Chapter 2: Alone

Cassian exhaled impatiently.

“You understand how noble politics work.”

“No.” Tears burned her eyes. “You want me to become your secret.”

Behind him, Seraphine laughed softly.

“A concubine suits her far better than the Luna title.”

Humiliation crashed through Kaelith so violently she could barely breathe.

Before she could move away, Cassian grabbed her arm tightly.

“Kaelith, calm down.”

His grip tightened painfully.

“You’re embarrassing yourself.”

That was the moment something inside her snapped.

Rage exploded through her chest with terrifying force.

She shoved him backward with everything she had.

Cassian stumbled several steps in visible shock.

And for one impossible second, silver sparks flashed across Kaelith’s fingertips.

Tiny flashes.

Bright as moonlight.

They came and was gone instantly.

Nobody noticed except her.

Kaelith stared at her trembling hand in confusion, her breath catching sharply.

What… was that?

But Seraphine’s furious voice shattered the moment.

“You ungrateful little rat,” she hissed. “Everything you have came from my family.”

Kaelith slowly lifted her eyes toward them one final time.

At the man she loved.

At the sister who despised her.

At the future she had spent years believing in.

And suddenly she realized none of it had ever truly belonged to her.

Then she turned and ran.

Cold air slammed against her face as she sprinted through the fortress corridors. Servants stared openly while guards whispered behind her back, but she ignored all of them.

By the time she reached the servant quarters beneath the western tower, tears streamed freely down her face.

But the nightmare still wasn’t over.

Her door stood open.

Warm candlelight spilled into the hallway.

Kaelith slowed immediately.

Inside stood Lord Ravaryn and Lady Mirelle.

The people who raised her.

The people she once believed were family.

Folded carefully across the bed rested a breathtaking silver ceremonial gown embroidered with royal crescent symbols.

Not for her.

For Seraphine.

Lady Mirelle glanced toward her with cold indifference.

“Well,” she said calmly, “I suppose there’s no point hiding it anymore.”

Kaelith’s throat tightened painfully.

“You knew.”

Lord Ravaryn didn’t even bother turning fully toward her.

“Of course we knew.”

The betrayal hurt so badly it almost made her dizzy.

“You let me believe he loved me.”

Lady Mirelle sighed as though exhausted by the entire conversation.

“You served your purpose.”

Kaelith felt sick.

“Purpose?”

Lord Ravaryn finally faced her fully, and whatever hope remained inside her died beneath the emptiness in his eyes.

“Cassian needed distraction while negotiations were completed,” he said coldly. “Keeping you close kept him cooperative.”

Every word felt like another knife twisting deeper into her chest.

“You used me.”

Lady Mirelle adjusted the silver gown carefully.

“Don’t sound so wounded. We fed you, educated you, and allowed you to live beneath our roof despite your worthless origins.”

“I was a child.”

“And now,” Lord Ravaryn replied sharply, “you are old enough to understand reality.”

Kaelith’s breathing became uneven.

“You knew he was lying to me this entire time.”

Lord Ravaryn’s patience vanished.

“And what exactly were you expecting?” he growled. “That a future Alpha King would reject noble blood for some abandoned mutt with no wolf?”

The word mutt struck harder than anything else.

Tears instantly filled Kaelith’s eyes.

“I hate all of you.”

The slap came without warning.

Pain exploded across her cheek as her head snapped violently sideways.

Kaelith stumbled against the dresser while Lady Mirelle grabbed her arm harshly.

“You should be thanking us,” she hissed. “Without this family, you would have frozen to death in a ditch years ago.”

Kaelith jerked away from her violently.

“I would rather have died.”

Lord Ravaryn’s expression hardened completely.

“Then leave.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Kaelith blinked slowly.

“What?”

“You heard me.” He pointed toward the hallway. “Get out of my house.”

Lady Mirelle opened the wardrobe and tossed Kaelith’s small cloth bag onto the floor. A few faded dresses spilled across the carpet.

“That is all you own,” she said coldly.

Kaelith couldn’t move.

After all these years… they discarded her this easily.

Like garbage.

Lord Ravaryn stepped closer, his voice utterly devoid of warmth.

“You are nothing to this family.”

Those words shattered the final fragile piece of her heart.

Kaelith grabbed the bag silently before walking out of the room, refusing to let them watch her completely fall apart.

The heavy doors slammed shut behind her.

And just like that… she had nowhere left to go.

The fortress no longer felt familiar.

It felt monstrous.

Every hallway seemed colder now, every torch dimmer, every shadow sharper, as though Blackthorne Keep had finally revealed its true face.

Rain soaked through her thin clothes as she wandered through the lower streets beneath the fortress without direction. People brushed past her without a second glance.

Nobody stopped or even cared.

Eventually she reached the old marketplace near the outer gate and collapsed beside a stone well, trembling uncontrollably beneath the storm.

Then someone shouted her name.

“Kae!”

Footsteps splashed rapidly through puddles.

A girl with copper-red braids rushed toward her immediately.

Lyra.

Kaelith’s only real friend.

Lyra grabbed her shoulders the second she reached her.

“What happened?”

Kaelith tried to answer.

Instead, she broke completely.

Everything spilled out between desperate sobs—the necklace, the betrayal, Seraphine, Cassian, the slap, the exile.

Lyra listened in stunned silence while anger slowly darkened her face.

“That bastard,” she whispered furiously.

Kaelith laughed weakly through tears.

“I was stupid.”

“No.” Lyra knelt firmly in front of her. “You were loyal. They took advantage of that.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters to me.”

Kaelith shook her head hopelessly.

“I have nothing left.”

Then, unexpectedly, Lyra smiled.

Not kindly.

Dangerously.

“That’s not true.”

Kaelith frowned weakly.

“What are you talking about?”

Lyra leaned closer, lowering her voice.

“Tonight is the Crimson Veil Gathering.”

Kaelith blinked immediately.

Every noble house across the empire knew that name.

The most exclusive masquerade in the kingdom. A gathering filled with Alphas, war chiefs, royal heirs, and ancient bloodlines powerful enough to shape nations.

She stared at Lyra like she had gone insane.

“We could never enter something like that.”

Lyra’s grin widened.

“I know someone working inside.”

“Lyra—”

“You said you have nothing, right?” She stood and held out her hand toward Kaelith. “Then stop crying over people who never deserved you.”

Kaelith looked up slowly.

Rainwater dripped from Lyra’s fingertips while the towering fortress loomed behind her like a massive beast waiting to devour the world beneath it.

That place had stolen everything from her.

Her love. Her home and even her identity.

And yet… beneath her skin, that strange silver warmth still lingered faintly.

Alive, and Waiting.

Kaelith slowly reached for Lyra’s hand.

“What happens if we get caught?”

Lyra pulled her up with a fearless grin.

“Then we make sure they never forget our names.”

Far above the kingdom, beyond storm clouds and moonlight…

Something ancient opened its eyes.