Chapter 1

The cold inside the winter store had already sunk into my bones. I had to lean against the door to remain standing. The silver walls suppressed my wolf, and every breath sent a fine ache through my chest.

Elara’s frantic voice came from the hallway. “Mom, the academy trial only happens once. If Lyra misses it, she’ll never be able to enter Mooncrest Academy. Please let her out.”

Mother did not reach for the master key. “Have you forgotten what she did when she was ten? She knew the stronger her wolf became, the greater the danger to you, yet she still came home flaunting a perfect score.”

During that young wolf tracking test, I had found every scent marker the instructor had hidden in the forest. I ran home holding the assessment against my chest because I wanted to hear my parents say they were proud of me, just once.

Father burned it in front of me. My parents decided I had earned the perfect score to hurt Elara, then locked me in the underground store. When they released me the next day, my hands were too numb to close around anything.

After that, I never brought home another perfect score. During every test, I deliberately missed the final marker so Elara’s name would appear above mine.

“I wasn’t flaunting it.” I pressed closer to the silver door, my voice trembling from the cold. “I was ten. I only wanted you to be happy for me.”

Elara immediately defended me. “I didn’t feel sick that day. The witch could have been wrong. Lyra has spent years holding herself back for me. You can’t take away her last chance.”

Father ordered her to step away before speaking to me through the door. “We cannot risk the prophecy coming true. Once Elara finishes her trial, we’ll release you. The academy will hold admissions again next year.”

There would be no next year. The trial was offered only once, and Father knew it.

The cold kept deepening inside the room, though I had no way to know what part of the cooling system had failed.

“Mom, it’s getting colder.” I struck the door with my stiffening hand. “I can barely breathe. Please come inside and look.”

The hallway fell silent for a few seconds. Elara began begging Mother to open the door, but Father insisted that I was only trying to delay them.

Cold air filled my lungs until I could barely follow the rest of their argument. I continued pounding on the door. My knees buckled, and my forehead struck the edge of the silver panel hard enough to split the skin. The wounds in my palms split open, and the blood froze across my skin and the inside of the silver panel.

Just as my strength began to fail, I heard the master key scrape against the lock outside. Mother had finally come back to the door.

I pressed my numb hand against the panel, and hope flared inside my chest once more. After eighteen years of this, part of me still believed she would choose to save me at the last moment.