Chapter Two
1621 Words
Avaline's Pov
My mind spun. What on earth was she saying?
“You really have gone mad.” Cassian’s voice echoed in the silent space.
“Have I, Cassian?” She scoffed. “The seer saw it all. You and the Luna wrapped up in each other’s filthy arms, like the filthy animals you are.”
I tried to form words to counter her vile statement, but Cassian beat me to it.
“Shut your mouth, Sage. None of that happened.”
“You dare to call me a liar? How disgraceful.” The seer scowled in response. She dusted her hands against her dress. “Now that you’ve been caught in your act, you can’t even show some form of remorse for the betrayal.”
“I can’t show remorse for a sin not committed.”
In the midst of it all, everything else dissolved away. I watched Darius, and he watched me. His golden eyes pierced through me as intensely as they always had, but this time, my heart didn’t jump for glee. It shattered.
He kept my gaze as I found my way to him, reaching for his face, but a strong hand grabbed mine. Sage.
I glared at her, attempting to yank my hand free from her grip but Darius’s voice grabbed my attention.
“Did you…”
“I did no such th—“
“Don’t listen to her, she’s trying to cover it up.”
I glared at her once again, anger building in my body.
“Sage shut up.” I spat.
Darius gripped me by my arms, staring deeply into me.
“How could you…?”
“Darius, I would never do such a thing. I love you. You and no one else.”
“The Seer never lies.”
He let go of me like a used object. I stumbled back, my breath hitching as he turned his back on me.
“She is. Cassian and I have never. She’s lying.”
“Alpha Darius,” Cassian spoke, his voice desperate, “I have served you for as long as I can remember. I owe you so much, I would never—“
In one swift motion Darius lunged at him, his hand closing around Cassian’s throat.
“You would never? But you did. You rolled in bed. With. My. Mate.” He squeezed tighter.
Cassian struggled, his face reddening as he fought the urge to claw at Darius’s hand. His breaths became weaker. He was losing consciousness.
“Darius, let go of him.” I let the words roll of my tongue in a cry.
I caught a glimpse of Darius flinching for a just a moment. He ignored me.
Nobody would be dying here today, especially not over something as outlandish as this.
“Darius you’ll kill him.” I cried.
“Pitiful, she’s defending her lover.” I paid the seer no attention of mine.
Instead, I clawed at Darius’s arm. He let go but not before roughly shoving me off of him. I hit the floor with a sharp gasp while Cassian let out raspy coughs as he gasped for air.
“Seer.” Darius called out, his voice ringing through the hall.
“Yes, Alpha Darius?”
“Tell me.” He paused. “Tell me what you saw.”
The seer lifted her chin, her voice frim and unwavering.
“I saw the Royal Luna Aveline and the royal beta Cassian having intimate affairs together. They had s*x and betrayed you Royal Alpha.”
What?
My stomach dropped.
What was she saying?
Why was she spewing nonsense out of her mouth?
I looked around at the pack members in the hall. All of the women I had been accommodating throughout the night gave me dirty looks, whispering amongst themselves.
No.
They couldn’t possibly believe this rubbish.
I needed Darius to hear me, to see me.
“Darius, listen to me.” I clambered to my feet. “I would never do that to you. Darius look at me.”
I couldn’t reach him.
Hands were on me from all sides, pulling me to my knees. The warriors had now surrounded me. Cassian was shoved into my side not long after.
Darius finally turned.
The murmurs of the crowd rose to angry shouts of disdain and contempt.
“Banish them!”
“A disgrace!”
“How shameful!”
“Exile them!”
“How could you?!”
My heart rate picked up at the barrage of accusations thrown at us. They really didn’t believe us.
A lump in my throat grew as I felt the urge to cry.
But not yet.
Not yet, no.
I still had a chance.
I still did.
I gazed up at him, pleading with him, begging him with my eyes, but he broke our gaze with a huff.
Sage circled round us like a predator, her hand trickling through Cassian’s hair like a taunt. He shook her off instantly, glaring daggers at her.
She merely smirked at him, but at me? She revealed a sad smile. I was going to kill her, even if it was the last thing I did.
“What shall we do with them, Alpha Darius?” The warrior from earlier in the evening asked.
“Simple, we banish them.” Sage replied in his stead. “According to the laws of the Black Moon Royal Pack they are to be exiled and dealt with as the Alpha sees fit. Isn't that right?”
The other pack members agreed with her, their voices cornering me where I knelt.
“I haven’t committed any crime.” I tried again.
The statement sent the room into outrage.
“This is a ploy against me, against us both. The seer—”
“Did the right thing.”
Darius completed my sentence and at the same time silenced the crowd. I stared back at the man I loved in disbelief. My chest heaved.
“What..?” I faltered.
“I’ve made my decision.” He exhaled. “I, Royal Alpha Darius of the Black Moon Royal Pack,”
I snapped my neck to look at him, my eyes wide.
No.
No, he wouldn’t dare.
“Reject you, Aveline, as my mate and Luna.”
A sharp, searing pain cut through me. I clutched my chest, my breath hitching. My wolf howled in agony at the burning sensation erupting through my body.
I couldn’t accept this.
I wouldn’t accept it.
I cried out in pain as he went on with his judgement.
“And for the crime of a******y, you are both banished from the Black Moon Pack as of tonight.”
Tears stung my eyes and the pain reverberating through me forced me to keel over but I refused. I would bear this pain while staring him dead in the eye.
He felt it too.
I knew he could feel the burn.
I wouldn’t accept it. But I couldn’t believe it either.
Sage knelt in front of me while my gaze followed Darius who stormed out of the hall without so much as a glance back.
“The faster you leave, the harder it is for the killers to catch up to you.” She gripped my chin forcing my tear stained face to meet hers, a triumphant look in her eyes. “Tick tock, Aveline.”
Then she stood.
“Take them away.” She signaled.
The guards grabbed my arms tightly pulling me across the floor despite my struggles. I yelled for Darius incessantly. I yelled out in the hope that someone would believe me. That he would believe me. But he never turned. He never looked back.
The eyes in the hall sneered at us both as we were pulled into the dark halls which led to the dungeons. I remained in a teary daze until my body hit the unforgiving concrete floor belonging to the four walls of my cell.
The cold ground brought me back to consciousness. I heard the slam of the doors behind me and the slam of another not too long after.
My chest ached and my body trembled but I pulled myself to my feet.
I couldn’t be here.
I needed to see Darius.
This was a cruel, shameful misunderstanding. A blatant lie.
I couldn’t possibly be treated this way, I was the Luna. The Royal Luna of the Black Moon Royal Pack. I was Darius’s mate.
His wife.
His love.
He couldn’t possibly do this to me.
I grabbed at the cell doors but slinked back at the pain in my palms. The doors were lined with wolfsbane. I swore, the burning heat in my body singeing just like my hands. The broken bond tore through me still. I needed to see Darius. I grabbed the bars shaking them furiously.
“Guards!” I yelled. “Get me Darius! please,” I bit my lip at the burning sensation eating away at my skin.
“You’re going to hurt yourself that way Aveline.” Cassian’s voice bounced off the walls. “The bars—“
“I don’t care.” I cried. “I—”
“Aveline.” Cassain’s voice was firm. He stood in the cell on the opposite end.
I couldn’t stop.
I burned more than the pain in the fingers.
“Aveline.” Cassian growled at me and I sunk down to the ground. The tears flowing freely from my eyes.
How did we get here?
What was all of this for? What did they stand to gain? Why didn’t he believe me? What happened to all we had promised each other?
I let my tears drip into the wounds on my hands.
It stung.
- Writer
