld.”I dug in my heel

I abandoned Tristan's ride well before Moonlit pack, for the gelding continued attempting to bite me, and I knew that I had all the head start I needed. Then I rode my mare as fiercely as my rage rode me.Visions of how the confrontation might play out ran in my thoughts. Of the things I’d say to the Luna of Mystic Rune pack. Of the ways, I might murder her. Of the curses I may spew upon her after the act was done.A part of me, deep down, felt this wasn’t right. Knew that I was enabling the darker part of me to have the type of power that I could one day come to regret, but it was better than the alternative.Better than remembering the last things I’d said to my mother. Better than witnessing Theodora ’s arrow pierce through her chest. Far better than witnessing the light fade out of her eyes and knowing that it was because of me.The route reached the end of the sea, the northern strait stretched out before me, the sea steely blue and covered with whitecaps.I sought evidence of Th