Chapter 3: The Trail of Betrayal

My steps felt like walking over shards of memory. Every second I spent in this palace now felt painful—not because my body hadn’t fully healed, but because these walls reminded me of the lies I built with Kaelus.

Dareth waited for me outside the infirmary. His eyes followed my every movement without saying a word. His silence was more honest than any forced sympathy. And I appreciated that.

"I want to return to my room," I said quietly.

Dareth’s eyes sharpened. He looked hesitant, but nodded. "I’ll take you."

We walked down the main corridor of the palace. The servants and guards we passed gave small bows, then averted their eyes. Not one of them asked how I was. Not one tried to act like they used to. And maybe that was for the best.

Every corner, every familiar tapestry, felt heavier than iron chains. My own footsteps echoed back at me, hollow, reminding me how much space there was between me and everyone else in this palace. Even the torches along the walls flickered weakly, their flames swaying like frightened whispers, mirroring the trembling storm trapped inside me.

When the door to our room opened, the scent that greeted me wasn’t the scent of home.

It was something foreign—yet familiar.

That perfume.

Sweet. Too sweet. Like honey forced into an open wound.

The scent wrapped around me like a ghostly hand, pulling me into a reality I wished to deny. I could almost see her shadow lounging here, laughing, touching what used to be mine.

I stepped in slowly. The air felt heavy, as if the walls themselves absorbed every trace of her presence. There were no signs of Kaelus, but… her scent still lingered in the air. On the pillow. On the bedsheets. As if she… lived here.

"How long was I sleeping in that cave," I whispered, "while another woman warmed this bed?"

Dareth said nothing. He stood at the doorway like a guardian of silence too heavy to put into words. His jaw tightened ever so slightly, as if he too tasted the bitterness of betrayal just by breathing this air.

I stared at the bed. Untouched, but not unfamiliar. Even the small smudge at the edge of the sheet—a faint red lipstick stain—was enough to make my stomach churn.

That tiny mark was louder than any confession. I didn’t need Kaelus to admit anything, the proof was carved into fabric that once cradled both our dreams.

The room tilted around me. My lungs forgot how to breathe.

I stepped back. "No. I can’t sleep here."

"Luna, you need rest."

"Not in the same bed where he made love to another woman."

The words spilled out. I couldn’t hold back any longer.

Dareth lowered his gaze. "I’ll prepare a guest room in the east wing. Far from… this place."

I nodded. "Thank you."

When he left, I stood in the middle of the room, looking around. This used to be where we laughed. Where we made love. Where he swore I was the only woman he’d ever protect until his last breath.

The room was heavy with memories. Every corner held a fragment of promises now turned to ashes. My chest tightened, realizing that even walls could betray me by keeping secrets I was never meant to discover.

Now, this room was nothing but a graveyard for the hopes I once planted.

I reached out to touch the cold wall. The back of my hand still throbbed, wrapped in bandages. But the physical pain felt like a whisper compared to the screams inside me.

Then I heard the door open again.

Not Dareth.

I turned.

Kaelus.

He entered like an uninvited storm. His cloak flowing, his hair neat, his face… expressionless. But his eyes froze when they landed on me.

"Elara."

My lips trembled. "Don’t call my name."

He stepped closer. Slowly. As if I were a wild creature ready to flee.

"I heard you returned. Why didn’t you let me know?"

I laughed—flat and bitter. "I’m pretty sure Dareth informed you that I returned from being kidnapped. This entire palace is whispering about me. And you—what? You didn’t hear a thing?"

His face tightened. "I didn’t know. No report reached me."

I scoffed. "Lies. I’ve been back for nearly two weeks. No report—or were you simply too indifferent to care?"

He opened his mouth, but I raised a hand to silence him.

"I don’t want excuses. I only want to know one thing."

Kaelus fell silent.

"That woman," I whispered. "Who is she?"

His expression shifted. A flicker of fear—but not enough to be regret.

"She… is none of your concern."

My heart sank. "None of my concern?" I stepped forward. "I’m your Luna. Your wife. Your mate. And you dare say the woman sleeping in our bed is none of my concern?"

He clenched his fists. "Our relationship… isn’t what it used to be."

"Because you made it that way!" I shouted. "Because you abandoned me the night I needed you. Because you… let me be dragged to hell while you… were busy seducing a human in this very palace!"

"I didn’t know you couldn’t fight them off," he said coldly. There wasn’t a single trace of remorse in his eyes.

I froze. My breath caught. "You think I was lying when I begged you to save me? You think the video they sent—the bruises, the wounds—were fake? Are you insane? I almost died in that cave!"

My whole body shook, struggling not to explode. "You… saw everything. And still you chose not to care and chose her instead!"

That voice—my voice—sounded like despair wrapped in fury. And for the first time, I saw Kaelus… speechless.

His silence said more than any words could.

I shook my head slowly. Tears slipped down—not for love, but for the disgust I felt toward myself. "You know what hurts me the most?"

He didn’t answer.

"Not your betrayal. But the fact that I still hoped… you’d come for me. No—even if you couldn’t save me then, I hoped you’d at least visit me afterward."

I lowered my head, a bitter smile tugging at my lips. "But instead… you claimed to know nothing at all."

Kaelus exhaled and walked away. But before the door shut behind him, he said, "Don’t make this mess worse than it already is, Elara."

The door closed.

And in that moment, I knew—there was nothing left to salvage from these ruins.

***

The guest room in the east wing was cold and quiet. But at least… there was no scent of betrayal in the air.

I sat by the window, gazing out. The forest in the distance was still shrouded in fog. The moon hung heavy, blurred by mist, like a witness refusing to intervene. The wind carried distant howls, raw and untamed, reminding me of the world I once ruled.

Alpha Moonveil. The leader of a small but fierce pack who once dared to stand against anything. Now? I was nothing but a forgotten Luna.

"Luna."

I turned. Dareth stood at the doorway. "Forgive the intrusion."

"No. Come in."

He carried a tray with a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. The steam curled upward, carrying a faint aroma of herbs. "You haven’t eaten all day."

I simply looked at him. But the hunger gnawed at my stomach. I took the bread and bit into it slowly.

"I need to report something," he said, sitting across from me.

"Go ahead."

"The border patrol found remnants of the rogue camp. But something’s off."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Too clean. Too organized. As if… they knew we were coming."

I straightened. "You think someone warned them?"

Dareth nodded slowly. "And more than that. Human footprints… among the rogues’ tracks."

I froze.

Human.

"That woman?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"I can’t confirm. But… there’s a strong chance she was involved."

My blood ran cold. "Are you sure?"

"It’s still under investigation. But the motive for your abduction… might not have been just to hurt you."

I clenched my hands. "But to separate me from Kaelus?"

Dareth looked me straight in the eye. His tone was calm, but his gaze carried fire. "Or perhaps… the Alpha orchestrated it himself."

My heart stopped.

No. No way. That was too cruel. Even for him.

But… why was there no search? Why did he let me go missing? Why did he allow that woman into our home, into our bed, and erase my existence as if I’d never been here?

"If he really used that woman to get rid of me… then I can’t stay silent."

Dareth nodded slowly. "You’re still Luna. You can still change everything."

I stared at him. "No. I’m no longer the Luna they want."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

I stood—slowly, but steadily. The weight of exhaustion still pulled at my limbs, but beneath it something new stirred—rage given shape. "From this moment on, I’m not a woman waiting to be rescued. I will find the truth. I will expose everything. And I will drag them out of the shadows one by one."

Dareth looked at me with a different expression. A mix of respect… and worry.

"What’s your plan?"

I walked to the table, grabbing my old cloak hanging from the side of the wardrobe. "I’m going to the last place Kaelus used to hide things. The old cellar beneath the western tower."

"Alone?"

I turned and smiled faintly. "I’m not alone. I have anger, pain, and the truth on my side."

***

That night, while the palace slept, I slipped from my room. My breaths were quiet. Every step measured. Every shadow watched.

The silence of the east wing was different—thicker, as though the walls themselves held secrets too dangerous to reveal.

The western tower hadn’t been used in years. Moss crawled across its stone like veins. The air grew colder with every step, my cloak clinging to my body as if it too feared what lay ahead.

I knew Kaelus visited it sometimes. He thought I didn’t know. But I always knew more than I let him believe.

The corridor leading to the cellar was dark. Damp. Cold. My footsteps echoed faintly, mingling with the drip of unseen water. My hands trembled—not from fear, but from the feeling that what I’d find couldn’t be undone.

And I was right.

At the end of the corridor stood a steel door. Locked.

I pressed my ear to it. Breathing.

Someone was inside.

A woman. And a man’s voice I knew too well—Kaelus.

Their voices were low… too low to hear clearly. But the tone carried intimacy. My stomach turned with every murmur.

I leaned closer. The chill of the steel seeped into my skin. My heartbeat drowned out their whispers until—

The woman’s voice rose—clear, sharp, and slicing through my heart.

“She doesn’t know, does she? That you ordered her capture yourself.”

Time stopped.

My hand went limp. My knees buckled. The corridor spun around me.

I held my breath, my mouth opening soundlessly.

Kaelus. The man I chose to stand beside me… was the one who sent me to hell.

The walls seemed to close in, suffocating me. Every promise he had made shattered into jagged shards, piercing deeper than any knife.

My vision blurred. My throat closed, choking on the silence of my own disbelief. I wanted to scream, to tear down the door, to force his eyes to meet mine and see what he had reduced me to. But my voice was trapped somewhere deep inside, bound by chains heavier than iron.

I almost turned back—but footsteps inside moved toward the door.

Then—

Click.

The lock turned.

They know I’m here.

And tonight… I might not walk out alive.