The high dais felt like a executioner’s block.
“Then why didn't you feel the bond?” Elder Vane demanded, his aged voice cutting through my flaring Alpha aura like a tempered blade. He stepped down the marble steps, leaning heavily on his wooden staff, his sharp eyes locked onto mine with utter disdain. “For five years, you claimed she was a liar. You claimed she trapped you, manipulated your dead mother, and fabricated a soul connection that didn't exist. You treated her like a squatter in your bed and a stranger in your house!”
“I felt nothing!” I growled, my fist trembling where it rested on the splintered podium. “Every time I stood near her, there was only static! No pull, no warmth—nothing like what the legends speak of!”
“Because your heart was deadened by your own bitter pride, A
