Selene's POV
Pain was the first thing I felt when I woke up.
My side hurt badly.My burned hand hurt too.For a moment I just lay there and stared at the ceiling.
Then it all came back.The fire.Mira's herbs.Caelan's cold voice.My dead pup.
My fingers curled against the floor.
I looked around.No one had come.Not one person.Not even a cup of water.I was still on the floor where Verra had kicked me.
I sat up slowly.It hurt.I breathed through it until the room stopped spinning.Then I got up.
The floor was cold under my feet.
As I walked into the hallway,I heard voices coming from further down.
I did not mean to stop.But I did.
"...Lady Verra said her foot hurt after she kicked Lady Selene.The Alpha did not wait at all.He carried her out himself."
"He looked so worried.Like something very bad had happened."
"And Lady Selene?"
A pause.Then a careless voice.
"She passed out.No one called a healer.The Alpha does not care about her."
A soft laugh."Next to Lady Verra,she does not matter."
I stood still and listened.Those words should have hurt me.
They did not.
No anger.No tears.Just quiet,like something inside me had gone very cold.I walked away as if I had not heard a thing.
Back in my room,I opened the wardrobe.
Cloaks Caelan said looked good on me.Things he said reminded him of me.Gifts he said I needed.
I used to think those things meant he loved me.Now I know better.
I folded them one by one and put them in a box.
When I was done,I called one of the den helpers.
"Take these to Moonhaven Shelter,"I said."The ones that take in wolves with no pack."
"Yes,my lady."
I went back to packing my own things.
Then I found something in the bottom drawer.It was hidden under a pile of papers.Easy to miss.
A thin rolled parchment.
I opened it.Then my breathing slowed.
It was a pardon scroll.It had the Moon Goddess seal on it.
I read every word.
It was about the fire.The one that took Mira.Someone had looked into it.They had found who did it.And someone had marked to forgive that person.
That someone was me.
The name of the wolf who set the fire was Verra.
I read it again.My hands started to shake.
Caelan had told me they found nothing.He had stood over Mira's grave and promised he would find who took her from me.
Three months after Mira died,Caelan said he had a gift for me.A moon-bloom field,he said.
"Just mark here,"he had said,his voice soft."It is yours."
I did not read it.I trusted him.I pressed my seal to it with tears still wet on my face.
A short,bitter sound came out of me.
"I will find whoever did this,"he had said,standing at Mira's grave,his hand on my shoulder.
"I promise you,Selene.They will not get away with it."
I cried into his chest and believed every word.
He had known the whole time.
Verra had set that fire for me.
She planned it while I carried my pup.She sent the guards away and lit the house on fire.She wanted to burn me alive.No one around to help.No witness.
What she did not know was that I had left that morning.I had found a wounded wolf near the border and brought him to the healer's den.That wolf turned out to be my uncle Aldric.I did not know that yet.
She also did not know that Caelan had come to the den that same morning to get some papers.He was still inside when she lit the fire.
Mira came to visit me like she always did.She found the house burning and Caelan trapped inside.
So she ran in.
Mira ran into a fire that was meant for me.She pulled Caelan out using the last bit of strength she had.
When the pack finished looking into the fire,Caelan found out the truth.He went to Verra.
Verra cried and said it was a mistake.She said she did not know he was inside.
Caelan chose to believe her.She was carrying his pup.She was dying,or so he thought.So he hid the truth.He put my name on the pardon and hid it where I would never find it.
He was scared of what I would do if I ever found out.
For a moment I wanted to pull Verra before the pack elders and let everyone know what she did.
Not yet.
I copied every word into the Stone's memory crystal,made a copy on bark-cloth,then put the real parchment back exactly where I found it.
I had just gone back to packing when the door opened.
"What are you doing?"
Caelan stood in the doorway looking at the boxes.
I finished folding the cloak in my hands before I looked up.
"These are old,"I said."I do not need them.I am sending them to the Moonhaven Shelter."
He looked around the room."All of this?"
"I do not need them anymore."
He nodded."About earlier...Verra did not mean to hurt you.She thought you were going to hit me."
"I understand,"I said.
The words came out calm.Like I meant them.Caelan relaxed.He believed me.
"I knew you would,"he said.
I said nothing.I took out the bond dissolution papers Elder Brennan had made and held them out to him.
"Mark this."
He looked at it."What is it?"
"I want a memory stone made for our pup,"I said."It needs your mark as Alpha."
Guilt moved across his face.Then it was gone.
"Do what you want,"he said."But move on.We will have more pups."
My hand tightened for just a second.My face did not move.
"Just mark it,"I said.
He took the pen.He did not read one word.He signed his name and gave it back.
Three years of being his mate.Ended with a seal he did not even look at.
I took the papers back.My hand was steady.
We will never have more pups.We will never have anything again.
Then his Communication moonstone pulsed.
His face changed at once.Soft in a way it had never been for me.
"Verra."His voice went gentle."What is wrong?Your foot...I am coming."
He walked out without looking back.
I stood in the quiet room for a long time.The signed papers in my hand.My half-packed things beside me.
Then I smiled.
Very soon he would wish he had read what he signed.
