Chapter 2

Morning arrived, casting a muted glow through the drapes. I awoke with a heavy heart, my mind still tangled in the events of the night before.

Breakfast was a silent affair. I sat stiffly at the long dining table, barely touching my food. Magnus had ordered the meal, but he was absent. The weight of uncertainty made every bite taste like ash.

Then the summons came.

Sera, Salve, and I were led to the mansion’s grand living room, where Magnus awaited us. He lounged on a velvet couch, a book in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other. He looked the picture of nonchalance, but there was an undeniable sharpness in his gaze as he shut the book and set it aside. The imposing crest of his house loomed behind him like an unspoken threat.

I forced myself to meet his gaze, memories of the previous night creeping into my thoughts. He didn’t appear troubled. If anything, he seemed… entertained, as though he were the only one privy to a secret no one else knew.

Beside me, Sera remained silent, her expression unreadable. But I noticed it—the way her fingers curled slightly against her skirts, the flicker of unease in her eyes.

What were they hiding?

Salve was the first to speak.

“We are grateful for your decision, Magnus. I look forward to our deal and the alliance it will forge. Please take good care of my daughter.”

My breath caught. My mind went blank, the words dissolving before I could fully process them.

It was decided.

Salve had sealed my fate.

The world blurred as my father turned away, exiting the mansion without another word. Sera followed after him, her expression betraying nothing.

I remained frozen, a suffocating fear settling in my chest. I wanted to run—to follow them—but Magnus’s guards stepped forward, blocking my path.

“Take her to her room.”

Magnus’s command was firm, devoid of warmth. His voice sent a shiver through me, the finality of his words sinking deep into my bones.

My stomach twisted as I met his gaze.

He was smirking.

“Don’t celebrate just yet,” he murmured, taking slow, deliberate steps toward me. “Your father thought he could deceive me, but he failed to realize that he was the one being deceived.”

My pulse roared in my ears.

What was he talking about? What had Salve done?

“Do you know what he told me?” Magnus’s voice was silk wrapped around a blade.

I didn’t. But something told me that whatever he was about to reveal would shatter the fragile hope I still clung to.

Magnus studied me with thinly veiled amusement. I entertained him—that was the only reason he had allowed me to live. Even as he toyed with the thought of sending my lifeless body back to the South, he found himself strangely drawn to me, like a cat toying with a wounded bird before delivering the final blow.

Magnus thrived on others’ fear. He fed on their curses and hatred. He did not crave admiration or respect—he preferred to be feared.

That was the essence of his power.

Brutality. Ruthlessness. Dominance.

These were the traits that defined him.

And yet, as he looked at me now—the girl he had once loved—all he saw was a weak, trembling creature.

Worthless.

Insignificant.

Of no use to him.

The air between us grew heavier as the distance closed. I could barely breathe, my pulse hammering against my ribs. Magnus’s gaze bore into me like ice, stripping away whatever courage I had left.

There was nothing in his expression to grasp onto.

No warmth.

No familiarity.

Only cold, calculating cruelty.

Then he reached for me.

His fingers grasped my chin, tilting my face upward to meet his stare. His touch was deceptively soft, yet his grip was firm—like a predator toying with its prey before the kill.

“You’re weak,” he murmured, his voice velvet laced with poison. “Your soul is worthless. And aside from your beauty, there’s nothing special about you.”

The words sliced through me like a blade, deeper than any physical wound.

I stiffened, blinking rapidly against the sting in my eyes.

I had endured cruelty before. I had steeled myself against it.

But this?

This was different.

This was the man I had loved.

“I rejected you as my bride. As my Luna.” Magnus’s voice remained calm and measured, but the amusement flickering in his eyes made my stomach turn. “I told your father I didn’t want you. So do you know what he said?”

I clenched my hands into fists.

“Magnus…”

My voice was barely above a whisper, but he ignored me. His grip tightened just enough to make me flinch.

“Do you want to know?” he pressed, his lips curving into a slow, mocking smile.

I shook my head, but he released my chin so suddenly that I staggered back. The absence of his touch sent a shiver down my spine—not from relief, but from dread.

“He begged me to accept you,” Magnus continued, stepping closer, his towering presence suffocating. “Even if it meant making you my slave. Any kind of slave I desired.”

He paused, watching my reaction.

“And do you know what came to my mind when I heard the word ‘slave’?”

I didn’t want to hear it. Every part of me screamed to run—to block out his words, to pretend none of this was real.

“Sex,” Magnus finished, his smirk widening. “If you’re not fit to be my wife, you could at least serve some purpose in my bed. That’s why I accepted. That’s why you’re here.”

My breath hitched, bile rising in my throat.

“Oh, and your father—” Magnus continued, as if relishing the torment on my face. “He wasn’t convinced that I would truly align with him. So he offered me another option.”

He chuckled darkly.

“If I worried that my heir would be weak, he said I could use Sera instead.”

The world tilted beneath my feet.

“He told me she’d bear my child.”

Something inside me snapped.

Before I could think—before I could stop myself—my arm swung.

My palm met his cheek with a sharp, resounding slap.

Silence stretched between us, thick with tension.

Magnus slowly turned his head back toward me, his golden eyes blazing, fangs bared. A low growl rumbled from his throat as his claws extended, rage flaring through him.

“You bitch—!”

He lunged forward, his hand raising to strike me—

But he stopped.

I wasn’t crying.

I wasn’t cowering.

I was looking at him with something he had never seen in me before.

Something dark.

Something unyielding.

The fragile, gentle girl he had once known was gone.

In her place stood a woman who no longer feared him.

For the first time, Magnus felt something he never expected.

A flicker of unease.

I saw it in his eyes.

And I ran.

The guards did not move to stop me. Whether by his command or their own fear, I didn’t know.

I didn’t care.

I had been betrayed, humiliated, discarded like I was nothing.

But this was not the end of my story.

One day, I would return—not as a weak girl pleading for acceptance, but as something stronger.

I would claim the North.

And Magnus?

He would become nothing more than the first man I destroyed.