Chapter 190 The Reason 1

Chapter 190: Chapter 190 The Reason 1

Talia’s POV

I sat in Grandfather Aldric’s room, my hand still locked tightly in Kaelen’s.

The fire crackled in the hearth, casting warm shadows across the walls. I could feel the heat on my skin, but it did not reach the cold that had settled in my chest. There was so much to take in, and so much to process, and I did not know where to begin.

And I also felt the weight of everything he had just told us pressing down on my chest.

Grandfather Aldric continued to speak, and his voice was low and steady.

"Your mother knew Vivienne would try to kill you," he said. "She knew Vivienne wanted to be Luna, and she knew Vivienne would stop at nothing to destroy anyone who stood in her way."

My mother, Seraphina, had signed the contract with Kaelen’s father, and she had known Vivienne would try to kill me.

My mother had seen the darkness in Vivienne’s heart long before I had. She had known what kind of woman she was dealing with, and she had not been naive about the danger. She had prepared for it, and she had protected me from it.

She had also known she was in danger, and she had done everything in her power to protect me.

I felt the tears prick at my eyes again. My mother had seen the danger coming, and she had not run away. She had stayed, she had fought, and she had given everything to keep me safe, by going this far to plan ahead.

I thought about all the years I had spent hating her for leaving, for disappearing, and for not being there. And now, I realized that she had never left me at all. She had been fighting for me the whole time.

Kaelen squeezed my hand, and I felt his warmth seep into me.

Grandfather Aldric continued. "Kaelen’s father owed your mother a life debt, because she saved his life during a battle, years before you were born."

I could picture it in my mind. My mother, young and fierce, standing her ground against an enemy. I imagined Kaelen’s father, wounded and helpless, and my mother stepping in to save him. And Kaelen’s father too never forgot it. I realized at that moment, that my mother had always been a warrior, even before I was born.

So when she came to him, desperate to protect her unborn child, he did not hesitate.

I blinked back the tears, but I could feel them streaming down my face. My mother had been so brave, and so selfless.

She had not just given me a necklace and a warning. She had given me a future, and she had given me a chance to survive, to grow, and to find my way home. And now, I understood that she had sacrificed everything for that chance.

She had risked everything to protect me.

"The blood contract is an ancient, unbreakable bond," Grandfather Aldric explained. "It can be signed without the participants’ knowledge, if their blood is offered by a guardian. Your mother offered your blood, and Kaelen’s father offered his son’s. That is why neither of you knew about it."

I stared at him. "So the contract was signed with our blood? Without us knowing?"

Grandfather Aldric nodded. "Yes. It was the only way to protect you. The contract made you a Frost, and it gave you the protection of this pack before you ever set foot here."

"The contract did not just make you a Frost," Grandfather Aldric said. "It made you untouchable. Because no one could hurt you without declaring war on the Shadowfang Pack."

Kaelen’s jaw tightened. "And the bond?"

Grandfather Aldric nodded. "The bond was designed to stay dormant until you turned eighteen, that is why no one discovered it earlier. The bonding stone only reacts to active bonds. But as at then, your bond was sleeping, and waiting."

I looked at Kaelen, and I saw the same realization in his eyes that was running through my own mind.

His gray eyes were soft, and I could see the questions forming behind them. But he did not speak. He just held my hand and let me process everything in my own time.

So much of our lives had been decided for us.

We had not chosen the contract, we had not chosen the bond, and we had not chosen the circumstances that brought us together. But we had chosen to stay, we had chosen to fight, and we had chosen each other in the end.

That was what mattered.

Grandfather Aldric leaned back in his chair. "Your mother gave you a chance, Talia. They gave you a future, and now it is up to you to live it."

I wiped my tears and nodded.

“I wished I could hug my mother, and I wished I could tell her thank you, but she is dead. She had died in the fire years ago.” I smiled bitterly. “And now, I would never get that chance.”

Kaelen rubbed my back gently, and his touch was warm and comforting.

I leaned into his touch, grateful for his presence. He always knew what I needed, even when I did not know myself. He was my anchor, my rock, and my home.

He did not say anything, because he actually did not need to. He just let me feel, and that was enough.

The room was very quiet now, and the silence stretched between us, heavy and expectant.

The fire crackled in the hearth, and the shadows danced on the walls. Grandfather Aldric was quiet for a moment, with his gray eyes fixed on the flames.

Then he cleared his throat.

I could feel that something was coming, something that would change everything all over again. So I braced myself for it.

I stared at him, and I saw something shift in his expression. His eyes were serious, and his voice was heavier than before.

I could see the weight of what he was about to tell me in his eyes, like it was not easy for him to say it. He had kept these secrets for so long, and now he was finally letting it go.

"I have one more thing to say," he said.

I balanced myself and waited, with my heart pounding.