Chapter 4
1313 Words
“Lady Serene?”
A voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
She turned sharply from the top of the stairs.
An older woman stood in the hallway, her brown hair, with silver stripes, was tied back neatly, and her hands were full of folded white cloth and polished jewelry.
This was Mira.
The woman who had dressed her for the ceremony three years ago.
Even the way Mira looked at her was the same, she looked half worried, half impatient.
“There you are,” Mira said, hurrying towards her. “Why are you standing here? Everyone is downstairs already. We’ve been looking for you. We tried waking you for the ceremony, we left you a bit to sleep more because we thought you being nervous made you oversleep.”
Serene said nothing.
Mira stopped in front of her, frowning. “Child, what is wrong with you?”
Her eyes dropped to Serene’s plain sleeping dress.
“You’re not ready. The ceremony begins soon.”
The words landed heavily on Serene.
The ceremony.
Serene looked past Mira, toward the sounds coming from below.
There was a lot of laughter.
They were the voices of people who had once watched her smile while leading her to ruin.
Mira lowered her voice and said to Serene. “Do you understand what today means?”
Serene forced herself to answer with a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Then why are you still here?”
Mira adjusted the cloth in her hands and glanced around the hallway and below the stairs nervously before stepping closer.
“The Luna’s position has fallen to your family line. The elders have decided. It must be one of the daughters of this house.”
One of the daughters.
Serene looked at Mira blankly because she had probably said that to her before, multiple times, multiple people had said the same thing to her too in the past.
Mira continued, “Either you… or Nyx.”
At the mention of her sister’s name, Serene’s expression changed as old
memories surfaced in her brain.
There were memories of Nyx crying and raging, and the memories of Nyx smiling when she was pushed alive, six feet into the ground.
Mira sighed. “The Lycan gods may choose you. Today you may marry him and take your place as Luna.”
Serene’s mind moved quickly.
This was the turning point.
This was where everything began, but now she had a choice.
She could take the same road again or she could step away from it entirely.
Her gaze shifted downstairs.
Kael was there.
Nyx was there.
Maybe the easiest and most sensible path was to give them what they had wanted all along.
Let Nyx have him.
Let Nyx become Luna.
Let Serene walk away before the betrayal, before the cruelty, before her cruel death.
Wouldn’t that change everything?
Wouldn’t that save her?
Mira mistook Serene’s silence for fear.
She softened. “You do not need to be nervous, child. Every woman trembles before marriage.”
Serene almost laughed at what Mira said.
If only nerves were the problem.
She looked at Mira. “Where is Nyx?”
Mira blinked. “With the others downstairs, I believe.”
“Good.”
Mira frowned. “Good?”
Serene took the folded white clothes from the woman’s hands.
“I’ll be ready soon.”
Serene went into her room, closed the door, and stood still for a while.
Then she laid the folded white clothes she got from Mira which turned into the white ceremonial gown she was supposed to wear, across the bed.
It was soft, silky, and beautiful, with silver threading along the sleeves.
Three years ago, she had worn it with naivety, innocence, and hope.
Today, she looked at it like armor.
She dressed slowly.
Every touch of fabric brought back memories.
Kael’s cold stare.
The whispers of pack members.
The loneliness of being a wife in name only. The weak Luna.
The endless effort of trying to earn warmth from a man who had already given his heart elsewhere.
When she finished, she stared at herself in the mirror.
She looked the same as she remembered, but she was not going to be that powerless girl from before anymore.
This time, she knew where every smile led.
This time, she knew where every promise died.
She placed a silver piece in her hair.
Then she left the room.
The hall was full.
There were pack members lined up on both sides of the room.
Candles burned in tall stands.
White flowers decorated the pillars.
The air smelled of incense and fresh leaves filled the atmosphere.
At the center stood the ceremonial platform, and beside it stood…
Kael.
He wore black and silver.
He was standing tall, taking up space, with his broad shoulders, manly hard build shaped by battles and training.
His striking facial structure, sharp clean jaws, high cheekbones, luscious lips, and straight nose. His dangerous, intense brown eyes and thick dark hair that always had loose strands lazily falling on his forehead
Every eye turned toward him with respect.
He always looked like a King.
Every eye turned toward Serene and Nyx with expectation.
Serene’s steps did not slow down.
But her heart gave one hard beat when Kael looked at her.
For a second, she saw no recognition.
Of course, he wouldn’t recognize her.
To him, this was his first time.
To her, it was a second life.
His gaze swept over her, unreadable.
Then moved away, to Nyx.
Just as before.
Nyx stood inches away in a pale white dress, glowing and beautiful, but her smile faded the moment she saw Serene fully dressed.
There it was.
The disappointment.
The open wound.
The jealousy is already beginning.
Serene looked at her sister carefully.
Maybe this was her moment to change it.
She stepped forward before the ceremony could begin.
“Elders,” she said clearly.
Murmurs spread through the room.
The oldest Lycan lifted his hand for silence. “Speak.”
Serene drew in a breath.
“If the Luna must come from our family line… then I request that Nyx be considered in my place.”
The hall froze.
Even the candles seemed to be still.
Nyx’s eyes widened.
Kael turned fully toward Serene now.
The elder frowned deeply. “What are you saying?”
Serene kept her voice calm. “Nyx is capable, Strong, and respected. If the position is about bloodline, then she qualifies.”
Shock spread across the room, as the room went into frenzy.
Whispers rose immediately.
“She doesn't want to be Luna?”
“Why?”
“Has she gone mad?”
Nyx stared at Serene as if she couldn’t understand what she was hearing.
Then hope flickered in her eyes.
Kael’s hardened face softened.
The elder struck his staff once against the floor.
“Silence!”
The room quieted.
He looked at Serene. “This is not a trade. The elders have decided after prayer, law, and tradition.”
Serene held his gaze. “Then choose again.”
The elder’s expression darkened.
Another elder stepped forward. “The moon’s sign fell on you, not your sister.”
The hall erupted with whispers and opinions
Serene’s jaw tightened.
Of course.
The sign.
That cursed blessing.
The first elder spoke firmly. “The decision is made. Serene will be Luna.”
Nyx’s hope shattered so openly it almost hurt to look at her.
She took one step back.
Then another.
Her face drained of color.
Kael said nothing, but something in his expression changed.
He was annoyed and irritated.
She had tried.
And it had failed.
Exactly as fate seemed to want.
Nyx turned and fled the hall, wailing.
Gasps followed her as she ran.
Serene moved before thinking.
“Nyx!”
She lifted her white dress and ran after her.
- Writer
