Chapter 1My sister fled on the day of her Bonding Ceremony.
I was forced to marry the Lycan King known for his brutality.
Six years later, she returned.
Still as bold and brazen as ever, she pressed a crimson kiss against Kael's collar—right in front of the entire Council of Elders.
Kael went rigid.
Then she turned to me, her eyes gleaming with mockery.
"Little sister, thank you for keeping my throne warm all these years. Now that I'm back, it's time you gave me back my place as Luna Queen."
Silence swallowed the hall.
Everyone remembered what happened when she ran away. Kael had nearly slaughtered half a rival territory in his rage.
So now?
I wondered too. Would this unpredictable, brutal King lose his mind for her once again?
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Kael stripped off the robe bearing her lipstick mark.
I said nothing, only gathered the wool blanket I had used for six years, and turned toward the side chamber.
Kael blocked my path. "Where are you going?"
I paused. Thinking that after six years of sharing my bed, he was simply attached to the blanket, I laid it gently back on the edge of the mattress.
"Don't worry, My King. I remember our agreement. I never dared to dream of replacing my sister."
I kept my voice steady, but it still came out rough.
"Since she's back, the position of Luna Queen should be returned to her."
We had agreed on this six years ago.
But saying it aloud still felt like a needle piercing my heart.
Six years ago, after crushing the rival packs, Kael returned victorious. His first act was to petition the Council of Elders to arrange a Bonding Ceremony with my sister, Elara.
But on the day of the ceremony, she fled. She ran off with a rogue wolf.
Father panicked. That night, he sent me to the altar in her place.
On our wedding night, Kael was devastated. To preserve the Pack's dignity, he drank himself into oblivion and completed the Bond with me.
For six years, I gave everything.
The title of Luna Queen looked glorious, but I walked on shattered glass.
While Elara wandered the world without a care, I navigated Pack politics, managed the great families, and took arrows meant for him in the dark.
His enemies once captured me to learn his whereabouts. They tortured me with silver chains. I never spoke a word.
Three years ago, a rival pack launched a night assault.
That night, I didn't know I was eight weeks pregnant.
I fought with the guards until Kael's reinforcements arrived. But as pain tore through my abdomen and I curled on the floor of the side chamber, bleeding, every single Healer had been summoned away.
To the master chamber.
To revive a pot of silver-edged lilies.
It was the only thing Elara had left behind. It was dying, and Kael had ordered everyone to save it.
The only person with me was a maid who knew nothing of childbirth.
By the time a Healer was dragged through the door, the bleeding wouldn't stop.
The child, not yet formed, was gone.
I lay in a pool of blood, my heart turned to ash.
Seeing my grief, he visited every sacred altar in the territory. He built a shrine for our child and lit eternal flames.
Before the Moon Goddess, he braided strands of our hair into the wick of a ritual candle, swearing to continue the fate we had never finished.
From that day, he seized absolute power over the Pack with ruthless precision, unstoppable in his rise.
Not long ago, he had personally petitioned the Council to bestow their highest honor upon me.
But before the ink on that decree had dried, Elara returned.
Thinking of the child who had left without ever opening their eyes, my chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe.
Kael noticed my expression and immediately signaled for Mother to remove Elara. Then he took my hand.
"Ayla, Elara has lived away for so long. She doesn't know the full story."
"She has a simple nature and speaks bluntly. Don't take it to heart…"
I gently withdrew my hand and lowered my lashes.
"My King, you act strangely today. You never involve yourself in disputes among the Pack's women."
"Yet the moment Elara appears, you change. Such devotion."
Kael's gaze darkened, pain flooding his eyes.
"Is that truly what you think of me?"
"Ayla… you still blame me for what happened, don't you?"
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Chapter 2
He thought I blamed him for not arriving in time.
But that wasn't what I blamed him for.
It was the night of the attack. When Kael returned, I didn't tend to my injuries first. I forced myself to the master chamber.
I wanted to see that he was safe.
But he didn't look at me.
He carried the pot of silver-edged lilies straight into the inner chamber. It was the only thing Elara had left behind. He summoned every Healer to study how to revive its dead roots.
I curled on the couch in the side chamber, waiting for someone to treat my cramping stomach.
The lilies sat on the windowsill of the master chamber, only a few steps away.
Later, I learned that the roots of the silver-edged lily release a silver-tainted scent harmful to pregnant women.
I had lain too close that night. The bleeding became unstoppable.
In that moment, it felt as though someone had reached into my chest and ripped out my heart.
All those years of sacrifice became a cruel joke.
So much for love growing over time. It had been nothing but a delusion of my own making.
The air in the room grew suffocating. He stood. "I need air."
But outside the door, a maid was already waiting. "Miss Elara has asked to see you, My King. She wishes to… catch up."
Their voices weren't loud, but the courtyard was too quiet. I heard every word.
The door wasn't fully closed. I could see Kael pause, saying nothing.
His back was to me. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he would go.
A man is forever trapped by what he could never have in his youth.
Besides, he had loved her so deeply.
As expected, he turned back toward the room, wanting to say something.
But I cut him off first. "My King, you owe me no explanation."
I had heard too many lies in my life. Today, I was too tired to listen to whatever absurd reason he had fabricated for Elara.
The distance in my words hung naked in the air.
Kael stiffened, his brows snapping together. "Ayla, do you hate me so much? The moment your sister returns, you can't wait to push me away?"
His chest heaved, a storm raging in his eyes. He grabbed his robe and slammed the door as he left.
How ridiculous.
He was the one who crossed the line first. Yet now I was the heartless one.
Tears spilled over before I could stop them. I wiped them away fiercely.
Then Mother slipped in and took my hand. "Ayla… I have no eloquence. I couldn't talk sense into your sister, so I asked the King to comfort her."
"Can you bear with her a little longer? She is stubborn, but kind-hearted. She will understand eventually…"
I lowered my eyes, a bitter smile tugging at my lips.
Kind-hearted?
When she fled six years ago, did she ever consider that a Bonding Ceremony is the Pack's highest rite? One misstep, and our entire bloodline would have been destroyed.
I gently pulled my hand free, my voice dropping like ice. "Mother, after all these years, you still indulge her every whim without question."
"In your heart, was there ever a place for me?"
Elara and I shared the same mother, but because I was frail since childhood, I was sent to live in the countryside. I was only brought back the year I came of age.
But Elara, who had monopolized our parents' love, despised me. She framed me, tormented me, never stopped.
I cried. I defended myself. But every time, Father and Mother punished me without asking right from wrong. No matter how clumsy her excuses, they believed her unconditionally.
They even locked me in the cold cellar for days.
It wasn't until Elara ran away that they remembered me, barely breathing, in that cellar.
In truth, we had only lived together for half a year.
"Ayla, in your heart, is there truly no affection for me at all?"
Pain filled Mother's eyes.
I was stunned.
So the cold distance we both understood without words—in their eyes, it was something that needed to be questioned?
Did six years without Elara make everyone forget that I had only ever been a replacement? A spare part brought in to fill the gap?
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Chapter 3
Dawn broke, and Kael still had not returned to the bedchamber.
It gave me the quiet I needed to finish drafting the severance of our Mate Bond.
By the time the maid came to call me for breakfast, the ink was dry. I folded the paper carefully and slipped it into my sleeve.
My whole life, it seemed, I had lived for other people.
Sent away as a child. Brought back when I came of age. Forced into a marriage that was never meant to be mine.
But once this document was sealed, the road ahead would finally be my own.
I had barely stepped into the front hall when I saw Kael seated there, Elara beside him, smiling as if she already owned the room.
"Ayla, last night I—"
He never finished. Elara picked up a honeyed fruit and pressed it gently between his lips.
The sight burned behind my eyes.
"I have no appetite. I'll return to my rooms."
I turned and left before he could say another word.
Whatever he had meant to say, I was done listening.
"Ayla, must you treat me this way?"
My steps faltered.
But then Elara pressed her handkerchief to her face and began to weep.
"Kael, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have come back. I've made Ayla feel like I'm trying to take her place."
"If my presence distresses her, I'll leave. I would never cause trouble for you both."
"Don't speak nonsense. No one is sending you anywhere."
Kael's voice was low and soft as he comforted her. Then he turned to me.
"Elara has just returned. I'm holding a feast in her honor. I hope you'll join us."
"Yes, sister, do come. We're family, after all."
Elara agreed in that same gentle tone. The sight stung my eyes.
I didn't answer. I simply walked away.
Of course I would go.
This was my pack. I was the rightful Luna Queen. What did I have to fear?
I returned to my chamber and summoned the most skilled maid. High chignon, painted forehead ornament, silk robes, incense.
Two hours later, I entered the great hall in a gown of silver-threaded gold, woven with the wolf crest.
Elara, meanwhile, lounged at ease in the same plain dress she had arrived in, leaning against our parents and Kael, laughing freely.
She blinked at my attire, then laughed.
"Ayla, it's only a family dinner. Why such grandeur?"
"Is your need to compete truly so desperate?"
I paused, my nails digging into my palm.
But my face revealed nothing.
"You've lived in the wilds too long, sister. You may not understand. I am the Luna of this pack. Every word, every gesture reflects its honor. How could I appear before guests in disarray?"
"You—!"
Elara swayed, clutching her chest, her face a mask of wounded fragility.
"You're nothing but a replacement! You stole my life, took my place. All of this was meant to be mine!"
Absurd.
Hadn't she been the one to throw all of this away?
The hall fell silent. I lowered my eyes, my voice barely audible.
"Sister, you speak such interesting words."
"What did I steal? You were the one who found the throne too fragile. You handed it to me with both hands."
"You walked away so easily, unwilling to bear the burden. Why should I have spent six years holding your place, facing what you refused to face?"
"Ayla!"
Kael's voice cracked like a whip.
"Must you make your words so ugly? Does marrying me fill you with such bitterness?!"
He looked beyond furious.
His eyes were bloodshot. Before the words had left his mouth, his Alpha presence crashed over me like an avalanche.
Gasps rippled through the hall. I didn't flinch.
If you mean to strike, then strike. I am tired.
"Kael!"
Elara threw her arms around him.
When he didn't move, she pressed a slow kiss to his cheek. A touch, then gone.
"Last night, I learned your true heart. I am content."
"If I have caused strife between you, I will carry the guilt forever."
What true heart?
And why hadn't he pulled away from her kiss?
Could it be…
My mind went blank. I looked at the hand he had settled against her waist, and spoke softly.
"Kael. So you do know how to be gentle."
"Just not with me."
A crystal goblet on the side table exploded under the weight of his rage, shards scattering across the marble.
Kael stared at me, his own eyes red, as if he were bleeding for me, or perhaps for himself.
"Is that what you believe?"
I stepped back and withdrew the paper from my sleeve, laying it on the table.
"Kael. I want to sever the Mate Bond."
"Since she has returned, this Bond was always meant to be hers. I am giving it back."
Kael's eyes widened, staring at me in disbelief.
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