He ended the call. Cold. Without a pause.
Seconds later, another image flashed across my message stone.
A scanned copy of an investment pact. A binding trade agreement signed between my mother and Sarah.
Large runic letters carved across the center read:
All trades carry risk. Any loss caused by personal misjudgment is the client’s own responsibility.
My mother’s name and blood-mark sat cleanly at the bottom.
Evan had been preparing for this. His legal advisors, a ruthless pack of seasoned elders, were ready to crush me like dust underfoot.
Still, I went to the Stoneclaw Council Hall.
Inside the lift platform leading up the tower, I ran into Sarah.
She wore a rare moon-silk gown tailored by the clan’s finest artisans, a jeweled pouch on her arm worth more than most warriors would earn in a lifetime, and around her wrist, the ancient queen’s moonstone bracelet glimmered.
She looked like royalty. Like someone born adored.
Her lips curled when she saw me.
“Oh dear, Annelise, you look dreadful,” she said in a syrupy voice. “I guess it’s true. When a she-wolf ages, the bloom fades. No wonder Evan lost interest.”
Then, feigning concern, she added, “Still haven’t buried your mother? Want me to help plan the rites? We are family, after all.”
My hands curled into fists. Rage burned so hot it felt like fire under my skin.
“You knew it was a scam,” I hissed. “You knew those wandering traders were frauds. You tricked my mother into giving away everything she had.”
She widened her eyes, pretending to be hurt, though a smirk tugged at her lips.
“How could you accuse me like that? I was only trying to help,” she crooned. “Your mother wanted more coin for your bonding dowry. How could I refuse?”
My chest tightened. Blood roared in my ears.
“That old woman adored you,” she went on, voice slipping into a sneer. “Loved you more than her own life.”
Then she leaned close, whispering, her breath brushing my ear.
“One day, I stepped on Head Alpha Marks’s prized moon-peonies. On purpose. The steward said he’d cut your mother’s pay for three moons. She begged on her knees. Right in front of me.”
“She hadn’t taken a single rest day in months,” Sarah giggled. “All to save money for your perfect wedding. And when I told her to crawl across the garden like a dog? She did. Instantly.”
My world shattered. All those times my mother smiled through exhaustion, telling me not to worry… I never knew what she had endured for my sake.
As the lift platform doors opened, something inside me broke.
I raised my hand, vision blazing.
“Sarah, you’re a monster.”
Before I even touched her, she flung herself out of the lift, shrieking as she held her face.
“Annelise, I apologized,” she sobbed. “I even knelt to you, but you keep tormenting me. Do you want me dead? Fine, then. I will die for your mother!”
She stumbled toward the stone wall, pretending she meant to smash her head against it.
“Sarah!”
A figure rushed past me. Arms wrapped around her protectively.
Evan.
He hauled her into his embrace and rammed his shoulder into me. I wasn’t prepared. My head snapped back, slamming into the stone wall behind me with a sickening crack.
The world tilted. Warm blood trickled down my neck.
Evan turned on me, eyes wild with fury.
“Holly, how dare you? Apologize to Sarah. Now.”
It looked like she was his mate. And me? Just some deranged outsider.
Sarah trembled against him, sobbing.
“I know she’s grieving,” she whimpered, clinging to him as if he were her last breath, “and I offered to pay it all back. I said I’d take any job, even the dangerous ones. But she still struck me. She cursed me too. Said I should drop dead.”
Evan pulled her closer, jaw tight, gaze burning with anger.
“Have I not given you enough?” he snapped at me. “Look at yourself. Just like your mother. Petty. Greedy. Always playing the victim. You deserved the punishment.”
My breath hitched. The hall spun, yet I stayed rooted, stunned into stillness.
“Petty and greedy?” I whispered. “That’s what you think of me? That wanting justice for my mother makes me a grasping lunatic?”
Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall.
For a moment, something in Evan flickered. But the instant Sarah whimpered in his arms, his expression hardened.
“I saw you attempt to strike her,” he said. “I don’t care why.”
He stepped toward me.
“This is the last time I will repeat myself. Apologize.”
My heart clenched like claws were crushing it.
“And if I refuse?” I answered, voice cold.
