Chapter 14

Elvanya's Pov

I stood in the empty corridor and stared down at the large spot of blood on the cold stone floor. The blood had poured out quickly from my arm where Thorne cut me with his claws. Now the deep cuts were completely gone, like they were erased by an unseen hand. I lifted my arm and touched the skin where his sharp claws had been. The skin felt smooth and unbroken, not rough or damaged at all.

I was deeply disturbed by how fast my wound had healed itself. I was a human slave, humans do not heal like that at all. That was how Lycans healed from a fight or a scratch, and even they took longer than this. I remembered the King telling me the mark was power and that it made me dangerous, but he didn’t say it made my body close its own wounds right before my eyes. I was shocked and confused about what this meant for me.

I had to clean the floor first before anyone else walked past the spot. I quickly grabbed the rag from my cleaning basket and dipped it into the nearest water bucket. I wiped up the dark red blood fast and thoroughly, scrubbing the stone until no one could tell a beast had just attacked a human and drawn blood there. I scrubbed and scrubbed until the stone was perfectly clean, I threw the bloody rag deep into the bucket under the clean water to hide it. I grabbed the tray of fruit bowls and finished my errand with shaking hands. I walked into the High Hall and set the bowls on the serving table without looking at anyone’s face. I was focused on getting back to the servant quarters and checking my arm again where the impossible had happened.

When I was finally back in the dark sleeping room, I pulled the curtain around my mattress to make a private space. I sat down on the straw and lifted my arm to the weak light coming from the window. I pulled up the ripped fabric of my dress where the claws went through the cloth.

I looked closely at my forearm. I searched for the three deep cuts that had bled so much just minutes ago and made a puddle on the floor. I found only a faint scar where Thorne’s claws had cut me. It wasn’t even a proper scar, just a thin white line on my skin that was almost gone already and disappearing fast. If I hadn’t seen the blood pour out and felt the sharp pain, I would not have believed it had happened to my body at all.

This was not normal for a human, this was wrong. This was dangerous.

I was just a human girl and was supposed to be weak and fragile. Human wounds need time and rest to heal, and they always leave lasting scars that tell the story of the injury and pain. But the deep cuts from the Beta’s claws disappeared like they were erased by some invisible force. I kept rubbing the spot, needing to feel the smooth skin again and again to make sure it was real.

I felt the heat on my back again, rising under the thin dress. The Moon Mark was warm under the fabric and slightly throbbing. The King had called me a weapon that didn’t know it was a weapon. I felt like a weapon now, something that couldn’t be easily broken or defeated by a simple injury.

I sat there staring at the smooth skin of my arm for a long time, trying to understand the sudden magic. I thought hard about my whole life. I tried to remember other times I healed too quickly from everyday injuries and childhood accidents.

I remembered when I was a small child in the poor village of Rivenwood. I was running through the woods and tripped hard over a large root hidden by leaves. I fell hard onto sharp stones and scraped both knees badly. They were huge cuts, full of dirt, blood, and pebbles. My mother cleaned them roughly with cold water and put rough bandages on to stop the bleeding. Other children with scraped knees like that took many weeks to heal, and always had big pink scars for months after. But my knees were completely healed and scabs gone in only two days. I remember my mother saying I was lucky and had very strong blood that clotted fast. I never thought more of it then because I trusted her words.

I remembered another time when I was working in the small kitchen in Rivenwood. I lifted a heavy hot pot of water off the fire. The iron pot touched my forearm and left a long, angry burn mark on my skin. It hurt a lot and the skin was white and raised quickly in a blister. My father said it would definitely leave a scar forever as a reminder of my clumsiness. But the next morning when I woke up, the skin was just red and didn’t hurt as much as it should have. By the end of that day, the burn was gone and the skin was smooth again. I thought it was a small miracle that happened, and I was grateful for the quick healing.

I remembered getting bruises too. When I was sold to the Lycans and brought here, I was often bruised from rough handling by the slave traders and the hard journey. Other humans had yellow and green bruises that lasted weeks and hurt to touch. My bruises disappeared completely overnight after a rough day of travel or work. I thought I was naturally strong and had very thick skin that resisted bumps and pain. I thought I was tougher than other common slaves because I healed fast and never showed my pain.

Now I knew the true reason. It wasn’t luck, it wasn’t strong blood or thick skin, it was the magic inside me. It was the Moon Mark on my back that glowed when I was stressed or dreaming. It was the power the King talked about when he looked at me with those cold silver eyes. The power had always been there, hiding in my body and protecting me without me knowing. But it was hidden so well that even I didn’t know until the King touched me and Thorne wounded me.

I spent the rest of the evening working hard and fast in the kitchen. I didn’t speak to anyone. I scrubbed, wiped, and carried things back and forth. I tried to be invisible and forget about the cuts and quick healing.

“Elvanya, you’re working too hard,” Senna said quietly when she saw me scrubbing the same bowl for the third time. “Stop now, the bowls are clean enough. Go get some rest.”

“They must be perfect, Senna. The King demands perfection,” I mumbled without looking at her.

“The King doesn’t care if the bowls are perfect. He cares if you’re quiet. Go rest before you fall over and make a noise,” Senna said firmly. I knew she was right, so I stopped scrubbing.

Later that night, after everyone was asleep and the room was dark, I got up quietly. I had to look at the mark again, i had to check the power and source of the magic. I walked to the corner where a small old broken mirror hung on the rough stone wall. It was very dark, but I could see my face faintly in the glass.

I slowly turned my back to the mirror and pulled down the collar of my dark dress to expose my skin. I felt the Moon Mark warm and slightly throbbing. I twisted to see its reflection. I could barely make out the small crescent moon shape in the dark, but I knew it was there.

I stood staring at the mark in the reflection for a long time, trying to understand what it meant and why it started healing me so fast now, after the King’s touch and the Beta’s attack. I didn’t understand why the magic was activating now.

I slowly faced the mirror completely in the dark. I looked at my face in the faint glass. I looked at my hair, nose, and mouth.

I looked into my eyes.

They were blue, always had been. A pale blue, like the sunny sky.

But as I watched in the dark mirror, something changed fast and suddenly.

For a split second, my eyes flashed bright silver. The same silver as the King’s eyes. A shocking, brilliant light in the darkness. It wasn’t from the moonlight, it came from inside me and shone outward. The color was strong and intense.

Then just as fast as it came, it was gone.

My eyes were blue again. The silver vanished completely. I blinked in shock and disbelief. I stared hard. My eyes were normal again. I looked like myself. Like a weak human girl.

I whispered softly to my reflection, “What are you?”