MasukHi Lovians,
Please thumbs up if you are getting this. And let me know if I'm making sense still. We are working towards a goal. But you know reality is never the smooth kind of thing. This might be a story, but it's still someone's life. Someone living in another world where we didn't exist. Lots of things will happen. Don't you agree? Let's keep going. Let's see if Scarlet and Damien will be able to overcome the love they both found in unexpected places. Will it tear them apart or will they come together?Scarletâs POVThe hooves of twenty warhorses beat a steady, heavy rhythm against the frozen dirt road.Nobody talked. The cold mountain wind blew down from the peaks, carrying the sharp scent of dead pine and wet stone. Behind us, the high gray walls of the Blood Moon packhouse shrank into the dark sky.My thighs burned. Every downward step on the rocky incline tore at my healing body. Milk kept leaking through the linen bandages wrapped tight across my breasts, cold and sticky.Kaeler. Kaelor. Kaelia.I kept repeating their names like a prayer. If I stopped, the strange, cold pull in my chest felt like it would cave my ribs in. Out here, the silver thread at my throat felt like a hot wire hooked behind my jaw, pulling my eyes toward Theandor.Beside me, Joel rode with his reins in his good hand. His bandaged shoulder was tucked against his chest, but his back was rigid. His skin looked gray in the dusk."You're bleeding through your sling," I said, my voice rough from the cold.Joel
Scarletâs POVThe stairs up to the nursery felt five times longer than before.My thighs ached with every step, the raw muscle pulling deep where childbirth had torn me open. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the cold lead sitting in my belly.Three days.I pushed through the heavy oak door. Sasha jumped to her feet, clutching a silver basin of warm water. The room was warm, heated by two bronze braziers full of sweet-smelling pine embers. In the center of the chamber, lined up on a thick bear pelt, were the three wooden cots.Kaeler was awake. His little fists were waving at the ceiling beams, kicking his swaddling cloths loose, his round cheeks flushed red. Beside him, Kaelor slept soundly with his thumb tucked against his nose, while little Kaelia let out a soft, hungry whimper.My chest tightened so hard it hurt. Milk leaked through the front of my tunic, soaking hot against the linen."Leave us, Sasha," I said, my voice barely holding together. "Wait outside the corri
Scarletâs POVThe silver dagger lay between their boots, catching the dull gray light from the clouds.Nobody moved. Nobody reached for it."Pick it up, Damien," Joel repeated, his voice so quiet it barely made a sound against the wind blowing through the broken courtyard gate. "Do it before the sun drops.""Shut up!" I screamed, lunging between them and kicking the dagger across the stone. It skidded twenty feet away, bouncing into the dry drainage ditch by the stables. "Shut your mouth, Joel! You think you're being noble? You think dying on this dirt makes you a hero?!"My chest rose and fell in ragged heaves. Tears burned my eyes, turning the two men into wet, blurry shapes."I pulled you out of the ash after Morgathis burned your lands," I spat at Joel, jabbing a finger into his chest. "I used my own tears to heal your wounds on the battlefield. Damien sucked high-witch rot out of your flesh not two hours ago with his own teeth. And now you want him to slit your throat like a sick
Scarletâs POV"Which one of us are you going to kill, Scarlet?" he asked again.I couldn't breathe. My hands shook so hard I had to tuck them into the sleeves of my coat."I don't know, Damien," I choked out, tears running hot down my face. "You think I wanted this? You think I planned to tie a noose around my own neck while you were gone?"Damien didn't yell. That was what made it worse. If he had screamed, thrown a punch, or shifted into his wolf and roared at the sky, I could have fought back. But he just stood there, looking hollow, like a statue."You took his mark," Damien said, his voice flat. "You gave him your bed, your body, and your soul. And now the elves come to collect the bill.""Damien, leave her out of it," Joel rasped, stepping up from the side. He held his bruised shoulder with his good hand, his knuckles white. "She didn't know about the royal curse. I didn't know my aunt's coven was even breathing. Punish me if you want, but don't look at her like she committed a
Scarletâs POVThe courtyard felt like it was about to explode.Six elven guards drew their curved blades in one smooth motion, the silver ringing out in the cold air. Behind me, forty of our wolves bared their fangs, low growls rumbling in their chests like thunder rolling over the mountains. The elders scrambled backward like frightened mice, diving behind the map table.Damien didn't just bare his teethâhis whole frame expanded. The leather laces across his chest groaned as his inner wolf pushed forward, black claws extending from his knuckles, digging straight into the hilt of his broadsword."You threaten my pack on my own stones?" Damienâs voice was an unnatural, guttural roar that shook the gravel beneath our boots. "I tore my way through a coven of witches this morning. You think six pretty boys in silver coats will stop me from ripping your carriage to kindling?"Maeve didn't step back. Her green eyes were ice-cold, fixed entirely on the blade in Damienâs hand."Try it, beast,
Scarletâs POVThe courtyard went deathly quiet.The clinking of tools at the armory stopped. The healers froze with their bandages halfway wrapped. Every single set of eyes turned away from the maps and locked straight onto Joel.Joel stood frozen on the steps of the healing porch. His face had lost every scrap of color, his dark eyes wide and fixed on the kneeling scout like he had just heard a ghost speak his name."Theandor," Damien whispered, his voice low and dangerous.He didn't look at the scout. His head turned slowly toward Joel, his jaw tightened."They were wiped out," Joel said, his voice coming out rough and uneven as he walked down the steps toward our table. "Morgathis tore through the high citadels before she ever marched on this valley. I watched the silver halls burn with my own eyes. My father, my kinânone of them survived.""Apparently, someone did," Damien replied, his tone devoid of warmth. "And they followed your scent straight to my gates."The heavy iron doors
Damienâs POVIt had been days since she left, and still, Iâd heard nothing.Not another letter. Not even a reassurance that she was going to really come backâIâm left with just memories of her. My head spun as I wrestled with what to do next. That was when the guardsâ voices boomed from the palace
Scarletâs POV âDamien, what are you doing?â I gasped, fear laced in my voice. My breath hitched, as my chest rose and fell with sharp urgency. But⌠damn it. Why do I feel so wet beneath? Whatâs wrong with me? Iâve never been this close to a man. Never felt this exposedâŚthis fragile. I placed
Damienâs POVI donât know if it was instinct, but something deep inside me whispered that something was wrong.Even though she tried so hard to conceal it, everything was brought to light tonight. All through the night, as I took Scarlet again and again, she kept calling my nameâand another.A nam
Scarletâs POVI blinked, forcing myself back into the moment, steadying my breath as I looked up at Damien.He was still watching me, the soldiers standing rigidly behind him, guiding us forward.None of it was real.None of it had ever been real.I had only been standing thereâwatching Joel being







