“The Crown Comes With Poison”

Mabella's POV 

Following Annabella's departure from my chambers, which she had done hesitantly, her steps dragging as though she feared what would follow after my threat to punish her.

The silence she left behind did not last long. The doors creaked open almost immediately, and two servants rushed in, their presence sudden and almost intrusive.

“Luna, do you need us?” one of them asked, her face brightly beaming as though she had been entertained by the expression I wore moments ago while dealing with my stepsister.

The second stood beside her, quieter and more withdrawn. Unlike the first, she did not seem pleased to be in my presence. There was a stiffness in the way she held herself, a reluctance she didn’t even bother to mask. I noticed it and, for now, chose to ignore it.

“No…” I whispered, shaking my head faintly, my voice softer than I intended, as though the weight of everything still pressed against my chest.

“What are your names?” I asked after a brief pause, my gaze settling on them more carefully now. These had to be the servants Alfredo had commanded to attend to me. And standing before them now, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his decision than simple care.

“Dera,” the first said almost immediately, her voice filled with a quiet excitement, as though she was overjoyed to stand before me.

“I am an omega,” she added quickly, almost proudly, “I was hired recently by the alpha to become your personal attendant.”

That caught me off guard.

A newly hired omega? Assigned to me?

Omegas were never placed in positions like this. They were always pushed to the background. Made to cook and clean, to take on the dirtiest, most exhausting roles the pack could throw at them. Never to stand beside a Luna. Never to serve her directly.

“That’s… nice,” I managed to mutter, though my mind lingered on it longer than my words suggested. There was something deliberate about this. Something I wasn’t yet seeing.

I turned to the second girl.

“Lily,” she said quietly.

There was something off about her tone. I couldn’t tell if it was me she was uncomfortable with or Dera. But whatever it was, it sat heavily in the air between us. Unlike Dera, she did not look pleased to be here. If anything, she looked like she would rather be anywhere else.

She carried no scent.

A beta, and I understood immediately.

To stand beside an omega, to share the same duty for someone of her status would feel like an insult to her. To many of them, it always did.

“Dera will serve me this night,” I said slowly, my voice calm but firm as I shifted my attention fully to Lily. “I do not need multiple hands. I only need the bedsheets changed and I believe she can handle that.”

My eyes flickered briefly toward the door, a silent instruction woven into my gaze.

Leave.

I didn’t like her energy. There was something about her that felt wrong and unsettling. And I couldn’t trust that around me, not in a place where I already stood on uncertain ground.

But I couldn’t act on that suspicion openly.

Not when Alfredo himself had chosen her. There had to be a reason.

There always was.

She hesitated just for a second before forcing herself to bow her head slightly. The movement was stiff and reluctant, like obedience dragged out of her against her will. Then she turned to leave.

As she did, I caught the faint sound of her mumbling under her breath.

Just enough to be noticed but not enough to be understood.

And somehow, that unsettled me far more than anything she could have said aloud.

It seemed so urgent that I had Dera wait back in the chambers.

“I need some fresh air. Change the sheets while I’m at that,” I said as I turned to her.

She glanced at the bed, her eyes lingering on the neatly spread sheets before flickering back to me. For a moment, confusion crossed her face because there was nothing wrong with them. They had been perfectly arranged even before I arrived, all under Alfredo’s command to ensure everything was in place for me.

Still, she said nothing.

She simply bowed her head and turned toward the bed, obeying without question.

Even as I stepped out, I couldn’t forget the way Lily had looked at me earlier—how her eyes had lingered on those same sheets, silently questioning my words. There had been no need to change them. No reason at all.

But I couldn’t tell Dera the truth.

I couldn’t tell her that I only said it to send Lily away.

I was still new here. Still learning the shadows of this place, the hidden currents beneath every glance and word. I couldn’t afford to move carelessly.

Stepping out into the hallway, I didn’t waste a second. But almost immediately, I felt the stares.

The guards stationed along the corridor stiffened the moment they saw me. And just as quickly, they averted their gazes, lowering their heads as hushed whispers passed between them.

I said nothing.

I didn’t even bother to cover my face.

What would be the point?

I was not someone who could disappear into a crowd. Not someone who could hide behind silence or shadow. I was noticeable. 

Fat and overweight.

The only one of my kind across multiple packs.

There was only one Luna here—the Alpha’s Luna.

And everyone knew exactly what she looked like.

Hiding would only make it worse.

So instead, I slowed my steps.

Forced them to be steady and controlled and almost silent.

Even though every part of me wanted the opposite—to move quickly and stomp, to escape the weight of their stares pressing against my back like invisible hands.

I kept walking.

“Who does she think she is?”

Lily’s bitter voice came from further down the hallway, the very direction I had seen her go. Without thinking, my steps carried me closer, instinctively drawn to the sound.

“A fat pig like her? How dare she believe that she would get to be Luna?” she snapped, her voice laced with venom.

Each word hit harder than the last.

“Why is it her and not me? What does she have that I don’t?” she continued, her frustration unraveling without restraint. “How dare she? What is it about her that made Alfredo choose her instead of me?”

I froze.

Not out of fear.

But because I didn’t understand.

A servant passed beside her just then, carrying a tray of food meant for the royals. The scent reached me almost instantly.

My stomach betrayed me with a low growl.

I quickly covered my nose, my fingers pressing against it as if that could block out the smell. I knew what would happen if I let it get to me. I could already feel the pull, the urge to follow the servant for the food.

It would be humiliating.

And I refused to let that happen.

Turning away, I began to walk back, my steps faster this time. I didn’t want Lily to realize I had heard her. But more than that, I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

I was a Luna.

I had to act like one.

I had to carry myself with dignity, if not for me, then for Alfredo. I wouldn’t be the reason his name was dragged through whispers and mockery.

But as I hurried back toward my chambers, my chest tight, my thoughts tangled, it wasn’t just her words that shook me.

It was the meaning behind them.

Why did she said them?

And what she truly meant.