Chapter 2: He Killed My Mate

Anne's POV

The sword came down.

I moved before I could think.

"ADRIAN!"

I threw myself toward him, but someone caught my waist and yanked me backward. I stumbled, my heels sliding across the marble as Caelan's blade flashed through the air.

Adrian barely had time to turn.

The sound of steel cutting through flesh was horribly quiet.

For one impossible second, Adrian remained standing. His eyes widened, and his hand reached toward me as if he still believed I could save him.

Then his knees buckled.

"No."

The word escaped my mouth as a whisper.

Adrian fell to the floor.

"No!"

I tore myself from the warrior holding me and dropped beside him. My wedding dress spread across the marble, its white fabric gathering beneath my knees.

Blood seeped through Adrian's shirt.

Too much blood.

I pressed both hands against the wound, shaking so badly that I could barely keep them in place.

"Adrian, look at me."

His lips parted, but no words came.

"Please." I leaned over him, my tears falling onto his face. "Please, say something. You promised me forever."

His fingers twitched against mine.

I grabbed his hand.

"I'm here. I'm right here."

His gaze found mine.

For a moment, I saw the man who had teased me that morning, the man who had promised to spend his life making me smile.

Then his eyes lost focus.

His hand went limp.

I stared at him.

I waited for his chest to rise.

It didn't.

"No," I whispered again.

The word sounded ridiculous. Small. Useless.

I shook his shoulder.

"Adrian, get up."

Nothing.

"Get up!"

My voice cracked.

"You're supposed to marry me! You can't leave me here!"

I pressed my ear against his chest.

There was no heartbeat.

Something inside me broke.

A scream tore out of my throat, so raw that my own voice sounded unfamiliar.

I had imagined losing Adrian before. Every girl who loved someone had probably imagined it at least once, if only for a second.

But those thoughts had always ended with him opening his eyes and telling me I was being foolish.

He wasn't opening his eyes now.

He was dead.

And Caelan Blackthorn stood over us, wiping Adrian's blood from his sword.

I slowly lifted my head.

He had killed him.

The man I loved was dead because of him.

I rose to my feet.

I didn't remember standing. I didn't remember moving. One moment I was beside Adrian's body, and the next I was charging toward the monster who had taken him from me.

"You bastard!"

I struck Caelan across the face.

The sound cracked through the cathedral.

Several warriors moved toward me, but Caelan raised one hand, stopping them.

I hit him again.

"Why?" I screamed. "Why did you kill him?"

Caelan stared at me.

I grabbed the front of his coat and pulled him closer.

"Look at me! I'm talking to you!"

His jaw tightened.

"Anne—"

"Don't you dare say my name!"

I shoved him.

He barely moved.

"You don't know anything about me! You don't know Adrian! You don't know my family! So why did you do this?"

His expression hardened.

"Step away from me."

"Or what? You'll kill me too?"

Something dark flashed in his eyes.

For one brief moment, I thought he might strike me.

Instead, he caught my wrists.

His grip was firm, but he didn't hurt me.

"Don't make me restrain you."

I laughed bitterly.

"You've already murdered the man I love. What else could you possibly do to me?"

His hands went still.

I saw something change in his face, but I was too consumed by rage to care.

I twisted free and reached for the sword at his waist.

My fingers brushed the hilt.

Before I could pull it out, he caught my arm and turned me away from the weapon.

"Enough."

"Go to hell!"

I kicked his shin and tried to wrench myself loose.

He held me in place as if I weighed nothing.

I hated him.

I hated his strength, his cold eyes, and the way he could stand in the middle of a massacre without appearing troubled by the blood on his hands.

Most of all, I hated that Adrian couldn't stand up and fight back.

Caelan released me.

I stumbled, catching myself against a pillar.

"Your anger won't bring him back," he said.

I stared at him.

For a moment, I couldn't believe what I'd heard.

Then I lunged at him again.

"You don't get to talk about him!"

Two warriors caught me before I reached Caelan.

"Let me go!"

I fought them, twisting and kicking, but they tightened their hold.

Caelan turned away.

"Take her."

"No!"

He walked toward the cathedral doors.

"Where are you going?" I shouted. "Come back here! You owe me an answer!"

He didn't turn around.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded.

He stopped.

"Somewhere you'll remain alive."

I almost laughed.

Alive?

He had killed my fiancé in front of me. He had invaded my home. His warriors had turned my wedding into a slaughterhouse.

And he expected me to be grateful that I was still breathing?

"Keep your mercy!" I screamed. "I would rather die than go anywhere with you!"

Caelan glanced over his shoulder.

"That can be arranged."

Then he left.

And the moment he disappeared through the broken doors, the screaming outside grew louder.

I heard my mother's voice before I saw her.

"Anne!"

I twisted toward the sound.

She stood near the entrance to the cathedral, struggling against a Blackthorn warrior. Her silver hair had come loose from its pins, and her pale blue dress was torn at the shoulder.

My father was beside her.

He had blood running down one side of his face, and his sword was missing.

But he was alive.

For one desperate second, hope rushed through me.

"Father!"

I fought against the warriors holding me.

"Mother!"

My mother looked at me.

Her eyes widened when she saw Adrian lying on the floor.

Then she looked at Caelan's warriors.

"Let her go!" she shouted. "She's done nothing to you!"

One of the warriors tightened his grip on her arm.

My father stepped forward.

"Take me instead."

The words silenced me.

He looked directly at the warrior standing before him.

"If Caelan wants someone to answer for Silvermoon's actions, take me. Anne has nothing to do with this."

I stared at him.

Silvermoon's actions?

What did he mean?

My father had always been proud of our pack. He had never spoken of any crime or betrayal that could justify an attack like this.

"Father, what is he talking about?" I cried.

He looked at me.

For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes.

Not fear for himself.

Fear for me.

"Anne, listen to me."

A warrior dragged him backward.

"Whatever happens, don't trust—"

A sword flashed.

My father's words stopped.

He fell to his knees.

My mother screamed.

"No!"

She threw herself toward him, but the warrior beside her seized her hair and pulled her back.

"Mother!" I screamed.

She fought him with everything she had.

She wasn't a warrior. She had never been trained to fight. But she clawed at his face and struck his arm, desperately trying to reach my father.

"Let me go!" she cried. "Please! Let me reach my husband!"

The warrior shoved her to the floor.

She hit the marble hard.

Then he raised his sword.

I stopped breathing.

"No!"

My mother looked up.

Our eyes met across the cathedral.

Her lips moved.

I love you.

The sword fell.

I screamed until my throat burned.

The warriors holding me dragged me backward as I fought to reach her.

My mother's body lay beside my father's.

Neither of them moved.

My family was gone.

Adrian was gone.

Everything I had loved had been taken from me in the space of a few minutes.

And I hadn't been able to save a single person.

Something inside me went frighteningly quiet.

I stopped struggling.

The warriors loosened their grip slightly, perhaps believing I had finally accepted my defeat.

They were wrong.

I was looking at the bodies scattered across the cathedral floor, memorizing every face.

I would remember them all.

Every warrior who had drawn a sword.

Every face that had watched without helping.

Every Blackthorn soldier who had carried out Caelan's orders.

I would remember Caelan most of all.

I would remember the blood on his coat and the way he had looked at Adrian before killing him.

I would remember my father's final words.

Don't trust—

Who?

Who had he been warning me about?

I had no time to find out.

A Blackthorn warrior approached us, his sword dripping with blood.

"The eastern hall is secure," he reported. "We've searched the family chambers, but we haven't found the object the King requested."

The warrior holding my arm frowned.

"Search again."

"We already have."

"Then search a third time."

The soldier hesitated before nodding.

I stared at him.

The object the King requested?

They hadn't come only to kill my family.

They were searching for something.

Something my father had hidden.

My stomach twisted as I remembered the argument I had overheard three days earlier.

If Blackthorn discovers the truth, none of us will be safe.

What truth?

What had my father been hiding?

And why had Caelan ordered his warriors to search our home while killing everyone inside it?

I forced myself to breathe.

If I was going to survive, I needed answers.

But first, I needed to get away from the men who had destroyed my life.

I waited until the warrior beside me turned his head.

Then I stamped on his foot and drove my elbow into his ribs.

He cursed and released me.

I ran.

I made it three steps.

A hand closed around my arm and spun me around.

Caelan.

His face was colder than before.

"Have you finished?"

I tried to strike him, but he caught my hand.

"Let go of me!"

"No."

"Then kill me!" I screamed. "You've killed everyone else. Why leave me alive?"

For the first time since entering the cathedral, Caelan looked directly into my eyes without anger or indifference.

Something unreadable moved across his face.

"You are coming with me, Anne."

"I will never go with you."

His fingers tightened around my wrist.

"You have no choice."

"I will escape. And when I do, I will find you."

I leaned closer, forcing him to hear every word.

"I will make you pay for Adrian. For my father. For my mother. For everyone you murdered today."

Caelan said nothing.

"I swear on their graves," I continued, tears burning my eyes, "I will kill you."

He held my gaze.

Then he turned to his warriors.

"Prepare the horses. We're leaving."

I tried to pull away.

"Caelan!"

He dragged me toward the shattered entrance.

Behind us, my wedding dress trailed across the bloodstained marble.

I looked back one last time.

Adrian lay where he had fallen.

My parents were still beside each other.

The cathedral that had been filled with music and laughter now smelled of blood and smoke.

I wanted to run to them. I wanted to hold my mother one last time. I wanted my father to finish his sentence.

But Caelan kept pulling me forward.

I had entered that cathedral believing I was about to begin the rest of my life.

I left it knowing that the man who had destroyed my past intended to control my future.

He could take me to his territory.

He could call me his prisoner.

He could even try to make me his Luna.

But he would never have my forgiveness.

I would rather die than belong to Caelan Blackthorn.

And I would spend the rest of my life making him regret the day he chose to destroy mine.