Seraphina POV:
I walked up the stairs.
Isabella beamed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, digging her nails into my burns.
"My sister. Always in the shadows, but tonight, she steps into the light."
Dante looked bored.
I reached out to shake Isabella's hand.
My sleeve rode up.
Isabella's eyes widened. She snatched my wrist.
"What is this?" she gasped.
Wrapped around my wrist was a bracelet of rough moonstones on a leather cord. Ugly, but thrumming with the energy I'd poured into it during the long nights at the cabin.
"That's mine!" Isabella shrieked. "Dante, look! She stole the bracelet I made for you!"
The crowd gasped.
Dante frowned. "You made this?"
"Yes!" Isabella lied. "The one I was crafting during your recovery. She stole it!"
Dante turned to me. Alpha pressure rolled off him. "Is this true, Seraphina? You are a thief now, as well as a traitor?"
"I made this," I said quietly. "Ask her what rune is carved on the center stone."
Isabella faltered.
"Take it off," Dante ordered. He didn't care about the truth. He wanted the scene to end.
"No."
It was the only proof I existed.
"I said, take it off!"
Before I could react, a fist connected with my jaw.
I flew backward, crashing into the champagne tower.
Crash!
Glass sliced my back. Alcohol stung my wounds.
Alpha Giovanni stood over me. "Do not disobey your Alpha!"
"Oh no," my mother, Luna Maria, exclaimed. She grabbed a pitcher of red wine and dumped it over me.
"The smell of blood will ruin the appetite."
Dante stepped over the glass. He grabbed my wrist and yanked.
The leather snapped.
He broke the string. Moonstones bounced across the stage like hail.
He handed the center stone to Isabella.
"For you, my love. Don't let her filth touch you."
Isabella kissed him.
I lay in the wine and glass. My hand closed around a single, small moonstone. A shard cut my palm, but I squeezed.
I squeezed until the physical pain drowned out the screaming of my heart.
The bond didn't just break. It turned to ash.
