CHAPTER SIX

CINDER

They were like fucking bees around honey.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Their voices droned in and out, a chaotic hum pounding against my skull. 

My head was doing me a number—like someone had split it open and shoved hot iron through the cracks. Every thought was foggy, every memory a blurred mess of static. I couldn’t remember a damn thing.

But I didn’t move.

I couldn't react.

Because I was the honey all these damn bees were buzzing over.

The ward was full. The air was thick with tension, voices snapping, snarling. I kept my breathing even, playing dead while the storm raged on.

I woke up earlier to the stench of disinfectant and the strange weight of a patient gown on my body. I had barely registered my own presence when I heard it—heavy, familiar, terrifying footsteps.

My father.

Instinct had me shut my eyes immediately, and gods, was that the right call.

Because now, here I was, listening as my father, my not-yet-fiancé, and six council elders debated whether I needed an exorcism.

The healer spoke first, “Her vitals are stable. It’s strange—by all logic, she should still be healing. And yet…”

There was a low murmur.

“There’s barely a scratch left.”

“ROMERO!” Elder Ezekiel’s voice nearly rattled the damn walls. “That damn girl is a curse! The moonlit ceremony was meant to be sacred, yet this happened? What kind of creature was that? Even Prince Elio couldn’t bring it down. Look at him!"

Elio. He was still unconscious?

I bit the inside of my cheek, fighting back a wave of nausea.

I never wanted to feel that way again. Helpless. Scared. Powerless.

"She’s a bad omen, and we all know it!"

I imagined Ezekiel tugging at his four-foot mustache in self-righteous fury. The old bastard had hated me for as long as I could remember. His words weren’t new, but hearing them now, when I was barely strong mentally and physically, made something inside me fracture.

"She’s still your Princess, Elder," came Quinn’s voice, a quiet growl curling at the edges. “She was unconscious, just like Elio. What are you suggesting?”

Warmth bloomed in my chest.

Even now, Quinn was quick to defend me. He always had been. More of a father than my actual father.

"You don’t see how suspicious this is?" Another Elder spoke, his tone calmer but no less venomous. "The lightning, the unrecognizable husk of the beast, and yet she’s barely scratched?”

I was always a fast healer. His point?

"She’s been an anomaly since birth," someone else muttered.

I clenched my fists beneath the thin blanket.

"Elio has his neck broken. A dislocated elbow, crushed ribs, his claws disfigured. And yet she walks away unscathed? Tell me that is not foreboding. She came in just as injured too."

My heart slammed against my ribs.

They weren’t just blaming me for the attack.

They were blaming me for Elio.

"Because of her," another elder cut in, voice thick with bitterness, "we lost our Luna years ago prematurely." That was Elder Fahrad. It's like he was in love with my mother or something. He brought her up at every chance.

The same old wound, dug open with bare hands.

"The Moon Goddess has turned her back on us ever since. No new priests, no visions, no signs. The barriers weaken with each passing year. And now, this?”

I forced myself to stay still, even as my nails bit into my palms.

I had heard this so many times before.

In whispered conversations behind my back.

In glares that came my way in corridors.

To my face.

They thought I was the reason my Mother died. The reason the Moon Goddess had abandoned us.

"Alpha," one of them said carefully. "We need to perform a cleansing. We could not performthe ceremony successfully and the entire Clearmoon pack is left disturbed."

Because they couldn't shift for one night? Try living like me then. 

Cinder Romero. 

The Princess who didn't have a wolf.

"The air that night was wrong. Charged with something ancient, ominous. The warriors felt it, the Elders felt it. You cannot deny the signs.”

My father remained silent.

For the first time since this circus started, I noticed.

Alpha Romero, the loudest voice in every room, was saying nothing.

That alone sent a chill down my spine.

Then, finally, he spoke.

"This is the fault of the guards on the northeastern barrier. They were sloppy. Drunk on festivities. A creature slipped in. They will be punished."

A new voice started speaking. Zulu, my would-be fiancé. "It was likely the work of the fae. The Princess had nothing to do with it. If anything, we should thank the Moon Goddess for sending down divine lightning to vanquish the beast. It is a sign that she has not abandoned us."

I was still not marrying him.

"This meeting is over." My father’s voice cut through the ward. Cold and final. "Now."

There was shuffling. Low growls. Ezekiel’s grumbling voice about sacrificing me fading down the hall.

Then silence.

And then—

"Quinn," my father muttered, low and distant. "Once she wakes, send her to the mines."

Ah. There it was.

Expected, really. I had been sent there for less.

I heard Quinn sigh. "Alpha—"

"I will not repeat myself."

A beat, a stiff exhale. And the door closing.

"Once she is married, she will be your responsibility, Zulu." Romero’s voice was clipped, emotionless. "She’s still too young now, but by next year, I expect you to keep her in line. Out of trouble. Out of sight."

My fingers curled so tightly I thought my bones would snap.

I heard footsteps fading away and the door closing, but I stayed still. Something felt off—I'd only heard one pair of feet leave the ward.

Then, a hand brushed my cheek. I almost opened my eyes from shock but forced them to stay shut.

From the scent, I knew it was Zulu. I fought the urge to shudder.

"We’ll be happy together, you and I. I’ll love you and treat you like a queen.” His voice was smooth like satin. But it had an uncompromising edge to it.

I fight the growing panic within me.

"You’ll see. I’ll be the only one who truly understands you, my shadow.” He says even softer. My breath catches and I hope he doesn't notice. 

Was he psychotic?

The tender voice caught me off guard and his gaze felt like an intrusion.

Not only was he too old for me but he was also someone with a personality I didn't like.

His promises felt like chains. I saw them no other way.

Father was planning to lock me away.

To dispose of me.

To turn me into someone else’s problem.

I waited until Zulu’s footsteps had faded into nothing.

Waited until the only sound in the room was my own ragged breathing.

And then—

I laughed.

Sharp, breathless laughter that tore up my throat like broken glass. It bubbled up, uncontrollable, spilling out in waves, and I didn’t understand why.

I just knew I had to laugh.

Had to laugh and laugh and laugh.

Until my throat burned.

Until my chest ached.

Until laughter became sobs.

Ugly, heaving sobs that ripped through my ribs, shaking my whole body.

I threw my pillow at the door in frustration.

I ripped the blanket off my body. Yanked the IV from my arm.

I'm about to do some more damage to the ward when I catch a glimpse of something to my left.

To my left, Elio lay wrapped in bandages. Still. Unmoving.

My breath gave out as I took in his pale face and fragile features of his face. 

It's my fault.

"Do you think I should just die?"

Silence.

Of course he didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

And gods, maybe that was answer enough.