Chapter 2
The temple had gone so silent you could hear a pin drop.
My hand was still suspended in midair. The silver graver in my palm—the one meant for adjusting the Crown—glinted with a cold, hard edge.
Rowan furrowed his brow.
"Elena."
"What's wrong?"
What's wrong?
I almost laughed.
I looked him straight in the eye.
"You're really asking me to adjust it for her?"
Rowan didn't answer. As if the answer had always been obvious.
Vivian gave the Moon Crown a delicate little touch, then offered an apologetic smile.
"If you'd rather not, sister…"
"Never mind, then."
She said the words, but her hands never moved to take it off. In fact, she steadied it—as if afraid someone might snatch it away.
I walked forward slowly.
Every eye in the temple was on me. The priestess. The handmaidens. The elders.
Not a single person spoke.
They were all waiting.
Waiting for me to do what I'd always done for the past eight years.
Step back.
I stopped in front of Vivian and looked up at the Crown.
It was so close. Close enough that I could reach out and take it back if I wanted to.
But I didn't.
I raised my eyes to hers. For the first time, my voice came out cold.
"Take it off."
Vivian froze.
"What?"
"I said," I repeated, each word deliberate, "take. It. Off."
"This is the Luna's Crown. Not some piece of jewelry. Not a toy."
The temple fell utterly silent.
Vivian's eyes reddened almost instantly. She looked frantically toward Rowan.
"I—I was just trying it on… Why is she so upset?"
Rowan stepped forward, placing himself between us.
"That's enough."
He looked at me, his voice dropping to something harder.
"It's just a fitting. There's no need to make this into a spectacle."
I held his gaze.
"First law of this pack," I said. "No one but the future Luna may wear the Moon Crown. You taught me that yourself."
Rowan paused.
Then he said, flatly, "Rules are made for wolves. Not the other way around."
My heart sank.
This was the first time. The first time he'd ever told me—for another woman—that the old laws could bend.
Vivian tugged lightly at his sleeve.
"Rowan…"
"Maybe I should just take it off."
She lifted her hands slowly, reaching for the Crown.
And then—
"Ah!"
She let out a sharp cry, jerking back as if she'd been burned.
Everyone flinched.
The Moon Crown gave a low, resonant hum. One by one, the moonstones began to glow with a pale silver light.
And then—
A single drop of blood.
Crimson and vivid.
Trickled down the Crown's rim and fell.
Tap.
Against the pure white marble floor.
The temple went dead quiet.
"She's bleeding…" a handmaiden gasped.
Vivian pressed her hand to her forehead. Blood was seeping through her fingers. Her tears spilled over.
"It hurts… Rowan, it hurts so much…"
Rowan's face drained of color. He caught Vivian in his arms, then lifted his head to look at me.
His gaze was cold for the first time.
"Elena."
"What did you do?"
I stood frozen, staring at the Crown.
I hadn't done anything. I hadn't even touched it.
But no one else saw what I saw.
In that same instant the blood fell—the largest moonstone at the Crown's center had flickered.
Just once.
Quietly.
Like a breath.
Like a refusal.
I was the only one who saw it.
A moment later, one of the white-haired elders barked out a command:
"Seize her!"
"She tampered with the Moon Crown!"
In an instant, pack guards surged forward. Cold steel tips aimed at me.
Slowly, I raised my head and looked at Rowan.
If he said one word, they wouldn't touch me.
But he only held Vivian in his arms.
He looked at me for a long, long moment.
Then he said, low and quiet:
"Take Elena back to her quarters. She is not to set foot in this temple again without my permission."
And in that moment—
My heart fell.
All the way to the bottom.