Episode 2

I opened my eyes and saw a white ceiling. Something was beeping nearby. The room smelled like a hospital.

"Luna!" A man called out. "You're awake! Thank the goddess, we were so worried."

The pack doctor stood beside my bed. He was smiling.

"What happened?"

"You fell down the stairs. You hit your head quite badly and you've been unconscious for four hours."

Four hours.

"The baby." I grabbed my stomach. "Is the baby okay?"

He stopped smiling. "I'm so sorry, Luna. The trauma from the fall was too severe. The pregnancy didn't survive."

No.

"We did everything we could," he said. "But the damage was too extensive. There was nothing we could do."

My baby is gone.

The door opened. Jason walked in with Veronica on his arm. He looked at her the way he used to look at me. Like she's precious, like she matters.

"Riley." He sounded casual, almost bored. "Good, you're awake. We need to talk."

I couldn't speak.

"Veronica has some exciting news to share." He pulled her closer. She put her hand on her flat stomach.

"I'm pregnant," she said. I heard triumph in her voice. "Twelve weeks along. We wanted to wait until the second trimester to tell everyone, but given your little accident, it seemed like good timing."

Twelve weeks.

She was pregnant before I was. While Jason was still coming to my bed sometimes, he was with her. Making a child with her.

"Jason is so excited," Veronica said. "He says it's going to be nice to finally have a worthy heir. A child he can actually be proud of."

"Worthy." My wolf spoke for the first time since I got married. She sounded savage and merciless. "He's calling our daughter worthless. We should kill him. We should show him exactly what a nightblood alpha can do when she stops pretending to be weak."

But I didn't move.

"Now, about our arrangement going forward." Jason sat on the edge of my hospital bed like we were discussing household chores. "I've been thinking about our situation and I've decided not to divorce you."

"What?"

"You heard me." He crossed his arms. "I'm keeping you as my wife. After all, where would you go? Your father disowned you five years ago. The entire nation hates you for abandoning your birthright. You gave up your throne, your pack, your power, everything. You have nothing now. No one wants you except me."

Veronica watched me with that same smug smile.

"You've done well raising Lily," Jason said. "She's a good child, obedient and quiet. So here's what's going to happen. You'll continue being my wife in name. You'll live in the pack house. And when Veronica gives birth, you'll help take care of our child."

"Take care of your child?"

"Think of yourself as a nanny." He stood up. "You'll raise Lily and you'll help with the new baby. Veronica will focus on being my true mate and eventual luna, and you'll handle the domestic duties. It's a fair arrangement."

"Fair?"

"More than fair, actually." He walked toward the door with Veronica still on his arm. "You get to stay in the pack, you get to keep your daughter, and you get to remain married to me. Considering what you've become, I'd say you're getting the better end of this deal."

They left. The door closed.

I lay in the hospital bed and stared at the ceiling.

My baby is gone. My husband is having a child with another woman. And I've been reduced to a nanny for the family that destroyed me.

From alpha heir to disgraced luna. From the Death Commander to a woman so broken she can't even protect her own children. From the most powerful nightblood wolf in a millennium, to the one everyone believed would save the nation from tyranny.

And now, to this.

How did I fall so far?