The Disgraced Luna

Chapter 3

Freya

“Start talking, Freya, before I lose my patience,” Liam demanded, his voice cold and impatient.

I stood before him, struggling to understand how I had ended up in this situation again. First Lenny had accused me of stealing his necklace, and now Liam was looking at me as though he had already decided I was guilty.

“Freya!” Liam shouted when I failed to answer. “Where is the money I kept in my drawer? Tell me where you put it.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't take your money.”

Before Liam could respond, the door opened and Kane entered the room. He looked equally angry.

“Where is the money from my drawer?” he asked.

My heart sank.

I looked between the two brothers, unable to believe what I was hearing. Another accusation. Another thing I supposedly stole.

“I didn't take anything,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

Liam shook his head. “Then who did? You are the one who cleans our rooms. You have access to everything.”

Kane folded his arms. “Stop pretending you don't know what we're talking about. If you took it, just return it.”

Tears began forming in my eyes, but I fought to keep them there.

“I would never steal from you,” I said. “You know that.”

“Liar.”

I turned toward the doorway and saw Lenny standing there.

His expression was cold.

“The necklace I bought for Sara is missing too,” he said, looking at his brothers. “It disappeared from my room after she cleaned it.”

The three brothers turned their attention back to me.

I suddenly felt trapped.

There were three of them, and I was alone.

Liam walked toward me, and I instinctively moved backward until my back touched the wall. He caught both my wrists and held them above my head.

“This is your final opportunity,” he said. “Tell us where the money and necklace are, and maybe your punishment won't be as severe.”

A tear slipped down my cheek.

“I don't have them.”

I knew they weren't going to believe me. They had already decided who the thief was.

Liam stared at me for a moment before beginning to count.

“One.”

I said nothing.

“Two.”

My heart pounded harder.

I knew what happened to people accused of stealing in the pack. Some were locked away in the dungeons. Others received physical punishments that left permanent scars. My father had lost his freedom because of the same accusation.

“Three.”

I closed my eyes.

I didn't know what was going to happen to me, but I knew it wouldn't end well.

By the time Liam reached ten, my face was covered in tears.

He finally released my wrists and stepped away.

“She really is like her father,” Lenny said with disgust. “Stubborn and dishonest.”

I lowered my head, trying not to let his words break me.

“Kane, call the maids,” Liam ordered.

My head lifted immediately.

“Why?”

Nobody answered me.

A few minutes later, three maids entered the room and stood before the triplets.

Liam looked at them.

“Take her to the rooftop. She is to be stripped and covered with ground pepper. Then make her kneel beneath the sun.”

My entire body went cold.

I didn't speak.

Compared with some punishments given to thieves in the pack, perhaps this was considered mild. But knowing that didn't make it any less terrifying.

“Take her,” Lenny ordered.

The maids took my arms and led me from the room.

As we walked through the mansion, I saw my mother.

She stood in the hallway with tears running down her face. Her hands trembled, but she didn't come toward me.

She couldn't.

If she interfered, they would punish her too.

When we reached the rooftop, the heat immediately hit my skin.

One of the maids looked at me with sympathy.

“Freya, please remove your clothes.”

My hands shook as I obeyed.

I felt humiliated and terrified, but there was nothing I could do. Once I was undressed, one of the maids picked up a bowl containing ground red pepper.

I instinctively stepped backward.

“Please,” I whispered.

She hesitated for a moment before approaching me.

The moment the pepper touched my skin, I cried out.

The burning sensation spread across my body almost immediately. I clenched my teeth as the maids continued applying it, trying not to collapse.

When they were finished, one of them looked at me.

“You have to kneel.”

My legs were already shaking.

Slowly, I lowered myself onto my knees.

The sun beat down on me, making the burning sensation even worse. Tears streamed down my face as I tried to endure the punishment without screaming again.

How could they believe I had done this?

How could they punish me without even giving me a chance to prove my innocence?

I looked toward the maids. They stood nearby, watching me with pity, but none of them could help.

My thoughts drifted back to the past.

There was a time when Kane, Liam, and Lenny had cared about me. They used to compete for my attention whenever I visited the pack house. Sometimes they would even argue about which one of them would marry me when we were older.

Back then, I never imagined they would one day look at me with hatred.

I wished my father had never been accused.

I wished someone had discovered the truth.

Maybe if that had happened, my life would have been different. Maybe the triplets would still remember the girl they once knew instead of seeing me as nothing more than the daughter of a disgraced warrior.

The heat became unbearable.

My vision started to blur, and I struggled to keep myself upright. My head spun as I tried to breathe through the pain.

I could hear someone calling my name, but the voice sounded distant.

My body finally gave out.

I collapsed onto the rooftop, unable to fight anymore.

As darkness closed in around me, the last thing I remembered was the three boys from my childhood—the ones who had once promised to protect me.

Those boys felt like strangers now.

And somewhere along the way, the girl they had once cared about had disappeared too.