Chapter 3

LYSANDRA’s POV

—

Henry’s face twists like I’ve personally ruined his birthday already. My chest hurts and my stomach drops.

“Henry wh—

“You’re too ugly,” he snaps, cutting me off, eyes burning as they rake over me. “You’ll scare everyone. I. Really. Don’t. Want. You. There!”

He carves his words one after the other and it hits harder than any blade ever could.

I stand frozen in the middle of my room, fingers still trembling against the soft red fabric stretched over my body. The dress suddenly feels foolish now. Childish and desperate.

Henry points at me with so much disgust it hurts everywhere.

“And Aunt Eliza is going with Father,” he continues. “She’ll be there as my mother, not you. She’s pretty and not like you.”

There’s a look he’s giving me, one between pity and disgust.

Eliza? Mother?. The word should belong to me.

I carried him inside me. I nearly died bringing him into this world. I stayed awake through feverish nights holding him against my chest while Edric slept peacefully in another room. I loved him so fiercely it hollowed me out from the inside. And now another woman gets called Mother.

I swallow hard and force a smile that feels painfully fragile.

“But I am your mother, Henry, your only mother,” I whisper. “Of course I’m coming to your birthday party. Don’t be silly.”

His expression darkens instantly.

“No!”

The shout makes me flinch.

Before I can react, he storms toward me. His small hands grab the front of my dress viciously.

“H-Henry—”

He rips the fragile fabric and I gasp so loud it almost clogs my lungs.

The fabric splits violently down the front and my dress loosens.

Henry yanks harder, fury twisting in his little features until he looks frighteningly like Edric. For one horrible second, all I see is his father staring back at me through smaller eyes.

“You never listen!” he screams, grabs the sleeve of the dress, and rips it till my arm is bare. He doesn’t stop, despite my dodging, he’s swift and strong as he rips my dress into shreds.

My breath catches painfully as the dress I spent weeks sewing falls apart piece by piece. The same dress I stayed awake making under candlelight, got poked by the needle while coughing blood into a cloth.

No…

Henry rips the remaining fabric off my shoulder and throws it onto the floor.

“You’re not coming!”

His chest heaves violently. “If you come, everyone will laugh at me! My friends tease me enough. It’s my birthday. Don’t be a monster”

The room spins slightly around me.

I stare down at the ruined fabric pooled near my feet.

Henry snatches the torn dress from the floor before I can touch it again.

“And don’t come downstairs,” he warns harshly. “I mean it.!”

Then he storms out.

The door slams so hard the walls tremble.

Silence fills the room afterward and I stand there for a very long time.

My body feels weak again. Weak enough that my knees nearly buckle beneath me. But slowly my eyes drift toward the small wooden horse sitting on the table.

Henry’s gift.

My fingers shake as I pick it up carefully.

No matter what he says… No matter how much he hates me. He is still my son. And this may be the last birthday I ever get to see.

—

By evening, the main pack house glows with golden light. And the grand hall connected to the house has music spilling through the open halls downstairs. Laughter echoes against marble walls while servants rush back and forth carrying silver trays and flowers.

As I make my way through the entrance, I pause at the top of the staircase, suddenly dizzy.

The simple cream dress I borrowed hangs loosely on my shrinking body. Even with powder brushed across my face, I still look too ghostly.

Too thin. Too monstrous.

But I tighten my fingers around Henry’s gift and force myself downward anyway.

The grand hall is breathtaking.

Crystal chandeliers shimmer over heads. Pack nobles crowd the room dressed in jewels and silk and children running across polished floors laughing while musicians play softly in the corner.

Then my eyes land on them.

Edric and Eliza..

My breath stops.

Eliza is standing beside him wearing a red dress with diamonds emitting from the bodice, that even a blind man can tell it is beyond expensive.

The fabric hugs her healthy figure perfectly. Her cheeks glow warmly beneath the chandeliers. And her oiled cleavage reflects every light in the room. Ruby jewels sparkle against her neckline and earlobes, while Edric stands beside her like she belongs there and to him..

People are surrounding them smiling. If anyone didn’t know better they might mistake her for Edric’s actual wife and not me.

As I walk further into the party, the whispers get to me before I can shut them out.

“Gosh, she looks worse every day.”

“How is she Luna and not Eliza?”

I walk closer and the voices praising Eliza become worse.

“What a perfect woman. She brightens up our Alpha.”

“She is perfect. Our true Luna. Everyone knows it should have been them. Lysandra was an imposter.”

I ball my fist.

How can they talk about me like I don’t have ears, like I’m not walking into the party and overhearing them?

I hold my breath and warn myself not to cry.

I am about to approach Edric when his presence takes over the room. The man of the hour.

“Henry!” I hear gasps and the crowd brightens instantly.

I look up.

Henry runs down the staircase in a tiny black suit, grinning brightly for the first time all day. Pride beams across his face as pack members shower him with compliments.

“You look so handsome!”

“The future Alpha!”

“He looks exactly like Lord Edric!”

Henry smiles happily, his small body taking in all the compliments and gloating in it. He beams at everything until… He sees me.

Everything changes instantly.

His smile disappears and his entire expression hardens with fury.

No, not even fury. Humiliation, like my mere existence, embarrasses him.

My heart sinks.

Henry storms across the hall toward me before I can even speak.

Before I can react, Henry grabs my wrist harshly and drags me through the crowd.

Gasps whisper behind us.

My body stumbles weakly trying to keep up.

“H-Henry… slow down…”

But he doesn’t.

He drags me into an empty corridor before finally shoving me backward. Pain shoots through my spine as I graze the wall.

His eyes blaze with rage.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come?!”