Chapter 1

"Aria, before my brother died, I promised him I'd look after Lina. She's carrying my pups now. I have to marry her," Lucien Walker said.

I snapped my eyes open. This wasn't the cold, damp cliff summit where I had been chained. The air carried no scent of blood and no trace of decay.

A large hand waved in front of me, the wrist still wrapped with the love knot bracelet I had braided for him.

"Aria, if you're angry, you can hit me or yell at me. Just agree to let me marry Lina," Lucien said anxiously, his brows drawn tight.

His words were all too familiar, and so was the scene before me.

I had come back to life. I had returned to the very day Lina Morgan revealed her pregnancy and Lucien announced he would marry her as his second wife to honor the promise he made to his late brother.

I was a princess of the bird tribe, and Lina had been the maid assigned to serve me when I married. Our kind was famed for our fertility, said to lay dozens of eggs in a single brood.

Yet, after being married to Lucien for 500 years, I had produced only a single egg—our son, Pierce Walker.

Hatching him had drained nearly all of my strength, leaving me barely clinging to life.

Meanwhile, Lina had somehow seduced Calder Walker and become his wife.

In just 200 years, she laid eight eggs, each pup strong and gifted.

Soon, rumors began to spread through the pack, claiming that my supposed fertility was nothing but a lie. They said I had made up the whole thing just to marry Lucien.

After Calder died in battle, Lina wasted no time turning her sights on Lucien. Before long, she turned up pregnant.

When I stayed silent, Lucien reached out to tuck a loose strand behind my ear, his touch so gentle it felt as if he were afraid I might shatter.

But only I knew what those hands had done to me in my previous life—how they carved away my flesh, broke my bones one by one, and tossed them to the vultures.

I swallowed the rage and forced a faint smile. "It's fine. If you've made up your mind, I agree."

Lucien's eyes widened. "Aria, you really mean it?"

Pierce practically hopped in place, his face lighting up. "Mom said yes! Dad, go tell Lina right now! She'll be very happy!"

I lowered my lashes and nodded as if I were meekly giving in. My nails had already bitten into my palm.

Lucien kissed my forehead, and every inch of my skin crawled.

He grabbed Pierce's arm and headed out. "Rest well," he said over his shoulder. "Pierce and I will tell Lina the good news so she can focus on the pregnancy."

The moment the door closed, all the strength drained out of me, and I collapsed into the chair. Every bone in my body ached.

In my previous life, Lucien didn't get his way because I refused him so firmly. When Lina found out, she threw herself off the cliff while pregnant, killing both herself and the pups.

After Lina died, Lucien imprisoned me at the summit of the cliff.

Chains pierced through my bones. Every day, starving vultures dove at me, battling one another as they tore at my flesh until nothing was left.

In a thousand years, Lucien brought Pierce to see me only twice.

The first time, Lucien gouged out my eyes and cut my tongue. Then, he put a knife in Pierce's hand and made him take my hands and feet.

Lucien said, "If it weren't for you, Lina wouldn't be dead. You owe her this!"

The second time, they stabbed me 9,999 times for the pups in Lina's womb.

Before I died, Pierce spat right in my face. "It's shameful to have someone like you as my mother. If Lina were the one who gave birth to me, I'd be much stronger!"

They never understood why, in 500 years, I had laid only one egg.

I had never been the problem. Lucien was barren. Without me, he'd never have had a single pup.

The truth was, the pups in Lina's womb weren't his at all.

But no one believed me. No matter how I tried to explain, all they ever did was label me a jealous, vicious woman.