"Tabitha…" His voice was thick with a manufactured heartache as he waded toward me.
I shrank into the corner like a cornered animal, my body wracked with shivers.
"Look at you, you're frozen…" Lucian knelt, reaching for me.
"Don't touch me," I whispered, pushing his hand away with what little strength I had.
His hand froze in mid-air, a flicker of pain in his eyes.
"Tabitha, I know you're angry with me, but I had no other choice…"
"No choice?" A harsh, humorless laugh escaped my lips. "So you chose to break my wrist and throw me in this ice pit?"
Lucian’s face paled. He stripped off his black coat and wrapped it forcibly around me.
"I did this to protect you!" he insisted, his arms a tight cage around my freezing body. "If I had sided with you, Michelle's family would have turned on me. When they and the other nobles united against us, did you really think you would have survived?"
I was enveloped in his heat, my traitorous body craving the warmth.
But the warmth vanished with his next words.
"Tabitha, I need you to do something for me." He pulled a parchment scroll from his coat. "As long as you sign this, admitting you cursed the chalice out of jealousy, I can commute your death sentence to confinement in a secluded manor."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"That way, we'll never have to be apart," he murmured, caressing my cheek. "Michelle needs a spotless reputation to secure her family's standing. Be reasonable, Tabitha."
"You want me to confess to a crime I didn't commit?"
"It's just a means to an end," Lucian kissed my forehead. "Once things have calmed down, I'll find a way to clear your name."
I stared into his eyes. "And if you can't? Am I supposed to carry this shame for the rest of my life?"
Lucian fell silent.
His silence was the only answer I needed.
"Do you even love me?" My voice was barely a whisper.
"Of course, my soul knows only you," he answered without hesitation. "But love must be practical, Tabitha. Michelle brings powerful allies. Her pure blood strengthens our line. And you…"
He trailed off, but I understood.
I was just his secret, a woman kept in the shadows, never to see the light.
"I need your Heartwood power to strengthen the pack, and I need Michelle's family to secure my throne," Lucian said, taking my hand. "You are both important to me. I can't be without either of you."
Both important.
But one was a fiancée celebrated in the light, and the other was a tool hidden in the dark.
"Besides, what are you losing?" Lucian pressed. "It’s just a piece of paper. You’ll still be my woman, and you can stay by my side forever. Isn't that what you want?"
I closed my eyes, feeling the faint, stubborn life inside me.
"What if I don't sign?"
Lucian's embrace tightened. "Tabitha, don't force my hand. The elders pass judgment tomorrow. If you don't cooperate…"
The threat hung unspoken in the air.
I opened my eyes and looked at him, at the entitlement etched on his face, as if my suffering were a small, necessary price for his ambition.
He had never once considered my feelings, my dignity, or my future.
In his world, I was just a pawn.
"Give me the pen," I said, my hand trembling.
Relief washed over Lucian's features. He quickly handed me a quill.
I bit my own finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto the parchment.
I, Tabitha, confess to casting a curse upon the Moon Goddess's Sacred Chalice out of jealousy…
I wrote the lies, one stroke at a time, each word a knife carving into my heart.
"I knew you'd understand," Lucian smiled, satisfied, placing a soft kiss on my forehead. "Don't worry, I'll visit you often."
He tucked the parchment away and stood to leave.
Just as he turned, my voice stopped him.
"Lucian."
He turned back. I was still sitting in the icy water, my gaze terrifyingly calm.
"I hate you."
His body jolted, pain flashing in his eyes. "Tabitha, don't be like this… In time, you'll understand the position I was in…"
I said nothing more. I just watched him.
Watched the man who claimed to love me prepare to nail me to a pillar of shame.
Lucian started to say something, then thought better of it, and left.
The iron door clanged shut, his footsteps fading into silence.
I sat in the darkness, one hand on my belly.
The last ember of love in my heart flickered and died.
