Chapter 2

The accusation hung in the air like thick smoke, and for a moment Katina couldn’t even understand what was happening as Katerina clutched her stomach, tears streaming down her face.

“She poisoned me!” Her voice cracked into another sob as she buried herself against Lucien’s chest. “I felt it the moment the bond tried to form. Something tore inside me.” She pointed a trembling finger at Katina, her hand shaking violently as she struggled to catch her breath. “She has always hated me. She hated that everyone chose me over her.”

“That’s not true.” Katina’s voice barely carried across the silent hall. “Katerina… I would never—”

“Don’t.” Lucien’s voice sliced through hers, clean and final. He didn’t even look at Katina, keeping one arm around Katerina while the other gently rubbed her back. Only after several long seconds did he finally raise his eyes, and the warmth she had glimpsed in them moments earlier was completely gone, replaced by something cold and unmistakable.

“Don’t speak her name with that mouth.”

Katina froze.

The silver mate mark still glowed brightly across her wrist, undeniable and radiant, proof that the Moon Goddess herself had chosen her, yet not one of the three hundred wolves standing inside the Great Hall seemed willing to acknowledge it. Three hundred witnesses had seen the bond appear, and yet every one of them looked away from the glowing mark and believed Katerina instead, because accepting the truth would mean accepting that their perfect future Luna could lie and no one wanted to believe that.

“Someone fetch the healer!”

Lady Ashbourne hurried down from the raised platform, a perfect mask of concern covering her face, but Katina knew that expression too well. She had spent twenty-two years studying it and could see clearly what lived behind the carefully crafted horror: satisfaction.

“Restrain that girl.” Her voice rang sharply through the hall. “Before she causes any more harm.”

That girl. Not my daughter. Not even Katina. Just  that girl.

Before Katina could speak, rough hands seized both her arms, pack guards who had ignored her existence her entire life, now dragging her toward the center of the hall without hesitation.

“I didn’t do anything!” Katina struggled against their grip, her voice trembling with panic. “I was in the kitchens. Ask Nessa, ask the servants. I never left.”

Lady Ashbourne turned slowly, her expression hardening as the guards tightened their grip. “Are you calling my daughter a liar?” The question echoed across the hall, carrying enough outrage to silence even the whispers around them. “In front of the entire pack? On the sacred night of the Moon Bond Ceremony?” Her eyes found Katina’s and narrowed.

“The Goddess must have made a terrible mistake.” She spat the next words as though they were something bitter. “This bond… is nothing but an error.”

Katina’s heart stopped.

An error. Not weak, not unwanted, not forgotten an error…the very thing she had always feared she was.

She looked desperately toward Lucien, willing him to meet her eyes, to feel what the bond between them was already carrying; her innocence, her terror, the truth of every heartbeat.

Please. Just look at me. Please. But he didn’t. He remained kneeling beside Katerina, whispering softly as he comforted and protected her, his broad shoulders shielding her completely, as though Katina had already ceased to exist.

Tears blurred her vision. He felt it, she knew he did. The bond connected them, and through it he could feel every beat of her heart, every emotion, every truth. He knew she was his mate. Yet he was choosing someone else, not because destiny was wrong, but because accepting destiny was inconvenient.

An hour later, Katina found herself inside the Moon Council chamber  though calling it a trial would have been generous. Only three elderly Council members sat behind a long stone table, and there were no witnesses, no investigation, no justice. Her wrists were bound behind her back and she knelt on the cold floor while the silver mark on her wrist slowly faded, its light weakening like a dying star.

The eldest Council member, Elder Thornwick, unfolded a parchment without looking at her. “Katina Ashbourne,” he said, his voice flat and bored. “You stand accused of attempting to murder Lady Katerina Ashbourne and the unborn heir of the Blackwood bloodline through forbidden poison.”

He continued reading without looking up. “The motive…” He paused briefly before continuing, “…jealousy following tonight’s Moon Bond Ceremony.”

Katina stared at him in disbelief. “There isn’t going to be a trial?” When no one answered, her voice rose. “No evidence? No witnesses?”

Thornwick finally looked up. “The testimony of your sister is sufficient.”

“What?”

“Lady Katerina is the future Luna,” he said, his expression remaining cold. “Her word is not questioned.”

Katina’s breathing became uneven. “You can’t be serious.” Thornwick ignored her, and she pressed forward desperately. “I have one question…”

“Did the bond mark appear on your wrist tonight?” he asked instead.

“…Yes.”

“And did Lady Katerina collapse immediately afterward?”

“Yes”, but that doesn’t prove—

“The matter is settled.” He rolled the parchment closed. “The Council has reached its verdict.”

Katina’s stomach dropped as the reality settled over her: no defense, no evidence, no truth and before she could draw another breath, Thornwick delivered the sentence.

“The sentence… is the Sealing.”

The room fell silent as every drop of blood drained from Katina’s face. “No…” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Not that. Please, not that.”

The Sealing wasn’t an ordinary punishment; it was an ancient, forbidden ritual so cruel that execution would have been kinder. It stripped away a wolf’s strength, their instincts, their magic, everything that made them who they were, and left only an empty shell behind. Alive, but broken forever.

Katina finally broke. “Please.” Her voice cracked into a sob. “I didn’t hurt her, I swear it. She’s my sister. I would never…”

“Bring the witch.” Thornwick stood, already finished with her, already walking away as though her life meant absolutely nothing.

Two guards hauled Katina to her feet, and she struggled wildly as they dragged her toward the center of the chamber. Only then did she notice the enormous magical circle carved into the stone floor, hidden beneath a thick rug until now, waiting for her as though it had been prepared long before she ever entered the room.

This had never been a trial; the verdict had been decided before she ever entered the chamber.

An elderly woman stepped into the candlelight, grey robes brushing the floor, her hair completely white and her eyes clouded almost to blindness. The witch slowly raised her hands, ancient symbols glowing to life around the circle, and Katina’s breathing became frantic, her whole body shaking as she begged anyone who might still be listening. “Please, someone, anyone, believe me.”

The witch stepped closer and gently placed one weathered palm against the center of Katina’s chest, directly over her heart, the exact place where the strange pressure had lived for weeks, where something ancient slept beneath her soul.

The old woman suddenly froze, her entire body going rigid, her clouded white eyes widening in shock as her hand began trembling as though she had touched fire.

No one spoke.

The witch wasn’t looking at Katina anymore; she was staring through her, beyond her, into something only she could see  and when her lips finally parted, what escaped was barely a whisper, cracked with something that sounded like fear.

“…Moon Goddess…”

The room remained perfectly still.

“What…” Her voice shook. “…have they sealed inside this child?”