Chapter 4

A full day after my father collapsed, Lyla paraded through the citadel's corridors.

"Kristina, don't I look beautiful?"

She wore a deep red gown studded with pearls—the mark of a Redfang Luna.

The crown on her head glittered in the sun. It was my mother's.

"You're wearing my mother's crown."

"It's mine now." She touched the ruby on the crown. "Lukas said that as the new Luna of the Silvermoon Citadel, I should wear the proper accessories."

A dozen soldiers in Redfang uniforms followed her, patrolling my home as if it were their own.

"How is your father?" Lukas rounded the corner, his tone as casual as if asking about the weather.

"Still unconscious."

"A pity," he said, shaking his head. "If he'd woken up sooner, he could have witnessed the new and improved Silvermoon Citadel."

I watched them strut down the halls of my home, a fire of helpless rage burning in my chest.

"Kristina," Lyla said, walking up to me. She waved the soldiers away, then leaned in close.

"You should get on your knees and beg Lukas for forgiveness," she whispered, her voice low and venomous. "It's your only chance to survive."

"I have no mistakes to admit."

"No?" Her smile twisted. "Choosing that filthy half-breed wasn't a mistake? Driving Father to the brink of death wasn't a mistake?"

She leaned in closer, her breath on my face.

"You'll soon be just like your half-breed mate, trampled into the mud—"

Before she could finish, she cried out, stumbling back.

Thud!

She slammed her arm against a silver ceremonial altar on the wall, its edge razor-sharp. Blood immediately soaked through her sleeve.

"Ah!" she screamed, slumping to the floor, tears instantly welling up. "Lukas! She pushed me! My sister pushed me!"

"What?!"

Lukas was there in three long strides.

Seeing Lyla on the floor in a pool of blood, his eyes lit with fury.

"I didn't touch her," I said flatly.

"Liar!" he roared, his pureblood Alpha aura crashing down on me like a physical weight. "I saw it with my own two eyes!"

"Lukas, it hurts..." Lyla sobbed, her face a mask of pain. "I was just trying to convince her not to be with that hybrid, and she..."

"Enough!" He carefully helped Lyla up, checking her wound.

Then he looked at me with murder in his eyes.

Just then, rushed footsteps echoed. A maid ran up, panicked. "My Lady! The Alpha... he's collapsed again! It's worse this time!"

My heart stopped.

"Quick! Call the healer!"

"The healer has done all he can..." the maid sobbed. "He said... a stronger healing spell is needed, but..."

I turned to Lukas. He had a high-level healer with him, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.

"Lukas, please..."

"Please what?" he cut me off with a sneer. "Ask me to save an old man who betrayed his own bloodline?"

"He is your father-in-law!"

"He is a disgrace," Lukas said, one arm around Lyla. "But... I could consider it."

He paused, a cruel smile playing on his lips. He pointed to the cold stone floor beneath my feet.

"Kneel," he commanded, pointing to the cold stone floor. "Kneel, right here, in front of everyone. Admit that choosing that hybrid mongrel was a stain on our kind. A betrayal of pureblood honor."

I stared at him, the blood freezing in my veins.

"Kneel and confess, and I'll send my healer to save him," Lukas's voice was cold steel. "Otherwise, let him die in shame."

The surrounding soldiers and servants watched, silent and waiting.

Kneel.

Admit choosing Salome was a mistake.

Admit I had defiled the honor of my pack.

I looked at Lyla.

Behind her pained expression was a triumphant smirk.

I looked at Lukas.

The face I once loved was now a monster's.

To save my father, I had to kneel.

I slowly bent my knees, my body trembling, my kneecaps inches from the floor.

Suddenly, a strange horn blast echoed from outside the city walls.

It was no wolf's howl, nor a human's battle horn.

It was a haunting blend of both—a call that seemed to rise from the abyss itself.

Everyone froze.

A guard rushed in, dropping to one knee.

"My Lady! Outside the walls... an army of humans and werewolves has appeared!"