Chapter 3

Ronan did not contact me for nearly a month.

He seemed to have given all his time to Selene.

Even the account he never used before began filling with traces of her.

He took her to formal events, let her stand at his side, let her scent cling to his.

Things he used to dismiss as pointless suddenly mattered, as long as he was doing them with her.

His last post was a set of formal portraits with Selene. The kind meant for a couple on the verge of taking their vows.

The caption read:

The future I wanted, standing beside me.

I stared at the words for a moment, then laughed under my breath.

I gave it a like and turned off my phone.

The next morning, Ronan called.

His voice was clipped, impatient.

“Elara. Old Moon Shrine. One hour.”

He hung up before I could answer.

It was the first time in five years that he had asked me to come to the Shrine himself.

I almost refused.

Then I remembered the family signet bracelet my father had left behind. Ronan still had it.

Before I left for good, I wanted it back.

So I went.

I knew that road too well.

For five years, I had walked it full of hope, only to leave broken.

This time, for once, nothing happened.

I stood beneath the scarred stone pillars of the Old Moon Shrine and waited an hour before Ronan finally appeared.

There were dark shadows under his eyes. The bitter scent of moonleaf clung to him more heavily than before.

I knew what that meant.

He only turned to moonleaf when something was tearing him apart.

The moment he saw me, he stopped short.

“What happened to you?”

For one foolish second, I almost wanted to tell him.

Then I remembered the eighty-million yacht.

For her and the child.

I did not answer. I only held out my hand.

“I’m not here to confirm the bond.”

“I’m here for my father’s family signet bracelet.”

Ronan stared at me as if I had said something absurd.

Then he gave a cold laugh, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me toward the Shrine.

“Stop playing games.”

“You really thought I would bow to that precious Moonborn Core of yours in the end, didn’t you?”

His grip tightened.

“Fine. You win.”

“The elders want a Moonborn Luna. Blackthorne wants a black-core heir.”

“We’ll confirm what needs to be confirmed today. I’ll arrange the rest of the bonding ceremony later.”

He sounded like a man forcing himself to swallow poison.

Ronan dragged me into the Old Moon Shrine.

The Moon Priest saw us and immediately cleared the altar. He brought out the sealed bond scroll and motioned to the places where the two families’ bonding relics were meant to rest.

“Step forward and present your bonding relics.”

“If you mean to confirm this bond before the Old Moon Shrine today, I will recite the vows and call on the Moon to witness.”

Ronan reached for the relic he had brought.

His sleeve slid back.

A fresh mark showed on the inside of his wrist.

The letter S.

A red rose wrapped around it.

I recognized it at once.

Selene.

The Moon Priest misunderstood and smiled.

“A bond carried in the heart is always easier for the Moon to hear.”

Ronan went still for a beat, then yanked his sleeve back down.

His eyes flicked to me.

I gave him nothing.

Whatever had crossed his face vanished. The mockery returned.

“What is it?”

“No accident on the way this time, so you forgot what you were supposed to bring?”

I drew in a breath.

“I said I’m not here to confirm any bond.”

“Give me back the family signet bracelet.”

Before I could say more, Ronan’s satellite phone shrilled through the Shrine.

He answered at once.

The voice on the other end was frantic.

“Alpha, something’s wrong. Miss Selene swallowed wolfsbane draught.”

The voice on the other end trembled.

“We found her death note.”

“It says Elara threatened her.”

“She wrote that Miss Elara said a woman without Moonborn blood had no right to carry your heir.”