"...your rejection."
The words dropped into the dead silence of the hall like a stone into a glass well.
Kane's smug smirk vanished. His jaw unhinged.
The rebound hit him like a freight train.
He dropped. His knees slammed into the floor, shattering a white marble tile. A sickening crack echoed off the vaulted ceiling.
"Kane!" Sasha shrieked.
He didn't answer. He couldn't. He dug his fingers into the jagged cracks of the broken stone, tearing his own nails. A horrific, gurgling howl tore from his throat. It wasn't human. It was the sound of a dying wolf trapped inside a collapsing chest.
Visiting Alphas shoved their chairs back, scrambling away from the dais.
"He broke a fated oath," a visiting Alpha yelled over the noise. "The goddess is tearing his wolf apart!"
Sasha threw herself onto the dais steps. The heavy gold silk of her stolen gown dragged over Kane's violently twitching hands. She grabbed his shoulders, trying to haul him upright.
"Do something!" Sasha yelled at the crowd, her fake composure entirely gone. "He's your Alpha! Help him!"
No one moved. Pack law dictated that interfering with a divine rebound invited the same curse.
I stood perfectly still. The blistering heat on my neck cooled into a dull throb. The mating mark was melting off my skin.
"Use your healing," I told Sasha, keeping my voice flat. "You claimed my legacy. Fix him."
Sasha froze. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for an excuse.
"I need preparation," she stammered, backing away from Kane's thrashing form. "The earth's power requires focus."
"You need my blood," I stated, stepping closer to the dais. "Because three years ago, you stole vials of my drawn blood from the infirmary. You used them to fake your aura. You don't have any power. You just have my leftovers."
"Shut up!" Sasha screamed, her hands trembling on Kane's back. "Guards, remove her!"
The Blackstone guards exchanged nervous glances, but their boots remained planted.
Kane wheezed, spitting blood onto the shattered marble. He lifted his head. "Wren... take it back."
"Take what back?" I asked, looking down at the man I had loved for two decades.
"Refuse the rejection," Kane choked out. He clawed at the hem of my old velvet dress. "Take the pain. You always take the pain for me."
"Not today," I said.
"I command you," he rasped, trying to project his Alpha aura. It came out as a pathetic sputter. "I am your Alpha."
"You rejected me," I reminded him. "You hold no authority over my body."
I kicked his hand away. "You chose the gold, Kane. Wear it."
He collapsed again, convulsing against the steps.
I turned my head. Dorian stood completely frozen near the center aisle. The crystal Luna crown rattled violently against the velvet cushion in his grip.
"Dorian," I called out.
My son flinched. He stared at his father bleeding on the floor, then looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes.
"Is she telling the truth?" Dorian asked, his voice cracking. "Sasha doesn't have the power?"
"I tore my own body apart to bring you into this world," I said, bridging the distance between us. "I burned the last of my healing power to keep your lungs breathing during a breech birth. I sacrificed my wolf so you could have yours. And you hand my crown to a thief."
Dorian swallowed hard. His knuckles turned white around the velvet cushion. "Kane said you were useless. He said you were holding Blackstone back."
"Kane is a coward," I replied, holding my son's gaze. "A real leader faces the consequences of his actions. Look at him now."
Dorian looked at the dais. Kane was sobbing, a pathetic, wet sound that made the visiting dignitaries turn their heads in disgust.
"Fix him, Mom," Dorian pleaded, taking a step toward me. "Please. He's going to die."
"He made his choice," I said.
"But you are the Luna!" Dorian shouted, tears finally spilling over his eyelashes.
"Not anymore," I said.
The final tether snapped. Kane's mark completely dissolved from my neck. A massive weight lifted from my shoulders, leaving me hollow but free.
Kane let out one last pathetic whimper and went entirely limp against the ruined marble. He was still breathing, but just barely. His wolf was broken.
Sasha scrambled backward, her hands stained with Kane's blood. She looked at the crowd, her chest heaving. "She did this! Wren cursed him! Arrest her!"
"On what grounds?" a visiting Alpha asked, stepping out of the crowd. "She simply accepted his terms."
"She used dark magic!" Sasha shrieked, grabbing the skirt of her gown. "Look at her! She has no wolf. She couldn't survive a rejection without dark magic!"
"She survived because she told the truth," an older pack elder said, stepping out of the shadows. "The goddess protects the innocent."
"She is a monster!" Sasha cried out, pointing a shaking finger at my face. "Look at her neck!"
A strange sensation prickled beneath my skin.
It didn't hurt. It felt cold.
A faint silver light surfaced right where the mating mark used to be. It crawled up my neck, tracing the line of my collarbone.
The temperature in the banquet hall plummeted. The torches lining the walls flared bright blue, then settled into a stark, unnatural white.
A low, rumbling growl vibrated through the floorboards.
It didn't come from Kane. It came from the shadows at the very back of the dais. From the empty iron throne reserved for the High King.
Every visiting Alpha in the banquet hall stiffened. Their heads snapped toward me. Their pupils constricted into thin slits.
The silver glow beneath my skin pulsed, branching out like glowing veins. It illuminated the dark hall, casting long shadows against the stone walls.
The elderly pack elder dropped his cane. It clattered loudly against the floor. He pointed a shaking, crooked finger at my throat.
"That is Royal blood," the old man screamed, his voice cracking violently across the silent hall.
