Chapter 3: A Cup of Poison

I did not leave my room for the rest of the morning. No matter how many times I replayed the council hall in my head, I still could not believe it.

My own stepsister had stood in front of everyone and claimed she carried Kane's child. And Kane had not denied it. A soft knock broke my thoughts. "Luna?" Mira, my personal maid.

"What is it?"

"Your stepsister is here."

I frowned. "Tell her to leave."

"She said she only wants tea with you."

I laughed, bitter. "After everything she did this morning?"

"That's what I thought too, Luna. But she says she came to apologize also."

I almost refused. Then I stopped myself. If I sent her away now, everyone would say I had something to hide. "I'll meet her."

Minutes later I stepped into the small garden behind the manor. She was already waiting by the stone table, a pot of tea between two cups. The morning air still carried the smell of last night's rain,

and the flowers along the path looked brighter than I remembered them, almost too bright for a day like this. She stood the moment she saw me. "Sister."

"I don't think we have anything to talk about."

She bowed her head. "I know you hate me now."

"I don't hate you." I held her eyes. "I just don't understand you anymore."

Tears filled her eyes almost instantly. "I never wanted it to come to this."I pulled out a chair. "Please. Just sit with me a moment."

Against my better judgment. A maid poured two cups. She lifted hers first. "I came here because I wanted peace between us."

I said nothing.

"I'm still your sister. We are not enemies."

I studied her for a long moment before finally lifting my own cup. "I hope that's true."

She smiled, faint. "So do I." She drank. I barely touched mine.

Silence settled over the garden. Then she grabbed her forehead. "My head." The cup slipped from her fingers and shattered on the stone. She swayed.

"Sister?" I reached for her too late. She collapsed.

"What happened?" I dropped beside her. She did not answer. "Someone call the doctor, now!"

Her maid shoved me backward. "Don't touch her!"

I froze. She pointed a shaking finger at me. "You poisoned Miss Luna! You switched the cups!"

"That's impossible."

Another maid rushed to the broken cup. "There was only one person who could have done this. The Luna."

Within seconds the garden filled with servants and guards, every eye locked on me. I could not process it fast enough.

"I didn't poison anyone."

"And we're supposed to believe that?" a maid cried. "She was fine until she drank that tea!"

A guard sprinted toward the manor. "Get the Alpha!"

Kane arrived moments later. His face went dark the instant he saw my stepsister limp on the ground. "What happened here?"

A maid dropped to her knees. "My Alpha. The Luna poisoned Miss Ashcroft out of jealousy."

My heart stopped. "No. I didn't."

Kane's eyes found mine, searching. "Aria. Tell me what happened."

"I don't know. I swear it. We were only talking. She drank her tea and collapsed."

The maids shook their heads together. "She's lying." "We saw everything." "The Luna wanted the baby gone." Their voices came from every direction. Lies. All of it lies.

And no one questioned a single word.

Kane looked from me to the woman on the ground. For half a second I thought he might believe me.

Instead he stepped past me, lifted my stepsister into his arms, and turned toward the manor. "Get the doctor. Now."

Our eyes met as he left. I wanted him to say he trusted me. I wanted him to tell them all they were wrong.

He said nothing. He just walked away, and did not look back once.

I stood there long after the garden gate swung shut behind him. My own maid was too afraid to stand near me now. The guards watched me the way you watch something dangerous.

The broken teacup still lay on the stones where it had shattered, and for some reason I could not stop staring at it, as if the answer to everything was hidden somewhere in those pieces.

That was the moment I understood. That two faced bitch had not just stolen my husband's trust. She had turned my own home into a courtroom built to hang me.

It was no longer just my marriage on trial. It was my life.