Seraphina POV
I pulled myself onto the muddy bank, gasping for the crisp night air.
A violent shiver seized my frame. The wind sliced through my soaked dress like a blade of ice.
A small gasp came from the bushes.
A young maid holding a pile of firewood dropped her basket. I could smell the faint, submissive scent of turned earth and milk that marked her as an Omega.
"Lady Seraphina!" she whispered, her voice tight with panic. "You're freezing!"
"You will not scream," I commanded, my voice a low rasp, yet steady. "Fetch a dry cloak from the carriages. You will tell no one you saw me."
She nodded quickly and ran off.
Minutes later, she returned with a heavy, dark green velvet cloak.
I wrapped it tightly around myself, hiding my wet hair under the large hood.
I slipped through the servants' entrance and stepped back into the great hall. Sharp stone arches loomed overhead like the ribs of a great beast, and heavy wrought-iron chandeliers cast a web of shadows upon the floor.
The room was a sea of glittering chandeliers, polished steel candelabras that gleamed like silver, and noble wolves in fine silk.
I stood in the shadows behind a massive stone pillar.
In the center of the room, Silas was on his knees. He was holding Isabella's hand.
Before them sat the Old King and the Elders on their high wooden thrones.
"Father," Silas's voice echoed through the silent hall. "The Moon Goddess has shown my blood its true course. Isabella is my destined Mate."
The Old King leaned forward. He sniffed the air, sensing the firm, dominant Alpha scent rolling off his son.
The instinct of an Alpha, once declared, was a current few dared to swim against.
"If the Goddess wills it, I grant this union," the Old King announced.
A low, collective growl of jealousy rippled through the unmarried she-wolves in the room.
Isabella stood up, her chest puffed out with pride. She shot a triumphant glare at the rival who had tried to drown me.
The rival tucked her chin down, submitting to the future Luna's dominance.
I watched Silas smile at my sister. It was a look of such unguarded joy, it seemed to smooth the harsh lines of his face.
A genuine smile touched my own lips. Good for them.
I turned to leave through the side corridor, but I bumped into someone smelling of rich roses and old magic.
It was the Queen. The current Luna of the Royal Pack.
A Luna was more than a wife; she was the Pack's anchor, her mind a silent web connecting every soul under her care.
I immediately dropped into a deep curtsy.
The Queen's gaze fell upon me, her sharp eyes catching the water that dripped from the hem of my borrowed hood. She paused, her nostrils flaring almost imperceptibly, as if she detected something far older and deeper than the scent of the lake.
"You carry the chill of the water, child," she murmured, a flicker of curiosity in her tone. "Yet you have veiled your own scent entirely. And beneath it… something else stirs."
"I did not wish my clumsiness to mar the Crown Prince's happiness, Your Majesty," I replied smoothly.
The Queen's eyes softened with approval. "You have restraint. The Finance Minister's second daughter, yes? The Omega."
An old nanny beside the Queen leaned in. "Yes, my Luna. The one who provided the lost recipe for the wolfsbane antidote last winter."
"A brilliant mind," the Queen whispered. "What a pity she is an Omega."
Before I could thank her, a heavy scent of rain and pine surrounded us.
Silas stepped into the corridor. His eyes locked onto me, hard and suspicious.
"Mother," he greeted the Queen, but his gaze never left my face.
He stepped closer to me. Suddenly, the air grew thick, pressing down.
My knees felt weak. My chest tightened.
He was using the Alpha's Command. It was a biological dominance that crushed the will of lesser wolves.
"Do not imagine that a display of meekness will win you a place on the royal ladder, Seraphina," his voice was a low, vibrating growl. "Know your station."
Isabella rushed over, grabbing his arm. "Leave her be, Silas. She is merely clumsy."
Silas sneered at me. "See that her clumsiness does not cross my path again."
Before he could turn away, the Queen's old nanny stepped forward, her gaze sweeping over the crowd until it landed on Isabella's rival. "Your Majesty," the nanny said, her voice sharp as splintered bone, "that is Lady Annelise. And her personal maid was seen fleeing the lake shore moments before Lady Seraphina was found in this state." The Queen's face turned to ice. "Annelise of House Thorne," she declared, her voice cutting through the hall, "for attempting to harm a fellow wolf during the sacred Mating Ball, you will receive twenty lashes in the public square at dawn. Let this serve as a warning." Royal guards immediately seized the pale-faced rival, dragging her away as she began to sob. I watched it all unfold, my expression unreadable.
I kept my head bowed, hiding the cold fire in my eyes.
"As you command, Alpha," I said quietly.
I walked away into the dark night. I had survived the lake. I had survived his warning. But the Queen's lingering gaze had planted a seed I could not ignore—she had sensed something beneath my Omega scent, something ancient and waiting. If I was going to escape this life, I needed to move quickly, before anyone else noticed what I was becoming.
