Chapter 2

He didn't come home that night. I waited for him. I never slept a night lonely when Kael was around. He was leaving me for that dramatic woman. I was lonely and alone. He never left me lonely. He had never. Tears spilled down my cheeks into my wet pillow. I caressed my stomach consolingly. If this was what was going to become the fate of our child, to be lonely and abandoned...

No one could even bother to check on the new Luna. The servants were more concerned about the arrival of a potential new Luna. They forgot about me. I could hear them shuffling their feet excitedly as they hurried in celebration, immersed in the joy of a new heir. It made me feel how lonely I was in the world. How lonely I came to be in this world. Without a father or mother. Or siblings. Not even a wicked relative to claim me as my own. No one to confide in who would actually listen to me. My eyelids felt heavy. I batted them down slowly, drifting off. To dream. I slept off.

The next morning, I woke up to a commotion in the house. What was happening? Why was someone moving this...? I stepped out and wore my nightrobe. I saw a servant shuffling about with my nursery items.

"Why are you redecorating? I never asked you to." I said.

She curtsied. "My Lady. It is the new Luna. She asked us to redecorate the nursery for her son."

What the fuck? I stepped down and saw Kael and Lyra. Giving orders to more servants.

"What is happening?" I said. "Why are you changing my nursery?"

They looked so perfect together. Another jab at my heart. Did he really love her? Because his actions were saying a lot differently than his words.

"Oh, I don't want the pink. I want blue," Lyra said.

Rude. Did she not see me standing in front of her? I walked to the nursery. Everything I had kept... They destroyed everything. This wasn't my nursery anymore. They disarranged everything. My baby's nursery.

"Aurelia, are you alright?"

"You're asking me if... If I'm alright?"

"I'm sorry. I should have sent word that you could come. There is a problem with my child. Lyra needs to be around me for the baby's stability. I had to stay with her all night."

What was he... Can't he see she was pretending she was fine? Obviously fine. I know fine when I see one. I was a healer.

"Kael, that won't work. She and I can't stay in the same walls. I don't care what nonsense you have planned. Tell her no."

"Let's be rational."

"Be rational? You wouldn't even take half of this if it were me who did this to you."

"Aurelia, keep your voice low. The staff can hear you."

"So now you don't want them to know? You humiliated me yesterday."

I saw Lyra step up to us. "I want to speak to Kael."

This little—

"We are discussing. Come later. Where are your manners?"

"I want to speak with Kael," she persisted. "Alone." She looked directly at me. "Not you. You're not needed."

"Lyra, whatever you want to say, say it here," Kael responded.

"Oh, well..." She looked around the nursery. "I was thinking we should change the color. Pink is not befitting for a future Alpha. It's too weak. Feminine. Unfit. Not the best for our child. If we want him to be powerful, I don't want anything hindering our baby's growth. Our son will be powerful. The maester says it's a boy. There is no need to make such a fuss about it. It reminds me of fighting with Kael on the battlefield, bleeding from rogue wolves. Yet none of it, none of it, made me cry or lose my composure. I can't imagine why a Luna like you, without a wolf, is upset. You should throw a tantrum over such a trivial matter."

Every word she said, she was trying to say I was unfit. She was undermining me. I was a wolf-less Omega. But what I've gone through is better than any war this fake bitch has fought. I have endured the pack's disdain. But I won't let her put it to my face and rub it on me.

"You're so strong and devoted to my pack, yet you had to sleep your way through my husband's bed just to prove to everyone how much of a slut you are."

"Don't be naive," Lyra said. "Kael and I are comrades-in-arms. The pregnancy was an accident. If you're not threatened, then why are you behaving this way?"

"Words from a slut," I retaliated.

"Enough," Kael rasped. "Lyra, I won't have you talking to the Luna like this. Apologize to her this instant." His voice hardened. "You'll respect her if you'll live in this house."

Lyra looked at me. She was obviously not expecting things to turn out this way. She shuffled her feet. Then she stomped off.

Did she just leave without— In my presence?

"Kael, did you see that—"

"I want you to stop being so dramatic."

"Kael, what the hell? She just disrespected me and you. Why are you— I'm the dramatic one?"

"It's just a room." He touched my stomach. "When we eventually get pregnant, we can have another child."

Another child. As though the child already growing inside me didn't exist.

"It's more important that Lyra gives birth safely. If she does, she'll move out soon enough."

I stared at him. Then I stepped out of his view. He never understood me. How could he be so inconsiderate? I looked down. My baby's feeding bottle was on the floor. It was broken. Someone had stepped on it. I bought it for my child. They didn't even regard me. It was like I was almost discarded. They didn't regard me. I picked the broken pieces from the floor. A sharp bit dug deep into my skin and cut me. I bit my lips in anger. I tasted blood. I carefully carried the broken shards to my room.