The Matchmaker - The Arrax Saga Book 1 Chapter 208

The dining hall had quieted, the clatter of plates replaced by the soft murmur of conversation and the occasional laugh. Saphira stood from her seat beside Nikolas, her body still humming with the weight of what she’d decided.

She scanned the room until she spotted Raven near the far end, chatting with Talia. The firelight caught the edge of Raven’s hair, her posture relaxed but alert.

Saphira approached, her voice low but sure. “Raven. I need a favour.”

Raven turned, her expression softening when she saw Saphira’s face. “What’s up?”

“I need you to bind Lupus,” Saphira said. “Tonight. And once it’s done, let the guards know. He’s to be escorted off pack lands.”

Raven blinked, her brows lifting. “You’re sure?”

Saphira nodded. “Yeah. I visited him this evening and I’ve made my decision.”

Raven studied her for a moment, not with suspicion, but with the kind of quiet care that came from a close friendship. “You okay?”

Saphira hesitated. “Not really. But I will be.”

Raven gave a small, crooked smile. “You want me to make it hurt a little?”

That pulled a breath of a laugh from Saphira. “No. Just make it clean. I don’t want him to have any excuses.”

Raven’s smile faded into something more serious. “You know I’ve got your back. Always. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you,” Saphira said, her voice softening. “Really, I mean it.”

Jed, who had been passing behind them, paused. “What’s going on?”

“Binding Lupus,” Raven said, already rising. “Escort and exile.”

Jed’s jaw tightened. “I’ll go with you. I will make sure he is long gone.”

Saphira turned to him. “Thanks, Jed.”

He gave a short nod, then followed Raven out of the hall, the two of them already murmuring as they disappeared down the corridor.

Saphira watched them go, a quiet ache settling in her chest.

She turned back to Nikolas, who had risen and was gathering their dishes. “Do you still have some of your old books on supernatural beings?”

He looked up. “Yeah, in the office drawers. Why?”

“I want to see if there’s anything in them,” she said. “Anything about the Core. Or what they are.”

Nikolas nodded. “Alright. Let’s go grab them.”

They walked together down the hall to the office, the quiet between them companionable. Nikolas opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a few worn leather-bound volumes, their spines cracked with age and use. Saphira knelt beside him, fingers brushing titles, *Bloodlines and Bonds, Forgotten Orders, The Shifting Legacy.*

“These,” she said, selecting two. “They feel right.”

They headed upstairs, the house dim and peaceful. In their room, they changed slowly, the tension of the day softening into quiet conversation, Nikolas teasing her about how she picked the heaviest books, Saphira rolling her eyes and saying it was because thin ones never hold real secrets.

Once in bed, Nikolas settled quickly, his breathing evening out as sleep claimed him. Saphira sat upright for a while, her side lamp casting a soft glow across the pages. She didn’t read yet, just held the book in her lap, staring at the words without seeing them.

Her mind was still in the cell. Still hearing Lupus’s voice.

But she was here now. In her room. With her mate.

She reached over and brushed a hand through Nikolas’s hair, then leaned back against the pillows.

The room was quiet with only the soft rustle of pages and the steady rhythm of Nikolas’s breathing broke the silence. Saphira sat upright in bed, legs tucked beneath her, her eyes were tired, but her mind refused to rest.

She’d been reading for over an hour, combing through dense chapters on supernatural hierarchies, bloodline theory, and magical inheritance. Each page felt heavier than the last, layered with history, but offering no answers. Nothing new. Nothing useful.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand. Her fingers drifted to the index, searching for something she hadn’t touched yet. Her gaze landed on a phrase that made her pulse skip: Binding Rituals and Ancestral Limitations.

She turned to the page.

The script was older, the ink faded, but the words were unmistakable:

True binding, permanent severance of a shifter’s connection to their wolf, can only be performed by a witch of significant power and direct Elder descent. Without Elder blood, the spell fractures or fails.

Saphira froze.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart began to race.

She read it again. And again. The words didn’t change.

Then she whispered, “Oh my god.”

The book slipped from her lap as she reached for Nikolas, her hands trembling. She shook his shoulder, urgency rising in her chest. “Nikolas. Nikolas, wake up.”

He stirred, groggy, blinking against the dim light. “Huh... what’s wrong?”

“Look,” she said, thrusting the book toward him. “Read this. Right here.”

Nikolas sat up straighter, rubbing his eyes as he took the book. His gaze scanned the passage, and Saphira watched the sleep drain from his face.

“Only a witch with Elder blood…” he murmured. “Saphira, Raven cast the binding spell on Damon, and now Lupus.”

“I know,” she said, her voice tight. “And it worked. That spell shouldn’t have worked unless...”

“She has Elder blood,” Nikolas finished, stunned.

Saphira nodded, her heart thudding against her ribs. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? The way her magic works. The spells she’s pulled off, some of them are beyond what most witches can even attempt. She’s always been powerful, but this… this explains why.”

Nikolas leaned back against the headboard; the book still open in his lap. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were wide. “I don’t think she knows.”

Saphira turned to him, brow furrowed. “Why do you say that?”

“She came to me years ago,” he said slowly. “Barely more than a teenager. Her magic was raw, wild. She didn’t even know what she was capable of. And she told me once, she was banished from her coven before she was old enough to remember anything about her lineage.”

Saphira’s lips parted. “Oh.”

She sat back, the weight of the revelation settling over her. Her thoughts spun, memories of Raven’s spells, her instincts, the way she always seemed to know things no one had taught her.

“She probably doesn’t know,” Saphira said quietly. “But now we do.”

Nikolas nodded, his voice low. “We need to tell her, show her this.”

Saphira looked down at the book again, her fingers brushing the edge of the page. Her pulse was still racing, but her mind was sharper now.

What did it mean for Raven?

For the war they were about to walk into?

She glanced at Nikolas, who was still staring at the page, his brow furrowed in thought.

And she knew, this could change the whole fight.