Chapter Three…Chaos in Silk

Chapter Three…Chaos in Silk

ARIA'S POV

I didn’t know when the tears started.

I only knew they wouldn’t stop.

I slid down the wall the moment he left, my legs giving way beneath me, the world tilting until I was nothing but a shaking heap on the cold floor. My chest burned. My throat ached. The sobs kept tearing out of me, harsh and ugly, like my body couldn’t bear the weight of everything collapsing at once.

How had I ended up here?How had I gone from invisible… to this?

A substitute.A lie.A punching bag for a broken Alpha who despised the sight of me.

He had looked at me like I had stolen something sacred.

Like I was filth.

And the worst part?

I couldn’t even hate him for it.

Because deep down, I knew he wasn’t mad at me.

He was grieving someone else.

I wrapped my arms around myself and cried harder, my tears soaking into my dress.I felt small. Panic clawed through my ribs. I couldn't breathe without wanting to scream.

I cried until the room blurred.

Until my lips trembled.

Until there was nothing left inside me but shaking.

A soft knock brushed against the door.I didn’t move.Didn’t answer.Didn’t care.

The door creaked open anyway.

Footsteps. Careful. Quiet. Familiar.

“Aria” Marcus whispered, closing the door gently behind him and crossed the room, kneeling in front of me, his eyes soft with guilt.

“Aria…”

He reached for me.

I slapped his hand away.

“Don’t,” I choked, voice cracking. “Don’t touch me.”

His face fell. “Aria, please—”

“You watched,” I whispered. Then louder. “You WATCHED him speak to me like that. You WATCHED him tear me apart. And you did nothing.”

Pain flickered across his features. “It’s not like that—”

“It is.” My voice shook. “You say you love me — you swear you do — but you stand there while he humiliates me. Like I’m nothing. Like I’m dirt beneath his boots. Is this what you want for me? For us?”

Tears blurred my vision again.

“I can’t do this. I won’t. I’m done.. I want no matter if this nightmare”

His breath stalled. “Aria—”

“I’m going home,” I said, wiping at my face only for more tears to replace them. “I don’t care what happens. I don’t care if the pack whispers. I don’t care if they turn their backs. I would rather be alone than live like… THIS.”

My chest heaved.

“If this is what the FIRST day is like, how am I meant to survive five more months? How do I live like this? How do I breathe beneath a weight that keeps crushing me?”

He swallowed, helpless.

“I’m not a sacrifice,” I whispered. “No one ever bled for me — so why should I bleed for everyone else?”

Silence.

Then, softer.

“Marcus… if you love me — truly love me — then come with me. Please.” I held his face in my hands, my tears dripping onto his skin. “Run away with me. We don’t need any of this. I don’t want to be a shadow. I don’t want to be a replacement. I want to be yours.”

His eyes broke before his voice did.

“Aria… I do love you,” he breathed. “More than you will ever know. But I can’t. I’m bound to him. He saved my life. He trusts me. I swore an oath.. I am his Beta—”

“What about the oath you made to me?” My voice shattered. “What about the nights you promised you’d never let anyone hurt me? What about when you said I’d never face the world alone?”

He closed his eyes like the words pierced him.

“You’re not alone,” he whispered.

“I AM!” My voice cracked. “Because right now I’m not your lover. I’m not even myself. I’m just—” My breath trembled. “A substitute Luna.”

The words tasted like poison.

“Either you come with me,” I whispered, “or I leave alone and then I will know… you don't really love me… and all of it was a lie”

His hand slipped from mine.

And my heart broke.

“Aria… please. Try to understand.”

“I don't understand and I don't want to,” I said hollowly. “I hate it.”

Another knock sounded at the door.

We both froze.

The Alpha’s rule crashed through my mind like thunder.

‘You must never be alone with another male…or he dies’

My heart stopped.

Marcus mouthed silently — ‘ I'm going to hide’

He stood up searching the room for where he could hide and reality crashed down on me…I couldn’t risk him.Not even for love.

But all this was for love.. whether it was mine or the Alpha's..

So I wiped my tears with shaking hands.

Straightened. I had to make a decision .The knock came sharp and sudden, rattling the chamber doors.

I didn’t move.

Tears had dried sticky on my cheeks, her body curled against the wall like something small and breakable. The ache inside me wasn’t loud anymore — just hollow. Just endless.

Another knock.

Harder.

Marcus went rigid.

His eyes found mine,wide, terrified…but I only stared back, numb. Something inside me had burned out. Something that said ‘obey’ Something that said ‘hide’ Something that said ‘survive’.

“Let them come.Let someone see.Let this end.” I whispered

The rule echoed in my mind again…

‘If you are seen alone with any male — he dies.’

Marcus moved first.

“Aria—” he hissed under his breath, scanning the room like prey.

He found the wardrobe.

He grabbed my shoulders, gentle but desperate…forcing my eyes to meet his.

“Please,” he whispered. “Aria, please — don’t do this. Not like this.”

I didn’t answer because I didn’t care anymore.

If they walked in right now and saw him, maybe the Alpha would rage. Maybe the pack elders would intervene. Maybe this farce would burn down.

Maybe I would finally be free from this so-called duty.

Her chest rose shallowly.

“I don’t care,” she murmured. “Let them see.”

Pain ripped across Marcus’s face.

“No.” His voice broke. “No,you don’t mean that.”

Another knock — sharper.

“Luna?”

A woman’s voice.

A maid.

He cupped her cheeks, frantic.

“If you love me…Please, don't do anything stupid.”

His eyes shone with everything they couldn’t say.

Duty.Fear.Love.

Then he slipped away and into the wardrobe,vanishing into silence just as the handle turned.

The door opened.

I did not rise.

Did not wipe my tears.

Did not pretend.

Not anymore.

A young maid stepped inside, bowing lightly.

“My Lady.”

my voice came out thin. “Yes?”

The girl wrung her hands. “Your bath is ready… and you are to dress. The Alpha’s parents have arrived. They wish to see you.”

Of course they did. They are here to see their precious daughter in law..

Everything but the pain was pretend.

“I understand,” Aria whispered.

The maid bowed and slipped out as quickly as she had entered.

Silence swallowed the room.

The wardrobe door creaked open again.

Marcus emerged pale,breath shaking… as though he’d just escaped death.

Maybe he had.

He dropped to his knees before me.

“Aria… please. Listen to me.”

My eyes finally met his.

Empty.

Wounded.

Determined.

“I want him to end it,” I said quietly. “I want him to say he doesn’t want me here. I want him to throw me out.”

His mouth parted. “Aria—”

“I won’t beg him. I won’t break more rules to survive them. He wants me invisible? Fine. But I won’t make it easy. I won’t make myself small anymore.”

My voice trembled — but it didn’t break. I swallowed.

“I want ‘you’ Only you. And if that means this burns — then let it burn.”

Marcus shut his eyes.

Pain carved deep lines into his face.

“I love you,” he said softly. “More than anything. But if you push him — I won’t survive it. And neither will you.”

He took my hands — holding them like they were the last living thing in the world.

“If you love me… please. Behave. Endure. Just until this is over.”

My heart twisted painfully.

Six months.

Six months of being a ghost wearing another woman’s smile.

“I don’t know if I can.” I whispered

He leaned forward ..forehead resting against mine,aching, shaking.

“I know,” he whispered.

Another knock echoed down the corridor — louder — closer.

Marcus stood instantly.

“I have to go.”

my throat burned. “Marcus—”

He hesitated, tearing himself away as if his heart were still in my hands.

“Please,” he said again.

Then he vanished through the back passage …gone like smoke … just as the door opened again.

Another maid.

“My Lady … your dress is prepared. The Alpha’s parents await.” I stood up slowly like someone waiting for an execution, because at this point that is what all this was.

If this is what it takes to be a Luna.. Luna Selene is lucky she isn't here.

or could it be she ran away?

I spun on my heel and headed for the bathroom, needing space, needing control—needing to feel like myself again.. I shut the door harder than necessary and twisted the lock, then turned on the water just to drown out my thoughts.

Steam bloomed quickly, fogging the mirror, blurring the girl staring back at me.

Good.

I didn’t recognize her either.

I stepped under the spray, heat pouring over my shoulders, my anger simmering instead of cooling. Marcus’s voice replayed in my head. *Remember what I told you.*

As if I was a child. As if I didn’t know exactly what kind of danger I was standing in.

The door opened.

I gasped, spinning around—

Kieran.

My heart slammed so hard it hurt.

Before I could speak—or scream—he crossed the space between us in seconds, his hand coming up to still me. Not forceful. Not cruel. Just desperate.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he whispered urgently. “My parents are downstairs. They came to see Selene.”

His voice cracked on her name.

My anger shifted, twisted—confusion threading through it. I stared at him, water dripping down my arms, steam wrapping us in a private, dangerous bubble.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” he continued, quieter now. “I panicked.”

That startled me more than anything.

Kieran didn’t panic.

He removed his hand slowly, like he was afraid I might bolt—or strike him.

I didn’t.

I was too aware of him. Of the tension vibrating off his body. Of the way his eyes flicked away and back again, as if looking at me was a mistake he kept making.

Footsteps echoed outside.

A woman’s voice followed, warm and curious.

“Selene, dear? Are you in?”

My breath hitched.

Kieran froze.

The air between us crackled—dangerous, intimate, wrong in a way that made my pulse race. I should have pushed past him. Should have opened my mouth and said something—anything.

Instead, anger flared again, sharp and reckless.

At Marcus.

At this castle.

At the lies layered so thick I could barely breathe.

Kieran’s gaze dropped to mine, searching. Waiting.

And in that moment, standing there with the truth humming between us, I realized something terrifying—

I wasn’t sure who I was angrier at anymore.

Or who I trusted least.