Chapter 9

My eyes were dry and sore, yet a single tear, like an uncontrollable traitor, slid from the corner of my eye.

Aiden saw it.

He reached out, his fingertips trembling as he cautiously and gently wiped away the moisture.

"Elara, what's wrong? Don't scare me."

He wanted to hold me, to wrap me in his arms as he had countless times before.

I turned away.

This was the last time I would look at him so peacefully.

"Aiden, take me to Moon Goddess Falls, one last time."

His hands froze in mid-air, his eyes filled with astonishment.

"Baby, you're terrified of the water. You fell in as a child and haven't gone near a deep current since..."

"I just suddenly feel like seeing it," I said flatly, my tone devoid of any emotion. "It's where we pledged our love, isn't it?"

After all, my "corpse" would fall from there, carried by the rapids into endless darkness.

This was the best farewell.

Aiden didn't ask any more questions. He simply ordered the car.

On the way, he drove with one hand on the wheel, the other gripping mine tightly, as if afraid I would vanish the next second.

Perhaps my compliance gave him some sort of illusion, as he began to ramble on about the past.

"Remember? When you were ten, you caught a firefly for me here and said it was a piece of the moon."

"When I was eighteen, I swore to the Moon Goddess here that I would marry no one but you in this life."

"Elara," he began as the car stopped on the cliff beside the waterfall. The tremendous roar of the water sounded like a death knell for our hollow love. Aiden turned to me. "No matter what happens, I will always love you. My wolf, my soul... they belong only to you."

I smiled too.

The smile didn't reach my eyes. It was pure mockery.

Tell a lie often enough, and you start to believe it yourself.

We stood side by side on the cliff's edge, looking down at the churning white rapids below.

Just then, Aiden's communication crystal began to vibrate frantically.

He didn't even look at it, just cut the connection.

But the caller was persistent, calling again and again.

Finally, he glanced at the source and stepped aside to answer.

I don't know what was said, but Aiden's expression shifted slightly.

At the same time, I received a mind-link message from Cassia.

[Elara, stop dreaming. So what if the coronation is tomorrow? With just one call, your Alpha will crawl over here like a dog and lick my toes. If you know what's good for you, get the hell out of Black Moon.]

This wasn't the first time Cassia had tried to force me to abdicate, but it was the first time I replied.

[Fine. As you wish.]

Not far away, Aiden strode back, his face wearing that unchanging mask of apology.

"Elara, I'm sorry, something urgent came up with the council..."

"Aiden."

I cut him off, my voice terrifyingly calm.

"Do you remember what I told you in front of the Moon Goddess statue on the day you marked me?"

My sudden question made his heart clench.

"I said, if you ever had a change of heart, tell me, and I would let you go. But if you lied to me... I would leave you forever."

I looked at him and smiled.

Aiden's hands clenched into fists, his knuckles white. He was silent for a long moment before his hand rose, trembling, to stroke my hair. "Elara, I love you so much. How could I ever lie to you?"

In that instant.

The last ember of what I had called "love" was extinguished.

"If it's an urgent matter, you should go," I said, a hollow laugh escaping my lips. "Don't keep your 'council' waiting."

Aiden looked at my calm face, and a sudden, inexplicable panic washed over him.

He had the strange feeling that if he left, I would truly vanish like smoke.

But the memory of Cassia's voice on the crystal made his resolve waver.

Elara was right here. What could possibly happen? Besides, our Luna ceremony was tomorrow.

At that thought, he relaxed. "Elara, go home early after you've seen the falls. I'll see you at the ceremony tomorrow."

With that, he turned, got in the car, and disappeared from my sight.

I stood there, quietly watching the familiar Maybach vanish around a bend in the mountain road.

Ten minutes later.

An unmarked black sedan pulled up behind me.

A man in a black cloak got out and respectfully handed me a folder.

"Miss Elara, all of your identity information within the pack has been erased. A new identity crystal, communication device, and portal coordinates are ready. From now on, no one in this world will be able to find you."

I lowered my eyes and took it, then handed my own identity crystal to him.

"Deliver the fake corpse directly to the ceremony site tomorrow. And this memory crystal, please hand it to the Alpha personally."

I wanted him to know how Cassia had provoked me again and again these past days.

I wanted him to know that when he chose to lie and abandon me for that little model, I chose to die in the rapids.

I wanted him to know that this moment on the cliff's edge was the last time we would ever see each other.

The rest of his life would be long. Let him embrace his regret and suffer in the private hell of his own making.

"Let's go. Take me to the airport."

I got into the car without a single backward glance.

The long night would finally pass.

My new dawn was about to begin.