MARKED FOR PRETEND - Chapter 53: Chapter 53
You are reading MARKED FOR PRETEND, Chapter 53: Chapter 53. Read more chapters of MARKED FOR PRETEND.
They sat her in the council room.Not as Alpha’s mate, neither as a wolf, nor even as a witch, but as something in between and therefore, something dangerous.
The air was tight with silence. Even the fire in the hearth burned low, like it too was holding its breath.
Kaden stood behind her, arms crossed, saying nothing.
Bevy sat nearby, wrapped in bandages, fingers trembling.
And in the seat across from Chelsea sat the one who’d asked to speak with her first.
A woman named Calista.
⸻
She didn’t look old, but her presence felt ancient. Her braids were streaked with silver, her fingers inked with spells Chelsea couldn’t read. She wore no crest, no sigil but Chelsea didn’t need one to know this woman had power.
“You are Chelsea Krippa,” Calista said quietly. “Daughter of the Blood Divergence.”
“I’m… Chelsea,” she said, unsure.
“You were not raised with your true name. That’s no surprise. Your mother was hunted. Hidden. Silenced.”
Calista’s eyes sharpened. “But the blood doesn’t forget. And Kaelvarin… it remembers everything.”
Chelsea clenched her jaw.
“Did you know my mother?”
“Yes.” A pause. “I fought beside her. Once.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To see what remains of her. And to decide if what she passed on… should be allowed to live.”
⸻
Kaden growled low behind Chelsea, but she raised a hand to stop him.
“You want to kill me?” Chelsea asked flatly.
Calista didn’t flinch. “If your magic has been corrupted, I will not hesitate.”
“What gives you that right?”
“Because I swore an oath to your mother before she died. I swore I would protect the world from what she carried in her womb — if it ever turned dark.”
Chelsea froze.
Kaden stepped forward. “That’s enough—”
But Chelsea held up her hand again.
“You think I’m a threat?”
“I think you’re unproven,” Calista said. “And I think the mark you bear is older than you understand. Kaelvarin did not gift it. It bound it. You are the vessel. But the power inside you may not be yours alone.”
Chelsea’s stomach twisted. Nyra was silent but alert.
“Then test me,” Chelsea said.
Calista raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Test me,” she repeated. “You came to decide if I should be ended. Do it. I won’t flinch.”
Calista stood slowly.
And something shifted in the room like gravity realigned.
“Very well,” she said.
⸻
She drew a blade not steel, but crystal. Etched with runes. Glowing softly with pale blue light.
She pressed the flat of it against Chelsea’s mark.
Chelsea gasped but didn’t move.
The blade sizzled, then began to tremble.
Chelsea’s fingers curled around the edge of the chair.
Nyra growled deep inside.
“Do not hide,” Chelsea whispered. “Show her.”
The light from the blade exploded, hurling Calista back across the room.
She hit the wall and slid to the ground unharmed, but winded.
Everyone stood.
But Calista… laughed.
Not cruelly.
Not bitterly.
But like someone who’d just had the last piece of a puzzle handed to her.
“She is not corrupted,” Calista said, voice rough. “She is… anchored.”
“Anchored to what?” Bevy asked weakly.
Calista stood, brushing off dust.
“To someone still alive.”
Her eyes locked on Kaden.
“And that is the only thing keeping the storm from swallowing her whole.”
⸻
Chelsea didn’t speak.
She just breathed one breath after another — while the fire in the hearth flared tall behind her.
The air was tight with silence. Even the fire in the hearth burned low, like it too was holding its breath.
Kaden stood behind her, arms crossed, saying nothing.
Bevy sat nearby, wrapped in bandages, fingers trembling.
And in the seat across from Chelsea sat the one who’d asked to speak with her first.
A woman named Calista.
⸻
She didn’t look old, but her presence felt ancient. Her braids were streaked with silver, her fingers inked with spells Chelsea couldn’t read. She wore no crest, no sigil but Chelsea didn’t need one to know this woman had power.
“You are Chelsea Krippa,” Calista said quietly. “Daughter of the Blood Divergence.”
“I’m… Chelsea,” she said, unsure.
“You were not raised with your true name. That’s no surprise. Your mother was hunted. Hidden. Silenced.”
Calista’s eyes sharpened. “But the blood doesn’t forget. And Kaelvarin… it remembers everything.”
Chelsea clenched her jaw.
“Did you know my mother?”
“Yes.” A pause. “I fought beside her. Once.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To see what remains of her. And to decide if what she passed on… should be allowed to live.”
⸻
Kaden growled low behind Chelsea, but she raised a hand to stop him.
“You want to kill me?” Chelsea asked flatly.
Calista didn’t flinch. “If your magic has been corrupted, I will not hesitate.”
“What gives you that right?”
“Because I swore an oath to your mother before she died. I swore I would protect the world from what she carried in her womb — if it ever turned dark.”
Chelsea froze.
Kaden stepped forward. “That’s enough—”
But Chelsea held up her hand again.
“You think I’m a threat?”
“I think you’re unproven,” Calista said. “And I think the mark you bear is older than you understand. Kaelvarin did not gift it. It bound it. You are the vessel. But the power inside you may not be yours alone.”
Chelsea’s stomach twisted. Nyra was silent but alert.
“Then test me,” Chelsea said.
Calista raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Test me,” she repeated. “You came to decide if I should be ended. Do it. I won’t flinch.”
Calista stood slowly.
And something shifted in the room like gravity realigned.
“Very well,” she said.
⸻
She drew a blade not steel, but crystal. Etched with runes. Glowing softly with pale blue light.
She pressed the flat of it against Chelsea’s mark.
Chelsea gasped but didn’t move.
The blade sizzled, then began to tremble.
Chelsea’s fingers curled around the edge of the chair.
Nyra growled deep inside.
“Do not hide,” Chelsea whispered. “Show her.”
The light from the blade exploded, hurling Calista back across the room.
She hit the wall and slid to the ground unharmed, but winded.
Everyone stood.
But Calista… laughed.
Not cruelly.
Not bitterly.
But like someone who’d just had the last piece of a puzzle handed to her.
“She is not corrupted,” Calista said, voice rough. “She is… anchored.”
“Anchored to what?” Bevy asked weakly.
Calista stood, brushing off dust.
“To someone still alive.”
Her eyes locked on Kaden.
“And that is the only thing keeping the storm from swallowing her whole.”
⸻
Chelsea didn’t speak.
She just breathed one breath after another — while the fire in the hearth flared tall behind her.
End of MARKED FOR PRETEND Chapter 53. Continue reading Chapter 54 or return to MARKED FOR PRETEND book page.