Elara POV
Seven days of darkness and fever. The silver poison was a living fire in my veins. I felt a faint dormant power—lunar magic in my Vance blood—flicker against it, but my body was too frail.
Caleb threw grand bonfire parties to celebrate Selene's pregnancy. My right arm hung useless, twisted and swollen. The bones had fused wrong. He had ordered the Healers to stay away. My arm was crippled forever.
On the eighth morning, my father walked in—the Beta, once tall and proud, now a broken old man. He knelt and bowed his head.
"Father! What are you doing?"
"Your mother… the news of Kael's death broke her heart. She is coughing blood. The Healers say she will not survive the night."
My mother was dying. I remembered the Moon Grass—a legendary herb in Caleb's vault that could cure any illness.
"I will get it. I will save her."
I ran to Caleb's study. The heavy mahogany door was ajar. Through the crack, I saw Caleb pressing Selene against his desk, his clothes half-torn. They were making love right next to the vault that held my mother's only hope.
When they finished, I pushed the door open and fell to my knees at his boots, slamming my forehead against the floor until the skin split.
"Please, Alpha. Give me the Moon Grass. My mother is dying."
Caleb looked down with annoyance. "The Healers said Selene needs it to strengthen the pup. You cannot have it."
"Caleb, darling, come back to bed," Selene called.
I lunged forward with my good left hand, grabbing his coat. "I will give you the Luna title! I will step down! I will reject you! Just save my mother!"
The word 'reject' hung in the air like a curse. A dark growl ripped from his throat. He grabbed a small wooden box and smashed it onto the floor next to me.
"Take your pathetic grass. You are stripped of your noble status. Move to the Omega servant quarters immediately!"
I scrabbled at the splintered wood, gathered the scattered stems, and pressed them into my father's trembling hands. "Take it to her. Go!"
He begged me to leave the pack with him. I couldn't. My mother's frail cough echoed in my memory.
I moved into the damp, freezing basement of the Omega quarters. For days, I scrubbed floors and washed clothes, teaching myself to work with my clumsy left hand. The other Omegas avoided me—the fallen Luna.
One evening, I cornered two whispering servants. "Tell me!"
The younger one burst into tears. "Lady Selene fainted the day you took the medicine. The Alpha sent warriors to retrieve the Moon Grass from your father. He fought back… they broke both his legs. Your mother… she passed away that same night."
The bucket slipped from my left hand. My mother was dead. My father was crippled.
I ran out into the freezing rain, through the dark streets, until I reached the wrought-iron gates of the Vance family estate. Dark and empty. I fell to my knees in the mud, coughing violently. Blood splattered onto the iron gates as the world went black.
