The choosing game

RIVENNA

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No!" I screamed, opening my eyes to find my body warm — but not from a burning fire.

I was inside a warm tub. A step away, a door opened and a maid rushed in, panicking, her kind brown eyes wide.

And it was not just any maid — it was Olena, my childhood best friend who had died three years ago, yet here she was, in the flesh.

Was I going mad? I had to be.

I stood up from the tub just as she fetched me a robe, and I watched her in stunned silence, numb all over, as she fussed over me the way she always had — even though she was only a year older.

"You scared me, screaming like that!" she scolded, checking my body for any wounds.

"Lady Rivenna!" she called to me. I still couldn't breathe. I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. I rushed toward the mist-covered mirror.

"My lady, you cannot be late to the choosing hall — not for your own event!" Olena reminded me as I stared at my reflection.

The gash on my right cheek was gone. No ugly scar. No permanent shadows beneath my eyes.

How was this possible? Somehow, I had woken up three years in the past — before it all began.

"Olena, pinch me," I said. She stared at me as though I had lost my mind, but she did it anyway, a sharp pinch to my wrist.. and gods, it hurt! This was real!

I didn't know how, but I had been reborn.

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I was back in the past, returned to the moment of my greatest mistake. I could not take this for granted. The Moon Goddess had given me another chance.

I walked back into the lilac room, and the scent of jasmine filled the air, my own natural scent. I had forgotten what I smelled like.

My pheromones, which I had thought had faded because of my trauma — now I understood the truth. It was Bria and the silver mercury she had been feeding me, suppressing my powers and scent before they could fully manifest.

I was quickly dressed in a silver-white gown adorned with jewels and a sparkling tiara.

I watched the beautiful train of the dress trail behind me and hadn't realised I was crying until Olena stepped forward, her face creased with worry.

"Rivenna, what is it? Are you in pain?" she asked.

I shook my head. How could I explain that I hadn't seen myself look like this in a very long time? That I had been made to wear dull clothes, stripped of jewels, my light slowly and deliberately dimmed and destroyed.

"No, no .. I am alright," I assured her, just as a soft knock came at the door and it swung open.

My eyes widened at the familiar silhouette — dark auburn hair that glinted almost brown, and a pair of deep green eyes staring back at me. I broke into a short sprint.

"Brother!" I said, throwing my arms around him.

I felt him stiffen, caught off guard by my reaction, but in my other life, my brother was gone, and I had faced everything alone. Riddled with grief and without him,

I had handed everything over to Wren, who had taken it all from me piece by piece, right under my nose.

"Ryson — I missed you."

"You only saw me yesterday, sister," he said with a smile, patting my cheek. "And you look beautiful, Rivenna." He gently wiped my tears. "Are you ready?"

I nodded and took his hand as we left the room.

We walked through the halls lined with family portraits of the Osborn royal family of the Onyx Pack.

I could feel how frail my brother had become — a sickness that had haunted him for years.

He led me into the m private room, an elegant oval space draped in royal red and gold, and guided me to my chair before taking his own seat.

"What are we doing here, brother?" I asked, genuinely confused for a moment.

He looked at me with equal bewilderment. "Have the choosing jitters gotten so bad that you've forgotten the choosing ceremony itself? And the gifts from your suitors that you get to choose from?" he asked.

And then it came back to me. In my past life, I had never even made it to the choosing ceremony — I had begged to be married to Wren immediately, bypassing everything.

"I've had so much on my mind," I said quickly. "I forgot."I lie.

He reached for the two small chests placed before me and opened them.

On the left sat the most extravagant diamond ring I had ever seen,

unmistakably from Wren, a gesture designed to dazzle. In my past life, I wouldn't have glanced twice at the second box.

This time, I turned to it.

What lay inside left me speechless.

A single black rose.

I stared at both gifts, knowing immediately who the ring belonged to.

My brother watched me with quiet curiosity, clearly unsettled by my hesitation.

"I am surprised, sister. I thought you would choose without hesitation when it comes to Wren," he said.

I turned the heavy gemstone over in my hand, then let my eyes drift back to the black rose. The moment I touched it, it carried a strange, heavy weight — an aura that pressed against my fingers.

"You don't want anything to do with that, sister," he said. "It is from a powerful, tyrannical mountain tribe — lycans. Dangerous beasts.

There is a decades-old treaty granting the lycans an Onyx daughter as mate for their ancient king,

but it is a long-forgotten promise that I am sure they do not care or remember so If you do not choose them, they will not pursue it," my brother told me.

And yet I could not stop being drawn to the black rose. No one had ever seen an Aralez lycan face to face, and I was certain no one would come looking for someone like me.

Even so, I reached past Wren's ring and took the black rose, immediately rewriting and sealing my fate.

*Gods. What have I done? Have I truly made the right choice?* I wondered, biting my lip.

"Sister — are you truly sure?" Ryson's voice was careful as I held firmly to my choice, wrapping my hand around the thorned stem without flinching at the danger it promised.

"I thought you loved Wren. He has been your first love. You have always followed him like a lost pup since you were little... so what changed?" he asked.

My stomach turned at the question. Where would I even begin? With my cursed past life? With his betrayal and rejection? With the truth that Wren had never loved me at all,

And that he had played the long game, married me as a calculated move, and kept his true lover beneath my own roof while I remained blind and obedient?

"This is my decision, brother. I will not change it," I said firmly.

I found myself wondering how Wren would react when the choosing was made public. But for now, I would wait — and enjoy what was coming.

"Then very well, sister. I will accompany you —" Ryson broke into a harsh, rattling cough. His illness showed no sign of relenting.

I remembered this, too. Because of his deteriorating health, his father had taken his place as royal leader and had been at the war front for the past two years — only returning on the day of my choosing ritual, where he had granted my plea to marry Wren.

If only I had known then that the ease of Wren's acceptance had been built on a deal made behind my back — the entire pack and my throne, handed to him after three years of marriage.

"Brother, are you alright?" I said quickly, reaching for his inhaler mixed with wolf medicine.

"Do not worry about me, sister. Go and enjoy the celebration. I will send word of your choice to Father at the battlegrounds," he assured me.

My steps faltered. I knew what was coming in the days ahead.

"I cannot just leave you here, Ryson."

"I am truly alright. Go — the guests are waiting. You are an Onyx royal; act like one," he said with a faint smile.

I nodded, giving myself a quiet reminder: I had been handed a second chance. A chance to face what I had once been too blind and broken to see — starting with this very day, the first day I would encounter Bria.

I made my way out of the family room and into the grand main hall, where guests from across the pack realms had gathered.

"Take a deep breath. You can do this," I whispered to myself, just as the great golden doors swung open and my name was announced.

In my past life, I had walked into rooms like this with no self-worth, my confidence quietly hollowed out by Wren's indifference until even a single glance from him could undo me entirely.

But this time, I wore a crown. My head was held high. My presence drew every eye in the room the moment I stepped through those doors.

And this time, I would make it one hell of a first meeting.