REJECTED TWICE: CHOSEN BY FATE

CHAPTER 3

Asha's pov

Lilith won.

I had toiled, labored, and proved my worth, yet the victory still fell into Lilith's lot. I heard murmurs around some surprised, some disappointed, but many nodding in approval as if Lilith's victory had been given from the start.

Lilith beamed, the smugness radiating right off her as she accepted the winner's sash. She held her head high, her smile practically glowing as she took the applause. I could feel everyone's eyes on her, everyone admiring her as if she were the only one who mattered. But then her gaze found me, and I saw that cruel glint in her eyes.

I wanted to leave, slip away quietly in the hope she could say nothing, but I could already see her approaching. I straightened my shoulders, bracing myself, but that didn't make the words hurt any less.

"Oh, Asha," she said loudly, drawing everybody's attention. "How sweet of you to try." Her voice ran with false sympathy, condescending.

My cheeks flared hot, but I would not back down. "I did my best," I said softly, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

She laughed loudly as if I had just told the funniest joke anyone had ever heard. "Your best? Really?" She laughed some more, her head shaking. "That's what makes this so. Pitiful. Your best will never be good enough."

The murmur of the crowd surrounded us, and I could feel the weight of all those eyes on me. No one said a word, but I could tell what they were thinking. Lilith had won, and wasn't she just so beautiful, so talented, the stepsister that had everything? I was only Omega's daughter-the one that no one had ever expected much from.

I could feel my hands clench and my nails begin to dig deep into my palms, but I suppressed the urge to snap back. I knew it wouldn't help. Lilith was only looking for this reaction from me. She wanted me to feel small and humiliated.

Lilith stepped closer, her voice low enough to let the words cut. "Did you think you could stand here?" she spat. "Amongst everyone? You may have the strength and brains, but that does not make you one of us. You'll never be one of us."

Her words twisted in my chest, and I felt the lump welling up in my throat. But I bit it back, swallowing the hurt. I wouldn't give her the benefit of seeing me cry. Not here, not now.

Just then, I saw Prince Caelum standing toward the edge of the crowd, tall and watching the silver of his eyes fixed on whatever transpired before him. I felt a surge of humiliation. I had hoped, in my small way, that he might take notice of me in the competition. Perhaps he'd find something worthy of note within me. But now, standing here, shamed by my very own stepsister, I felt like a fool.

Lilith saw him, too; her smile turned even more triumphant. She turned to him, sending a sympathetic look in my direction that I knew wasn't supposed to be real. "Poor Asha," she said loudly, making sure Caelum could hear her too. "It's sad. She tries so hard but she's just not… well, she's just not enough, is she?

Lilith's voice rang out, her tone thick with pretended pity, and the crowd exploded with wave after wave of laughter to feed her ego. I turned around, my gaze falling on so many faces that I had known my whole life. Some glanced away, embarrassed for me, while others smirked, seeming to get a kick out of the spectacle Lilith turned me into. The humiliation crushed me, but then I forced myself to meet Caelum's eyes, determined to hold on to some scrap of dignity. But there was nothing readable upon his face; his eyes, shining silver, beheld the scene before him with neither sympathy nor encouragement.

I could have sworn that for a moment something flickered there—regret, perhaps, or curiosity—but it was gone, and I felt exposed and defeated.

"Enough, Lilith," I said, surprised by the steady weight of my voice. I did not care anymore if I sounded hurt or angry, only that she stopped. "Winning isn't about tearing others down."

Lilith laughed again. She waved her hand dismissively as if my words meant little to nothing. "Oh, please. Don't act like you're the victim here, Asha. You knew you'd never stand a chance. I was just saving you the embarrassment of finding out the hard way."

The crowd surged in a murmuring tide as Lilith's words boomed out. I wished I could sink into the ground and disappear. Those words of surety and even defiance that I wanted to toss back at her dried up in my mouth. The more I addressed her, the faster my confidence crumbled, and Lilith could see it.

She took one last jab, drawing up so close I was pretty sure only I could hear her. "You'll always be Omega's daughter. You'll always be beneath me, no matter what you do. Remember that."

And with that, she straightened up, flashing a perfect smile at Caelum like she'd accepted her crown as queen. And she walked off, leaving me sitting alone in the middle of the gathering, her victory told.

I was losing that battle to hold back the tears. Shame crushed the breath from my lungs. I could still feel Caelum's eyes on me; it was a silent reminder of how exposed I was and how pathetic I must seem to him and all others. I shuddered and took a shaky breath, willed calm to my chest, willed that they didn't see how much it hurt.

And just as I was considering my position in all of this, Elder Dorian's voice filled the clearing. "The competition for today is at its end," he said, eyes finding and dwelling on me for a moment, his expression less than pleasant. "Let this be a lesson in some of the things we, as a pack, hold in high regard: fortitude and cohesion.".

His words stung, and I knew with a bitter pang that he saw me, too, as nothing but an outsider. I could see the satisfaction in his eyes as if my failure was proof that I did not belong, that I was nothing more than a blemish on the otherwise perfect image of the pack.

My fists clenched tight; anger rose within me, for Lilith, for Elder Dorian, for the whole pack, in indifferent cruelty. But most against myself was I angry-to let their words hurt me, to let their poison find a place to stay in my skin.

I did not wait for the crowd to disperse; instead, I turned and ran, dodging through the trees until the sounds of the pack were muffled behind me. I did not stop running until I reached the river's edge, the quiet rush of the water drowning out the memories of the jeers and laughter. I was finally alone, and the pain and humiliation finally poured out of me in silent sobs.

It was stupid, but I couldn't help letting the words from Lilith get under my skin that badly, especially after everything -the years of belittling and being made to feel like I would never measure up. No matter how hard I tried or what I did, I was always on the outside, never part of the whole deal.

At some point, the tears stopped, leaving an empty and exhausting feeling. I gazed into the water to behold my reflection: the girl of sorrow back to stare at me tired and broken. But beneath the sadness, there was something else: a spark of defiance and resilience.

I straightened, wiping the last traces of my tears away. I was done letting Lilith and the pack control how I felt about myself. If they wanted to see me as weak, as less-than, that was their problem, not mine. I'd come this far on my strength, and I wasn't going to let one competition or one spoiled stepsister define my worth.

I took a deep breath, feeling it set in the resolve. I would find my way to prove myself and show them all that I was more than Omega's daughter. Not needing their approval or their praise. Not needing anyone to tell me what I was worth.

And Prince Caelum, if he could believe that judgment handed down against me because of Lilith's lies and manipulation, then maybe that was a man not even worth my time or my dreams. I'd spent too long with my hopes on him, a wish that he would be able to see past the rumors and give me a chance. But I was coming to realize that it was exactly in that realization that I didn't need him to confirm my strength. I could do it myself.

The pain remained, yet so did something else: this new sense of determination, a quiet fire burning within me. I wasn't going to give up, not because of Lilith, not because of Elder Dorian, and not because of anyone else who thought that I didn't belong.

I gazed back down the trail that led to the pack's pack, the place once upon a time said home. I would never truly feel it was home again, but that wasn't about to stop me. With or without their acceptance, I would make my path, my place in the world.

One final glance over my shoulder at the river, and with a new resolution leading my steps, I turned back. This wasn't the end. It was only the beginning of something stronger. Lilith couldn't take that from me.

But as I stepped deeper into the woods, I heard the faintest rustle behind me—too quiet to be the wind. I spun around, heart racing, and caught sight of a figure emerging from the shadows. It was Rylan yet again.

His eyes locked onto mine, and for the first time, I couldn't read his expression.

"You're not done yet," he said, his voice low and deliberate. "Not by a long shot."

The air seemed to crackle around us as something shifted in the silence. My heart skipped a beat. What did he mean? And why was he here?