Chapter 17

Seraphine read the sentence over and over until the words blurred before her eyes. Her fingers tightened around the note. “What happened to Lucienne’s father?” she whispered. “Mother… what have you been hiding from all of us?”

She hurried to the cell door and called for the guard. “I need to see Luna Alara.” The guard shook his head immediately. “I’m sorry, Lady Seraphine. No visitors without the Alpha’s permission.” Seraphine gripped the iron bars. “Then tell Lucienne it’s about his father.” The guard hesitated but eventually nodded before walking away.

Meanwhile, Selena and Lucienne remained on the balcony, watching the clouds drift across the morning sky. Selena leaned against the stone railing. “Do you ever wish life had been normal?” Lucienne smiled sadly. “I wouldn’t have met you.” She laughed softly. “You always know how to change the subject.” “Only when the subject makes you sad.”

A servant approached and bowed respectfully. “Alpha, the council requests your presence this afternoon.” Lucienne nodded. “Tell them I’ll come later.” The servant hesitated. “Lady Luna Alara asked that Lady Selena visit her chambers first.” Selena frowned. “Me?” The servant lowered his head. “She said it’s important.”

Lucienne looked at Selena. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Selena thought for a moment before answering. “No… I think it’s time we stopped running from difficult conversations.”

Luna Alara was standing by the window when Selena entered her chambers. She looked older than she had only days before. Dark circles rested beneath her eyes, and the portrait on her desk had been turned face down. “Thank you for coming,” she said quietly.

Selena remained near the door. “You wanted to see me?” Luna Alara nodded. “I owe you more than apologies.” Her voice trembled. “I’ve spent years trying to protect this family, but all I did was destroy it.” Selena listened without interrupting.

“I loved you from the day you were born,” Alara whispered. “I just believed loving you openly would put you in danger.” Selena’s eyes filled with tears. “Then why did you let me believe you hated me?” Alara closed her eyes. “Because I thought it was the only way to keep you alive.”

Before Selena could ask another question, a knock echoed through the room. Lucienne stepped inside after receiving permission. “Forgive the interruption,” he said. “A guard from the prison tower says Seraphine is demanding to see me. She claims it’s about my father.”

Both women froze.

Lucienne frowned. “Did either of you know she would say something like that?” Luna Alara slowly looked away. That single movement didn’t escape Lucienne’s notice. “Alara…” His voice became firmer. “What aren’t you telling us?”

She remained silent.

Lucienne took one step closer. “Does this have something to do with the ring?” Luna Alara’s breathing became uneven. “Please…” she whispered. “Not today.” Lucienne shook his head. “It’s always ‘not today.’ That’s exactly why we’re standing where we are now.”

Selena gently reached for her mother’s hand. “Please tell us the truth.” Tears rolled down Luna Alara’s cheeks. “If I tell you everything…” She looked at Lucienne. “…you may never forgive your father.”

The words struck the room like thunder.

Lucienne stared at her in disbelief. “My father?” he repeated. “I thought he disappeared.” Luna Alara lowered her head. “That’s the story we allowed everyone to believe.”

At that exact moment, the prison guard arrived outside the chamber, breathing heavily. “Alpha,” he called. “Lady Seraphine refuses to speak to anyone else. She says if you don’t come now… she’ll keep the secret until the day she dies.”

Lucienne looked from the guard to Luna Alara, then to Selena. Every answer seemed to be pulling him in a different direction.

Selena quietly squeezed his hand. “Go to Seraphine.” He hesitated. “What about you?” She managed a small smile. “I’ll stay with Mother.” Lucienne searched her face before giving a reluctant nod.

As he hurried toward the prison tower, Seraphine stood waiting behind the bars. The moment she saw him, she lifted her eyes and spoke the one sentence that stole the air from his lungs.

“Your father didn’t abandon you, Lucienne… he chose to leave.”Lucienne stood motionless, his fingers tightening around the prison keys. “What did you just say?”

Seraphine held his gaze without flinching. “He wasn’t taken. He walked away.” A bitter smile touched her lips. “At least… that’s what Mother wanted everyone to believe.” Lucienne’s voice dropped dangerously low. “Stop speaking in riddles.” Seraphine stepped closer to the bars. “Then ask yourself this… if your father disappeared willingly, why did no one ever search beyond the kingdom’s borders?”

The question lodged itself deep inside Lucienne’s mind. He had never thought to ask it. Every search had remained within Bloodfang and SilverMist territory. Every report had ended the same way… No trace found.

“What do you know?” he demanded.

Seraphine slowly unfolded the crumpled note and pushed it through the bars. “Not enough. But enough to know Mother has been carrying this secret alone for years.” Lucienne unfolded it, reading the sentence in silence. His expression hardened with every word.

“So someone wanted you to find this.”

Seraphine nodded. “Which means they’re still playing with us.” She looked down at her trembling hands. “I’m tired of being their puppet.”

Back in Luna Alara’s chambers, Selena sat beside her mother in silence. Neither of them spoke until Alara finally whispered, “Do you hate me?”

Selena’s eyes softened. “I wanted to.” She swallowed hard. “For years, I told myself I did.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “But every time I looked at you… I saw someone who was hurting almost as much as I was.”

Luna Alara broke down completely. She covered her face as quiet sobs shook her shoulders. Selena hesitated only a moment before wrapping her arms around her.

For the first time in years…

Mother and daughter cried together.

Neither of them noticed the half-open door behind them.

Darius had stopped outside after hearing the voices. He watched the embrace in silence before quietly smiling to himself.

“Maybe,” he whispered, “this family still has a chance.”

Just then, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. Lucienne appeared, his face unreadable.

His eyes immediately found Luna Alara.He slowly held up the folded note.

“I need the truth.”

The warmth in the room vanished instantly.

Luna Alara looked at the paper… then at Lucienne.The color drained from her face.

After a long, painful silence, she whispered the words she had spent nearly twenty years burying.

“Your father didn’t leave because he stopped loving you.”

She closed her eyes.

“He left because… I asked him to.”