CHAPTER 2
1285 Words
SAGE POV.
“You sold me.”
I stormed into my father’s office, slamming the door behind me. He barely looked up, only sighing as he pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Sage,” he said quietly. “Calm yourself.”
Calm myself?
“Why?” I snapped. “Why did you do it? I have done everything….everything, a daughter is supposed to do for her family, yet you treated me no better than a chicken.”
He finally looked at me. He seemed older than I remembered, the lines on his face had deeper. “He is a powerful man, Sage. He will take care of you.”
“You don’t understand,” I cut him off. “The man is old enough to be your father. My grandfather. He is arrogant, repulsive, and he thinks he is doing me a favor!” I let out a bitter laugh. “How could you do this to me?”
“I’m sorry, Sage.”
My eyes watered with tears that were threatening to fall, I had spent years watching my father bend to my stepmother's wish, always choosing peace instead of standing up for himself. But just this once I wished he would choose me.
I took a step closer, shaking my head. “Do you think she would have wanted this? To see you sell your daughter for a handful of gold? Mom would have been ashamed of you.”
A flicker of guilt flashed across his face but he quickly replaced it with exhaustion.
“It’s your best chance of finding a husband. He is rich and old—old enough not to bother you at night when you… perform your duties. And when he dies, you will inherit his wealth. You will have the quiet, peaceful life you always wanted.”
I scoffed. “Are you being serious, Father? What about my mate? I will have a husband when I find my mate.”
My father rubbed his temple aggressively. He seemed to be doing that a lot now. “It’s been four years, Sage. If you were going to find your mate, you would have by now. You are twenty-two. Soon, you will no longer be desirable for marriage.”
“That’s bullshit!” I ran my hands through my hair.
He scowled. “Watch your language, young lady.”
“We both know this isn’t about me. You are selling me off because your beloved wife is tired of seeing me in her house.”
“Don’t make this about her,” he snapped, slamming his fist on the desk. “She has your best interests at heart.”
I let out a dry laugh. “That woman has never cared about me a day in her life.” My voice dropped. “And neither have you. Not since Mom. She was the only one who ever did.”
My father rose abruptly and walked to the other end of the room before lighting a cigar.
“You think I don’t care?” He hissed. “If I didn’t care, I’d have given you to the first man who asked. I’m not the villain you paint me to be, Sage. I’m giving you a future—better than anything you could ever hope for.”
I stayed silent as he turned to face me, the scent of burnt tobacco filling the room.
“You have heard the rumors, haven’t you?”
A cold chill traveled through my spine.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You were born during an eclipse, Sage.”
“Don’t you dare.”
I knew exactly what he meant. It was an old tale, one that had followed me since birth. Children born during an eclipse were said to be cursed, forsaken by the Moon Goddess. An omen of misfortune.
My mother had labored for two agonizing days. But it was only when the eclipse darkened the sky that I came into the world. It was strange, yes, but coincidence—not some curse.
When she died on my tenth birthday, the whispers started again. That it was fate. That I had been marked by darkness from the very beginning.
“I never believed it either,” my father continued. “But after four mating ceremonies with no mate, maybe the rumors are true.”
I shook my head. “No. You don’t believe that. You are just saying it to justify what you have done.”
“You are cursed, Sage.” He declared with a frown.
I staggered back, his words stole the air from my lungs and I forgot how to breathe.
My father had never said it out loud before. Never looked me in the eye and confirmed what the world had been whispering my entire life.
I could hear their voices in my head all over again—the hushed voices behind closed doors, the children who wouldn’t play with me, the way the elders had always looked at me with pity or fear.
“Mother said that wasn’t true.” I answered.
He sighed, shaking his head like I was a foolish child clinging to bedtime stories. “She wanted to believe that. But look around, Sage. Four years, and no mate. Not even a hint of one.”
I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms. “Maybe the Moon Goddess is waiting for the right time.”
“Or maybe She never intended to give you one.”
He exhaled, shaking his head. “He is willing to overlook your curse and marry you. This is your only future. Accept it.”
I hadn’t even realized I was crying until I caught my reflection in the silverware.
“I will not marry him.”
“You don’t have a choice, Sage,”
**********
I didn’t sleep that night.
How could I?
In two days, I would be dressed in silk and gold, paraded before my husband-to-be like a well trained pet. A quiet wife for a powerful man. A pretty face to warm his bed until he grew tired of me.
The thought of it made me sick.
I didn’t have a plan, no clear way to escape. And then, just before dawn, fate threw me a lifeline. I would like to think it was my mother helping me.
I had gone out for some fresh air desperate to calm my nerves when I collided with the delivery boy. He was young, barely in his teens, with big eyes. He held out a letter, his fingers smudged with ink.
“A message for the house of Bernard,” he muttered.
I snatched it from him before anyone else could see. My father rarely received letters, and the official seal on the parchment made me curious.
I carefully broke the wax, my eyes scanning the elegant script.
The Royal Academy for Alpha Training.
This year, they had extended their invitation beyond the usual noble families. They were now accepting the sons of past warriors—men who had once served under an Alpha’s command.
And my father, a former guard, had made the list.
I stared at the letter for a long time, wishing I had been a boy. I wouldn’t have to be married off to an old man because of silly rumors.
Life is so much easier if you were born a man.
And then it clicked.
I could be a man and nobody would look for me there.
They wouldn’t even know we had received an invitation.
So by nightfall, I stripped away every piece of myself that made me her.
- Writer
