<h4>Chapter 763: 763-The Dark Fake Bond</h4>


    <strong>Hnie:</strong>


    "So she had been manipting Kaye into believing he was a mermaid hunter." Emmet wrapped it up, summarizing everything. I was still in shock, and I could tell the others were too. Kaye looked so sad. It felt like, all this time, the brothers weren’t really making mistakes, they were beingpelled to. Honestly, I was relieved that Kaye wasn’t so messed up that he had dragged her along on purpose. She had basically been stuck with him against his will.


    "We should go down and let everybody know," I said, demanding justice for Kaye. "And also, she’s a siren. Sirens are bad creatures. They’re not like mermaids." I reminded them that not a single siren had ever been kind. They were just like the other monsters, like the Zharns and the other ones from X-codex.


    "We can’t do that right now," Emmet said, stepping in.


    I looked at him, annoyed. "Emmet, what is going on? Why did you insist they ept their mates at first, and now this? I want to know what it is."


    Slowly, everyone else turned toward Emmet, probably wondering the same thing.


    "I found out some stuff," Emmet said, sounding exhausted.


    "We can’t right now, Hnie. We can’t waste the mate bonds we have with the others." As soon as Emmet said that, I groaned and narrowed my eyes at him. "I’m not saying this because—oh my god, I don’t even know how to exin it. I just have this feeling that the mate bond happened for a reason," he said, looking anxious.


    "Emmet, it’s escting. You know your mother has already done terrible things to Sage." The moment I mentioned his student, he looked straight at me with his hands on his waist. "Yes, your student, the one who had a crush on you. Your mother found out and tried to take advantage of her." Iid out every word clearly, wanting them to understand the seriousness of the situation.


    "What do you mean she took advantage of her?" Norman asked, clearly concerned. They all took their students and their safety seriously. And after the bullying had gotten worse, they’d decided to stop it altogether. So finding out their mother was the one hurting students must have been an even bigger shock.


    "You know your mother gave her false hopes. She told Sage that she could be with you, that she could feel the fated bond with you—if she was willing to do something for it. Then she started asking her weird questions, like what she thought about rituals, or more specifically, who she loved the most." I kept talking, not thinking too much of it. I just assumed Darcy was trying to trick Emmet into believing she was his fated mate, the same way she had with Charlotte. But the look on Emmet’s face told me it wasn’t that simple.


    "That’s so messed up. Imagine being in love with someone and then being given false hope, only to have it mean nothing," Maximus said, groaning and clenching his fist.


    "I think Hnie is right. The longer my mother is left unchecked, the more chances she has to hurt us, her, and our baby," Kaye added. He looked much calmer and more confident now that he understood what was going on. And since he was the one who figured out the truth about Kesha, I thought he deserved credit. He looked proud, especially with the way everyone was looking at him. His brothers stared at him like he was some kind of hero. And honestly, when I looked at him with pride on my face, I saw Kaye smile even wider. The poor guy had forgotten he might still be under her spell, but I think he was just happy he’d done something right.


    "That sounds like the dark fate bond."


    "Dark fate bond? What’s that?" I asked. All eyes turned to Emmet again, and then Norman snapped his fingers like something had clicked.


    "You mean the ritual? The dark fate bond ritual?" Norman asked, and Emmet started nodding. Even Kaye and Maximus seemed to remember what he was talking about.


    Emmet’s knowledge was impressive. You could speak a few words in front of him, and he’d piece everything together, what the curse was, what it meant, what the ritual was, and how it worked. But this dark fate bond sounded way creepier than I expected.


    "It’s a ritual used to make someone feel a mate bond with a person they’re not actually fated to," Emmet exined. "So it’s basically a fake bond, even though they call it a fate bond." He looked around Norman’s office and began searching the shelves quickly.


    "Wait, so I don’t get it. Was she trying to do the ritual?" I paused as Emmet, Maximus, and Norman all gave me the same look—heads tilted, one eyebrow raised, hands on their waists. "Wait, you don’t think she already did it, right?" I asked. Norman nodded, Maximus smiled, and Kaye rolled his eyes.


    "That’s typical of my mother," Kaye said.


    Emmet returned with a book in his hand. "Look at this one," he said, pointing to it. It waspletely ck, with only a golden crescent moon on the cover.


    "This ritual is only used for evil purposes. No one wants to feel a fake mate bond, man or woman, and especially not a fate bond," Emmet added, making my heart pound.


    "What’s required to start the ritual?" I asked.


    He mmed the book down and opened it aggressively. "Sacrifices." The way he said it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.


    "I think I know what Mother has done," Emmet said, making my eyes go wide.


    That was when Norman’s phone beeped. He checked his messages, then took a call. We knew it was important because he motioned for us to stay quiet until he finished. When the call ended, he sighed and turned to face us, lookingpletely distraught.


    "Oh no, please tell me it’s not more bad news." I uttered. Maximus hugged me from behind, trying to calm me down.


    "Remember those scribbles? The notes about the sacrifice Emmet has to make?" Norman said bitterly. As we all nodded, Maximus slowly let go of the hug, now fully alert.


    "They found fingerprints on some of those notes," he said.


    I looked at Emmet, then back at Norman. I hadn’t even known they were checking for fingerprints.


    "Whose fingerprints were they?" I asked, holding my breath.


    When he said the name, my entire body froze. It shook me, and Maximus, to the core.


    "They were Charlotte’s," he said.


    And in that moment, my whole life shed before my eyes.