Chapter 6 Mercy

That night, I lay awake beneath the stars, staring at the brightest point in the sky—Sirius, the wolf-star.

My eyes refused to close, even as dawn bled pale light into the horizon.

I couldn’t explain why.

The palace was warm. The air carried the faint scent of blossoms, and the bedding beneath me was soft enough to swallow me whole. Everything was perfect, dreamlike.

Too perfect.

I didn’t dare blink. I was terrified that if I closed my eyes, I would awaken again in the Blood Wash Grounds—

in that cell of slaves, where cracked stone walls leaked frost, and the air was damp and rotting.

Where I would plunge my hands back into freezing water, scrubbing armor caked with gore, scraping pelts stiff with blood, day after day, until death itself became a mercy.

The next morning.

Luna Evelyn prepared new clothes for me. They didn’t fit well, but at least the sleeves hid the whip marks on my arms.

I rose early, standing anxiously at the entrance of Elder Mya’s palace.

It was dawn.

The time she prayed to the Moon Goddess.

I did not disturb her. I stood quietly, waiting.

Her hair was white as frost, her eyes webbed with age and sleeplessness. And yet, as if some invisible tether pulled her heart toward mine, she turned suddenly.

Her eyes were bloodshot, wet with unshed tears.

“My Nina... you’ve come back?”

One simple sentence, steeped in sorrow.

My heart shook. Broke.

The tears came unstoppable. I stumbled into her arms, my voice breaking into sobs.

“Elder Mya... I’ve missed you so much...”

Her embrace was trembling yet firm, her hands tender as they cupped my hollow cheeks.

“Nina, let me see you... how could you become so thin?”

Her wrinkled fingers brushed away my tears as though I were something fragile, precious, and breakable.

Three years ago, I was the pack’s treasured princess.

Now, I was the slave of the Blood Wash Grounds—stripped of dignity, beaten until numb.

So, when I was held again, cherished again, I shattered.

I wept until my throat burned, crying her name over and over.

Even the omega servants in the hall quietly wiped their tears.

I remembered too well.

When Lily returned, all of Silver Ridge turned its warmth toward her.

They wept for her hardships in the Wildlands, for her hunger and ragged clothes.

They whispered gently: “Lily, from now on, we will all love you.”

And I… was forgotten.

Discarded like a shard of broken glass.

Only Elder Mya had seen me.

She had taken my hand, whispering:

“Nina, no matter what happens, you are always my sweetest, dearest child. The family will love you forever.”

That promise had blurred my sight with tears.

Later, when I took the blame for Lily and was cast into the Blood Wash Grounds, it was Elder Mya who knelt in the snow, begging the Elders for mercy.

The wind cut her like knives, and her frail body had finally collapsed before the palace gates.

The slaves laughed at her—mocked her, cursed her, said she should die.

That was the day I snapped.

In a heartbeat, fury consumed me. My wolf broke free, and I wanted nothing more than to tear them apart.

The punishment nearly killed me. But I never regretted it.

No one insults Elder Mya.

Now, wrapped in her arms once more, the storm inside me began to quiet.

“You’re home, my child,” she whispered, fierce and solemn. “No one will ever hurt you again.”

Her eyes burned with oath-like certainty.

I nodded hard, clutching her hand. For the first time in years, a small warmth unfurled in my chest.

“Elder Mya must stay healthy. You must stay with me. Promise?”

She smiled through tears. “I promise.”

We were sharing breakfast when Evelyn and Lily entered the hall.

Evelyn bowed slightly to Mya. “Elder, now that Nina has returned... it’s time we set a date for Lily and Cole’s mating ceremony.”

Then she turned her eyes to me.

“Nina, you don’t still care for Cole, do you?”

Mya’s arm held me close. I didn’t even glance at Evelyn.

What did my return have to do with Lily’s marriage?

Years ago, Evelyn had stolen my betrothal with nothing but force and hypocrisy. She had never once asked for my will.

Mya gently patted my hand.

“Nina, do you still love Cole?”

The air went still.

I felt Lily’s gaze dart to me—then quickly lower, as though I’d struck her. She curled into Evelyn’s side, the picture of a fragile lamb. Evelyn’s stance shifted, sharp and protective, a mother wolf bristling at threat.

The sight seared my chest.

I had once been the child in her arms.

But now… it no longer mattered.

Mya pressed softly: “Nina, you were the one betrothed to him first. If you still care for him, then you should wed soon.”

And then I understood.

She had kept that promise alive—refusing Lily’s claim on Cole—all for me. Because she had seen how fiercely I once loved him.

If I said the word, she would make it so.

If I still loved him.

Lily’s eyes flicked up, a silent plea to Evelyn. They were terrified I would say yes.

But three years had burned the fire away.

The man who once seemed untouchable, dazzling—

Now only chilled me to the bone.

I lifted my chin.

“Elder Mya, I don’t love Cole.”

The words were soft, yet final. A blade to the heart.

Mya’s face wavered with disbelief.

“Truly? But you loved him so deeply...”

Her voice faltered.

And in that pause—

Footsteps.

A shadow halted at the threshold of the temple.

Lily’s breath caught.

“Cole...” she whispered.

My chest tightened. I drew in a sharp breath.

Was he here?

I turned.

Cole stood in the doorway, towering, immovable—like a wall of iron.

His eyes, blue as a frozen sea, locked on me with a force that pinned me in place.

Complicated. Dangerous. Predatory.

The gaze of a wolf that had found its prey.