Margaret’s POV
“Was my soul masked? Am I a supernatural like everybody here in the Western Kingdom?”
Lucy’s question pierced through me like a blade. My chest tightened, my breath catching as though she had dragged a secret I had buried deep for decades into the light. This was the one question I had dreaded my entire life—the one I prayed she would never ask. And now, here it was, hanging in the air, heavy and unforgiving.
I could never admit it. Not to her, not to anyone. Not even to the other werelions who carried their truth openly. Because my truth was too tangled in pain, betrayal, and survival.
Yes, I was one of them. A werelion. My lioness had awoken when I transitioned at eighteen, but through magic, I forced her into silence. I had buried Clara, my other half, so deep that ev
