Chapter 4

“E-Elara, I didn’t mean to…”

I didn’t even look at Sylvie.

I dropped to my knees and scrambled across the floor, gathering the shattered pieces of my mother’s bracelet with shaking hands.

Several moonstones had cracked clean through. The gold setting had split. One half still lay in my palm, but the rest had scattered so far that some pieces were already lost beneath the cabinet.

I couldn’t even protect the last thing my mother had left me.

Something inside me seemed to split open with it. My tears hit the floor one after another.

For the first time, something like guilt flickered across Cedric’s face.

“Elara…”

As if suddenly remembering what part she was supposed to play, Sylvie quickly snatched up the covered bowl from the table and held it out to me.

“Look, I even brought you a tonic. They say it helps keep infection away. Drink it, and forgive me, all right?”

A foul smell rose from the dark liquid. Floating on top were strips of boiled herbs, ground shell, and thick black sediment that looked half-rotted.

I tore the bowl from her hands and hurled it straight back at her.

“If you want forgiveness, then die first.”

The liquid had already turned lukewarm long ago.

Sylvie still screamed as if she had been scalded alive.

“Ah! It’s burning!”

My stepmother rushed in right on cue. The moment she saw the splash across Sylvie’s sleeve, she pulled the fabric back and let out a shriek.

A red patch had spread over her pale arm.

The two of them exchanged one quick glance.

Then my stepmother gathered Sylvie close and began to wail.

“My poor girl. Why do you keep worrying about that ungrateful thing? Has she ever treated you like a sister?”

“You’ve always been so delicate. What if it scars? Cedric, are you really going to stand there while your own chosen mate is treated like this?”

Cedric looked at me with naked disappointment, then shut his eyes once, as if steadying his temper.

“Bring hot water.”

The guards understood immediately.

Before I could move, they forced me down to the floor.

A copper basin of boiling water was set before me. Steam rose so thick it stung my eyes.

A chill raced through every part of me.

“Cedric, what are you doing?”

He looked down at me from above.

“Elara, you’ve thrown away Sylvie’s kindness again and again, and now you’ve hurt her. Actions have consequences.”

I already knew.

He meant to hurt me for her.

I struggled hard enough to bruise my own wrists.

“That bowl was cold. She and your precious stepmother are acting. Can’t you see that?”

At once, Sylvie’s eyes filled with tears.

“Elara, if you hate me, hate me. But how can you lie to Cedric like this after everything he’s done for you?”

“Is it not enough unless I’m hurt worse? Fine. I’ll pour boiling water on myself right now if that’s what it takes to repay your mother’s bracelet.”

She barely lifted the basin before Cedric pulled her into his arms.

“Sylvie, stop.”

“You’re too soft-hearted. That’s why she keeps framing you.”

His voice dropped, tender and full of trust.

“I believe you.”

Then Sylvie looked at me through her tears and said softly,

“Maybe ruining her skin isn’t such a terrible thing. The Blackmoor Alpha heir is said to be insatiable. If she’s scarred enough, maybe he won’t want to touch her. Maybe she won’t catch what he has after all.”

It was such a monstrous thing to say that for one second I thought even Cedric would recoil.

Instead, he nodded.

“She’s right.”

I laughed.

I laughed so hard my throat hurt.

“Cedric, I truly was blind. You and Sylvie deserve each other. Filth suits filth.”

His face hardened.

“Elara, direct your anger at me if you want. Why do you insist on attacking Sylvie every time?”

“She’s done more for you than you deserve, and still you treat her like this. Have you no conscience at all?”

Then, with the same cold conviction, he added,

“She’s right. Perhaps this really is the safest thing for you.”

“And besides, you owe her.”

“You don’t need to worry. Even if your skin is ruined, I won’t abandon you. Once the heir of Blackmoor Pack dies, I’ll come take you away myself.”

Then the basin tipped.

The full weight of the boiling water crashed across my back.

Pain tore the scream out of me so hard I thought it ripped my lungs with it. My body convulsed helplessly against the floor, every muscle locking, shaking, breaking apart under the heat.

That was when my father rushed in.

“Enough. Stop this.”

For one stupid, blinding instant, I thought he meant to save me.

Then he spoke again.

“Blackmoor has sent word. The Alpha heir is failing fast. The healers say he has no more than three days.”

“He wants the ceremony done before he dies. He even demanded a mating chamber afterward. Said he’d rather die as a marked mate than die unsatisfied.”

“They’re here now. They’re taking her back with them.”

When the household women tried to change my clothes, they froze in horror at the sight of my back.

Blisters had already risen everywhere. The skin was peeling. Blood and clear fluid soaked through at the slightest touch.

My father heard and only clicked his tongue.

“I told Sylvie about the bracelet. If you had handed it over quietly, none of this would have happened. Instead you slandered her again, just like always.”

I turned to look at him.

Hatred nearly choked me.

So it had been him.

He had told Sylvie about the bracelet.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he snapped. “What, are you regretting this now? Do you think a few burns will get you out of the contract?”

“Blackmoor promised a return gift once this bond is complete. Even one Blackmoor Pack project from their line would cover years of profit. I raised you all these years. It’s time you paid this pack back.”

“Today, you’re going.”

He told the women not to fuss over the wounds.

Just dress me.

As long as no one could see it from the front, it didn’t matter.

They forced me into the red ceremonial robe.

The fabric dragged across the burns and tore the blisters open one by one. By the time they hauled me to the car, the whole back of the robe was wet with blood.

As I was shoved inside, I looked out through the window.

Cedric stood in the courtyard, lips moving soundlessly.

Just hold on. I’ll come for you.

I nearly smiled.

Three days later, word reached Cedric that someone had died in Blackmoor.

By the timing, he took it for granted that the Blackmoor Alpha heir was gone.

He hurried to the mourning hall with Sylvie at his side, ready to offer condolences.

But the moment the coffin was opened for final respects, he stopped dead.

The one lying inside was not the Blackmoor Alpha heir at all.

It was an old man, white-haired and still.