Chapter 2 - Daphne

The sight of the scarf tucked into Sean's sword's pommel made my chest clench. Not only because, unlike the scarf still in my hands, the flowers embroidered on the fabric were so perfect they bordered on realism, so elaborate that I couldn't even understand what technique she had used. But that wasn't what left me paralyzed in place.

That was the message the handkerchief conveyed. A woman would only offer such a piece to her lover. To the man with whom she wished to spend the rest of her days. It was a silent question of whether her feelings were shared by her beloved.

Why had she given it to three different men? To my fiancé?

Why had Sean accepted that gift, even knowing what it meant?

"You... You embroidered these handkerchiefs for them?" I murmured, running my eyes over the swords on their backs, finding a handkerchief with a different embroidery attached to each one.

“I do.” Rosie’s smile slowly faded, giving way to a worried expression “Is this a problem? Did I do something wrong?”

“Don’t pay her any attention.” Leon grunted, his dark blue eyes glaring at me “Daphne has nothing to do with this. Neither with your present nor with the dress I gave you. She should be ashamed for trying to make you uncomfortable just because of some stupid tradition…”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” I gasped, hurrying to explain, especially to Rosalind “It’s… It’s just… This was one of my mother’s favorite dresses. I was just worried Dad might miss it…”

“Stop being ridiculous!” my brother scolded me again “Mother had piles of dresses! What? You want to keep them all for yourself, like a damn miser? They don’t even fit you anyway.” The way he looked at my stomach and hips made me cringe “They look better on Rosie.”

“Why do you always have to talk to Daphne like that?” Jude sighed, annoyed “She doesn’t even…”

“I can return the dress, if that’s a problem.” The saint sniffled, and panic overwhelmed me when I saw the tears welling up in her eyes “And I can collect my gifts too. It seems there’s some long-standing tradition involving this, isn’t there? I don’t know your laws very well yet, but I promise I didn’t mean to offend…”

“No, Rosie. Please, don’t cry.” Jude took a step toward her, but it was Sean who pulled her close, almost in a hug.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, my dear.” He smiled a warm, welcoming smile that I hadn’t seen him give in a long time. “You see, it’s just a silly custom the elders teach the youngsters, to keep the girls from falling for anyone who isn’t their destined mate. If you just make it a special gift, they’ll choose better who to give it to…”

“In love?” she repeated, her eyes beginning to widen “Oh, my… Is it something romantic?” She put her hands to her cheeks, trying to hide her blush “Oh, I can’t even imagine what you must be thinking of me! I’m so sorry, Daphne. I had no idea…”

“Well, you don’t need to apologize. Daphne and all the wolves in the pack know you would never do anything malicious. Besides, it’s a blessing to finally have a nice adornment for my sword. Daphne isn’t very good at that.” Sean said.

And all four laughed.

Instinctively, I closed my fingers around the small bundle that was still in my hands. That tightness in my chest worsened, and I quickly hid my own handkerchief behind my back, trying to stop the sound of their laughter from burning my face.

“Yes… Yes, Rosie.” I forced myself to say, even though there was a lump in my throat “It was a very sweet gesture of yours to give a scarf to our best warriors. No one will take offense, I’m sure.”

The truth is, everyone would comment on it under normal circumstances. A young woman giving gifts to more than one man meant she was undecided between them. And three men accepting her handkerchiefs at the same time…

That meant they were fighting each other for her love.

But it was the saint we were talking about. Besides, Sean was my mate, even though we were still waiting for our wedding to mark each other. Well, it was true that sometimes the connection between us wasn't as intense and overwhelming as I'd always read in fairy tales when I was a girl, but I'd learned to deal with it.

And, as my mate, of course he would never accept a gift from another woman with intentions that weren't pure.

Goddess, Leon had reason to be angry with me. I was being ridiculous.

No one in the pack would dare interpret that as a bond between lovers. I was being mean to the saint by treating her as if she had done it on purpose.

"I'm so sorry for making you feel bad." I said, from the bottom of my heart "It was silly of me..."

“Oh, what a relief!” she interrupted me, and for a second, I could swear her huge smile looked almost satisfied “Because I also made a present for Adrien! Do you think he’ll like it?”

The mention of that man caused not only me, but Leon, Sean, and Jude to suddenly become tense.

Rosalind was truly too good for her own good. She still didn't seem to understand just how dangerous Adrien Cross, the Alpha of the Crescent Clan, was. And not just because his bloodline was cursed and his pack, though the largest in terms of territory, was cursed to live in an eternal winter.

That man was considered a demon for a reason. The men of his family had been cursed by the Goddess for being too greedy centuries ago. But he… He was something different. In fact, neither my father nor any of the other Alphas expected Cross to join us in the crusade against the monsters that were emerging from the earth to attack our people.

Some even speculated that he might have something to do with those tragedies. It wouldn't be the first time a male of the Crescent Clan had tried to gain power at the cost of bloodshed, anyway.

There was a reason the war between our pack and his had started back in our grandfathers' time and dragged on until now… Well, at least it had dragged on, until he agreed to become our ally.

I never saw his bestial form, but my brother, my fiancé, and my best friend had. Their accounts were disturbing, to say the least. They said Cross was something beyond man and wolf. Something unholy that revealed itself in his enormous size, the energy that surrounded him, and his unrestrained violence.

More than once, our elders had gathered to discuss what we would do if he, our ancient sworn enemy, ended up betraying us.

Something everyone seemed to be silently waiting for, while our fragile peace agreement still held.

“You can’t go near him!” My brother approached her, his gaze tender like I’d never seen before “That monster isn’t trustworthy. Especially not near someone as precious as you…”

“But he’s an Alpha and a warrior too, isn’t he?” Rosie blinked naively “Besides, he’s part of our group, isn’t he? If we’re going to travel to that cave together, we should trust each other.”

“There’s no trust when it comes to Cross.” Sean said, and Jude silently agreed “Please, Rosie, believe us. We can’t let you take this kind of risk.”

“Don’t let that bastard fool you. He’s not our ally.” Leon held her hand delicately, as if it were made of glass “It’s even likely he’ll try to take advantage of you to break his curse. Or even try to derail our crusade. We can expect nothing but the worst when it comes to that bastard.”

“Besides, you have to protect your magic.” Jude added “It’s too precious. And tomorrow, when we’re facing that stone creature, we can’t risk you getting exhausted and ending up in danger…”

“She won’t be in any danger!” my brother grunted “And not just because we’ll be there with her. Rosalind isn’t the only one who has an obligation to use her magic to defend our people.” His hard gaze turned to me, making me feel like a ton was weighing on my shoulders.

“I… I’ve been training day and night.” And that had made me feel increasingly fatigued lately, but I would never let them know “My magic has been more stable. I will do everything in my power to help the saint…”

“You’re going to do more than is within your reach!” Leon growled through his teeth “It’s no longer about your pathetic healing abilities. Rosalind isn’t going to face that thing alone, while you also have magic to face that thing! You can’t fail like you always do, Daphne. Not this time! Be useful, for once in your life!”