character 1:the weight of mercy

The silk of the dress felt like a mockery against my calloused palms. I had spent six months scrubbing floors in the northern wing and selling my rations just to afford this fabric. It was supposed to be my debut—the night my fated Alpha mate, Fenris, would officially claim me before the entire Silver Crest Pack.

"It looks so much better on me, don't you think, Elora?"

I looked up. My sister, Bella, stood before the full-length mirror, spinning in my dress. The midnight-blue silk hugged her curves perfectly, the hem dusting the floor I had just polished.

"That was my dress, Bella," I said, my voice as flat as the stones in the courtyard.

"Oh, don't be so selfish," my father’s voice boomed from the doorway. He didn't even look at me. His eyes were fixed on his 'golden' daughter. "Bella is the face of this family. She needs to look the part for the Alpha’s ascension. You’re just... you. You can wear your service tunic. No one will notice you in the corners anyway."

Bella pouted, a practiced, pathetic look. "And the necklace, Daddy? It matches the dress so well."

My heart stopped. My hand flew to the silver locket beneath my collar—the only thing my mother had left me. Before I could speak, my father stepped forward and ripped it from my neck. The chain snapped, stinging my skin.

"Here, sweetheart," he told Bella, fastening the silver around her throat. "A gift for a true Luna."

I stood there, stripped of my money, my dress, and my mother’s memory. I felt the familiar heat of the "nothingness" they had forced upon me for years. But deep in my chest, something else was stirring—a cold, rhythmic hum.

"Go on," I whispered.

"What was that?" Bella sneered, admiring the locket.

"Take it," I said, meeting her eyes. For the first time, I didn't flinch. "Take the dress. Take the jewels. Take everything you think makes you powerful, Bella. I want to see if you can actually carry the weight of it."

I turned and walked out, not toward the servants' quarters, but toward the Alpha’s private chambers. I didn't need a dress to see the truth.

I pushed the heavy oak doors open without knocking. The scent hit me first—the metallic tang of Fenris’s cedarwood mixed with Bella’s cloying floral perfume.

The room was dim, but the sight was clear. My fated mate, the man whose soul was supposed to be bound to mine, had his hands tangled in the hair of the woman currently wearing my clothes.

Fenris froze, looking over his shoulder. There was no guilt in his eyes—only annoyance.

"Elora? Get out. You’re interrupting."

"I’m not interrupting, Fenris," I said, stepping into the light. My voice didn't tremble. It was the sound of a blade being sharpened. "I’m resigning."

"Resigning?" He laughed, a harsh, guttural sound. "You’re a Beta's daughter with no scent and no power. You belong to this pack. You go where I tell you."

"Not anymore." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, blackened stone—the seal of my bloodline I had kept hidden for nineteen years. "You told me I was nothing. You told me I had no gift to offer the pack."

I crushed the stone in my palm. A wave of ice-cold energy radiated from my hand, snuffing out every candle in the room.

"Tonight, I’m taking my 'nothing' and leaving," I said into the darkness. "And since I am the one who brings the blessing of the harvest to this valley, I’m taking the spring with me. Enjoy the winter, Fenris. It’s going to be very, very long."

I walked out of the manor and into the rain. At the edge of the forest, a massive shadow detached itself from the trees.

Thane, the exiled Shadow Beta, knelt in the mud before me. He didn't look at my ruined tunic or my empty hands. He looked at me like I was the sun.

"My Queen," he rasped. "The others are waiting. Shall we begin the deprivation?"

"Everything," I commanded, looking back at the glowing lights of the manor. "Strip them of everything."