Chapter 2

 

Ravena's POV

At that moment, all eyes were on me, waiting for my reaction like it was some performance and I was the main act.

My chest tightened, but I managed to let out a forced laugh. “So this is how it ends? You hand me a royal letter like it’s a gift?”

Lucien said nothing.

The weight of his betrayal settled heavily on me, but I still kept my head up. I looked at the golden seal again, then looked him dead in the eye. “You made vows to me, Lucien. Before your gods. Before my mother. You made promises that I held onto.”

“I didn’t lie,” he said calmly. “I believed them when I said them.”

“How convenient,” I muttered.

He took a step back and crossed his arms. “Listen, Astrid is not a woman you can disrespect. She is a general, a warrior, and my fated mate. She will stand beside me, and as for you, you will bear my child.”

“What?”

“She will share the Luna title with you, with equal rank and rights. I won’t let you treat her as inferior.”

“So you are giving your fated mate the same position as your Luna?”

“It’s the only way,” he replied without flinching. “This pack needs her strength, and she deserves to be honored.”

I stared at him in disgust. “Do you even hear yourself?”

He didn’t answer, but his father did.

“You should be grateful, Ravena. Lucien is being generous. Not many men would offer to give their Luna a child when the fated mate is present.”

I turned to him sharply. “Generous?”

“You have been here for a year. You have fulfilled your duties, yes. But now it’s time to build the future. The real one.”

“So you want me to stay here and raise a child while he plays house with his so-called mate?”

Lucien’s voice was calm, but cold. “No one is asking you to like it. Just accept it. I don’t want a messy break.”

“Then you should have just stayed away from me,” I spat.

A long and heavy silence filled the room at that moment.

I looked between father and son. They both had the same expression—hard, sure, and ruthless.

“Fine,” I said quietly. “Go ahead. Bring this Astrid here. Let me meet the woman who is worthy of breaking up our marriage.”

Lucien didn’t flinch. He just gave a single nod, like it was settled.

Without that, I turned and walked out.

°°°°°°°°°°

Days passed and I didn’t see him again. No Astrid. No letter. No explanation.

I buried myself in work. Meetings. Paperwork. Land agreements. Broken fences. Grain shortages. Garrick’s endless complaints. The pack didn’t stop needing me just because Lucien had stopped seeing me.

And I didn’t ask.

If Lucien wanted to bring his precious general to meet me, he would.

But deep inside, I wondered if he was waiting for the right moment. Or if he was hiding something.

I kept walking past his office. I kept ignoring the door. I stopped waiting. I forced myself to sleep without replaying the last time he touched me. It was hard, but I tried.

Then one evening, just as I was finishing a council scroll, my phone buzzed.

I frowned and grabbed it, hesitating when I saw the caller ID.

It was the royal physician.

I answered. “Yes?”

His voice came out rushed and tense. “Lady Ravena, I'm sorry, but I can’t do this anymore. I won’t be coming back to the Blackstone estate.”

“What?” I suddenly sat up straight. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t care how much you offer. I’m done. I’m sorry.”

“Wait, what happened?”

“I can’t deal with your father-in-law’s madness anymore,” he snapped. “He doesn’t trust me. He watches me like a hawk, accuses me of stealing, of trying to poison him, of replacing real herbs with dirt. I am a royal physician, not some market fraud. I trained at the Solstice Crown Pack. I don’t deserve this.”

“Please, just slow down. I can talk to him.”

“You shouldn’t have to. You paid me fairly. You respected my work. But that man? He humiliates me every time I enter the room. He is paranoid, Lady Ravena. And cruel. I won’t take it anymore.”

Before I could say another word, the line went dead.

I sat there, with the phone still pressed to my ear, feeling a sense of dread.

Garrick had always hated the fact that I hired someone from the royal court. He complained about the fees. Said the man talked too much and worked too slow. I had ignored his grumbling, thinking he would eventually calm down.

Clearly, I was wrong.

With a deep breath, I stood up, smoothed my skirt, and made my way to Garrick’s quarters. I had no energy for another cold exchange, but I wanted to ask him what had gone so wrong that the royal physician left without even saying goodbye.

When I reached the hallway, I heard laughter.

It wasn’t just Garrick’s voice. There was another voice that sounded softer and playful. Then a deeper voice joined in, and I immediately recognized it as Lucien's.

I crept closer and rested my fingers on the doorframe, not sure if I should knock.

“She's quite bold, isn’t she?” the woman said, laughing softly.

“Bold and stubborn,” Garrick replied.

“And yet she managed the entire pack alone,” the woman added.

“I wouldn’t say alone,” Lucien spat. “She just talks a lot and expects people to listen.”

Garrick and the woman both chuckled.

Without thinking, I pushed the door open and the moment it creaked, all three heads turned.

Lucien was seated beside his father, his back straight, a faint smile still lingering on his lips. The woman beside him was perched on the arm of his chair, leaning in far too comfortably.

“Ravena,” Lucien said tightly as he stood up and moved, just enough to place himself between me and the woman.

I stood in the doorway, looking surprised. “I didn’t know we had guests.”

The woman didn’t seem the least bit ashamed. She stepped forward with a smirk on her face. She looked exactly as I imagined—elegant, proud, and battle-ready, with the kind of confidence that came from praise and power.

“You must be the Luna,” she said sweetly. “I’m Astrid Valea. I asked Lucien to let me meet you. I was curious.”

I held her gaze steady. “Curious about what?”

“You. The woman who married an Alpha knowing she wasn’t his fated mate. That takes strength. Or blindness.”

I didn’t smile. “And I was curious too.”

She raised a brow.

“I was curious how a decorated general, favoured by the king and skilled in war, would willingly share a man with someone else.”

“I don’t share. I stand beside him. We are equals.”

“Equals?” I echoed. “Then why did you hide behind him the moment I walked in?”

“I stepped forward, didn’t I?”

“Yes, after he moved first.”

Astrid crossed her arms. “You act so self-righteous, Ravena. But you knew what you were getting into when you married him out of duty. Don’t stand here pretending it was love.”

“I stood by him when there was no glory,” I snapped. “When there were no crowds cheering his name. When his father couldn’t lift himself out of bed. I did that. Not you.”

“You were holding a title, not a heart.”

Lucien’s voice suddenly interrupted us. “Enough!”

We both looked at him.

“I told you not to disrespect her, Ravena. She is not the problem.”

I laughed. “No, of course not. I am the problem. The woman you married. The woman you want to keep in the background like furniture while you parade your general around the court.”

Lucien stepped forward, his shoulders tense. “I already told you. I’ll give you a child. That was the agreement.”

“You want me to carry your heir while you sleep in another bed?”

“I never said we had to stop sleeping together.”

Astrid raised her chin, as if this was perfectly normal.

“You’re disgusting,” I said, each word slow and clear. “You want two women. One to give you a child. The other to feed your ego.”

“Watch your tone,” Garrick spat, his voice cold.

I ignored him.

“I am not doing this,” I told Lucien. “You think you can control me with that Alpha voice and a royal seal? You can’t.”

Lucien didn’t blink.

“I want a divorce,” I announced.

He frowned, but not in surprise.

“I want you to reject me right now.”

Astrid smirked, but Lucien’s face turned to stone.

He took a slow step forward. “You don’t want that.”

“I do. I will not be a decoration in your palace.”

“Do you think I won’t?”