Chapter 117

Violet

The moment we stepped out of the courtroom, the air was electric with victory. Paparazzi crowded the streets, cameras flashing like a relentless storm as reporters shouted questions. Theodore pulled me closer, shielding me from the chaos as we made our way to the convoy waiting to escort us to the temple.

Inside the vehicle, the tension from the trial melted away. Theodore exhaled sharply, shaking his head with a smirk.

“Did you see his fucking face?" He let out a bark of laugh. "He looked like he was going to fall out of his chair."

I chuckled, the weight of the last few months easing just a bit. “I can't wait to see how the reparations will go…"

He grinned. "If you'd rather rip up the roads than annex them, let me know."

I leaned back, relishing the moment.

“We did it…”

“We did,” Theodore agreed, reaching over to squeeze my hand. His warmth seeped into my skin, grounding me in the present. “And soon, you’ll be free of him entirely.”

"I can't wait."

We arrived at the temple. Lucas was dragged in under heavy guard, ensuring that he had no means of escape. His face twisted in resentment as he stood at the center of the ceremonial chamber. The temple’s grand hall was illuminated by floating lanterns, casting an ethereal glow over the ancient stone walls etched with runes of binding and release.

The High Priest was there to preside over the ceremony, and the High Priestess was here as well, eyes glowing though her expression was flat.

A jolt of trepidation hit me. I reached up, wrapping my hand around my token, but the trepidation didn't ease.

"Ready?" The High Priest asked.

I nodded and stepped forward and looked at Lucas who looked like he would rather be anywhere but here.

“I, Violet Donovan, formally reject you, Lucas Reed, as my mate.”

A sharp pulse ran through me, like a thread snapping in the deepest part of her soul.

Lucas flinched as if struck, but he straightened quickly, forcing out a breath.

“I—” He hesitated, his pride still fighting against the inevitable.

The temple’s High Priest lifted a hand, and the guards at Lucas’s side tensed. He had no choice.

Lucas clenched his jaw, his hands forming fists at his sides. “I, Lucas Reed,” he bit out, his voice hoarse, “formally reject you, Violet Donovan, as my mate.”

The last fraying remnants of our bond disintegrated into nothing. I barely felt the break, as if it had long since withered away. Lucas cried out collapsing in a heap and screaming. As the bond shattered completely, a wave of relief unlike anything I had ever experienced crashed over me.

I looked down at my arm. The mark was gone.

I exhaled sharply, my body trembling from the sheer weight of it lifting. It was over. It was finally over.

And then my bond with Theodore surged.

It rushed to the forefront of my senses, drowning out everything else, flooding me with warmth, certainty, and something deeper, something sacred. Every lingering doubt I'd had about them, about fate, about myself, disappeared.

Something familiar, like a longing that I had never realized I had eased. I turned back to him, finding him smiling and coming towards me. His love washed through me like a storm.

But before I could fully embrace it—something yanked at the bond. A violent, foreign intrusion clawed into me, wrenching my connection to Theodore as if trying to sever it from existence.

I gasped, staggering, my hand shooting out to steady herself. Instinctively, I reached for Theodore, but then he wasn’t looking at me.

He was staring at another woman.

Confusion and awe flickered across his face, his magic sparking wildly through the bond, snapping, sparking, jumping and buzzing. I felt his tension. Everything in him was tense, caught in an invisible pull that felt like it was pulling me away from him. I could feel him trying to resist, reaching for me, pulling away from the force that was pulling on our bond.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

No. No, no, no.

I took a step forward, but then I saw it. The band of light that always rested on his forehead was broken into fragments like it had been shattered.

A jolt of pain shot through our bond, like something was being ripped from my very core. I gasped again, the world tilting dangerously as my knees buckled beneath me.

I barely registered Theodore’s voice shouting my name before the darkness took me under.

Owen

I was starting to wonder if it would happen, if it would work or if I had just wasted my time and effort.

Then, Violet dropped like a stone.

"Violet!"

Theodore barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground, his face contorted with panic as she convulsed in his arms. Her eyes rolled back. Her mouth frothed. Blood came from her nose as she jerked and spasmed. I barely bit back a smile seeing it. Lucas was still face down on the ground, whimpering softly and barely breathing from the pain of the break.

“Violet! Violet, stay with me!” His voice rang out in the temple, raw and desperate, breaking the stunned silence that had settled over the gathered audience. “Someone get an ambulance! Now!”

I stood back, watching with dispassionate interest as guards scrambled, and temple attendants moved into action. The High Priest, the old fool, stepped forward, his gaze sharp and knowing.

He held his hands over the Violet. They glowed, but the look on his face said that it wasn't good.

No one was paying attention to me, not that they ever did when Theodore was around, which was ridiculous as I am the alpha king.

I should have been satisfied. This should have been the moment I felt victorious. But as I looked at Theodore, still whole, the band of light on his forehead still glowing with power—just fractured instead of destroyed—I felt irritation creep in.

Why wasn't it gone? Violet’s band of light pulsed erratically, flashing so brightly that it sent sharp shadows flickering across the temple’s walls. The air around us thickened, charged with something primal, something ancient. Even the temple itself seemed to respond, its runes humming, the very stones beneath us thrumming with a force that I couldn’t ignore.

And then, I felt it.

A presence.

Slowly, I looked up.

High above, nestled in the darkness of the temple’s vaulted ceiling, a pair of eyes glowed like embers, burning with fury, locked onto me.

The weight of that gaze should have crushed me, should have sent fear slicing through my veins. The High Priestess had joined the panic with glowing hands and a raised, melodious voice chanting words I didn't understand. The temple guards had gone pale, sweat beading at their brows. But I remained still. Unmoved.

Because I was untouchable.

The Goddess could rage all she wanted. It wouldn’t change the fact that I was the Alpha King, a direct descendant of the royal bloodline. I had her blessing, her protection, even against her fury. She wouldn’t strike me down, not without unraveling the very foundations of the order she had created.

So long as I was the Crowned King, there was nothing she could do, no matter what I did.

Theodore, on the other hand?

I glanced back at him, still clutching Violet, completely consumed by whatever was happening to her. Magic was spiraling, flickering around them wildly like a fire trying to rage against a storm. He didn’t even seem aware of the way the temple was reacting to her distress.

Maybe it was their distress…

Hopefully it would end up being their deaths.

Good.

As long as Theodore's bond with Violet was unstable, nothing would change. Even if he didn't die like I hoped, he would be suffering for a good long while.

I turned my gaze back to the ceiling. The eyes hadn’t moved, hadn’t blinked, their silent fury still burning into me.

I smirked.

Let the Goddess watch. She should have known by now that I was my father's son in every way.

"Theodore!"

I turned back just as he slumped to the side. The woman who had come with me, gasped and went to him, reaching him as he convulsed, gripping his chest. His eyes full of light. He let out a pained roar and thrashed away from the woman, shaking his head, turning toward Violet.

"Alari," he gasped, struggling. "Alari. Thalan bar alari."

I almost laughed, listening to him babbling, but the High Priestess gasped as did the High Priest. The woman hovered, trying to get him to turn over, but his eyes were locked on Violet just as she started to stop convulsing. She turned her head. Eyes wide with fear. Glowing but focused.

Focused on him.

I went still, watching them carefully. This had to be impossible. I glanced up at the furious eyes above us and snarled before turning to leave.

It wasn't going to be that easy for any of us, it seemed.

I hoped that woman understood her mission.