The Forgotten Pulse of the Bond-Chapter 57: BLOOD ON THE LEAVES

"Put the blade down."

Magnolia’s voice rang out through the hollow, cutting through the air like a bell of iron. But Camille didn’t move. She stood barefoot on the moss-covered slope, her dress torn at the hem, streaked with ash and dried blood. The bone crown sat crooked atop her head, its edges glinting red beneath the sickle of the broken moon.

"You’re late," Camille said softly.

"Then you’re still you," Magnolia replied.

Camille tilted her head. Her blackened eyes shimmered, reflecting too many lights, like mirrors that held the memory of fire. "That’s the question, isn’t it?"

Behind Magnolia, the others froze. Rhett’s grip tightened on his blade. Savannah’s breath was shallow. Lucien’s eyes flicked from Camille’s blade to the symbols carved into her arms, glowing faintly now, like a forge banked for war.

Beckett’s voice was a quiet rasp. "She’s carrying Hollowfang steel. That blade was forged for blood rites."

"I know," Magnolia said. "It has my name on it."

Camille smiled. Not with joy. But with something aching and bitter. "I asked them to carve it. So I wouldn’t forget who the blade belongs to."

"You don’t have to do this."

Camille stepped forward, barefoot on the wet leaves. Her eyes never left Magnolia’s. "Then stop me."

"Tell me what they did to you."

"They listened. For the first time in my life, they listened."

"To what?"

Camille’s voice broke like a thread snapping. "To the silence inside me."

The silence that you left there.

She didn’t say the last part, but the words hung between them like fog.

Magnolia took a step forward.

Camille tensed.

The blade twitched in her hand.

"I’m not your enemy," Magnolia said gently.

"But you’re the reason I was forgotten."

Rhett stepped forward. "Camille, "

She snapped her gaze to him. "You watched me disappear. You let them use me."

"No," he said, steady but firm. "We didn’t know."

"You chose not to know."

Magnolia felt the pull in her chest, a pressure, like gravity shifting sideways. The locket at her neck vibrated faintly. It had never done that before.

Camille saw it.

Her voice dropped. "You still wear it."

"I never took it off."

Camille’s fingers curled tighter around the blade. "Then you remember the pact."

"I remember more than that," Magnolia said. "I remember who braided my hair when mother was too drunk to stand. I remember who painted fireflies on the wall beside my bed after I stopped sleeping. I remember the girl who told me she didn’t need to be Luna, because she had a sister."

Camille’s breath hitched.

But her stance didn’t break. fгeewebnovёl.com

"I also remember," Magnolia said, softer now, "the way you looked at me when they crowned me Luna. Like you wanted to smile. But couldn’t."

Camille swallowed. "They made me forget you."

"But not all the way."

Camille lowered the blade.

Just an inch.

Then a whisper passed through the trees.

Not a sound.

A presence.

And Camille flinched.

Her eyes rolled back for a moment, then cleared.

"No," she whispered. "Not now..."

Rhett stepped closer. "She’s fighting it."

"She’s not alone," Magnolia said.

Camille groaned, her hands going to her temples. The blade dropped to the ground with a muted thud. The crown slipped from her head.

Magnolia ran forward, catching her just as her knees buckled.

Camille sobbed into her shoulder. "They won’t stop."

"I’ve got you," Magnolia murmured, holding her tight. "We’re going home."

But the ground beneath them shifted.

Literally.

Roots cracked open. The soil rippled.

And a low voice spoke from the trees.

"You’ve walked too far."

Lucien spun, blade drawn. "It’s them."

Figures emerged, masked, robed. Hollowfangs.

Ten. Maybe more.

Savannah whispered, "It’s an ambush."

Beckett gritted his teeth. "We’re surrounded."

Magnolia rose slowly, pushing Camille behind her. "She’s done with you. Step aside."

The Hollowfang leader stepped forward. His mask was bone-white, carved like a wolf’s skull. "She made an oath. Her soul is ours."

"She never understood what she was giving."

"She gave her voice. Her blood. That’s enough."

Rhett’s voice rang out like thunder. "She’s under our protection now."

The leader didn’t blink. "Then you’ll bleed for her."

Magnolia’s wolf surged beneath her skin, snapping to the surface.

Her fingers curled.

Her nails sharpened.

But Camille stepped in front of her.

And for the first time, she spoke without fear.

"She’s not the one who owes you a debt."

The Hollowfangs stilled.

The leader tilted his head. "What are you saying?"

"I broke the oath," Camille said. "I left the bond."

"You were the vessel."

"I still am."

She turned to Magnolia. "You need to let me do this."

"No," Magnolia said, voice shaking.

"If I run now, they’ll hunt us forever."

"We can fight."

Camille touched her forehead to Magnolia’s. "Not without losing who we are."

"Cam..."

"I’m not dying."

"Then what are you doing?"

Camille turned to the Hollowfangs.

And held out her hands.

"Take me. But bind me with my will. Not theirs."

The leader stepped forward, but Magnolia shoved herself between them, eyes wild.

"No. You don’t get to decide the terms anymore."

"You would challenge the pact?" the Hollowfang hissed.

"I am the pact," Magnolia said. "And I say this ends differently."

She looked back at Camille.

"We don’t hand ourselves over anymore. We burn the chains."

Camille’s eyes flicked to the crown on the ground.

Then to the locket on Magnolia’s chest.

And she understood.

She reached out.

Took the locket.

Opened it.

Inside, the firefly drawing had faded.

But beneath it, another symbol had appeared, etched into the silver.

A sun.

Split.

Camille smiled faintly. "You never saw it."

"What is it?" Magnolia asked.

Camille turned back to the Hollowfang. "It’s the last seal. The one Sterling hid in me before he died. The one your priests spent years trying to unlock."

The leader’s voice cracked. "That symbol belongs to the Ancients, "

Camille interrupted. "It belongs to me now."

She crushed the locket in her palm.

And the ground screamed.

A burst of light exploded from her skin, white, gold, violet.

The Hollowfangs cried out, falling back, shielding their eyes.

The earth buckled.

The crown burned.

The runes on Camille’s arms turned to ash and flaked away.

When the light faded,

She stood taller.

Whole.

Human.

Her eyes were her own again.

"Leave," she said, voice steady. "Before I decide to give them what they want."

The Hollowfang leader staggered back. "This isn’t the end."

Camille raised her palm.

The light flared again.

And they vanished.

Magnolia stared at her sister, stunned. "How..."

Camille smiled through the tears. "I remembered the fireflies."

Beckett exhaled. "Well, shit."

Savannah grinned. "I’ll take that as a win."

Rhett sheathed his blade. "Let’s go home."

But Magnolia didn’t move.

She looked at the leaves around them.

Each one soaked in blood.

Camille’s. Hers.

And maybe something else.

A mark that would never quite fade.

Because the bond had survived.

But it was no longer whole.