Episode 5
942 Words
Time did not pass in the dungeon.
It rotted.
I learned that somewhere between the first scream and the hundredth dose of wolfbane, when the concept of days stopped meaning anything and pain became the only reliable measure of existence.
Three weeks.
That was what my body told me. The way my muscles wasted. The way my bones ached as if winter had taken up residence inside them.
The way my wolf curled so tightly inside me that I could barely feel her breathing anymore.
Silver chains pinned me to the stone wall, etched with runes that burned whenever I moved too much.
They wrapped around my wrists, my ankles, my waist...designed not just to restrain, but to remind me, every second, that I was powerless.
The cell smelled like damp stone, blood, and wolfbane.
Always wolfbane.
They brought it twice a day. Sometimes more, if I’d screamed too loudly the night before.
It burned going down...liquid fire tearing through my throat and settling in my gut like poison.
My wolf would thrash weakly at first, then whimper, then go still.
Every dose pushed her farther away from me, like she was drowning and I was forced to watch from shore.
I stopped begging after the first week.
There was no point.
The guards avoided my eyes. Some looked afraid of me. Others looked satisfied. None of them spoke.
Except Magnus.
He came without warning, his heavy footsteps echoing down the corridor long before I could see him.
My body tensed automatically, pain flaring where the chains dug into my skin.
He stopped just outside the bars, torchlight carving harsh shadows across his face.
“Well,” he said softly, as if we were meeting over dinner instead of my cage. “You’re still alive.”
I didn’t lift my head. It took too much energy.
“Disappointing,” he continued, clicking his tongue. “I’d hoped the wolfbane would have finished the job by now.”
My fingers curled weakly. Rage stirred within me, thin but stubborn.
“You’ll kill me eventually,” I rasped. “And still be wrong.”
Magnus laughed softly. “Still clinging to that fantasy? Accusing a favored wolf of treachery? Do you know how that made you look?”
I forced myself to meet his eyes then. “Like someone telling the truth.”
His smile vanished.
He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell him...iron and dominance and cruelty.
“Truth,” he said coldly, “is decided by those in power.”
He reached through the bars and grabbed my chin, forcing my face up.
Silver burned where his skin brushed mine, but he didn’t flinch.
“You were nothing before this,” he said quietly. “A healer. A rejected mate.”
His grip tightened. “And now? You’re a problem.”
I swallowed blood. “Then why keep me alive?”
His eyes flicked to my chest...where the faintest echo of the bond still lived. “Because corpses don’t confess.”
He released me abruptly and turned away. “Enjoy the night, Liana. Tomorrow’s dosage will be stronger.”
The torchlight vanished with him.
I sagged against the chains, shaking.
I didn’t cry.
Not because I was strong...but because I was empty.
Hours later...maybe days...I heard softer footsteps.
A single key turned in the outer gate.
Elias.
He was one of the younger guards, barely older than me, with tired eyes and a perpetually tense jaw.
He never looked at me for long, but he never sneered either.
He knelt beside the bars and slid a cup through.
“Drink,” he whispered.
The smell hit me immediately.
Wolfbane...but weaker. Diluted.
My eyes snapped to his. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want your death on my conscience,” he said simply.
I hesitated only a moment before drinking. It still burned, but less.
My wolf stirred faintly, a fragile flutter of awareness that nearly made me sob.
Elias exhaled slowly. “You need to stop provoking Magnus.”
I laughed weakly. “By existing?”
“By accusing Evelyn,” he said. “By speaking.”
I studied his face. “Why do you care?”
“Because you won’t last much longer if you don’t,” he said quietly. “The council won’t intervene. The Alpha King won’t look at you. And Magnus…” He shook his head. “He’s looking for an excuse.”
“An excuse for what?”
“To end you.”
Silence stretched between us.
My heart stuttered. I swallowed “Thomas?...”
Elias’s mouth tightened. “He’s preparing for a second ceremony. In two nights.”
With Evelyn.
Elias stood. “Rest. And...Liana?”
“Yes?”
“If you want to survive,” he said, voice barely above a breath, “you’ll need to become something they ignore.”
He left before I could ask what he meant. I lay there long after, staring at the darkness.
The chains still hurt. The wolfbane still poisoned me. The bond was still damaged...but not gone.
I pressed my palm to my chest and felt it.
A pulse. Weak, but alive.
They thought locking me away would erase me.
They thought breaking my body would break my will.
But the Moon Goddess had not rejected me.
She had tested me. And I understood now.
Lunas were not crowned because they were gentle.
They were chosen because they endured.
I closed my eyes, letting the darkness wrap around me.
If I survived this…
No.
When I survived this…
They would kneel.
And this pack would learn what it meant to cage a future Luna
- Writer
