Chapter 3

Moonlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, stretching across the marble floor. I knelt on the balcony, applying a special herbal balm to the skin beneath my ribs—to the scars left by silver weapons thirteen years ago. They still ached.

The scars always ached under the full moon, a cruel reminder of a past I fought to forget.

"You're still using that balm."

I didn't turn around. Kaelen's footsteps were loud on the cold marble.

"I thought you'd forgotten that pain," he said. The anger was gone from his voice, replaced by something I couldn't quite place.

I kept rubbing the balm onto my skin. The silver scars looked ghastly in the moonlight.

"Seraphina’s hand is badly injured. The healers say she may never use that hand again."

He added, "That was cruel, Elara."

I stopped, setting the jar down before rising to face him. "Cruel?"

"She's just a nineteen-year-old girl!"

"She had a memory crystal of my greatest shame!" My voice started to shake. "Those images, Kaelen! Those damn images! How did she get them?"

His face went pale.

"Tell me!" I grabbed the front of his shirt. "How did she get those memories? Who else knew what happened that day besides you?"

"I…"

"Did you give them to her?" I let him go, stumbling back a step. "You gave her my most painful memories? Just so she could use them to torture me?"

"It's not like that..."

"Then how?" My claws slid out again. "I destroyed one of her hands. Don't you think she deserved it?"

"Or maybe I should stab my claws through your hand, so you know what betrayal feels like!"

Kaelen grabbed me from behind, pulling me down to the floor with him.

"Enough, Elara," he whispered, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "It's my fault. It's all my fault."

We lay there on the cold marble, his chest pressed against my back. I could feel the outline of his tattoo through his shirt—our mate mark.

But tonight, it felt different. The edges were blurry, the lines less defined.

"Kaelen…" I turned to face him. "Your mark…"

He glanced down at his chest, then quickly pulled his shirt taut. "It's nothing."

"It's fading," I said, sitting up. "The mate mark only fades when one mate betrays the other."

"I haven't betrayed you."

"Then explain why it's disappearing."

Kaelen was silent for a long time.

"Reject me, Kaelen," I said again. "Let's end this while we can still walk away with some dignity."

"No." His answer was the same, but it lacked its earlier fire. "I won't."

Just then, his phone rang.

The caller ID read: Sera.

Kaelen glanced at me, then answered the call.

"Kaelen!" Seraphina’s hysterical scream came through the phone. "I want her dead! Make her pay!"

"Sera, calm down..."

"Calm down? She crippled me!" Seraphina sobbed. "I'm supposed to be the Luna! I want her title! I want her power! You promised me!"

"This isn't the time..."

"Then when is? After she kills me? After she kills our baby?"

I saw Kaelen’s hand tremble.

"You have to choose between me and her!" Seraphina shrieked. "If you love me, you'll avenge me! Now! Do it now!"

Kaelen looked at me, his eyes filled with agony.

Then he walked quickly to the door.

"I'm on my way," he said into the phone.

Just as he was about to open the door, I heard him say it—in a tone so gentle it made me want to scream:

"Sera, be a good girl..."

The door closed.

Those words. The exact same tone. Thirteen years ago, when I was broken and bleeding in his arms, he had whispered the same thing to me. "Elara, be a good girl..."

Now, he was saying it to another woman.

I heard frantic footsteps outside the door, then Seraphina’s shrill voice.

"Kaelen, let me in! I want her dead tonight! I can't wait anymore!"

"Sera, don't do this..."

"She ruined my hand! She needs to pay with her life!"

I heard the sound of tearing fabric, followed by Kaelen's low, comforting whispers.

I sat on the blood-stained marble floor, the old scars on my body throbbing with a familiar pain.

The moon was still shining on the balcony, but tonight, it felt colder than ever.