Chapter 6

Adrian's POV

I had no intention of attending my so-called wedding.

Having a Luna Princess was an inconvenience I had agreed to, so my father would finally stop bringing it up. I also didn't care who the girl was, so I let my stepmother, Luna Queen Selene choose for me. My past mistakes taught me not to waste time on things like love.

I had expected the girl to be a problem, since she was Selene’s choice. Selene always wanted her son to surpass me in every way possible. But even so, the fact that the bride was wolfless still caught me off guard.

It didn't really matter though. A Luna Princess from a powerful background could be a big help to the prince, but I just didn't need one. A Luna Princess by name was enough.

But my son Lucas came into my office this morning in his small black coat and pulled at my sleeve, "Is she here?" he asked.

"Who?"

"The woman that grandpa and grandma wants you to marry."

"She is."

"She has no mother either," he said. He had heard the staff that morning.

"That is true."

"I want to have a look at her."

The receiving room was three floors below us, through a lattice of dark wood the architects had built in the old reign so that a king could watch a hall without being seen. Sunlight came through the high south window in long bars. The girl stood in the middle of one of them.

I had been told she was wolfless. I had been told her sister was the looker.

But I would say she was not unremarkable.

Her hair was silver. It fell to her waist. Then she turned her face, and I saw her eyes.

Ruby red.

Something in my chest knocked, once, and went still.

Lucas had gone very quiet beside me.

"Daddy."

"Mm."

"She is pretty."

"Mm."

The servants began to drift out below us. They should have already informed her if I never appeared until sunset, the wedding would be considered done. We would be married without a proper ceremony.

I could tell almost half of their pack came along and already whispering to each other about my absence.

The sister had a sharp little face like a cat that has not been told to stop biting. She was wearing apricot silk and a great deal of jewelry.

"Not a single guest," I heard her say. "Not even her *husband*. I told you, Mother."

"Pathetic," the stepmother said.

The father gave the bride a look I have given my dogs when they have soiled the rug.

The bride did not flinch.

She pulled a book out from under the table. She sat down on the edge of the dais — in a wedding gown, in the royal's receiving room — opened the book, and began to read.

Lucas's hand tightened on my sleeve.

"I like her," he said.

It was the first time he had said I like her about any woman since his mother left a note tied to his ankle and walked out of my life.

I did not look at him. I kept watching.

The sister clearly hated that silence. She walked over, snatched the book out of the bride's hands, and threw it across the floor.

The bride watched it slide.

"What is *this*, Elena? You're suddenly above us because the royal picked you up like a stray? They left you here like you were nothing. By Monday this whole hall will know that the new Luna Princess is a wolfless nothing the nasty Prince could not even bother to —"

I couldn't help but frown at the word nasty.

The bride had stood up before I could recall whether I met and pissed this young girl before。

She did not raise her voice. She did not look at her father.

She then slapped her sister across the face.

Elena's POV

"I told you to watch your tongue."

Vivienne staggered, one hand on her cheek, eyes huge.

"You —You hit me. You hit me. Father. Mother. She hit me."

I had been trying to hold back, but she actually dared to offend the Prince in the royal house. She needed to understand how dangerous this was, or she could easily get us all killed.

"If anyone heard you offending the Prince in the royal house, we would all be dead." My voice was low. "So shut up or the slap will not be the worst thing that happens to you today."

Marcus took a step. Not toward me. Toward Vivienne.

Cecilia got to her first. "Sweetheart — sweetheart — let me see —"

"Elena, you *bitch*. How dare you! You think you’re the Luna Princess now? Your husband didn’t even care enough to show up at his own wedding!"

Then Vivienne lunged.

I had been a good Luna for ten years in another life. But I was wolfless the whole time.

I tried to catch her wrist but she is always stronger than I am.

"I’ll make sure you remember your place. In front of me, you’re still nothing and no one cares about you!" The wrist twisted out of my hand. Her other hand was already coming up.

Magot moved at the edge of the room. One step, no more. A servant could not put a hand on an Alpha daughter, not even mine.

I expected her fist to land on me until a hand closed around Vivienne's wrist in the air.

"Who," said a voice above my head, "said I wasn't coming?"

I looked up.

He was tall and his hair was the color of wet slate and his eyes were the kind of green that did not warm. A small boy stood at his hip with his hand fisted in the man's coat and his face turned, openly, toward me.

The boy had his father's mouth and someone else's eyes.

"You — Your Highness —" Vivienne whispered. "You — you can't be — you can't be here — my memory said — you can't —"