Calla's pov.
The whole hall went silent.
Then he sighed heavily, his eyes warm with pity. "I understand how you feel, Callie, but—"
She appeared beside him. Her silver gown clung to her like a second skin, dirty blonde hair falling across her face. She stepped forward. Toward me.
"You are the daughter of Alden Ashmere and Evelyn Ashmere?"
I didn't want to respond but they were watching. Gladys was watching.
I nodded.
Gasps broke across the room.
The slap cracked against my cheek before the sound finished moving.
My head snapped to the side. The murmurs exploded. I turned slowly, hand rising to my face. Her blue beta eyes were glowing as she glared at me before Gladys's arm locked around her waist.
"You killed my parents!"
The sting was still spreading. I lowered my hand and looked at her. Then I moved.
His hands caught my wrist before it reached her cheek. He threw it back. "What do you think you are doing?"
My blood was hot under my skin.
"How dare she." My voice came out low and shaking. "How dare she raise a finger on me."
"Your parents killed mine!" She thrashed against him, tears streaking her face. "Let me go!"
I stopped.
"What?"
"Take her away."
I turned toward Gladys, certain he meant Elara. His cold gaze found mine and didn't move.
He meant me.
The guards reached me before I could speak. I looked at him over my shoulder as they pulled me back, waiting for a correction, a word, anything. He watched me go without blinking.
Elara was still screaming. The words dissolved into noise as the doors closed behind me.
---
I don't know how long I sat there.
The dungeon floor was cold stone, the kind that seeps into your bones slowly. His scent reached me before he did, drifting under the door like it had no right to. I pressed my back against the wall and swallowed against it.
The iron had bitten into my wrists. He appeared in the doorway, torchlight at his back, a blood mark fresh on his wrist.
He had chosen her. He had made her his.
He cleared his throat. "Was what you said true, or were you just making a scene?"
I said nothing.
"Calla." His voice sharpened. "Answer me."
My tongue was dry. "You chose her." Barely a whisper.
He exhaled. "That's not what I'm asking. Are you the Ashmere's daughter?"
I finally met his gaze. He looked serious. Already decided.
"Would it change anything?"
He nodded. "It could keep you alive. I promised Elara I'd deal with her parents' killers. If you are who you say you are, I'll have to—"
"You'll kill me?"
"You leave me no choice."
He said it like a fact. Like something already settled.
I forced myself to stand. The stones bit into my feet. I cannot die here.
"No." My voice shook. "It was all a lie. I just wanted to be your Luna."
He exhaled sharply and opened the door, drawing me into the corridor. His thumb brushed the cheek Elara had struck.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "But there's nothing I can do. If I choose you, the elders will remove me."
I nodded and dug my teeth into my lower lip.
He kissed my forehead.
"I, Gladys AuraStorm, reject you, Calla Orland, as my mate and my Luna."
He stepped back. I stepped back.
My hands flew to my chest. I pressed hard but the pain tore through anyway, moving in both directions at once.
"The next full moon would make it permanent. Until then…"
His silhouette blurred as he turned and walked away, and I sank onto the cold stones.
Five years.
Five years and this is all I get.
Tears slipped down my face. I gave them my wolf. The pack was dying and I sacrificed my only strength, and this is what I get in return. The pain didn't stop. The tears didn't stop. Nothing stopped.
A guard came sometime later and helped me up, brushing the dirt from my clothes with brief, impersonal hands. "Someone is here for you."
I made my legs move.
Outside, a man I didn't recognize stood beside a horse I knew immediately. The signature etched into its neck gave it away before anything else did.
"Jamma." The name left me in a breath.
The horse dipped its head as I approached and let me press my palm to its face. A small, broken sound escaped me that I hadn't meant to make. The piano in my chest deepened.
The man's brows pulled together when he got a clear look at me. "Greetings, Princess."
I stopped him before his knee could touch the ground. Anyone could be watching. This would only confirm what I'd said, and he'd have me killed.
"What brings you here? How did you find me?" I kept my voice low as we moved away from the hall. The pain still lingered but I ignored it. The sounds of celebration drifted after us, unbothered, unaware.
He cleared his throat. "Commander Corbin asked me to deliver this."
A letter, our pack's seal pressed into the wax.
I swallowed. "Thank you."
"But—"
"You can go. I'll send my response once I've read it."
He hesitated. "You should open it now." His voice was careful. "You may want to come with me."
My eyes found his. "Is the pack in danger? Has Kellan returned?" My eyes were wide with anticipation.
He shook his head, took the letter from my hands, broke the seal himself, and held it open.
I read it slowly. Word by word.
"Their wolves have been found?"
He nodded. My chest drew tight. "Cremated. The Moonstone Vessel holding their ashes is ready to be brought home."
I nodded once, keeping my face still. They would be so disappointed in me.
"We could go now," he said gently. "It's just at the border, near Arcadia Fortress."
A shaky breath left me. My gaze drifted back to the walls. The music still played. They were celebrating. No one would notice I was gone.
My hand found my chest.
We are no longer mates. He wouldn't notice.
I looked back at the man. "Name?"
He extended a hand. "Ethan. Commander Corbin's son."
I took it. "Let's go."
Jamma made a low, eager sound as we turned from the walls, and I let myself move with him, one step and then another, until the celebrating pack was behind me and the open road was ahead.
Before long, the towering walls of Arcadia Fortress rose against the grey sky, vast and cold and indifferent. The air bit at my skin. Goosebumps crawled up my arms.
Then something shifted. Deep and quiet, like an ember catching in a dark room.
My eyes widened.
Maya?
No response. Just the feeling. Faint and certain at once.
Ethan glanced over. "Are you okay?"
I straightened. Breathed.
"I will be."