Kacie POV:
The dungeon had no windows, but my body knew time was passing. Not by the sun, but by the countdown etched into my flesh.
My jailer was a brute named Brutus, a wolf loyal to Jayden. For two days, he had brought me "food." It was a bowl of gruel that smelled sharp and bitter.
Wolfsbane.
I knew it. He knew I knew it.
"Eat up, traitor," he laughed, kicking the bowl through the bars.
I didn't eat it. But the fumes alone were enough to make my head spin. The silver cuffs had turned my wrists black and necrotic. My womb, still unhealed from the miscarriage, throbbed with a dull, persistent ache.
On the third day, I collapsed. My body finally gave out. I convulsed on the floor, foam gathering at my mouth.
When I woke up, I was back in a hospital bed, handcuffed to the rail.
Cedric was sitting in a chair next to me. He was reading a file.
"You are stubborn," he said, not looking up. "Starving yourself won't make me forgive you."
"I wasn't starving myself," I whispered. "Your guard was poisoning me."
Cedric slammed the file shut. "Brutus is a loyal soldier! Stop lying! Why can't you just admit what you did?"
"Because I didn't do it."
He stood up, looming over me. "I want to save you, Kacie. Despite everything, I feel the bond. But you make it impossible. Just submit. Admit your guilt, pledge loyalty to Jayden as the new Luna, and I will let you live in the servant's quarters."
"Become a servant to the woman who killed my child?" I looked at him with pity. "You truly are lost, Cedric."
He growled, frustrated, and stormed out of the room to cool off.
A minute later, the door creaked open. Jayden slipped in. She looked healthy, glowing even. She was wearing my blue velvet dress.
She didn't speak out loud. She tapped her temple.
Mind-Link: You look terrible, Kacie.
Her voice in my head was smug, oily.
Mind-Link: I just wanted to tell you... I knew.
I looked at her. Knew what?
Mind-Link: I knew you were pregnant. I could smell it weeks ago. Why do you think I arranged the rooftop meeting? I needed to make sure Cedric made a choice before you started showing. And he chose me.
My breath hitched. "You monster," I said aloud.
Jayden giggled. "Who is he going to believe? The traitor in cuffs, or his savior?"
She leaned in close, her perfume choking me. "Die quickly, Kacie. I want to redecorate the master bedroom."
She left before Cedric returned.
When Cedric came back, I was staring at the ceiling, calm. The rage was gone. The sorrow was gone. There was only the countdown.
24 Hours.
"Cedric," I said.
He looked at me, wary.
"I want to make a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"I will sign the confession," I lied. "I will admit to everything. I will annul the marriage. I will disappear from your life."
Cedric's shoulders relaxed. Relief washed over his face. "Okay. Good. That is... the right choice."
"But I have one condition."
"Name it."
"Tomorrow night. Take me to the Starlight Ferris Wheel. At midnight."
"The amusement park?" Cedric frowned. "Why?"
"It's where we had our first date," I said. "Before you knew who I was. Before the drugs, before the politics. Just... take me there one last time. Let me see the moon from the top. Then I will sign."
He hesitated. He looked at my broken body, the silver burns, the hollow eyes.
"Fine," he said. "Tomorrow night. But after that, you are gone."
"Yes," I closed my eyes, a faint smile touching my lips. "Gone."
