The Alpha And The Fifth Blood

Chapter 95: The Meaning of Bride

Chapter 95

Ariana stayed where she was after the opening closed, one hand pressed hard against her ribs while she tried to get her breathing under control. Every breath hurt, and the silence left behind in the domain felt so heavy that even standing up seemed harder than it should have been.

Kael was gone.

But whatever remained between them had not disappeared.

She could still feel him somewhere far beyond the sealed edge of the domain. The connection was weak and distant now, but it was there, and knowing that while being unable to reach him made her throat tighten.

Another sharp pain ran through her side.

She bent forward with a gasp and gripped her ribs harder until it passed. Tears stung her eyes, but she wiped them away angrily before they could fall. She refused to cry here.

Ariana closed her eyes and reached inward for the Fifth Blood, searching for the power that had answered her before without hesitation. She looked for the heat, the force, anything that reminded her she was not helpless.

Nothing answered.

Her eyes opened immediately. She tried again, harder this time, shoulders tensing with the effort. The same cold resistance met her at once, steady and unmoving, and panic rose so quickly it made her feel sick.

Her power was still inside her. She could feel it buried deep down, but something was holding it in place and refusing to let it rise. Every time she pushed toward it, the pressure pushed back.

"No," she said under her breath.

"It was not taken from you."

Kyrindor’s voice came from behind her.

Ariana turned too quickly, and pain shot through her ribs hard enough to make her curse. She steadied herself against a tree and glared at him through short, uneven breaths.

"It was restrained," he said.

"By what?" she asked.

Kyrindor stepped closer, calm as ever, though there was less distance in him now than before. "By the mark placed on you."

Her stomach tightened.

"Bride," she said.

He nodded once. "Yes."

Ariana let out a short laugh with no humor in it. "Then explain it properly, because I’m tired of everyone using words that ruin my life and never saying what they mean."

Kyrindor met her gaze. "It does not mean love. It does not mean marriage. It means you were chosen because you are needed."

"Needed for what?"

"For its return," he said. "For your blood. For what your awakening can open. For something it cannot reach without you."

Ariana looked away immediately. Her hand moved from her ribs to her stomach as nausea rolled through her. For a moment she had to focus on breathing before she could speak again.

"So I’m not a person to it," she said quietly. "I’m a tool."

Kyrindor said nothing. That silence told her enough.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and forced herself to look at him again. "And Kael?"

"He was taken because of what is waking inside him."

"Guardian."

"Yes."

Ariana shook her head at once. "No. He’s Kael."

"He is Kael," Kyrindor said. "That is why this matters."

Her voice sharpened. "Then explain it clearly."

Kyrindor looked toward the place where Kael had vanished before answering. "A Guardian is bound to protect the Bride and the path tied to her. If fully awakened, he may stand between you and anyone trying to take you."

She swallowed hard. "That sounds like protection."

"It is," Kyrindor said quietly. "But it may also mean bringing you exactly where the entity wants you."

Ariana stared at him for a second, then took a step back. Her hand went to her ribs when the pain returned, but she barely noticed it now. "No," she said, shaking her head. "That’s not him."

"Not fully."

The weak connection between her and Kael stirred again, faint enough to miss if she wasn’t paying attention. It was still there, and feeling it only made everything harder.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"What happens next depends on who reaches him first, who influences him first, and whether enough of himself remains to fight."

"Mira."

"Yes."

Ariana’s jaw tightened. "She can control him."

"She can suppress what rises in him," Kyrindor corrected. "That is not the same thing."

"She walked away with him."

"If she truly owned him," Kyrindor said, "he would not have reached for you."

Ariana went still. The memory came back immediately. Kael lifting his hand toward her. The strain in his face. The way his fingers shook like even that small movement had taken effort.

Her breathing caught for a second.

"He knew me," she said quietly.

"Yes."

"He tried to come back."

"For a moment."

Ariana covered her mouth with one hand as emotion rose too quickly to control. Her shoulders shook once before she forced herself to steady again.

"He’s still there," she said when she could speak.

"For now."

Those two words should have broken her. Instead, they gave her something to hold onto.

Ariana closed her eyes again and reached inward toward her Fifth Blood, this time not trying to force it open. She focused on what held it down instead, tracing the edges of the pressure wrapped around it.

The pressure around her power did not feel natural. It felt controlled, steady in a way that made it obvious someone had put it there and expected it to hold. Ariana’s eyes opened slowly as the truth settled in.

"It doesn’t want me powerless forever," she said, her voice rough from pain and too little air. Kyrindor stayed silent, watching her without interruption.

"It wants me powerless now." He gave no answer, and that silence confirmed more than words would have. Ariana pushed herself away from the tree, then stopped halfway when pain shot sharply through her side.

She stood there breathing through it, one hand pressed hard against her ribs until the worst of it passed. When she straightened again, grief was still sitting heavily in her chest, fear still tightening her throat, but anger had joined them now.

"What happens if I do nothing?" she asked.

"You lose time," Kyrindor said. "And Kael loses more of himself." The words hit harder than anything else had, enough to make her jaw tighten as she forced herself not to look away.

Somewhere out there he was alive, hurting, and moving further away while she stood here trying to breathe through pain. No.

Ariana wiped her face and stepped toward him. The movement hurt enough to make her stomach tighten, but she kept going until she stood directly in front of Kyrindor.

"Then help me."

"You are injured," he said. "Your power is sealed. Going after him now may kill you."

"Then help me fix it," she snapped. "Stop telling me what I can’t do and tell me what I need to do."

Kyrindor studied her quietly.

"Breaking the mark will hurt," he said at last.

Ariana gave a short, tired laugh and pressed a hand to her ribs again. "Good. At least then I’ll know I’m doing something."

"It may strengthen the connection between you and him."

Her breath caught.

"And that may allow them to use him against you."

She swallowed once. "Then I’ll deal with that when it happens."

Kyrindor remained still for a moment. "You would risk everything for him."

Ariana looked toward the place Kael had vanished, then back at Kyrindor.

"No," she said quietly. "I would risk everything for me."

He said nothing.

"Because I’m not letting them decide what I become," she continued. "Not the entity. Not Mira. Not fate."

The connection between her and Kael stirred faintly again. Ariana lifted her chin, eyes red, face pale, pain still cutting through every breath.

"Tell me what Bride really means," she said. "Tell me how to break this mark."

She took one more step closer.

"Then take me to him."