Chapter 03:The day I died

The guards threw me into the dungeon.

The cell was filthy, with rats scurrying across the floor in the dark. 

My wounds bled freely, and the rats crowded around me as if I were already carrion, digging at my open cuts.

I cried out in pain, lying helpless as the poison spread through my body. 

My throat went dry, my lips cracked, and I needed water so badly that I could think of nothing else. 

Then, mercifully... or so I thought, the door creaked open. 

Hope surged through me,  maybe Asher had come back to his senses, or my mom or dad was coming to save me. 

The pain was too much to bear.

"My dear sister, hope you love your new home," Lillian's voice cut through the dark.

My heart ached at the sound of it.

She was the last person I wanted to see at that moment, but I had no choice.

"Wa... water, please," I managed, my voice trembling, barely a whisper. "Help me... Lillian, ple..."

"Hahaha," she laughed sarcastically.

"Oh, dear sister, you never stop amazing me. Do you think I want you to live? Never. Giving you water now wouldn't help you anyway... you have less than two minutes left. That poison works fast" she said, a wicked smile spreading across her face.  

"Oops." She stepped on my broken finger, and I groaned in pain.  

"Look at me... who would have thought that I, Lillian, a common beta's daughter, a maid's daughter, would become Luna? All thanks to my mother." She crouched beside me, savoring every second of it.  

"Look at you now. Your mother, with all her power, was too foolish to even protect her own child. Such a shame for this pack. Trust me, now that I'm Luna, she's next in line," she said.  

I could only stare at her in disgust, too weak to respond.  

“I know you'll be regretting now why you never listen to her, it's too late sis, rest in peace” she continued stepping on my lower belly pressing hard I gaps for air. 

My mind clouded, my vision blurred, and through the haze, I saw Asher enter the room.  

"My Lord, my sister... She's dying. I don't want to lose her," Lillian said quickly, feigning alarm.  

"She's just pretending for attention, and that she won't get," he responded coldly, not even sparing me a glance.  

I prayed he would take a close look at me; perhaps he would have seen the purple lines on my veins to know I was poisoned. 

Yet he didn't, not even for a sec.  

Instead, he said, "This place stinks. Let's go, my love."  

My heart ached so badly; I prayed death would come soon.  

Lillian leaned close and whispered into my ear. 

"Rest in peace, dear sister. Thanks for taming his curse for me." Then she immediately burst into fake sobs.  

The last thing I saw was Asher lifting her carefully to her feet, holding her like the most precious thing in the world.  

Then everything went dark, my throat tightened, I gaps for air until I couldn't hear or feel a single thing.

****††****†

Ophelia's pov

"Ophe..." My mother's voice echoed in my head, calling my name three times. 

I opened my eyes slowly. 

A blurred figure hovered above me, watching with a worried look, then the haze cleared. 

I took a long gasp, dragging in air as much as I could, before jolting from the bed. 

"Ophelia, darling... are you okay?" my mom asked, her hand brushing the damp hair from my forehead. 

I was sweating profusely, my chest rising and falling too fast. I looked around, it wasn't the dungeon—no rats, no darkness. 

That's when it hit me, I was reborn, back to my chambers, my mom sitting right next to me. 

I turned and looked at her, then touched my cheeks. 

I thought this was a dream, then I held her hand. 

"The moon goddess really gave me another chance?" I muttered under my breath.

"Ophelia, darling... are you okay?" my mom asked, her hand brushing the damp hair from my forehead. 

This is the day after I had tamed Asher's curse and was fated to him. 

I remember my mom was always by my side when I woke up because the curse started hunting me. 

"Mom," I called out, clutching hard onto her shoulder. 

She held me tight without hesitation. "Please don't leave me. Hold me tight." 

"I'm here, sweetheart. Don't worry." She held me tighter, and I could hear her wolf groan low in her chest, the way it always did when she sensed I was in pain. 

In my past life, my stepmom and stepsister had made me hate my own mother. 

I had never given her the love she deserved... not once. 

They had made sure of that, manipulating me piece by piece until I became the perfect tool to hand the Luna title to them without question. 

But not this time. 

Not this life. 

I would make them pay for everything. 

"It will be over soon, baby. In a few days," she whispered against my hair.