Prologue

Moonveil, 1810

POV 1 – Celestia

"I'm carrying your child, Alpha."

The words escaped me like a secret too heavy to bear. My voice was barely a whisper, but I knew he heard it. His shoulders stiffened. The silence between us thickened, hardening like freshly carved stone.

I waited for his answer. But all I got was cold.

The damp earth clung to my bare feet—cold, yes, but not half as cold as his eyes.

Alpha Cassius. His name sounded in my head like an unresolved prayer. He turned aside, walking back into the moonlight, letting it gild his silhouette—like he belonged more to the night than to me.

"You're... certain?" he muttered his voice reluctantly, like a breeze that daring not to touch.

"Certain?" A bitter laugh nearly escaped me. "Alpha, there's life inside me. Your blood and mine—woven together in my womb. There’s nothing in this world more certain than that."

He said nothing. As though he could find answers in the tiny river, its surface shimmered with stolen moonlight and he just stared at it, I felt the storm raging in him. But storms weren’t what I needed. I needed the truth.

"I just want to know... what will you do now, my lord?"

For a moment, the night held its breath. Even the insects fell silent.

He exhaled slowly. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. "I can’t, Celestia. I’m Alpha. I’m bound to wed a noblewoman from Raven Ridge. You know your place. You know this is wrong."

"Wrong?" My chest tightened. "Was everything between us a sin, then? Your embraces, your whispers, the way you looked at me—was it all just a game? Am I nothing more than a plaything for an Alpha?"

My eyes burned, but I didn’t cry. Not yet.

"I love you, Alpha. With all my soul. Isn’t there even a sliver of love left in you for me?"

At last, he turned to face me. Those eyes—the ones I’d looked into with reverence—now held only guilt. Tortured. But not brave enough to speak the truth.

"I have no choice," he whispered, sounding more like a frightened boy than a leader. "If they find out... I lose everything. I cannot love you, Celestia. I’m not allowed."

And in that quiet moment, my heart shattered without a sound.

I nodded, slow and solemn. "Then let me be the one to remember this love alone. But mark my words, my lord... you are not just casting me aside. You are abandoning your own blood. Our child."

He said nothing. Just stared. And in his eyes, I saw something worse than rejection—fear. Not me. But of the world that turned him into a coward.

I turned away and stepped into the dark, letting the night swallow me whole.

I knelt in the center of the Moonveil Tribunal, trembling before the Elders and the assembled pack. My body shook—not from cold, but from the poison festering in my chest.

Alpha Cassius stood at the far end of the hall, rigid as stone. But I knew. Behind that marble facade lurked fear—not of me, but of disgrace. Of losing power.

"I will not leave," I said, my voice barely steady. "This child... is yours, Alpha. I will not be treated as a stain on your legacy."

Whispers slithered through the crowd. Their stares were knives, slicing through what little dignity I had left. Some pitied me. Most looked at me like filth to be cleansed.

Alpha Cassius stepped forward. His voice no longer wavered. It was steel.

"Celestia is not who you believe her to be," he declared. "She is no innocent maiden, but a harlot who offers herself for jewels and comfort."

The world fell still.

"What...?" My breath caught. "Alpha, no—"

"She came to me not for love," he said, casting his gaze across the crowd, "but for privilege. Do not be fooled by her pretty face and false tears."

My lips parted, but no sound came. I was breaking—splintering into dust beneath the weight of his lie.

"I’m not what you say I am, Alpha. You—you swore that night—"

He raised a hand. "You see? Even now, she performs."

Laughter broke like a wave. Jeers, curses, venom. My face burned with shame.

Someone shoved me. I stumbled forward, crashing onto the cold stone floor. Blood bloomed from my cheek, but the pain in my body was nothing compared to the wound in my soul.

"I never wanted her," Cassius said coldly. "Punish her, if you must. Cast her out. Let her learn that Moonveil has no place for liars."

Two guards seized my arms. I struggled, but they were stronger. Another shove, another fall. Blood dripped from my temple, yet I stared at him still.

"Why...?" My voice cracked. "Why destroy me just to save your crown?"

He didn’t answer. He only turned away.

The Banished Woods. A place where cries go unheard, where the sky forgets mercy.

How long have I been stranded here? Time blurred. My belly swelled—the only reason I still breathed. The rest of me? Hollow. Gaunt. Wounded.

I slept beneath the roots of an ancient tree—my bed, the earth, my blanket, the dew. I fed on bitter berries and wild leaves. I drank from puddles left behind by rain.

Some days, I wondered if I was still alive. Or if death had simply overlooked me.

Tonight, the rain lashed down. Cold pierced me to the bone. But it wasn’t the chill that made me tremble.

Pain gripped me, deep and unrelenting.

"I’m... giving birth?" I gasped, terror clawing up my throat.

No one was here. Only me, the forest, and the howls of distant wolves. The agony was unspeakable. I bit down on a stick to stifle the screams. Blood slicked my thighs. My body convulsed, over and over, until—

A cry.

The first sound of life I’d heard since Moonveil cast me out.

A baby. A son. His eyes—just for a moment—met mine. And I knew: he was the purest part of me. And of Cassius. The part he could never deny.

Tears spilled. Not from joy. But because... I knew my time was ending.

My body shuddered. My vision blurred. Above, the full moon glared down, cold and bright, as if the Goddess herself bore witness to my undoing.

So I prayed. With a broken voice, and a heart in ruins:

"Goddess of Light... hear my lament. See how love became my ruin. See this child—nameless, unloved, unclaimed by his father. I beg you... let my pain become his strength."

My fingers brushed his soft cheek. He slept against my chest. I raised my eyes to the moon one last time.

"Hear my curse, O heavens."

"Alpha Cassius Moonveil shall fall in disgrace. And every daughter of his blood... shall suffer in love, as I have. They will love men they cannot have. Their hearts will shatter, as mine did this night."

This curse will live. And only your blood will pay its price.

"But it will end... when one of Cassius’ daughters finds love with a son of my blood. Only true love—born from betrayal and suffering—will break the curse."

I bent low and pressed a final kiss to my baby’s brow.

"Protect him... make him strong. For this world will show him no kindness."