CHAPTER 4

Seraphina's POV

I don't remember hitting the floor.

One moment, the Luna's hand was connecting with my face, and the next I was on my knees with my cheek pressed against a cold stone and the taste of blood filling my mouth. My ears were ringing so loud I barely heard her footsteps walking away or the door opening and closing as she returned to the celebration.

I stayed curled up in that dark corridor for a long time, my back bleeding and my face throbbing while the distant sound of music and laughter drifted through the walls. The whole pack was celebrating my sister's future while I lay broken on the floor, and not a single person came looking for me.

Eventually I dragged myself back to my room, putting one hand in front of the other until I collapsed onto my bed.

That night, I woke up screaming.

Pain ripped through my chest like someone had reached inside and grabbed hold of something I didn't even know existed, tearing it out piece by piece. I couldn't breathe or think or do anything but curl into a ball and sob as my body burned from the inside out.

It felt like dying and losing something I never knew I had, all at once.

And then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

I lay there gasping in the darkness, my sheets soaked with sweat and my heart pounding so hard I thought it might burst. The pain was gone, but in its place was a hollow ache where that strange pull had been, the one I'd felt the morning of the Alpha's arrival. It was gone now, ripped out and replaced with nothing, and I pressed my hand over my heart trying to understand what had just happened.

I couldn't make sense of it. I lay awake until dawn, waiting for the pain to come back, but it never did.

When morning came, I felt normal. The pain had faded like a nightmare, and the emptiness felt like it had always been there. I had work to do, so I got dressed and went to the kitchen.

Bessa gasped when she saw my face. The bruise from the Luna's slap had bloomed overnight, purple and swollen across my cheek.

"Sera, you look like—"

"I'm fine." I kept my voice low. "Please. Just let me work."

She didn't push, but I caught her watching me with worried eyes for the rest of the day.

Two days later, my sister became a Luna.

I woke before dawn to help prepare the great hall, stringing flowers, polishing silver, and setting tables for hundreds of guests. My back was still tender, but the worst of the wounds had closed, leaving fresh scars layered over old ones.

The ceremony was beautiful. Octavia stood at the altar in a white gown, her dark hair crowned with flowers, looking every bit the powerful Luna she was about to become. The Alpha stood beside her in black, tall and cold, and when the officiant bound their hands together, the crowd erupted in cheers.

I watched from the back of the room where I'd been assigned to refill wine glasses. My sister glowed with triumph as she bonded with the most powerful Alpha in the region. She had everything she ever wanted.

The celebration spilled out into the gardens after the ceremony, tables laden with food and wine, while wolves in silks and jewels laughed and danced. I moved through the crowd, clearing empty plates and refilling glasses, invisible in my plain grey dress.

"Sera!"

I froze at the sound of my sister's voice. She was walking toward me with the Alpha at her side and a group of her friends trailing behind, wearing that bright smile I knew better than to trust.

"There you are." Octavia grabbed my arm and pulled me forward before I could slip away. "Dax, this is my twin sister Seraphina. Can you believe we came from the same womb? We're nothing alike."

She laughed like it was a joke, and her friends joined in.

The Alpha barely looked at me, his eyes sliding over my face with the same bored disinterest he'd give a servant clearing his plate.

"Charmed," he said, already turning back to Octavia.

"Isn't she sweet?" Octavia's grip on my arm tightened, her nails digging into my skin. "I'm going to miss her so much when I leave for Blackthorn. She's always been my shadow, following me around, looking up to me. I don't know what she'll do without me."

Her friends made sounds of fake sympathy.

"She should drink to your happiness," one of them said, a tall blonde who looked at me like I was dirt on her shoe. "A toast to send off her beloved sister."

"What a wonderful idea." Octavia plucked a glass of wine from a passing tray and pressed it into my hands. "Go on, Sera. Toast to my future."

My stomach clenched. Bessa had warned me not to drink anything while my back was still healing because alcohol would thin my blood and make the wounds bleed again. But everyone was watching, waiting for me to refuse so they could see me punished for embarrassing my sister in front of her new mate.

I raised the glass. "To Octavia and Alpha Vaelorin. May your bond bring you everything you deserve."

I drank it all in one long swallow, and Octavia's smile widened.

"Perfect." She released my arm and turned back to her husband. "Now go on, Sera. I'm sure you have things to get back to."

I dipped my head and slipped back into the crowd, my stomach already churning from the wine hitting my empty gut.

I made it halfway across the garden before the dizziness hit.

It came out of nowhere, a sudden wave that made the world tilt sideways beneath my feet. I reached for a nearby table to steady myself but my hand missed and I stumbled, nearly crashing into a group of guests.

"Watch it," someone snapped, but their voice sounded far away.

My vision was going dark at the edges while my legs turned to water and my heart pounded too fast. Bessa had warned me the wounds on my back weren't healing right, and I should have listened instead of pushing myself to keep working.

I just needed to get inside and sit down.

I pushed through the crowd toward the servants' entrance, but every step felt harder than the last. The world was spinning now, the light blurring into streaks of orange, and I couldn't remember how to make my feet work.

The corridor was empty when I stumbled inside, and I leaned against the wall, telling myself I just needed to breathe.

But my legs gave out completely and I slid down the wall and crumpled to the floor with the stone cold against my cheek. I tried to push myself up, but my arms wouldn't listen and my eyes wouldn't stay open.

Everything went black.