Shattered Bonds A Second Chance Mate (by Yui) novel Chapter 240

Chapter 240

Go to Francesco’s POV:

The first thing I felt was the cold.

What is this?

Not air, not temperature-something deeper.

It crawled through the bond like frost through old wood, quiet at first, then sudden and merciless.

My hand tightened around the edge of the table as the world narrowed to that thread between us.

It screamed.

“King?” Marlow’s voice cut through the haze. I didn’t answer. The sound in my head wasn’t words-it was her. Pain, sharp, wild, the kind that makes a man’s heart forget how to beat.

The bond flared once-then stuttered.

Something snapped.

“Ellaine.” Her name was air and plea and command.

Damn it!!!

I was already moving before my chair hit the floor.

Alfonso said something-orders maybe-but all I heard was the echo of her heartbeat fading into silence.

The corridors blurred.

Doors didn’t matter. Walls didn’t matter. My claws tore through one when it didn’t open fast enough..

I felt her everywhere.

In the air. In my bones.

Her pulse flickering like a candle drowning in its own wax.

“Luna-!” Audrey’s voice in the mindlink, thin and strained. “Something-her room-”

I didn’t let her finish.

The next heartbeat found me there.

The door burst off its hinges.

The world inside was wrong.

Frost clung to the edges of the mirror, shards of glass scattered across the floor like fallen stars. The air smelled of iron and roses and something ancient-something that didn’t belong to this century or any.

And there–e

In the middle of it all-

Ellaine.

Her body was crumpled beside the table, her scarf torn loose, her lips pale as moonlight. One hand reached forward, fingers curled like she’d been touching something just before the world ended.

“Ellaine!”

I was on my knees before the echo finished.

Her skin was cold. Too cold.

Her heart-

I couldn’t find it.

“No, no, no…” My voice cracked. I pressed my palm against her chest and the bond fought to return—like a trapped animal slamming into the cage of my ribs.

Her breath stuttered. Once. Twice. Then stopped.

Something inside me broke.

My vision blurred red. I didn’t need to see the reflection to know who had done this. The air itself whispered her name like a mockery-Severine.

The beast in me rose, claws scraping the inside of my skin, demanding blood.

“I’ll tear her from the grave she calls a soul,” I growled, teeth bared.

But then I looked at Ellaine again—and everything that was rage collapsed into fear.

“No,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to hers. “Stay with me. Come back, luna mia… come back.”

The bond pulsed faintly, a single heartbeat against the void.

Then footsteps.

Audrey burst in, followed by Monica, Alfonso, and Marlow.

“My King-!”

“She’s not breathing.”

Monica was already beside me, her healer’s bag spilling onto the floor. “Move.”

“I can’t-”

“Then hold her,” she snapped, eyes fierce. “And don’t you dare let go.”

Her hands glowed faintly with the warmth of Lira’s salve as she pressed them against Ellaine’s chest. Audrey knelt opposite, murmuring a protection chant, her fingers weaving air like thread.

Alfonso turned toward the shattered glass. “The mirror-what the hell-?”

“Don’t touch it,” Marlow warned. “It’s still alive.”

He was right. The shards vibrated, faintly humming. The lines of frost along the edges pulsed with dim silver

veins.

And when I looked closely, I saw movement-

A shadow-

A woman’s outline flickering just beneath the surface.

Severine.

Watching.

Mocking.

I could feel her.

Not just her presence-her satisfaction.

She thought she’d won.

“Lira!” I shouted through the bond, my voice thunder across the link. “Come. Now.”

No one spoke after that. The air thickened, each second stretching into something cruel.

Then-

A heartbeat.

Soft. Weak. But hers.

Monica gasped. “She’s fighting back.”

Audrey’s eyes lifted to mine. “Something tried to pull her through. Not death. Not magic as we know it. Something older. A binding that wants blood for balance.”

“The curse,” Alfonso said quietly.

I looked down at Ellaine-her lashes trembling, her breath returning like a fragile tide.

“She fought her,” I whispered. The

I came out like reverence,

Monica nodded, her voice trembling. “Whatever this was… she refused it.”

I gathered Ellaine against me, ignoring the cold seeping through her skin. My claws retracted as I brushed the hair from her face. She was pale but not gone. Not yet.

Her lips moved faintly.

A whisper.

I leaned closer.

“Bread,” she breathed.

The word hit me like lightning-nonsensical, holy, human.

And somehow… it made sense.

Lira arrived a moment later, robes trailing frost, her eyes glowing faint gold. “Move aside,” she ordered. “You’ve opened the veil between curse and soul. If she hadn’t fought, she’d be gone.”

“She’s not gone,” I said. My voice was calm now, but only because fury had become prayer.

Lira’s gaze softened. “Not yet.”

Her hands hovered above Ellaine’s chest, tracing invisible sigils. The room filled with the scent of sage and rain. The frost began to melt, dripping from the mirror in slow, clear tears.

When Lira finished, she exhaled. “The curse isn’t gone. Only quiet. It sleeps now.”

“Sleeping can wake,” Audrey murmured.

Lira nodded. “Yes. It will test you again. It will test her again. Until it understands that love and power can live in the same breath.”

I looked down at Ellaine’s face, my thumb tracing her cheek. She stirred, faintly, eyes fluttering open.

The bond surged-alive, wild, full of warmth and ache and defiance.

She blinked up at me, her voice barely a whisper. “I’m here…”

“I know.” My throat tightened. “And I’m not letting you go.”

Her fingers brushed my wrist, trembling. “Don’t blame her.”

My jaw clenched. “Don’t ask that of me.”

Her lips curved, weak but certain. “Because she’s already watching… waiting for us to fail.”

I followed her

gaze.

The mirror.

It still hummed.

The cracks glowed faintly, silver lines pulsing like veins beneath the surface.

“She’s still here.” Marlow said. “Isn’t she?”

2 st euchar

“Yes,” Lira replied. “But not as she was. The Luna’s defiance shook her. For the first time, the curse hesitated.”

Audrey’s eyes narrowed. “You mean she’s doubting herself?”

“Perhaps,” Lira said softly. “Or perhaps she’s learning what she never understood-what love truly is.”

I rose, still holding Ellaine in my arms. “Let her learn, then,” I said. “And when she’s ready to understand- she’ll find that what she called weakness is what will destroy her.”

I looked once more at the mirror.

The cracks shimmered, faint light weaving through them like breath.

A whisper escaped the glass, soft and distant:

“We’ll see…”

The air turned cold again, but this time it carried no threat-only the echo of something that sounded suspiciously like envy.