جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 9

Cedric left in high spirits with Sylvie in his arms, full of anticipation for the bond he had stolen.My father, however, refused to let me go. He said that if the elder sister failed to appear at her younger sister’s bonding feast, the whole pack would laugh.As if they weren’t already laughing.The chosen mate had been switched at the last moment. Even in the Alpha Council territory, that was rare enough to become a scandal. Mockery and curiosity followed me the entire night, brushing over my face like insects I couldn’t shake off.Only after the feast ended and my father left to see off the guests did I finally find a chance to leave.Cedric stopped me.“Elara. I know today was unfair to you.”“Without you, I would never have made it this far. Once the Blackmoor Alpha heir dies, I’ll bring you back. I’ll make it up to you. Sylvie won’t object.”For a moment, I only looked at him.Cedric and I had once been academy sweethearts. Back then, before his own pack acknowledged him, he had

“E-Elara, I didn’t mean to…”I didn’t even look at Sylvie.I dropped to my knees and scrambled across the floor, gathering the shattered pieces of my mother’s bracelet with shaking hands.Several moonstones had cracked clean through. The gold setting had split. One half still lay in my palm, but the rest had scattered so far that some pieces were already lost beneath the cabinet.I couldn’t even protect the last thing my mother had left me.Something inside me seemed to split open with it. My tears hit the floor one after another.For the first time, something like guilt flickered across Cedric’s face.“Elara…”As if suddenly remembering what part she was supposed to play, Sylvie quickly snatched up the covered bowl from the table and held it out to me.“Look, I even brought you a tonic. They say it helps keep infection away. Drink it, and forgive me, all right?”A foul smell rose from the dark liquid. Floating on top were strips of boiled herbs, ground shell, and thick black sediment

The moment those words left Cedric’s mouth, the people gathered nearby looked at him with open disgust.“So that’s what this is? He wants to switch chosen mates again?”“That’s foul.”Only Sylvie looked pleased. She lowered her voice, soft and eager.“If there was never a mark, then it isn’t really mate-swapping, is it? Just a misunderstanding. I’m willing to make things right for my sister and Cedric. I can go to Blackmoor instead.”At that, Cedric gave her a long, unreadable look.What he said was one thing. What Sylvie wanted was another.She was far too eager.That alone told him she had never truly wanted him at all.Not the way I once had.I had stayed when he had nothing. Stayed when he was still the bastard no one wanted to acknowledge. Stayed while he clawed his way upward.And in that instant, Cedric found himself absurdly grateful that every time Sylvie had urged him to enter their bond into the Moon Registry, he had delayed, saying he wanted to wait for a better day.The Bl

Before long, Father invited that man to a private family supper.He put poison in the wine served to Sylvie, her mother, and the man alike.He drank from it too.Before he died, he transferred everything still in his name to me.As Sylvie’s elder sister, I received what had once been meant for her without challenge.And without me beside him as adviser, Cedric began making mistake after mistake in the decisions tied to his business arm.More importantly, the people who had once formed the backbone of his operations were the very ones I had brought in myself.When they learned I had taken control of the pack holdings and heard what Cedric had done to me, they resigned one after another and came over to my side.As for their contract penalties, the heir of Blackmoor Pack paid every one of them.He said he did not do it for profit.He simply enjoyed seeing Cedric miserable.To keep Cedric from coming after me, he also quietly put pressure on the trade circle around the capital pack.Those