Chapter 2

Later at night, as I’m pacing the length of my chamber, Nyx’s voice still lingers in my head. After six years of silence, she finally spoke to me. Why now? Why tonight?

Leave.

The word haunts me through every step. I can’t ignore it, not when my body has felt weaker with each passing day, and my heart just as hopeless and miserable.

There’s only one person I can trust with this: Brin. Our pack healer. My oldest friend. The only one who still calls me Luna when no one else dares. The only one who bows with respect, not mockery. If anyone can explain what’s happening to me, it’s him.

***

The pack’s conservatory smells of damp earth and strange flowers. Glass walls hold in the heat, and vines crawl over iron arches. I find Brin bent over a tray of herbs, hands stained with soil. I knew he’d still be awake. He looks up when I enter.

“You shouldn’t be here this late, Luna Freya,” he says in a hushed voice, bowing low. “The Alpha doesn’t like you wandering.”

I fold my arms. “Then why does he leave the door unlocked? Might as well lock me inside my chamber while he’s at it. I’m not strong enough to break through it anymore. I become powerless and weaker every day.”

Brin sighs, pouring water from a jug on his hands before wiping them with a cloth. “But you remain stubborn. Despite everything.”

I raise my chin. “I have to, don’t I?” I say in my defense. Then I draw in a breath, clasping my hands together to prepare myself to speak. Brin already knows something is up. He patiently waits for me to speak.

“Something happened earlier. During the Masquerade Ball…” my voice trails off, paranoia suddenly flooding me. Did I really hear Nyx?

“What is it, Luna Freya?” Brin nudges when I let the pause lengthen too much.

“My wolf… Nyx. I think I heard her speak. She told me to leave the pack. It’s been six years, Brin. Why now? And why do I feel weaker every day? I thought it was because of my difficult pregnancy… with Ivy. But it has been so long—now I know that just isn’t the reason. Why does it burn just to breathe? My fingers go numb for hours. I stumble while walking on a straight path. Sometimes I can’t see properly what’s right in front of me.”

Brin glances around the glass garden, as if the vines themselves might be listening. “Why didn’t you tell me about any of this before?” he asks, concern flooding his face.

“I—I don’t know,” I respond weakly, turning away.

I thought the Moon Goddess was punishing me.

I don’t tell him that because I understand how absurd that sounds. But that thought has been haunting me. She took away my wolf, and slowly I have felt my life slipping away from between my fingers. What other explanation is there to this?

Brin shakes his head. “It burns to breathe? And everything else you described… That seems to be—but it can’t be. Your wolf’s loss was because of your mother’s tragic death at the peak of your pregnancy with Finn. We ascertained that, but we couldn’t even figure out why your wolf never returned after you healed.”

His face is saying all that he is holding back on his tongue. Brin will never speak his mind unless he’s persuaded. “What does it seem to be?”

He swallows hard. “Weakness. Difficulty breathing. Frail mind connection with the pack. Loss of a wolf. Loss of vision and feeling. All those are signs of… silverdew poisoning.”

My breath catches. “Impossible. I’d know if someone was poisoning me.”

Brin looks around in search of something, then walks to a row of shrubs in the earth and crouches down and plucks out a few leaves from a plant. “Here,” he says, returning to me. “Keep these on your tongue for ten seconds. If they turn black, it means—”

“Someone has been poisoning me?”

“Yes.”

I take the leaves, spare a second to study their odd, waxy texture, and then place them on my tongue. I count to ten, but only open my mouth when Brin asks me to. He reaches past my lips and pulls out blackened leaves that were a bright green seconds ago.

“Silverdew is a slow acting poison,” he says. “You can’t lace a blade with it. It must be ingested. Through food. In your drink. Small doses, hidden well. It dulls your wolf, weakens your blood. Over time…” He hesitates. “It kills.”

Nyx stirs faintly inside me, growling low.

“Who?” I whisper, feeling my knees weaken with disbelief and shock.

Brin shakes his head. “I can’t prove it, Luna. There’s no way to know. But the hand behind it is close. And powerful. It must be.”

I step back, heart pounding. My children’s laughter resounds in my mind. I feel sick. “You’re saying Kade—”

Brin cuts me off. “I said nothing. I only warn you: trust no one.”

Before I can push him further, a shadow moves behind the glass. A servant’s face, quickly gone. Brin tenses. “Go. If they see us together too long at this time, it’ll bring trouble.”

I nod, though my throat burns with questions. I leave the garden.

***

The keep’s corridors are dim, lit by oil lamps. My steps echo against the hard stone flooring. That’s when I hear boots behind me.

“Freya,” a voice calls.

Beta Jax. Captain of the guard. And my only brother. Once bound by birth to protect me; now sworn to Kade. He has broad shoulders and a scar over his brow from a wound that almost cost him his eye. He was loyal to me and caring once. Now? I’m not sure.

“What do you want?” I ask, not caring to keep my voice polite. I just found out I’m being poisoned. I’m slowly dying. I have the right to be mad.

He keeps his tone low. “The guests noticed your behavior tonight, Freya. The Alpha is disappointed. He thought you were rebelling.”

I almost laugh. “And if I was?”

“Freya,” he says my name like a warning. “You must obey him. And show some respect to Izel now that she’s the lady of the house now.”

Barely holding back a scream in my throat, I close my fist and push it against his chest but he barely moves. “You just watched. You did nothing!”

He sighs. “Is there anything I could’ve done? You should be more careful now with your words and actions. Around him. Don’t rebel. Watch the staff as well. They answer to her now.”

My chest tightens. “Izel?”

He nods once but I knew it already. “The cooks, the maids, even half the guards. Orders slip from her mouth, and they obey before yours. The Alpha doesn’t stop it. And now that she’s titled lady of the house, they’ll be more compelled to follow her. Any respect they had for you, Alpha Kade made sure to erase it all tonight.”

I clench my fists, my heart shattering into a million pieces. “And you? Do you answer to her?”

His jaw works. “I answer to the Alpha. I’m sworn to him.”

I swallow the pain that threatens to drown me.

He steps closer. His eyes search mine. “Stay careful, Freya. You’re being pushed out, you have understood that now, yes?”

Nyx growls again, restless in my chest.

“I won’t go quietly, brother,” I say.

Jax straightens, glances down the hall. “You should return to your chamber now,” he says, dismissing me. “Don’t attract more scorn.” He turns, boots fading into the dark.

I’m left alone in the corridor, counting down to steady my breath.

***

My feet carry me mindlessly into Kade’s study.

I should be sleeping. I shouldn’t be here. The night has stretched too long. It’s almost dawn.

I stay.

The room smells of leather, metal, and smoke, just as I remember. Books and scrolls line the shelves, maps detailing parts of the continent scatter the desk, highlighting our allies and enemies.

We’d sit here, talking about politics, strategies… and our lives. He’d kiss me, sometimes pull me against the edge of that desk, and make love to me. The memories flash now, bringing bitter tears to my eyes, making me almost choke on them. But I swallow the pain, the anger, the betrayal.

My eyes scan the room. And there—against the far wall—I spot an iron safe that I know wasn’t there before.

‘It is yours. Claim it,’ Nyx’s faint voice echoes in my mind.

I stare at the safe too hard, confused but annoyed, and then by some force I don’t understand, its door opens. I gasp, my eyes widening due to what they’ve just witnessed. But the shock subsides when I see inside—glinting in the lamplight, lies my diadem. The silver crown I once wore as Luna.

I hold my breath and step closer. The jewels shimmer, deep blue sapphires against cold metal.

Kade’s voice cuts through the air. “Looking for something?”

I spin on my heels, gasping. He leans in the doorway, arms folded. His beautiful eyes track me like a hunter.

Then they move past me and widen. “How did you open the safe?”

I don’t answer his question because I don’t understand it myself. “That belongs to me,” I say instead, stubbornly, closing my hands into fists.

“Correction,” he answers, calm returning to his voice, edged with cruelty. “It belonged to you. Now it stays where I decide.”

My jaw clenches. “You lock it away, but it doesn’t change what I am.”

“What you were,” he emphasises.

Those words cut me deep, making my heart bleed. I can’t believe this was the man who once loved me so much he’d fight any war, no matter how bloody, if it meant I’d smile.

I face the safe again. I can still see my crown, trapped behind iron. Like me.

Nyx whispers, ‘Thirty days.’

I close my eyes as I walk away from the study, brushing past Kade. “I’ll count faster.”