CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SIX

He had always known she loved him.

Yet all these years, he had watched her make a fool of herself just to stir some feeling in him. She had been loving, crying, struggling.

And Ryker? He had watched coldly from the sidelines as she struggled pointlessly within the circle he had drawn for her, utterly unmoved, like the coldest of spectators.

He knew well enough that she loved him. Yet he humiliated her.

The cruelty and betrayal broke her.

Ember dug her nails deeply into her palms to maintain her composure. She looked at Ryker with a determined expression.

“Try me.”

With that, she turned to walk away.

But Ryker’s mother, the queen, immediately walked up to her with a scowl on her face. Dressed in a pristine white chiffon dress, she exuded an ethereal beauty.

“Ember Valen, one moment please.”

Ember followed her with a frown. She had always known that Marilee Hale—Ryker’s mother—never liked her, but she followed her nonetheless.

At the corner of her eye, she could see Ryker running off after receiving a call. No doubt it was his sweetheart again.

Marilee also saw him. Immediately, they walked out onto the balcony outside the hall.

Marilee slapped her.

Ember gasped as the pain stung her cheek.

“You useless thing! You can’t even keep your husband. What in the world can you ever do? Your bitch of a mother lost out to a mistress too. And now you’re also losing out to a small-time actress. Is this some kind of generational failure?”

If Marilee had simply made fun of her, Ember would never have batted an eye. However, Marilee had crossed a line—humiliating Ember’s mother, who had passed away a long time ago.

Ember’s originally calm eyes turned sharp instantly. She whipped her head to the side and landed a hard slap on Marilee’s face without warning.

Marilee gasped. She touched her face and stared at Ember in disbelief.

“How—how dare you slap me?”

“So what if I slapped you?” Ember said, taking heavy steps toward her. She was furious, and the fierce look on her face was icy and frosty as she glared at Marilee.

If there was anything people around Ember avoided, it was calling her mother names. The fact that Marilee dared to call her a bitch was a total turn-off for Ember.

She was furious.

What gave Marilee the right to insult her mother?

“Your whore of a son had an affair, and instead of asking him to explain himself to me—his wife—you dare vent your anger on me. Just how stupid and crazy are you?” Ember asked coldly.

Marilee’s face turned red with anger.

“How dare you!”

Just then, her father appeared and walked up to them. He bowed to the queen with a sheepish smile.

“My Luna, what’s wrong?”

Marilee turned to him, her expression twisted with fury.

“Your unruly daughter dared to slap me. It seems the Valen family has grown far too bold.”

Robin stood shocked for a moment before angrily turning to Ember. Without saying a word, he slapped her across the face.

Ember turned to him with tear-filled eyes, her face stunned.

“Dad!”

“Don’t ever call me Dad!” he shouted. “You unruly child! The Valen family doesn’t have a daughter like you. You’re a disgrace! I told you to learn how to behave properly from your sister, and this is what you do? How dare you behave like this? Apologize to the queen right now!”

Ember scoffed, her heart aching.

He didn’t even ask what happened.

She straightened her shoulders, wiping the faint trace of blood from the corner of her lip where Marilee’s ring had cut her skin.

“Apologize?” Ember asked coldly. “She deserved it. You want me to apologize to her? Over my dead body!”

Her father’s face turned red with rage.

“You—”

“My mother gave up everything just to be with you,” Ember said quietly. “She loved you. And this—” she gestured around them, “—this is how you repay her? By letting someone insult your late wife?”

Her father’s jaw tightened.

“Enough.”

Marilee scoffed and crossed her arms. “She is ungrateful, emotional, and clearly unfit to remain Ryker’s wife. I warned you this marriage was a mistake from the start. She is a disgrace.”

Robin immediately turned to the queen, panic flashing across his face.

“My Luna,” he said carefully, lowering his voice, “Ember is still young. She doesn’t understand how to behave in matters like this. I will discipline her accordingly.”

Marilee scoffed. “You’d better.”

Robin turned back to Ember angrily.

“Apologize.”

“No,” Ember insisted stubbornly.

There was no freaking way she would apologize to someone who insulted her mother.

Robin wasted no more breath and ordered the bodyguards behind him,

“Since you refuse to apologize, I’ll teach you a lesson. Throw her into the fountain over there. She isn’t allowed to come out until I say so—until the end of the event!”

“Robin Valen, who do you think you are?” Ember cried as she struggled. “Isn’t it enough that you sold me into a loveless marriage for political convenience? Have you forgotten everything my mom did for you?”

Robin grabbed her wrist with such force that Ember doubled over in pain. He stared into her eyes and enunciated every word.

“Because I am your father. And you nearly caused trouble for my pack and company. If I don’t teach you a lesson now, who knows what other trouble you’ll cause?”

“You must be punished. And you will never make such a fuss again!”

“Robin Valen, you’re a disgrace to fatherhood,” Ember screamed coldly. “I swear you’ll never see me again. I regret ever being your daughter!”

Robin’s face darkened dangerously.

“Throw her in,” he ordered.

Ember struggled desperately, but the bodyguards stepped forward and lifted her before throwing her into the fountain. The icy water seeped into her bones as she screamed and fought.

It was early spring, and the water was freezing.

Ember choked on mouthfuls of water and surfaced, trying to climb out. But every time she grabbed the edge, a bodyguard shoved her head back under the water.

Again and again, she tried—only to be forced down each time.

She watched as Ryker arrived. When he saw her struggling, he stood there coldly watching.

Her father and the queen rushed toward him, worried, but he merely nodded coldly to the guards.

Ember felt her heart shatter.

She saw the queen smiling at her coldly.

Desperate and determined not to die, Ember screamed and thrashed, but she was held under the water again and again until she felt she was drowning.

Her strength faded. The bone-chilling cold numbed her completely.

Worse still, a familiar, excruciating pain flared in her lower abdomen.

She was on her period.

Bright crimson blood seeped into the water, quickly staining the fountain red. Soon, half the fountain was dyed in that terrifying color. Ember’s face turned pale—not just from the cold, but from the pain.

She drifted in and out of consciousness.

She vaguely heard a bodyguard calling someone—Ryker.

“Mr. Hale… Ms. Ember… Ms. Ember seems to be on her period. She’s bleeding badly. Should we stop?”

There was a brief silence. Then Ryker’s cold voice came through clearly.

“Don’t stop. Otherwise, she’ll never learn her lesson.”

Learn her lesson?

To Ryker, every protest, every bit of suffering, meant nothing. He only wanted Ember to be docile and obedient—suffering while trying to earn his love.

The freezing water felt like burning lava against her skin. Despair far more painful than any physical agony swallowed her whole.

Her tears fell soundlessly into the water.

Finally, Ember couldn’t take it anymore.

Her vision went black as she lost consciousness, sinking slowly to the bottom of the crimson-stained fountain.