I reach for the bond reflexively, seeking that familiar warmth.
Nothing.
Absolute, deafening silence where her presence should be.
"No." The word escapes as barely a whisper. "No, no, no..."
I stagger to my feet, ignoring Emmett's outstretched hand. The darkness around me hangs limply, no longer responding to my emotions with its usual eager violence.
"Seraphina," I call, my voice breaking on her name. "SERAPHINA!"
The void where our bond should be yawns wider. I stumble forward, desperation lending strength to my battered body.
Through blurring vision, I see Ivy hovering nearby, her expression stricken, her hair cycling rapidly through grey to blue—grief and horror and guilt. Our eyes meet.
"Find her," I rasp. "Now."
The fairy darts away without argument, disappearing into the devastated forest.
"My lord," Emmett says carefully, approaching with Alpha caution. "What happened? What did you feel?"
"The bond." My hand presses against my chest, where an emptiness spreads like poison. "It's gone. Not weakened. Not blocked. Gone."
Emmett's face pales. "Gone? But that would mean?—"
"I know what it means." The words come out hollow. Dead. "A mate bond only severs completely with death."
"You can't know that for certain," he protests, though his expression betrays his doubt. "There could be another explanation. Magic, interference?—"
"There is no other explanation." I meet his eyes, letting him see the raw devastation. "She's dead, Emmett. My Omega is dead."
The magnitude of the loss crashes over me in waves. Not just my mate, not just the Omega who defied me at every turn, who saw past the monster I pretended to be, who made me feel warmth I thought had died lifetimes ago. But an Omega who died alone, afraid, believing she had to run from me to survive.
"She was trying to escape what she thought I was," I say, my voice breaking. "And now she's gone."
A strangled sound escapes me. For the second time in my immortal existence, an Omega I loved has been taken from me by circumstances I couldn't control.
First Julia, taking her own life because she believed the curse consuming me would destroy us both. She saw what the poison was doing to me as I tried to absorb it from her—saw the monster it was creating—and chose death over watching me complete that transformation.
Now Seraphina, fleeing to her death because she believed history was repeating itself.
Shadowfire surges, lashing out at the already devastated forest. More trees crack and fall. The ground beneath our feet begins to shake.
Ivy returns then, her tiny form nearly invisible against the churning darkness. "I found a clearing," she says breathlessly. "Silver trees, moss-covered stones. There's... there's no body, but there are signs someone was there recently."
Hope flares for one agonizing moment before reality crushes it. "The bond is severed. She's gone."
"But if there's no body?—"
"Then her body is somewhere else." I cut her off. "Fallen into a ravine. Taken by predators. It doesn't matter. The bond is gone. She's dead."
The temperature plummets. Ice forms on the trees, on the ground, on Emmett's armor.
"Show me this clearing," I command, my voice carrying a terrible resonance that makes even Emmett flinch.
Ivy leads us through the devastated forest to a small clearing exactly as she described—silver-barked trees surrounding moss-covered stones in a natural circle. The afternoon light filtering through the branches should be beautiful. Instead, it feels like a mockery.
I dismount slowly, my legs barely supporting my weight. The clearing is empty—no sign of Seraphina, no trace of her scent beyond a faint residue that confirms she was here.
