The Ceremony of Shame

Sienna felt the coarse cloth of the servant dress, rubbing on her skin, and itching her at the neck where the collar was tight. The sleeves and the skirt did not fit well and the skirt was hanging like it is still in progress of being sewed. It wasn’t made for her. That was the point.

On each side of her were two guards who pulled her down a hall, in the direction of the ceremonial hall. She had red marks on her wrists as they had grabbed her too firmly before. Her knees were bruised from where she fell but all that was nothing compared to how she felt inside her chest.

The pack no longer feels like her home. These walls, this ground, the air, it wasn’t hers anymore. Her name, her dignity, her place in the pack stripped. And now they were hauling her into the ceremony hall where she would be rejected and humiliated before all the eyes of the whole pack.

The massive doors swung open and a sort of silence walked through the large hall like some cold wind. The fact is, the whispers stalked her into the room not behind her back, but apparently, openly, loudly, and purposely for her to overhear everything.

“She’s still alive?”

“That’s the one? The girl who threw herself at two Alphas?”

“Should’ve banished her.”

Somebody had spat at her foot, and Sienna did not even twitch. A young boy whose voice was heard dimly cutting in upon the mutterings, and it said, “Mama, is she the one everybody is talking about, over the place of the mistress?”

She felt sick, but remained very composed with her chin up, her eyes on the lifted platform in front of her. Ryder was standing there, fully dressed as an Alpha, all black with silver. His face could not be read, his jaws were firmly set. She just did not turn away from his gaze. For just a second, their eyes met.

He blinked first.

The connection broke, just like everything else between them.

The guard beside her nudged her shoulder and whispered, “Careful how you walk. Wouldn’t want to trip in front of your replacement.”

Sienna said nothing. Her hands were shaking, but she did not want to cry. Not now. Not here.

The elders were already gathered on the altar, their voices low in preparation. Ryder hadn’t moved. Renna was beside him, her hand intertwined on his, smiling too broadly, too gratified.

She was beautiful. There was white lace over her as though it had been carved over her, and flowers in her dark hair. But her eyes, they were comic, it could tell, almost happy, as she stared at Sienna.

Renna leaned into Ryder and whispered something into his ear. He gave no reaction.

Elder Midas raised his hand to quiet the room. His voice rang out, smooth and slow.

“Before the bond between Alpha Ryder and Luna Renna is sealed, we must address what lingers.”

A hush settled. Sienna knew what was coming before it happened. Nevertheless, the words said were more painful than she had thought.

Zane stepped forward, taking his steps carefully, and stood incipiently at the centre of the altar. The audience in the room suddenly went silent, the buzzing stopped.

He didn’t hesitate. His voice rang clear.

“I, Zane Cavanaugh, reject Sienna Wren as my mate. I sever all bonds of wolf, name, and soul. And from this time henceforth, she is nothing to me.”

No one hesitated, no voice cracked, there was not an element of remorse in his voice. The rejection was clean and brutal.

The knees of Sienna buckled before she knew that she was even falling. Her heart knotted, her wolf howled inside her, and a deep feeling wracked across her chest like a bite. The bond, what was left of it was gone.

From somewhere in the crowd, someone laughed. “Did you see her face? Priceless.”

“"She was lucky that she wasn't executed,"

Sienna pressed her palms against the marble floor and tried to catch her breath, through the pain. No one moved to help her. Not even Ryder.

Zane turned, smirking as he walked back into the crowd. He didn’t look back.

The ceremony continued as if she were invisible.

Elder Midas raised the ceremonial blade. Ryder stepped forward. He took the blade and cut his palm.

Renna followed suit. Their blood dripped together into the sacred bowl, and when they clasped hands, the hall filled with the low chant of the elders sealing the bond. Ryder lifted his hand and placed it against Renna’s neck.

Sienna knew the moment the mark took. She gasped, her eyes swam and it seemed to her like a hot iron was burned into her chest. Not even her skin, her soul.

It should have been her.

She got up swaying. Her legs shook, and she fell again no more.

Renna looked down from the altar and met Sienna’s eyes. The smirk on her lips was full of venom. Having cheered and finished her chants, she turned and said something to Ryder who nodded once in response.

Then she came directly down the steps of the altar, and stood before Sienna.

She came up close, her voice soft and syrupy. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ve already chosen your quarters. It’s next to the kitchen.”

Sienna’s voice was caught behind her clenched teeth.

Renna stepped back, still smiling. “Tonight, you’ll be scrubbing the floor of our wedding chamber. You can start with the blood if he leaves any.”

Sienna didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Her jaw trembled.

Elder Midas cleared his throat. “One more announcement.”

Ryder finally looked up. His eyes found Sienna again.

“Sienna Wren,” Midas continued, “is to remain under Alpha Ryder’s protection and within this house, by order of the council. She will perform duties as required by Luna.”

The crowd murmured again.

Ryder didn’t speak. He didn’t protest. He just looked away.

And just like that, the sentence was handed down. The shame wasn’t over. It was only the beginning.

She had been discarded by one of these Alphas and even abused by another and now instead of being finally abandoned she was still being kept in the house that had ruined her, not even as a guest or as a prisoner but only as a servant.

Renna turned and came back to Ryder and slipped her hand into his. She smiled at the pack as they applauded again.

Sienna stood alone broken, but not done. She had lost her name. Her body was used as a pawn. The man she hoped would save her had just turned blind eyes to what the elders have sentenced her to live in his house, not as his mate, but as a servant to his real Luna.

What happens when the marked Alpha and the broken girl must live under the same roof?