Chapter 6- Back to her place

POV: LYRA

The next morning, we switched places.

It was easier than it should have been because we had spent our entire lives looking almost identical. People had confused us since childhood, and with the right clothes, jewelry, hairstyle, and scent, there was very little anyone could use to distinguish one of us from the other.

We exchanged our dresses first, followed by our jewelry and shoes. Selene adjusted my hair until it matched the way she had worn hers at the palace, while I styled hers to resemble mine. Even our scents were changed, leaving nothing obvious that might make anyone question which sister had returned.

When we finally stood together before the mirror, even I struggled to see where Selene ended and Lyra began. She was wearing the clothes I had worn to the palace, while I had taken everything that belonged to her, and the resemblance was so complete that it felt as though we had simply stepped into each other’s lives without leaving anything behind.

Selene studied our reflections for several seconds before reaching up to straighten the necklace around my neck.

“Remember who you are.”

I met her eyes in the mirror.

“I am Lyra, and you are Selene.”

Her lips curved slightly.

“Good. Then don’t forget it.”

There was something almost amused in her expression, but it disappeared when she turned toward the door. Her hand remained on the handle for a moment before she glanced back at me.

“Whatever happens, don’t interfere with what comes next.”

I frowned.

“I know.”

“I mean it, Lyra.”

The warning in her voice made it clear that she was afraid I might do exactly what she was telling me not to do.

“I won’t make a mistake.”

She held my gaze for another moment before opening the door and leaving.

I remained in front of the mirror, watching the door close behind her while the unfamiliar weight of her jewelry rested against my neck. For the first time since arriving at the palace, I was no longer carrying the burden of pretending to be someone else. I was Lyra again, the daughter who had spent most of her life standing beside Selene without ever being mistaken for the woman everyone admired.

I should have felt relieved, yet an emptiness settled quietly inside me.

I tried to dismiss it as exhaustion, but I knew better.

Selene had simply returned to the place where she belonged, and somehow, knowing that hurt more than I had expected.

⸻

Selene had not attended the event the previous evening, which made the deception far easier to maintain. Everyone who had seen me at the palace had believed they were looking at her, so when she returned that morning, no one had any reason to question why Lady Selene suddenly looked exactly as she was supposed to.

I spent the rest of the day at home, deliberately filling my time with anything that might keep my mind away from the palace. I sorted through my herbs, reorganized my medical supplies, helped one of the younger pack members with a minor injury, and prepared several fresh remedies before cleaning a worktable that was already spotless.

None of it helped because my thoughts kept returning to Kael.

I wondered how he would react when Selene appeared before him, whether he would notice anything different, or whether some instinct within his wolf would recognize what his eyes could not.

Wolves were supposed to sense their mates beyond appearances, voices, and carefully constructed disguises.

What if Kael’s wolf knew?

The thought made my hands slow over the herbs.

What if he looked at Selene and realized that something was wrong, even if he could not explain why?

I forced myself to dismiss the possibility because Selene had my clothes, my jewelry, my hairstyle, and my scent. She also knew everything she needed to know about the woman Kael believed he had met, leaving him with no obvious reason to suspect that the person standing before him was anyone else.

By late afternoon, I had almost convinced myself that everything would be fine when a messenger arrived.

I was in the garden when I heard voices near the house, and although I continued sorting the herbs in my hands, I stopped the moment I heard Kael’s name.

“Alpha Kael has welcomed Lady Selene back.”

My fingers stilled.

My father’s voice followed.

“Did he suspect anything?”

“No, Alpha. He treated her as he normally would, although his wolf seemed restless when she first approached.”

I looked up.

My father remained silent for a moment before asking, “Did he say anything?”

“Nothing unusual. He only seemed distracted for a few moments before settling down.”

I lowered my gaze to the herbs again, but my relief was no longer as complete as it had been.

He had accepted Selene.

That should have been enough. Whatever uneasiness his wolf had felt had not been strong enough to expose us, which meant the switch had worked. No one knew the truth, and nothing had fallen apart.

Yet the thought of Kael’s wolf reacting to Selene stayed with me.

Perhaps it meant nothing, and perhaps it was simply the instinct of an Alpha meeting someone after an unexpected absence. I wanted to believe that more than anything because if his wolf had sensed something, then the distance between the truth and discovery was far smaller than I wanted to admit.

I returned to my work, but my concentration was gone as another thought began to trouble me.

Kael had seen Selene and accepted her without hesitation. He had not searched for me, questioned why anything felt different, or discovered that the woman he had met was not Selene at all.

Everything had gone exactly as we had planned.

So why did part of me feel disappointed?

I hated myself for even asking the question because I should have been grateful. If Kael discovered the truth, everything could unravel. Selene’s position, my family’s reputation, and the fragile peace surrounding the arrangement could all be destroyed.

Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, I found myself wondering what might have happened if he had known.

Would he have looked at Selene and realized she was not the woman he remembered? Would he have searched for me, remembered the conversations we had shared, and understood that those memories belonged to someone else?

I closed my eyes briefly, forcing the thoughts away.

It was foolish.

Kael had chosen Selene, and that was the truth I had known from the beginning, long before I ever stood in his presence and allowed myself to wonder whether there could be something more between us.

I had never been part of the life he was supposed to have. I was only the woman standing behind the person everyone had chosen to notice.

I looked toward the palace in the distance, where the evening light reflected across the tall windows.

Somewhere beyond those walls, Kael was with my sister, believing that she was the woman he had met. The memories that belonged to me now belonged to her, the conversations we had shared had become hers, and even the impression I had left on him had been transferred to someone else simply because we had the same face.

The thought alone almost killed me.