BloodBound Crown
Kael, behind her, was a bond-presence of controlled amazement.
The King was quiet for a moment. Then, with the manner of someone making a decision that cost them nothing to make while appearing to be a concession: "Speak."
"The land bond," Lyra said. She kept it clean, kept it factual—Maeve's framework, the language they'd settled on. "When the Crown Prince claimed me, the mate bond activated a form of wolf-native magic that connects to the kingdom's land systems. This is documented in historical records of mate-bond manifestations among high-bloodline wolves." She was careful not to say which bloodline. Not yet. "It's not a hostile activation. It responds to biological need—dying plants, fa