MARKED FOR PRETEND - Chapter 65: Chapter 65

The light had devoured the sky, and then… nothing.
No roar.
No final scream.
No collapse of thunder or tremble of prophecy.
Just… silence.
⸻
Kaden woke in the infirmary. Bandaged. Tethered to the cold, breathing though he didn’t remember how.
The first thing he saw was Bevy’s bloodstained face.
The second thing he saw… was Chelsea’s cloak. Burnt. Folded. Laid at the foot of his bed like a final offering.
“Where is she.”
It wasn’t a question.
Bevy looked away.
“We don’t know. There was nothing left. Just the cloak. Her mark vanished. The Ones Who Never Bowed… they dropped their weapons. Walked into the woods. Like something inside them broke.”
“Where. Is. She.”
“Gone.”
⸻
Kael didn’t answer. Not even a stir in Kaden’s chest, no growl, no heat.
Just quiet.
Kaden clenched his jaw.
“Call it off,” he said.
“Call what off?”
“The mourning rites. The speeches. The damn prayers.”
He stood, staggering slightly. His body burned, but his rage held him up.
“She’s not dead.”
“Alpha Kaden—”
“I’d feel it.”
“Maybe she sealed the bond with the spell—”
“She wouldn’t.”
Silence.
Then—
“She’s not gone,” he said again, voice hoarse. “She’s just… lost.”
⸻
Elsewhere – Far Beyond the Keep
The wind blew soft over scorched ground.
Ash whispered across stone.
And a body lay still — curled in the center of what used to be a spell circle.
No breath, no movement.
But the mark… faint as it was… still flickered on her skin.
Once.
Twice.
And then faded again.