The scent of burning sage still lingered in the Luna’s private quarters, mixing with the faint perfume ofvender drifting from the curtains. Candlelight flickered against the polished marble walls, casting long shadows that stretched across the floor like w marks. The fire crackled low in the hearth, though no one in the room paid it any mind.
“How is it?” Genevieve asked, her voice smooth and emotionless as Lilian stepped inside.
Lilian hesitated. She wrung her hands, her shoes still wet from the rain outside. “The Alpha said that… that Lord Cassian refused to let anyone see Atasha.”
Silence fell.
Genevieve’s gaze didn’t flicker. “Luna, this…” Lilian tried again, voice shaking. “I mean…”
“Speak,” Genevieve ordered, turning her attention toward Celeste, who sat curled on the settee near the window, her eyes swollen from crying, hands gripping the silk cushion on herp like she needed something to hold onto.
“I believe…” Lilian’s words faltered as she looked between them. “I believe the Tyrant Lord must have already hurt Atasha.”
Celeste jolted upright. “Nonsense!” she snapped, voice cracking. Her lower lip trembled. “I dare you to say that again!”
“Lady Celeste, please… calm yourself,” Lilian rushed forward, hands raised in a cating gesture. “I didn’t mean it like that, I only-”
“You only what?” Celeste hissed, rising to her feet. Her fists were clenched now, her entire body trembling. “You think I’d let something happen to her? You think I wouldn’t know if she was–if she was-” Her voice caught, the words too awful to finish. “How could you say something like that!? Atasha is fine. She should be.”
“Then exin why he’s hiding her,” Lilian shot back. “Exin why the guards won’t even let the Alpha inside. Why not a single healer has been allowed to step foot near her chamber? That’s not normal, Lady Celeste. None of this is normal.”
Luna Genevieve finally turned her head. Her hand rested elegantly on the back of a velvet chair, her expression unreadable beneath the golden firelight. “Leave,” she said coolly. “You are making Celeste upset.”
Lilian blinked. “Yes, Luna,” she murmured, backing out of the room without protest. The door
shut behind her with a soft click.
Genevieve waited a few seconds. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, her demeanor shifted.
…
The faint tension in her shoulders dropped.
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“You should stop crying and drink some water,” she said without looking at her daughter. “I don’t want to see you waste your tears like this.”
“Mother…” Celeste pouted, wiping at her check as she turned away from the window. If Lilian were still in the room, she would’ve been shocked to see the tears vanish in an instant. Celeste’s lips curled into a small, almost mischievous smile, light, charming, and utterly at odds with her carlier sobs.
Everyone in the pack believed she was the only one who truly cared for Atasha. How could she not show such distress after knowing that her sister had been attacked?
“Stop mocking me,” Celeste said with a huff, grabbing the nearest ss and taking a long sip.
“I didn’t know you could act like that,” Genevieve replied dryly, stepping away from the fire and toward the table.
“It wasn’t acting,” Celeste said, setting the ss down. Her gaze dropped. “I mean… I was the one who pushed Atasha into this. I can’t pretend I didn’t feel something. After pretending for so long… maybe I started to believe it myself.”
Celeste let out a sigh. “Do you think Lilian is right? That Atasha might have already… died?”
Genevieve’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “This was part of the n. If the Tyrant Lord didn’t kill her, then the poison or the maid would’ve done the job.” Atasha had not received any training since she failed to awaken at sixteen. How could someone like her fight against someone who had been trained to kill?
Celeste didn’t reply. She only nodded, fingers tightening slightly around the rim of her ss as she stared at the floor.
“Once she’s proimed dead,” Genevieve said, her voice low andced with quiet satisfaction, “Your father would have a reason and he can formally request more reinforcement from Lord Cassian. More troops. More men.”
She moved toward the table and picked up a grape from the silver tray, turning it slowly between her fingers as if weighing the value of a life. “I’ve seen Cassian’s soldiers. Those aren’tmon footmen or disposable Omegas. No, those men bleed Beta and, in some cases, Alpha. His lieutenants alone could wipe out an entire southern battalion. If they were left behind… if they became ours…”
She finally popped the grape into her mouth and smiled. “Can you imagine the attention that would draw from the Alpha King? Nightfall, suddenly reinforced by the Tyrant Lord’s elite. We’d be untouchable,”
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Celeste didn’t answer. Her lips pressed into a line as her thoughts strayed to Atasha’s innocent smile, the one she used to give even when she was being ignored.
Celeste nodded slowly. Her mother was right. Atasha had always been born for this, for sacrifice. Just as she, Celeste, had always been destined for the throne. “If she really is dead… then why do you think Lord Cassian hasn’t confirmed it?”
Genevieve didn’t hesitate. “Maybe he doesn’t know yet. <i>Or </i>maybe he simply doesn’t care. You really think a wolfless girl means anything to a man like that?” she asked, her voiceced with disdain. “The Demon Fangs are wing at our borders. He was sent here <i>to </i>end them, not weep over some disposable bride. Women like Atasha don’t distract men like Cassian.”
Celeste nodded again. Her mother’s words were harsh but they made sense. Lord Cassian had never kept a bride alive. Why would Atasha be any different?
This time, a slow smile crept onto her lips. “Then… we just wait for the good news.”
“Wait?” Genevieve scoffed and turned sharply, reaching for her coat. “Oh, my sweet, naive daughter. Do you really think we’vee this far by waiting?” She pulled the coat around her shoulders and looked back with a cruel smile curling across her lips. “No, we <i>go </i>to the borders. We beg Lord Cassian to let us see our poor, beloved Atasha. And if he refuses…”
She paused, her smile stretching wider. “Then we show him just how loving a mother and sister can be.”
田
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Chapter <b>15 </b>