Twist of Fate

Awakening and Choice

Lyra’s POV



“Drink this.”

Mia’s voice was gentle as she placed a porcelain cup into my hands. The tea inside glowed amber, steam curling softly into the air. Moonflowers decorated the rim, painted so delicately they looked almost real.

I stared at the cup. Then at her.

She had arrived uninvited that morning, stepping into my home as if she still belonged here. As if she hadn’t been sleeping with my husband while pretending to be my closest friend.

“You need your strength,” she continued, sitting on the edge of my bed. She looked flawless, as always. A blue gown that made her eyes glow. Blonde hair braided neatly down her back. Serene. Angelic.

She was anything but.

“I’m not thirsty,” I whispered. My throat burned from crying.

“Lyra.” Her hand covered mine. Warm. Comforting. “You haven’t eaten properly in days. You’re fading. Let me take care of you. That’s what friends do.”

Friends.

The word tasted bitter. Still, I didn’t resist. I was exhausted in a way that reached my bones. Every breath hurt. My body ached where Killian’s hands had lingered. Where my child had once been.

I lifted the cup and took a small sip.

Too sweet. Like honey poured over something rotten. Beneath it lingered bitterness, sharp at the back of my throat.

Mia watched me closely. For a brief moment, satisfaction flickered across her green eyes before she masked it with concern.

“Good girl,” she murmured. “Finish it. You’ll feel better.”

I drank again. Part of me no longer cared what happened to my body. It had already endured too much.

“You know,” Mia said lightly, adjusting my blanket, “people are talking.”

My fingers tightened around the cup. “Talking about what?”

“About you.” Her voice softened. “The Luna hasn’t been seen. They say you’ve locked yourself away. That you’re too weak to bear grief. Some are wondering if Killian made a mistake choosing you.”

Each word pierced me.

“I lost my baby,” I whispered.

“I know.” She squeezed my hand. “But life doesn’t stop. You have duties. A pack. A husband who needs you.”

A husband who caused my child’s death. Who came home carrying her scent.

I said nothing. Just drank.

“That’s better,” Mia smiled, taking the cup. “Rest. I’ll check on you tomorrow.”

As she stood, I noticed a dark mark above her collar.

A bite.

Killian’s.

My stomach twisted. I watched her leave, shutting the door softly behind her.

The days blurred together.

I slept endlessly, waking disoriented and weak. Food tasted like ash and metal. My thoughts moved slowly, heavy and dull.

Mia came every day with her tea. Always kind. Always concerned.

Each day I drifted further away.

Killian barely noticed. He came home late, left early. When I tried to tell him something felt wrong—

“You’re grieving,” he said without looking up. “It’s in your head.”

“I really think—”

“That’s enough, Lyra.” His voice cut sharp. “I won’t entertain your theatrics.”

So I stopped trying.

Stopped explaining. Stopped hoping.

Until the dreams began.

The first time I saw her, I thought I was dying.

I lay half-awake when silver light flooded the room. Moonlight poured through the window, illuminating a figure at the foot of my bed.

A woman.

She was impossibly beautiful, tall and radiant. Her hair shimmered like starlight. Her eyes held entire galaxies. Her gown looked woven from moonbeams.

“Lyra,” she said, her voice like wind through trees. “You were never meant to belong to him.”

I tried to speak. Nothing came.

She approached, fingertips brushing my forehead. Warmth spread through me for the first time in weeks.

“They are destroying you,” she whispered. “It does not have to end this way.”

“Who are you?” I breathed.

She smiled sadly. “You know me.”

Light swallowed everything.

I woke gasping, soaked in sweat.

She came every night after that. Always in dreams. Sometimes watching. Sometimes speaking.

“You are stronger than you think,” she told me once.

“I feel like I’m disappearing.”

“You are,” she replied calmly. “The poison inside you is severing your bond with your wolf. With me. Soon, nothing will remain.”

“Help me,” I begged.

“I cannot interfere directly. But I can show you the truth—if you’re brave enough.”

Images flooded her eyes.

Stefan whispering to Killian. Mia stirring something into tea. The two of them laughing over documents I couldn’t read.

“No,” I whispered. “Stefan wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t he?” the Moon Goddess asked gently.

More visions followed. Stefan as a boy, swearing vengeance on the Ashwyns. Stefan planting doubt. Mia feeding Killian’s jealousy.

“This was planned,” she said. “Your pain. Your marriage. Your death.”

My chest burned.

I had always known something was wrong.

The next day, I stopped drinking the tea.

I poured it into a flowerpot. Within hours, the plant withered.

Proof.

My mind slowly cleared. Strength crept back.

And rage followed.

They took everything from me.

But I wasn’t dead yet.

I waited until Killian left, then slipped into the woods. The air was cold and clean. Mine.

A growl sounded.

A rogue wolf emerged, red eyes glowing.

I froze.

Then it lunged.

I screamed—

—and collided with something solid.

Strong arms pulled me back. Growls. Bones snapping.

When I opened my eyes, Stefan stood between me and the rogue.

“What were you thinking?” he snapped. “You could’ve died.”

“Let go,” I whispered.

“No.” His eyes searched my face. “What’s happening to you? What has he done?”

“You,” I said softly. “This was your doing.”

Shock crossed his face.

“I know everything,” I continued. “You and Mia. All of it.”

His expression shifted.

“Don’t,” I said, stepping back. “I won’t be your victim anymore.”

Pain exploded behind my eyes.

I fell.

When I woke, I lay beneath a sky of endless stars.

The Moon Goddess knelt beside me.

“You were meant for more,” she said.

“Am I alive?”

“Barely.”

“Why bring me here?”

“To offer you a choice.”

She could send me back. Before the wedding. Before everything broke.

“But it will be dangerous,” she warned. “They will still exist. You will need strength.”

“They destroyed me.”

“They tried,” she corrected. “Now choose.”

I thought of everything I lost.

“Send me back,” I said.

Light consumed me.

I woke in my childhood room.

Mia’s voice echoed downstairs.

I looked at my hands. Unscarred.

But inside, I remembered everything.

This time, I would be ready.