That morning, the Grand Hall of Bloodmoon Palace, usually buzzing with werewolf gossip, fell completely silent. News that Aria—a mortal human girl with no inner wolf—had managed to survive her wedding night spread like wildfire blown by a gale. Not only had she survived, but she was also found tending to the unconscious Alpha. To the Council of Elders led by Beta Magnus, this was both a harsh slap in the face and an impossible anomaly. The five previous pure-blooded brides had ended up as piles of lifeless flesh due to the ferocity of Xavier’s curse. How could a mere piece of weak human flesh suppress such a monster?
Inside her luxurious new room, Aria sat on the edge of a velvet-canopied bed. Xavier had moved her from the chained bridal chamber to the Amethyst Pavilion, the innermost area of the palace with the tightest security. Two gigantic wolf warriors stood rigidly behind the oak door of her room, ensuring that not even a single insect could enter or leave without permission.
Click.
The door opened, and a well-built man stepped in with his ceremonial cloak draped over his shoulders. Xavier. His face was no longer as pale as last night, but lines of exhaustion were still clearly etched at the corners of his sharp eyes. His gaze, the color of honey gold—signaling that his human side was in control—instantly locked onto Aria's gauze-wrapped arm.
"How is your wound?" Xavier’s baritone voice broke the silence, sounding deep yet possessing a gentleness foreign to Aria’s ears.
"I am fine, Your Majesty," Aria answered formally, bowing her head slightly to maintain her distance. She had not forgotten the fact that the man in front of her could turn into a black mist monster in the blink of an eye.
Xavier walked closer and sat on a single chair across from Aria. He stared at his own palms, which were completely free of the burn marks from the silver chains last night.
"The palace physician has examined the residual energy in the bridal chamber," Xavier paused, his eyes narrowing inquisitively. "Your blood... possesses an ancient purifying glow. The moment your blood touched that black mist curse, its magic shattered. You are the antidote I have been searching for all this time, Aria."
Aria clenched her hands in her lap. "So, is that why you moved me to this luxurious pavilion? Because I am useful as your walking medicine?"
A faint, bitter smile touched Xavier's firm lips. "In this palace, usefulness determines whether you deserve to live or die, Aria. The Council of Elders wants your head because they fear what they do not understand. By placing you here under my direct command, not a single one of them will dare to touch you."
Xavier stood up, giving a final order to the guards outside to tighten their patrols before walking away, leaving Aria drowned in her own thoughts.
That night, the atmosphere in the Amethyst Pavilion was so quiet that the ticking of the clock sounded like the strikes of a judge's gavel. Aria tried to lay her weary body down on the incredibly soft silk mattress. However, her mind remained in turmoil. She thought of her mother back in the village. Had the 100 gold coins she sent arrived yet? Had the physician there treated her mother’s black lung disease?
As Aria turned onto her side, her head felt something obstructing beneath her silk pillow. Something hard and rustling.
Aria startled. She sat up and quickly reached under the pillow. Her hand pulled out a neatly folded piece of dull parchment. With her heart beginning to race, she unfolded the paper. The writing inside was written in a deep red ink that resembled dried blood.
Aria read the text line by line, her breath catching in her throat:
"Do not be deceived by the luxury that monster gives you, Aria. Your presence in this palace is no coincidence, but a trap. The black lung disease your mother suffers from in the village was intentionally engineered and spread by Xavier's secret order. He needed your purifying blood, and the only way to bring you here without suspicion was to make your mother terminally ill so that you would volunteer to be his sacrifice."
Aria's hands trembled so violently that the parchment slipped from her grasp and fell onto the blanket. Her eyes widened in utter horror, while the room around her felt as though it were collapsing and spinning out of control in an instant.
