Chapter 5

I woke to the smell of disinfectant.

When I opened my eyes, it was still dark outside. Only a bedside lamp lit the ward.

My wrists were wrapped in white bandages. My throat burned. Every breath felt heavy.

This wasn't the Moon Goddess Shrine, and it wans't Graham Pack territory either.

It was a healer's den under the northern territory's royal family.

Someone stood by the window.

Lucian had taken off his coat. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. It looked as if he had been there for a long time.

Hearing me wake, he turned around. His gray-blue eyes carried an emotion I couldn't read.

"The healer said you had mild hypothermia," he said hoarsely. "A little later, and it would've affected your lungs."

I smirked. "Then you should be happy. Isn't that exactly the lesson you wanted me to learn?"

He fell silent for two seconds and placed the medicine on the bedside table.

"I didn't mean for you to pass out."

"But I did."

After that, the room went eerily quiet.

For a moment, it felt like we had gone back to long ago.

Back then, I hadn't seen through his facade. It was when a small gesture, a brief silence, and a half-hearted display of gentleness from him was enough for me to believe I mattered to him.

I no longer thought the same way.

His rules mattered more than anything else.

The doorbell rang.

Lucian went to open it.

Delia stood outside with a shawl around her shoulders.

The wound on her forehead had been rebandaged. Her pale face made her look like she had worried about me all night.

She held a box. It contained the veil and accessories for tomorrow's marking ceremony.

"Is my sister awake?" she asked softly. "The royal convoy will arrive early tomorrow. The marking ceremony is tomorrow. I got worried, so I came to take her home to prepare."

I looked at her and said nothing.

She acted too well. Even the guilt in her eyes felt rehearsed.

"Take me home?"

I spoke slowly. "So you can cry in front of Dad again, saying I pushed you down the stairs and gave you a fatal injury that even a pup could heal from in no time?"

Her face turned pale, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.

"Sylvia, that's not what I meant. I was just afraid you'd miss the marking ceremony to–"

"You'd love for me to miss it," I cut her off. "Otherwise, you wouldn't show up at the healer's den in the middle of the night with stuff for the marking ceremony."

Lucian frowned, and his voice turned cold. "Sylvia, that's enough. She's just here to take you home."

Delia gently tugged at his sleeve. She had just the right amount of tears in her eyes.

"It's fine," she said softly. "As long as Sylvia is willing to come back. Tomorrow's marking ceremony can't go wrong. Dad and the royal family are all waiting."

The wedding couldn't go wrong.

That was almost amusing because everyone believed the bride walking down the aisle tomorrow would still be me.