Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
Aedric
Standing beneath the mountain, cloaked in shadow. Veiled light poured down behind him, throwing his form into sharp silhouette. His face hidden. His posture calm. Hands outstretched.
Not reaching.
Inviting.
He didn’t speak.
But I heard it anyway.
Felt it in my bones. My blood. The mark on my back igniting like it had been branded again.
The words weren’t whispered.
They echoed.
They didn’t come from Aedric’s lips.
They came from the blade.
“Choose.”
The dagger pulsed once in my hand. A slow, thudding pulse-like a heartbeat trying to sync with my own.
And something inside me… answered.
Not with words. Not with thought.
With knowing.
This wasn’t a gift.
It was a test.
The tree sealed behind me with a slow groan, bark fusing together again until there was no sign of the fracture.
I stood alone in the room, the dagger heavy in my hand.
The hum of it vibrated up my wrist, through my elbow, into my chest-like it was trying to become part of me.
Or already was.
I pressed my palm against my stomach, where the child had kicked moments ago. She was still now. Quiet.
But not gone.
Just watching.
Like the flame inside her understood something I hadn’t yet. Something ancient. Something inevitable.
My eyes burned. 1 squeezed them shut.
Aedric.
That name felt like ash in my mouth now.
I could still see him-in every dark shadow, in every flicker of power I didn’t understand. But more terrifying than his presence…
Was my reaction to it.
Because part of me didn’t feel fear.
Part of me felt recognition.
I didn’t understand what that meant.
But I knew this:
Every bond I had-Nate, Ethan, the child-was now part of something much bigger than any of us. Something older than the Gate, than the flame, than the Veil itself.
This dagger was proof.
A door had opened.
And I no longer knew which side I stood on.
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*Jiselle*
The dagger hadn’t left my side.
Even now, wrapped in cloth and hidden inside the folds of my cloak, I could feel it pulsing. It didn’t need to touch my skin to burn. It didn’t need to whisper to speak. It was alive in the way old magic always was-not just power, but memory. Decision. Destiny.
And it was waiting for me to decide.
I stood at the edge of the meditation chamber, staring at the floor Bastain had carved with his own hands. The runes still shimmered faintly, flickering between the gold of the flame and the violet-blue of the leyline, forming a pattern none of us had ever seen before this war began. It didn’t belong to the Gate. Not the Sovereign. Not even the Council.
It belonged to us.
To the Triad.
And that was the problem.
“You can’t seriously be considering it.”
Nate’s voice came from the corner, low but sharp. Tired, yes. But beneath the fatigue, his fear was a living thing.
I didn’t turn to face him.
“Bastain said it could work,” I said.
“He said it might work,” Nate snapped. “He also said it could kill you. Or worse.”
I closed my eyes, drawing in a slow breath.
“He said it could cost her gift,” I corrected. My hand drifted down to rest over my stomach. The child hadn’t stirred since the night I touched the veilstone. I didn’t know if she was sleeping, or listening.
Or waiting for me to decide.
Behind me, the heavy door creaked as Bastain entered. His eyes were dark with sleeplessness, and the lines around his mouth were deeper than usual. He didn’t speak at first. Just nodded to Nate, then to me, and crossed the room slowly, setting an old scroll on the pedestal beside the flame circle.
“You asked for truth,” Bastain said quietly. “So here it is. The dagger is veilstone. Pure. Unforged by modern hands. Which means it can do one of two things.”
I already knew what he would say. But I listened anyway. a. But if it does-if it succeeds-it will take
“The child,” Nate whispered.
Bastain hesitated. Then nodded. “Not her life. Not her body. But her gift. The flame within her is tied to the Triad. Just as it is to you. If the bond is broken… she may never awaken. She may be normal.”
Normal.
A word that had never felt so cruel.
I exhaled slowly, turning toward the center of the circle. The dagger pulsed in my cloak, heat bleeding through the fabric. I didn’t move.
Nate stepped forward.
“Jiselle. Look at me.”
I did.
His eyes were glassy. Fractured. Still healing from everything this war had done to him-to us. But they held so much love it nearly undid me.
“Don’t do this. Please. We can find another way. We always do.”
“This is the other way,” I said, voice hoarse. “We’re out of time. The Triad is waking. The bond is pulling tighter every day. If we don’t choose now… it might choose for us.”
Nate’s jaw clenched. He stepped closer. “Then let it. Let it finish. Let it fuse. Why would you risk everything just to avoid something that might save us?”
“Because it might not save us. It might destroy what’s left of me. Of her. Of all of us. And you don’t get to make this decision for me.”
“I’m not trying to make a decision for you! I’m trying to keep you alive!”
The words cracked through the chamber like thunder.
And for a moment, no one breathed.
Then Nate stepped back, rubbing a hand down his face.
“You don’t need to be the one who burns first every time,” he whispered.
“I know,” I said. “But maybe this time… it has to be me.”
A silence followed. Heavy. Grieving. Nate didn’t move to stop me again.
Because he knew he couldn’t.
“It can sever a soul-tether. Any bond. Even one formed by the Triad. But if it does-if it succeeds-it will take something in return.”
“The child,” Nate whispered.
Bastain hesitated. Then nodded. “Not her life. Not her body. But her gift. The flame within her is tied to the Triad. Just as it is to you. If the bond is broken… she may never awaken. She may be normal.”
Normal.
A word that had never felt so cruel.
I exhaled slowly, turning toward the center of the circle. The dagger pulsed in my cloak, heat bleeding through the fabric. I didn’t move.
Nate stepped forward.
“Jiselle. Look at me.”
I did.
His eyes were glassy. Fractured. Still healing from everything this war had done to him-to us. But they held so much love it nearly undid me.
“Don’t do this. Please. We can find another way. We always do.”
“This is the other way,” I said, voice hoarse. “We’re out of time. The Triad is waking. The bond is pulling tighter every day. If we don’t choose now… it might choose for us.”
Nate’s jaw clenched. He stepped closer. “Then let it. Let it finish. Let it fuse. Why would you risk everything just to avoid something that might save us?”
“Because it might not save us. It might destroy what’s left of me. Of her. Of all of us. And you don’t get to make this decision for me.”
“I’m not trying to make a decision for you! I’m trying to keep you alive!”
The words cracked through the chamber like thunder.
And for a moment, no one breathed.
Then Nate stepped back, rubbing a hand down his face.
“You don’t need to be the one who burns first every time,” he whispered.
“I know,” I said. “But maybe this time… it has to be me.”
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