BETRAYED:THE VAMPIRE'S MOON GODDESS

CHAPTER 1: FRAMED LEAH'S P.O.V; "Why did you kill the King? You worthless b***h!" Aria roared. "I… I… I didn't. It wasn't me. I just came out of the bathroom and saw everything," I said, my voice trembling. "The footage doesn't show you coming out of the bathroom. It shows you stabbing him," Aria, my sister, said, her smirk cutting deeper than any blade. "Why can't you believe me? I'm being framed!" I cried out. I turned to my mother, grabbing her hands, searching for the warmth she used to give me so freely. There was none. Just fire and ice and something that looked like disgust. "Don't you dare lay your filthy hands on me," Mom, Danielle, snapped, wrenching herself free like my touch burned her skin. I spun toward my father. He turned away before I could even open my mouth. "Brother," my voice broke. "Please. Tell them. Tell them I couldn't do this." He exhaled slowly, not looking at me. "I would, Leah. But I watched the footage myself. And last night, I saw you behind the palace exchanging weapons with two men," he said quietly. "That wasn't me," the words tore out of me raw and ragged. "I am the queen. I came straight to my chambers from my business trip. I would never—" "The evidence says otherwise," he said, finally looking at me, and what I saw in his eyes was worse than anger. It was shame. I looked at each of them. My mother who held me when I cried. My father who crowned me with his own pride. My brother who swore we were blood above everything. Every single one of them standing on the other side of a line I didn't cross. And Aria. Aria wasn't even pretending to grieve. She stood slightly apart from the rest, and every few seconds her lips twitched. Not a smile, something smaller and more vicious. A quiet celebration she couldn't fully contain. That's when the cold hit me. The door slammed open. The soothsayer entered, her expression unreadable except for the brief flicker of pity she aimed at me before setting down her Oracle. She began to chant, low and rhythmic, the sound filling every corner of the room like smoke. Then she stopped. Rose. Turned. "The gods have spoken and I have heard. Queen Leah is the murderer of King Rael. Her punishment is immediate execution and wolfsbane. May the king rest in peace," the soothsayer declared. She walked out without looking back. "No," the word came out barely a whisper. "No. You're wrong. I didn't do this. I am the queen. Why would I—" Aria moved toward me slowly, like she had all the time in the world. She leaned in close, her breath warm against my ear. "I hope you enjoyed the gift I gave you," she whispered. My blood went cold. "Guards!" she straightened up, her voice ringing out clear and certain, like she'd been rehearsing this moment for years. "Take her to the torturing chamber." I was stripped of my robe and beaten mercilessly. My body was battered and broken and there was nothing I could do. Pleading for mercy would only fuel them. They chained me up. Aria walked in like she owned the whole kingdom. Maybe now she did. "You know…" she circled me slowly, letting her eyes drag over every wound. "I've always dreamed of this moment. You, on your knees in front of me, in pain." I said nothing. "There's no evidence you can come up with that will prove your innocence. I've cleared everything. All traces. All leads. Every single thing that pointed back to you or away from me. Gone," she said. "Why are you doing this?" my voice came out weak and cracked. "Doing what I should have done three years ago," she shrugged like it was nothing. Like I was nothing. "So it's you," the words felt heavy in my mouth. "You're the reason for all of this. What did I do to deserve this?" "You don't deserve anything," her voice dropped flat. "I just despised you. I hate you. I've always hated you." "I wanted the best for you," tears burned my swollen eyes. "Everything I did, I wanted the best for you and you threw it all away." "You don't get to choose for me," she said, something flickering behind her eyes, quick and dark. "You think you did nothing wrong but there is one reason behind all of this. One reason I had to burn everything down." She tilted her head. "But I'm sorry. You don't get to know what it is." "Tell me," I pulled against the chains. "Tell me, Aria. You owe me that much. Tell me!" She looked at me for a long moment, something unreadable crossing her face. Then she turned away. "Guards. Force the wolfsbane down her throat. Then throw her into the forbidden ocean," she ordered. "Yes, Madam Aria," the guards answered. They grabbed my chin harshly, wrenched my mouth open and forced the poison down my throat. The burn was immediate. Liquid fire flooding every inch of me from the inside. I couldn't scream. I couldn't fight. My whole body ignited, my lips turned purple, my skin bleached white, and I convulsed against the chains as the wolfsbane tore through me like it was consuming everything I was. My eyes began to close. The guards unchained me, grabbed me and dragged me toward the ocean. At the shore, they tore the prisoner cloth from my body. Half dead and unable to resist, unable to even cry out, they took turns with me, doing what monsters do when no one is watching. Then they threw me into the ocean to die. To sink. To be forgotten. In the ocean, I felt myself slipping into another world. Another beginning. Then a blinding light tore through the dark water and pulled me in, and when I opened my eyes I was lying in a room with beautiful furniture and a bed softer than anything I'd ever slept in. I sprang up. The weakness, the poison, the pain — gone. A new strength hummed through my bones like something had been poured into me while I slept. What happened to me in that ocean? All I could piece together was the framing, the wolfsbane burning through my throat, the guards, and then that great light swallowing everything. But how was I here? And where was here? The door opened. A tall, beautiful woman stepped in, her expression carrying no warmth. "You have to get ready. The king is coming," she said flatly. "What king? Where am I?" I asked, sitting up straighter. "Stop asking questions and get dressed. Everything you need is in the bathroom," she said, already turning away. Thirty minutes later I was moving through the castle, trying to map the corridors in my head. I pushed open a door that caught my attention and stepped inside before I realized what I was walking into. A training room. Weapons mounted on the walls. The air was thick with something that felt like power and restriction both. I was still taking it in when the bathroom door opened. He stepped out in nothing but a white towel slung around his waist, water trailing down from his wet hair across his chest and I forgot how to breathe. His lips were very pink. I couldn't stop staring at them. "Can you stop staring and tell me what you're doing here?" he said, his eyes sharp on mine. His voice yanked me back. "I… um. I lost my way. This place is too big," I managed. "Seems your kingdom is smaller than mine," he said, a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. "Wait — you know who I am?" I asked, stiffening. "Yeah," he said, walking toward me, unhurried, unbothered, every drop of water on his skin making it harder to think. "You're the queen of Blackfang Pack. The killer of King Rael." "I didn't kill him," I said firmly. "I know," he replied. I stared at him. "You know? When? How?" "I have my sources," he said, tilting his head. "And I'm almost sad you got that title before me." "I don't understand," I said. "You're not supposed to," he said, his eyes dropping to mine. "How did you get here?" "I don't know," I admitted. He reached out and grabbed my chin, tilting my face up, staring into my eyes like he was reading something written there. I didn't want to feel anything. I loved the king. The king was gone. And feeling anything right now, for anyone, would be the worst thing I could do to what little I had left. I swallowed and blinked. "Where am I?" I asked quietly. "You're in my Lair," he said. "Who are you?" I whispered. He leaned in slowly and pressed his face to my neck and inhaled. "You smell good," he murmured. His fangs drew out. He pulled back just enough for me to see his face fully. My eyes went wide. "You're… you're the Vampire King," I breathed. "And you're in the enemy's lair," he said, his eyes holding something dangerous and amused all at once. "Your husband's rival's home. I think if the king were alive to hear it, I don't know what would have happened." I spun to run. His reflexes were faster. He caught me in a heartbeat, pressed me against the wall, one hand finding my waist and pulling me flush against him. The air locked in my throat. His hazel eyes stared into mine like they were reaching somewhere deeper than I could protect. I tried to hold myself together. I couldn't. I grabbed his face and kissed him. Deep and desperate, like something starved finally given permission. His hands found my hair and his fingers curled into it. He lifted my legs and traced his hands up my thighs and a sound left my throat I didn't plan to make. Then something sharp grazed my lip. A quick sting. I tasted blood and felt him go hard against me, his mouth pulling at my lip, at the cut, drinking slowly and I felt something move in my chest, deep and pulsing and pulling toward him like a tide I had no shore to hold onto. He was bonding with me. I realized it too late. I wrenched myself back and walked out without looking at him. "What did I just do?" I muttered, pressing my back against the corridor wall. "Kissing my enemy. I should be fighting him, not kissing him. What the hell has gotten into me that I can't even control myself?" A maid appeared from around the corner, head slightly bowed. "The king wants to see you," she said softly. "Me?" I almost laughed. "Tell him I'm angry with him and that he needs to find a way to send me back home," I snapped. "Home," his voice came from behind me, low and unhurried. "Do you think they want to see you?" I turned. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, watching me like I was something mildly entertaining. "They need me. I'm their queen," I said. "Who said you are?" he asked, pushing off the frame and walking toward me. "The moment you were executed, your sister ascended the throne." I clenched my fist until my knuckles ached and bit down on my lip hard enough to taste blood. Aria. Of course. Of course she moved the second I was gone. "And it's been a year since your execution," he added. The air left my lungs. "What?" I whispered. "A year, Leah," his voice was quieter now, stripped of the amusement. "If you walked back through those gates today, I'm not sure you're prepared for what you'd find." "Please," my voice came out steadier than I felt. "Leave me alone." I turned and walked away before he could see what his words had done to me. A year. A whole year gone. Aria sitting on my throne, wearing my crown, answering to my title. This was never just about hatred. She wanted the throne. She planned every piece of it — the framing, the soothsayer, the wolfsbane, the ocean — all of it designed to clear her path and bury me under it. I had to get to the bottom of this. I had to know the real reason. And then I had to make her wish she'd made sure I never came back. She thought she won. Her worst nightmare was standing in a vampire king's corridor, alive, burning, and already planning. "I'm going back home," I said to myself, and this time it didn't sound like a wish. It sounded like a promise. I was walking down the corridor when something stopped me. It was not painful. It felt worse. I had a pull in my chest like someone was pulling me back. I grabbed the wall to stop myself from falling. Then I saw something. I did not see it with my eyes. It was like a picture in my mind. I saw Blackfang's throne room. Aria was sitting on my throne wearing my crown. The court was bowing to her. The banners had been changed. Then I saw him. My heart stopped. The Alpha King, Rael, was alive. He was standing next to Aria's throne looking like he owned the place. He was not dead. He was alive and free and acting like I never existed. The picture in my mind went away. I could not breathe. The corridor started spinning. I thought about everything that had happened. The murder, the evidence, the soothsayer, the wolfsbane, the ocean. It all made sense now. It was ugly. He was not dead. He had never been dead. He let them do all those things to me. The Vampire King was standing behind me. I turned to face him. His face did not show any emotions. His eyes looked like he had been waiting for this moment. "You saw it," he said. "How long have you known about this?" I asked, my voice barely holding together. "Long enough," he replied. "Why did you not say anything?" I demanded. "I am saying something now," he said, taking a step closer. "I will give you my army, my resources and all my weapons. I will help you go back to your kingdom and make sure Aria's reign ends before she knows what is happening." "What do you want in return?" I asked, looking at him carefully. "I want you to accept the bond between us," he said, his eyes steady on mine. His words felt like a heavy stone dropped into still water. "A werewolf queen and a vampire king," he continued. "We are not supposed to be. If we bond it will be unbreakable." "You want me to give up my life," I said flatly. "I am asking you to think about what your life is worth," he said, tilting his head. "Your husband is alive, Leah. He watched them throw you into the ocean. Now he is sitting on your throne with your sister. You can go back to your kingdom alone. See how far your grief and anger will take you." His voice dropped lower. "Or you can take my hand and make them regret everything they did to you." Silence fell between us. My hands were shaking. My chest felt open. Everyone I loved and trusted had hurt me. This man, my enemy, was offering me a way to get back what was mine. I looked up at him. He was holding out his hand, waiting. His eyes gave nothing away. I was standing at the edge of a decision. "So what's it going to be?" he asked quietly. I looked at his hand. Then at his eyes. Then back at the corridor where that vision had ripped through me and left me with nothing but the truth. Rael was alive. Aria was queen. Every person I had ever loved had picked a side and it wasn't mine. My jaw tightened. "If I take your hand," I said slowly, "there's no turning back." "No," he said, his eyes not wavering. "There isn't." "You'd destroy Blackfang for me," I said. "I'd give you the match," he replied. I looked at him for a long moment, everything in me at war with everything I had left. Then I looked up at him and said the only thing that made sense anymore. "Then God helped everyone who was in that room and watched them throw me into that ocean." He smirked.