Aria POV
I climbed into the back of the dark transport vehicle, my body heavy and sluggish from the poison.
Maya had insisted on coming with me as my bridesmaid, and she sat beside me, her arms crossed in anger.
The engine rumbled to life, and the convoy began its lumbering journey, leaving the territory I had called home for a decade. We had just cleared the main gate when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I drew it out to see a message from an unknown number. It was a picture: a self-portrait of Serena, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on her face. She was pointing to her chest, where a beautiful moonstone amulet rested against her collarbone.
The back of my neck prickled, and my stomach seemed to lose all gravity, a sensation akin to being in a carriage whose driver has just whipped the horses toward the edge of a cliff. That amulet belonged to my dead mother. It was a relic of the White Wolf bloodline, given to the Dowager Luna for safekeeping until my wedding day.
Silas had given my mother's soul to that thief.
My hands trembled as I dialed Silas's number. He answered on the first ring. "How could you give her my mother's moonstone?" I screamed into the phone, a pain sharper than any physical wound searing through my chest.
Silas just sighed on the other end, his voice laced with annoyance. "Serena saved my life three years ago. She is deserving of a reward. You will have no need of it where you are going."
"You are sending me to a marriage destined to fester in darkness!" I cried out, my voice cracking.
"Oh, cease this melodrama," Silas scoffed. "The old Alpha is impotent and dying. Play your part, remain quiet, and live out your days. Do not cause trouble."
He ended the connection. The dial tone buzzed in my ear, a final, definitive severing. I dropped the phone, my sobs finally breaking free.
After twenty minutes of driving through the dense forest, Maya leaned forward, looking out the window.
"Driver," Maya called out. "You missed the turn at the river. We are headed North. Turn this vehicle around."
I reached out and placed my cold hand on Maya's arm.
"He made no mistake, Maya," I said quietly. "We are on the road to the Shadow Pack territory."
Maya turned to me, her eyes wide with confusion. "What? Why would we travel to the lands of the cursed Alpha?"
I took a slow breath and told her everything.
I explained the debt Serena's family owed, the tribute bride arrangement, and the Wolfsbane coursing through my veins right now.
Maya's face turned red, and her eyes flashed yellow as her wolf surfaced.
"After what you did for him?" Maya hissed, her voice trembling with fury. "Three years ago, you nearly died to cure his silver poisoning! You gave him the essence of your own wolf-spirit, and this is his repayment?"
I closed my eyes, the finality of it all settling into my bones like a deep frost. There was nothing left to be said. But as I inhaled, a strange, wild scent drifted through the window—cedarwood and snow, a promise I did not yet understand.
