The sky bled into twilight as the bell tower tolled, each strike vibrating through stone and bone alike. Aria walked with the stream of heirs toward the main courtyard, her cloak pulled tight, her satchel left behind. They'd told them to come unarmed; wolves needed no steel for what was about to happen.
The courtyard had changed. Where once torches burned, braziers now blazed in a wide circle, flames reaching high, throwing shadows that stretched like grasping claws across the cobbles. In the center, a shallow pit had been marked with salt and ash, symbols curling outward like a spider's web.
Aria's stomach knotted tighter with each step. The bond circle.
Heirs gathered at the edge, their chatter buzzing with nervous excitement. Some jostled for position, others whispered names with cruel delight, betting on who would pair and who would fail.
Aria kept her head low, but the weight of eyes still found her. Whispers hissed around her like snakes.
"That's her. The nameless one."
"Imagine if she actually bonds. What a scandal."
Her pulse hammered in her ears.
Liora nudged her shoulder lightly, a grin stretched thin over her nerves. "Ignore them. They're just sharpening their claws. Tonight, it's the moon that decides."
Aria forced a nod, though the words only deepened her dread. The moon was the one judge she couldn't deceive.
Above, the crescent hung sharp and cold against the darkening sky. Its light spilled across the courtyard, silvering the salt marks until they glowed faintly.
A hush fell as the Headmistress stepped into the circle. Her cloak snapped in the evening wind, her silver eyes glinting like twin blades.
"Step forward when your names are called," she commanded. "The moon will bind or it will reject. There is no in-between."
The brazier flames roared higher, as if answering her.
Aria's throat tightened. Each name drew her closer to the inevitable. Each step forward from another heir sent her pulse racing faster.
And then she heard it,
"Kaelen Draven."
The crowd shifted, reverent and afraid all at once, as the Alpha Prince strode toward the circle.
Aria's knees nearly buckled.
Because she knew her name would follow.
"Aria Gray."
Her false name cut through the courtyard like a whip.
Aria's body locked. The whispers rose instantly, a low tide of mockery and disbelief.
"No line and she's chosen?"
"Watch her humiliate herself."
Her boots felt carved from stone, yet somehow they carried her forward, step after step, into the glow of the brazier flames. The salt symbols glimmered faintly under her feet, pulsing with each heartbeat.
Kaelen stood already at the circle's heart, silver eyes sharp beneath the shadow of his dark hair. He didn't move, didn't even blink as she crossed the threshold. His presence pressed on her skin like a physical weight, controlled now, but unmistakable.
Aria kept her chin down, careful not to meet his gaze. Careful not to let her wolf stir too loud beneath her ribs. If he sensed even a tremor of what she truly was,
She stopped at the opposite edge of the circle. The brazier fire crackled higher, heat licking her face.
The Headmistress's voice rang out. "The bond chooses. Not I, not you. If fate binds you, you will feel it. If not, step away."
Aria's chest tightened. Fate. That word again, the one she'd been running from her whole life.
The Headmistress raised her hands, murmuring words in a tongue older than the academy walls. The symbols at Aria's feet began to shimmer brighter, threads of silver light crawling outward, weaving across the circle toward Kaelen.
Her breath hitched. Her wolf surged in her chest, pressing hard against her restraint, restless as though it knew its mate was near.
Not now. Not here.
The air thickened, charged with an invisible pull. The heirs watching leaned forward, breathless. Liora's face, pale in the torchlight, stood out in the crowd, eyes wide with both awe and worry.
And then,
Kaelen turned his head, slowly, deliberately, until his gaze locked with hers.
Silver eyes. Cold, unflinching. Piercing her hood as if it were nothing.
Aria's wolf slammed against her ribcage in answer, heat flooding her veins like wildfire.
The circle blazed.
The symbols beneath Aria's boots flared brighter, white-hot against the stone. A low hum filled the courtyard, vibrating in her bones, as though the earth itself had begun to breathe.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"Impossible…"
"It's reacting, "
Aria clenched her fists, forcing her breathing steady, but her wolf thrashed against its cage. Heat crawled under her skin, rushing up her arms, her throat, her very breath.
Across from her, Kaelen stood unshaken. If the surge touched him, he showed no sign. Only his eyes betrayed the storm, gray irises lit with flickers of silver, sharpened and wild. His wolf had stirred.
And it was answering hers.
Aria dug her nails into her palms. Stay down. Stay quiet. If her wolf broke free, if even a glimpse of its royal blood showed, every heir, every Alpha here would know the truth.
The Headmistress's voice cut through the air, low and measured. "The bond burns between you."
The words struck like a sentence passed.
The circle's glow brightened, threads of silver weaving tighter between Aria and Kaelen, lashing them in invisible chains. Her chest ached, her breath shortened, as if the very air belonged to him. She fought to step back, but her boots felt anchored, pinned by fate's hand.
Kaelen tilted his head, studying her. No smile, no scorn, just unreadable intensity, like a hunter curious about the prey that didn't collapse.
The crowd's whispers grew fevered.
"She's no one, how can this be?"
"She's hiding something, "
Aria's throat burned. Panic gnawed her resolve, but she forced her face into stillness, into blank submission. Let them think she was overwhelmed, nothing more.
Inside, though, the truth clawed at her.
Her wolf knew. His wolf knew.
And the circle wasn't finished with them yet.
The brazier flames shot higher, roaring as if devouring the night itself. The salt and ash marks writhed with silver fire.
Aria's knees trembled. She could feel Kaelen's presence pressing into her soul, dark, powerful, inescapable.
The bond wasn't asking.
It was claiming.
The circle blazed brighter, the salt-lines shimmering like molten silver. Heat licked up Aria's legs, curling into her chest, searing straight through her bones.
Her wolf surged, straining against every barrier she had built. She gritted her teeth, muscles trembling, as if holding back a flood behind a cracking dam.
Gasps echoed from the watching heirs. "It's too strong, "
"She's nothing. How is this possible?"
Kaelen didn't flinch. He stood as if carved from the stone itself, though his eyes burned, wild silver swirling at their depths.
Then he moved.
Slow, deliberate, he stepped toward her.
Every inch closer tightened the tether between them, invisible threads pulling taut, burning through her veins. Her breath hitched, her wolf clawing upward, desperate to meet his.
Aria staggered back, boots skidding against the glowing lines. "Stay away," she hissed under her breath, though the words came ragged, stripped raw.
The Headmistress's expression sharpened, but she didn't intervene. The test was still unfolding.
Kaelen stopped a mere pace from her, the firelight etching hard lines into his face. His voice came low, for her alone, though the crowd strained to hear.
"You're not who you pretend to be."
Aria's stomach dropped.
His gaze raked over her, steady, merciless, as if peeling back every lie she wore. He lifted a hand, slow, deliberate, and brushed his fingers across the air just shy of her hood. Not touching, but close enough, the bond flared, a spark shooting up her spine.
Her wolf lunged, furious, hungry, breaking through the cracks in her restraint. A faint growl vibrated in her throat before she could choke it down.
The heirs closest gasped. "She growled, "
Aria jerked her hood lower, nails biting her palms. No, she couldn't lose it here, not in front of them all. If her wolf emerged, the truth of her blood would shine in its eyes.
But Kaelen's lips curved, not a smile, not exactly. Something sharper. A hunter's satisfaction.
He had heard it. He had felt it.
And he wasn't about to let her slip away.
The circle pulsed once more, harder, brighter, as if sealing what had been forged.
Aria's breath came ragged. She was seconds away from shattering.
The circle's glow surged one last time, silver fire coiling around Aria and Kaelen like a net. Her knees nearly buckled under its weight, the pull inside her chest a vise she couldn't shake.
Then, as suddenly as it had flared, the light dimmed. The brazier flames guttered lower, leaving only the afterglow burned into the salt-lines.
Silence hung thick. Every eye was fixed on them.
The Headmistress's voice broke it, cold and certain: "The bond is undeniable. Fated. Written in the blood of wolves."
The courtyard erupted.
"What? With her?"
"She has no crest! It's a trick."
"This changes everything, "
Shouts collided in the air, outrage mingling with shock. Some heirs stared at Kaelen with awe, others with envy. Many glared at Aria, suspicion sharp enough to slice.
Aria's lungs seized. The world tilted, voices crashing over her like waves. She had prayed to slip through unseen, to vanish into the academy's shadows. Instead, the moon had dragged her into the center of its fire.
Kaelen didn't move. He stood calm, expression unreadable, though his eyes remained locked on her. Not with disbelief, not with anger, something colder, sharper. As if the bond had confirmed a suspicion he'd carried all along.
The Headmistress raised a hand, and the noise faltered. "The moon has chosen. None may challenge it." Her silver eyes lingered on Aria. "You will endure, or you will be broken."
Aria's blood ran cold.
The heirs began to disperse in simmering groups, their whispers trailing behind them like poison. Liora tried to push her way toward Aria, but the crowd shoved her back.
Aria remained frozen at the circle's edge, her fists trembling at her sides, hood shadowing her face. She wanted to disappear, to claw free of the tether still burning in her chest.
But Kaelen was still there. Still watching. His gaze pinned her like a hawk pins a mouse, patient and merciless.
When he finally turned away, the release came like air rushing back into her lungs. But the relief was fleeting.
Because everyone had seen. Everyone knew.
And the bond was sealed.