Chapter 3

I couldn't sleep well for days after that.

Shame and embarrassment suffocated me.

Whenever I heard their footsteps, I would rush to hide in the apothecary or the dark corners of the tower.

The word leech echoed in my head on repeat.

Every time I thought of it, it felt like a needle stabbing into my heart, making me curl up in pain.

When my apothecary sister Lyanna found out, she was furious.

"That bastard!" Her eyes blazed with anger. "How dare he treat you like that? You've done so much for them!"

"Let it go, Lyanna," I waved my hand, my voice exhausted. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I really am just a leech."

"What nonsense are you talking about?!"

"I think it's better to keep my distance from now on." I turned around and kept grinding herbs. "But I still have to fulfill my mating duties. I'll keep brewing moon-wine for both of them. I just... won't go out of my way to care anymore."

"Both of them?" Lyanna caught the key word. "You're still brewing it for that bastard?"

I nodded. "It's the Oracle's rule. I can't break it."

"Elara, wake up!" Lyanna marched up to me. "Cassian not only verbally abuses you, he physically hurt you. And Kaelen? He punched Cassian for you, healed your wound, and even gave you that precious dragon-crystal ward."

I unconsciously touched the crystal pendant resting against my chest.

Kaelen had given it to me while I was recovering. It was said to be carved from the core of his scales, meant to protect the wearer from dark magic.

"He also stays by your side when you have nightmares," Lyanna continued. "The two brothers treat you completely differently, yet they get the exact same effort and the exact same gifts from you. Don't you think that’s incredibly unfair to Kaelen, who restrains himself and treats you better?"

I froze.

"The High Priest warned us," I murmured. "Absolute balance with twin Alphas. Anything less triggers lethal territorial aggression. Feral frenzies."

I remembered those words perfectly.

To maintain that balance, I even weighed the enchanted spices on their roasted meat down to the gram.

The doses of moon-wine had to be exactly the same. The healing salves had to be perfectly equal.

I walked on a tightrope to maintain this fake equality, terrified that the slightest deviation would cause a disaster.

"Is the High Priest always right?" Lyanna shot back.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

After she left, I sat alone in the apothecary, staring into space.

It was late. Moonlight spilled through the lattice window onto the floor.

I thought of my time at the abbey.

It was the winter I turned twelve. We were asked to help brew a potion for frostbite.

I spent the entire afternoon carefully following the recipe. The boiling liquid left several blisters on my fingers.

Meanwhile, another girl in my room faked being sick and slept in bed all afternoon.

At dinner, we were given the exact same piece of hard black bread.

In that moment, a raw injustice burned in my chest.

Why should my hard work earn me the same reward as her laziness?

Just as I was miserably gnawing on the stale bread, an old nun quietly walked up to me.

"A pious and good child deserves an extra reward." She slipped me a warmly glowing sweet berry. "This is true fairness."

The sweet taste of that berry still lingered in my memory.

Looking back now, the old nun was right.

Kaelen defended me, healed me, gave me a precious ward, and comforted me through my nightmares.

Cassian insulted me, shoved me, and trampled my care under his boots.

Why on earth should they get the same treatment?

The scale in my heart began to tip.

The faithful deserve to be favored. That is true fairness.