The silence in the Sacred Moon Temple was absolute, heavy with the suffocating weight of my Royal Command.
Kaelen knelt on the cold marble floor before me, his hands trembling as he reached out to clutch the hem of my midnight-blue silk gown. He looked up at me with golden eyes that were bloodshot, desperate, and completely devoid of the arrogant Alpha pride that had defined him for the past three years.
"Elara," he whispered again, his voice breaking into a pathetic sob. "I was wrong. I was blind. The Goddess tricked me with Lyra... she poisoned my mind. Please, my Mate. Come back to me. I will give you everything. I will lay the world at your feet."
I looked down at his dirty, grasping hands. I didn't feel a flicker of pity. I didn't feel the old, familiar terror. I simply felt an ove
