Chapter 3
903 Words
By the time Kael reached Selene’s quarters, half the palace already crowded the corridor. Guards barred the doorway while servants whispered in anxious clusters. Noblewomen clung to one another, their faces drained of color.
When I followed the Alpha King through the hall, every murmur fell silent.
Eyes turned toward me, sharp, suspicious, accusing.
I felt it at once.
This had been orchestrated.
Inside, the air reeked of blood.
Selene was sprawled across her bed of silks, ghostly pale as healers swarmed her side. A long gash marked her shoulder, crimson soaking through layer after layer of linen.
Yet the wound wasn’t what stole my breath.
It was the mark carved into the bedpost: a crescent moon.
The royal sigil of Moonfire.
My homeland.
My heritage.
My pulse faltered.
Too deliberate to be chance.
Someone wanted the blame to rest on me.
Kael stood motionless beside the bed, unreadable as healers stammered their explanations.
“She was poisoned before she was struck,” one of them said shakily.
Selene’s eyes fluttered open, tears shimmering as she looked up at Kael.
“My king,” she whispered weakly, “I never saw who attacked me.”
Lies.
I recognized the falseness immediately.
Then she looked at me, trembling perfectly.
“The scent,” she murmured. “It smelled of southern jasmine.”
Silence swept through the chamber.
Southern jasmine, the fragrance of Moonfire nobles.
The same perfume that clung to my skin even now.
Clever.
Painfully clever.
Kael’s silver gaze lifted to mine, sharp and cold.
The mate bond tugged at him, urging trust.
But kings ruled with reason, and reason could be twisted.
“This is treason!” one elder barked.
Another snarled, “The southern princess must be confined until questioned!”
“Enough!”
Kael’s voice cut through the uproar.
He advanced toward me, each step an echo of judgment.
I stood firm.
No flinching.
No pleading.
When he stopped before me, his voice dropped to a dangerous low.
“Did you leave your rooms tonight?”
The question struck deeper than an accusation.
Part of him truly didn’t know.
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“You expect me to take your word for that?”
Anger burned through my calm.
“You believe I’d harm one of your mistresses out of jealousy?”
“I think,” he said coldly, “you know how power works in these halls.”
The words sliced through me. Not accusation, doubt. Worse.
Behind him, Selene whimpered delicately, recalling attention.
“She threatened me earlier,” she breathed.
I turned on her, disgust curling in my chest.
“That’s a lie.”
“She only sought harmony,” an elder murmured sadly.
Her performance was flawless. Fragile. Convincing.
The nobles’ faces told me how easily they believed it.
I looked back at Kael, swallowing pride that had never tasted so bitter.
Say you trust me, please.
But the King stayed silent.
And silence, here, was condemnation.
An elder bowed.
“Your Majesty, until clarity is reached, the princess should yield her liberty.”
House arrest.
A polite word for disgrace.
Kael’s gaze remained fixed on me. Finally, he spoke.
“Princess Lyara will remain in the Eastern Wing until investigations conclude. She is not to leave.”
The tension eased from the room as if judgment restored order.
Coldness swept over me, not from confinement, but from his doubt.
He didn’t look away. Perhaps he expected rage or tears.
Instead, I smiled, a small, broken smile.
“I understand now,” I said quietly.
Something flickered in his expression, but I turned before it could reach me.
If I lingered, he might see how deeply his silence wounded me.
The Eastern Wing became my gilded cage.
Guards at every door, servants afraid to meet my eyes. The windows faced only a forgotten garden beyond the palace heart.
The unwanted bride had become the dangerous one.
I sat by the fire long past midnight, replaying everything: the wound, the sigil, Selene’s perfect show of fear.
It was all too precise.
A trap, carefully set.
Someone wanted Kael to lose faith in me.
But why?
A soft knock broke my thoughts. Strange, no one came at such an hour.
“Enter.”
Lina slipped inside, pale and shaken.
“My lady,” she breathed, “you must be cautious.”
I stood.
“What’s happened?”
She glanced toward the guards, then hurried closer.
“I overheard the council. They’re pushing the King to reject you before the Blood Moon ceremony.”
My heart stilled.
The Blood Moon, the sacred night when mates were bound under the Goddess’s light. Once complete, nothing could break that bond.
But if he rejected me before then...
my wolf might not survive it.
“Why?” I asked softly.
Lina hesitated, dread in her eyes.
“Because of the prophecy.”
I froze.
“What prophecy?”
“They say the King’s true Luna will either save the North...”
She swallowed.
“...or burn it to the ground.”
The words hung heavy in the silence.
At last, everything made sense: the fear, the suspicion, the hatred of a foreign queen.
They didn’t just despise me.
They were terrified.
A thunderous knock rattled the door.
The guards straightened instantly.
Kael’s voice came through, low and commanding.
“Open it.”
Lina went white.
And somehow, so did I.
- Writer
