Selene's POV.
Damon's gaze was cold—almost amused—as he stepped closer to my bed. His eyes gleamed with something vile, something I had never seen before… not even in our worst moments.
“Who did you send for help?”
His voice sliced through the silence like a blade. I blinked, disoriented, his shadow looming too close—his tone too calm, too rehearsed. The warmth that once lived in his eyes was gone, replaced by nothing but sharp, calculated suspicion.
“Was it Santino?” he pressed. “No… doesn’t seem like it. You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you… my dear wife?”
I tried to sit up, but my arms trembled violently. My body refused to cooperate—drained, sluggish. The poison was working faster than I’d thought. Or maybe it was the constant syringes that witch, Dalia, kept stabbing at me.
“You demon…” I managed to rasp, my throat raw and trembling. “I trusted you… I loved you. Why are you doing this? What about our baby—?”
“Our baby?” Damon laughed. Not kindly—no, it was a low, condescending chuckle that chilled me to the bone. “Selene, don’t delude yourself.”
He moved closer, crouching beside me. I turned my face away, but his fingers gently tucked a stray hair behind my ear. The tender motion made bile rise in my throat.
“I am thankful, truly,” he whispered, like he was offering some sort of mercy. “You served your purpose. But the child Eliah carries… that is my legacy. That child will rule—not the cursed spawn of the Arkwell bloodline.”
Tears slipped silently down my cheeks. My heart shattered with every word.
Damon leaned in closer, his breath warm on my ear. “So please… just be good. Don’t struggle. And I’ll grant you and your child a peaceful death.”
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t breathe.
Then he stood, brushed imaginary dust from his robe, and walked away without looking back.
The moment the door clicked shut, I broke.
My hands curled into fists, nails digging into my palms until I felt blood drip from the cuts. Rage boiled inside me—hot, unbearable, suffocating. How could I have been so blind?
He was going to let me die slowly, day by day, hidden behind false tenderness and poison.
I couldn’t let that happen. Not when Santino was out there trying to bring help. Not when I still had a chance to survive—for my baby.
I threw the covers aside and tried to move. Sitting up was torture; every inch of my body felt like it had been crushed under a mountain. But I clenched my teeth and gripped the rails, dragging myself to sit.
“Come on,” I whispered to myself, “you can do this…”
I managed to swing my legs off the bed, but the moment my feet touched the floor, my knees buckled.
I collapsed.
The cold tile bit into my skin, but I barely felt it. I sobbed—not from the pain, but from the sheer helplessness clawing at me. Curled on the floor, arms wrapped protectively around my belly, I just cried.
I used to be strong. I used to fight.
I had to remember who I was.
Get up, I begged myself. Move. Survive.
I lay there for what felt like an eternity, the chill seeping into my bones, before I finally dragged myself toward the wall—one inch at a time.
Please, I prayed silently. Let that person receive my letter. Let them come. Let someone come.
And then, through the fog of pain, my mind drifted to the beginning—how all of this had started.
Damon and I had once been classmates—barely friends. He was cold, broken after Eliah left him. I was the quiet outcast from the cursed Arkwell clan, ridiculed by everyone except the Moon Seer who foretold a future none of us understood.
A son born from me and Damon will lead the kingdom.
And so, Damon’s parents had arranged our marriage.
I was never wanted—only needed.
Even then, life in the Moonvil household was truly brutal. Whispers of my cursed blood haunted me. Every look, every comment, every silence was a knife.
Damon had been cold too, at first. Still bitter from Eliah leaving him.
But I stayed. I loved him. I believed we could build something real.
I was a fool.
A bigger fool for believing he ever loved me back.
My body ached. My belly throbbed, the baby barely moving now. Still alive… still fighting.
I gritted my teeth, one hand clutching my belly protectively. “I’ll get us out of here,” I whispered to the child inside me. “Even if it kills me.”
I clenched my fists, crawling toward the nightstand, trying to reach anything—anything—that could help me escape.
The door opened again.
I froze, trembling, praying it wasn’t Dalia with another syringe.
It wasn’t.
She stepped inside slowly, her heels clicking across the floor.
A woman with striking beauty and venomous eyes.
“Eliah,” I whispered.
She smiled with twisted grace.
“It’s been a while…” she said, her voice silken and cruel.
Then she tilted her head.
“…Sister.”
My blood turned to ice.
Eliah. Beautiful, graceful, deadly. She wore a silk robe, her long dark hair perfectly styled, her amber eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
“Damon’s been keeping you in such poor condition,” she said with a soft laugh. “You look like hell.”
I wanted to crawl away, but I couldn’t move.
Eliah crouched beside me, tilting my chin up with her manicured nails. “You were always the moon’s favorite. The prophecy. The kingdom. Damon. That damn place. But all of that ends now.”
She stood and pulled something from her pocket.
My heart stopped.
It was a necklace. Mine.
The one with the enchanted feather.
The one I used to send a message.
“No…” I breathed.
Eliah smiled as she twirled the charm between her fingers. “You thought you were clever. Sending out secret messages...”
My stomach churned. If she had it… then it hadn’t reached—
But then something strange happened.
A wind stirred in the room. The feather shimmered. Eliah looked down in confusion, her fingers trying to tighten around it.
Too late.
The charm glowed, turned into a stream of silver light, and vanished through the open window.
“No,” she gasped.
I smiled.
Tiny. Defiant.
“You didn’t catch it in time,” I whispered. “It’s gone.”
Eliah spun to me, her expression darkening, but I didn’t care.
The message was delivered.
The world would know the truth.
And maybe—just maybe—we still had hope.
