He called me a mistake
948 Words
Vespera’s Pov
I don't remember much about the first hours after I ran. Just fragments. The burn in my lungs. The sting of branches whipping across my face. The sound of my own ragged breathing echoing through the forest like a wounded animal.
I ran until my legs gave out.
When I finally stopped, I had no idea where I was. The trees stretched endlessly in every direction, thick trunks wrapped in moss, their canopy so dense that barely any moonlight filtered through. I stood there swaying, my body trembling from exhaustion and shock, trying to remember how to breathe like a normal person.
But I wasn't a normal person anymore. I didn't know what I was.
My hands were shaking so badly I had to clasp them together. Even then, I could feel the tremors running through my entire body. Three years. Three years of marriage to Julian, and in one night, everything had shattered. The image of him with Lydia kept replaying behind my eyes—her body draped across his lap, his hands tangled in her hair, the satisfied smile on her face when she saw me standing in the doorway.
*You poor thing. Did you really think he wanted you?*
I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to block out the memory. But it was burned into my brain. Every detail. Every word. Every laugh.
I needed to keep moving. Julian wouldn't let me go this easily. I was his property, he'd made that clear. The dowry my father had paid was funding his private army, his ambitions, his entire rise to power. He needed me, even if he didn't want me.
The thought made bile rise in my throat.
I stumbled forward, my feet catching on roots and stones. The forest floor was uneven, treacherous in the dark. But I didn't dare shift into wolf form. I couldn't. I'd never had a wolf. That was the whole problem, wasn't it? That was why Julian kept Lydia on the side. Why the pack whispered behind my back. Why I'd spent three years enduring fertility rituals and medications and Julian's cold, perfunctory touches in the dark.
Because I was broken.
Wolfless.
Useless.
A branch caught my shoulder and I stumbled, going down hard on one knee. Pain shot through my leg but I barely felt it. I was so numb. So hollow. Like everything inside me had been scooped out and thrown away.
I stayed there on the ground for a long moment, breathing hard, staring at my hands in the darkness. They were scratched and bleeding from pushing through brambles. Dirt was caked under my fingernails. My dress—the one I'd worn to surprise Julian, the pretty blue one with the lace collar that I thought he might like—was torn in three places, the hem filthy with mud.
I looked like exactly what I was. A castoff. Discarded.
The mating bond with Julian had always felt wrong. Like wearing shoes that didn't quite fit. A constant uncomfortable pressure that I'd learned to ignore because I thought that was just how it was supposed to feel. But when the King had bitten me, when his teeth had sunk into my neck in the clearing—
I touched the mark reflexively. It was still there, slightly raised, tender to the touch. Different from Julian's mark, which had always felt cold. Dead. This one was warm. It thrummed with something I didn't understand.
And then the King had looked at me in the morning like I was a mistake. A problem to be solved. He'd offered me money. A carriage. A new life far away where no one would know what happened.
He'd rejected me before the bond could even settle.
The pain of it hit me all over again, fresh and sharp. I'd gone from one rejection to another in the span of a single night. From Julian's mistress to the King's regret.
I forced myself to stand. My legs shook but they held. I couldn't think about Malachi right now. Couldn't think about the way his eyes had gone cold when he realized who I was. The way he'd called it a mistake, a consequence of the curse, something to be erased and forgotten.
I needed shelter. Water. Safety.
The cabin appeared just as full darkness settled over the forest.
It was small, practically falling apart, with weathered gray wood and a door that hung crooked on rusted hinges. One window was completely shattered, the other covered with boards. The roof sagged in the middle like a swayback horse.
It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
I made it up the three steps to the porch before my legs finally gave out completely. I crashed to my knees, then forward onto my hands, gasping for air. My vision swam with black spots. I needed to get inside. Needed to hide before Julian's hunters found me.
I crawled the last few feet.
The door creaked open at my touch and I half-fell over the threshold. Inside smelled like rot and animal droppings and old wood slowly returning to the earth. Perfect. No one would think to look for me here. This place looked like it had been abandoned for years, maybe decades.
I made it about three feet into the cabin before I collapsed.
The floor was rough, splintered wood that dug into my cheek. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I should get up. Find a corner. Check for anials or snakes or anything else that might be sheltering here. But my body wouldn't cooperate. I was done. Completely empty.
I let the darkness take me.
- Writer
