Liz’s POV“I love you, Arthur.” The words slipped out of me, a broken whisper, my final tether. If this was the last breath I ever drew, I wanted it to be his name on my lips, his memory in my heart.The blade came down.Out of the corner of my eye, something moved fast. I thought it was nothing but a trick of my mind, one last flicker of hope before the end.But then steel clashed against stone, a sound that rang through the chamber like lightning splitting the earth. Silas was ripped away from me, his snarl cutting through the air as he slammed against the wall with such force the altar shook.I fell forward, my wrinkled hands scraping the cold floor, gasping for air I hadn’t realised I was holding. My heart hammered so violently I thought it might burst through my chest.This wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t my mind playing tricks.Someone was here.Silas staggered back to his feet, fury twisting his face. His blade rattled in his grip, his black eyes scanning the shadows. “Who dares?”
Liz’s POVI stared into the mirror, still unable to believe that the horrible old thing staring back at me was me. The skin was loose and grey, the eyes hollow, the hair dull and lifeless. Every time I blinked, I prayed the reflection would shift, that I’d see myself again, but it never changed.Silas drifted in and out of the room. He barely looked at me, as though I were nothing but a discarded thing. I begged him, over and over, for answers, my voice breaking until it was nothing but a rasp.“Tell me why,” I tried again. “Tell me why she looked like me. Why did she wear my face?”Nothing.I gripped the edge of the altar, pulling myself up, my old hands trembling. “Please, Silas. I need to know.”“She deserved it. The power. The youth you carried. It was always meant for her.”My chest clenched. “What? What do you mean?”He didn’t answer, moving past me as if I hadn’t spoken.“I don’t understand,” I pressed, louder this time, desperation clawing up my throat. “I don’t have powers.
Arthur’s POVI had torn through half the grounds already, Finn and my men trailing behind me, their questions drowned beneath the sound of my wolf snarling inside my chest.Hopelessness was crashing me from the inside out. Every inch of this pack had been searched more than once, and still there was no sign of Liz. Not her scent. Not a shred of her presence. I had men scouring the forests, the rivers, the caves. Messengers had gone out to every pack, their lands turned inside out by patrols, but the trail was empty.I clenched my fists, ready to order the guards to push further, to expand beyond the borders. We would rip this land apart if we had to. I didn't care that I could start a war with what I was doing; all I cared about was having Liz home safe with me, where she belonged.I turned my mouth open to give my next order when something caught my eye, making me stop. A guard came running towards us. As he reached us, he bent over, breath tearing out of him. “Alpha King,” he manag
Liz’s POVThe flutter inside me stuttered. Once. Twice. Then it stopped.Nothing.The kind of nothing that shattered me from the inside out. My breath tore in ragged sobs, but no sound came. I bent forward, chains biting deep into me, willing my body to move, to force life back into the tiny heartbeat I had just felt. But there was nothing. No kick. No stir.My baby was gone.Angelica gripped my arm, and as she did, a scream built in my throat, but it never made it past my lips. My tears blurred everything. The world around me swam in salt and pain, her touch burning from my veils as if it were ripping the blood straight from them. I lifted my head as she let go to spit some curse, some final plea. It wasn’t Angelica I saw.It was me.My own face. My own eyes. My body, standing free and whole and alive, looking back at me with a cruel curve of a smile.My voice stuck in my throat. The chains rattled as I strained forward, but I couldn’t find words.Silas moved like a shadow, placing
Liz’s POV“What have you done to me?” The words tumbled from my mouth as the burning spread through my chest like wildfire.My body felt wrong. Not in pain, something worse. Like something inside of me was being drained, unravelled thread by thread. I was dizzy, my skin slick with sweat, my arms trembling so violently the chains rattled like they were laughing at me.I couldn’t breathe right.I couldn’t think.I lifted my head weakly, trying to focus on Silas, but he was nothing more than a blur standing at the altar of his twisted ritual.He didn’t answer.Of course, he didn’t.“Silas,” I rasped, “what… what did you make me drink?”Still nothing.My stomach turned, the air thick with the smell of ash, herbs, and sourness. My fingers twitched, bloodless and cold, as the dizziness pulled harder. I thought I was going to pass out.That was when he turned his head slightly and called, “Angelica.”Her name split through the air like a curse.Footsteps echoed, and I didn’t have to look to
Angelica’s POVShe owed me.The little brat.I’d given her two things in life. The first her life. And the second something I never got.A decent one.She grew up with love. With warmth. With birthday cakes and lullabies and people who looked at her like she mattered. All I ever got were rules, silence, and the basement floor.They said I was special. That my magic was a miracle. The first gifted child in generations, a Hemlock prodigy. They should’ve worshipped me. Instead, they turned me into their puppet. Their perfect little project. Smile when you’re told. Sit still. Recite the spell again. And again. And again.There was no love in that house.Only pressure and punishment.The first time I tried a spell I wasn’t supposed to, they locked me in the basement for three days without food. When they caught me reading from a black magic grimoire, my mother slapped me so hard I saw stars. My father tied my wrists with silver thread and said I’d thank him one day.They didn’t want a daug