Seraphine's scream still echoed long after the fire dimmed and the temple emptied. The night outside carried its echo, a sound between grief and rage.
Inside her chamber, Seraphine sat before her mirror, eyes swollen, lips quivering, the reflection staring back like a ghost of pride that had died too soon. Her trembling fingers brushed her neck, where the bond mark should have appeared.
"It was meant to be me," she whispered, voice breaking. "The Goddess saw me. Not her."
The door opened quietly. Luna Alara entered, her calm more frightening than anger. Her gown trailed behind her like shadows, her hair glimmered in the faint candlelight, but her eyes…. sharp and cold, spoke of something far darker.
"Seraphine," she said softly.
Seraphine turned, desperate, choking on tears. "Mother, you saw it! Everyone did! She stole him, she stole everything!"
Alara's tone never lifted, her control terrifying. "No one steals what was never theirs. The bond is a mistake, a mockery of the Goddess's will. And I will fix it."
Seraphine blinked, breath catching. "Fix it? How?"
Alara's lips curved faintly. "I've sent the guards. They will take your sister before dawn. She'll be locked away until the Alpha leaves. Once he's gone, she'll never see moonlight again."
Seraphine's tears stilled. "You mean…"
"Yes." Alara brushed a tear from her daughter's cheek. "By sunrise, you'll be the only Luna left standing."
A tremor of satisfaction crossed Seraphine's face. She clutched her mother's hand. "Thank you, Mother. The Goddess will see reason again."
Alara gave a small smile. "The Goddess does not reason, my dear. But I do."
She turned toward the window, her expression hardening as she looked out at the flickering torches around the temple. "When power bends in the wrong direction, it must be forced back into place."
Before Seraphine could answer, the door flew open. Two guards stumbled in, breathless.
Alara's voice snapped through the room. "Where is she?"
The first guard's head dropped. "My Luna… we couldn't bring her."
Silence.
Seraphine stood abruptly. "What do you mean you couldn't?"
The second guard swallowed hard. "The Alpha, he forbade it. He's with her. Said no one touches the marked one. Not even the Luna."
The mirror cracked under Seraphine's hand, shards scattering across the floor. "He's protecting her?"
The guards didn't dare speak.
Alara's voice came out low and lethal. "Leave."
When the guards fled, the silence they left behind was heavy. Seraphine turned to her mother, trembling between fury and despair. "He's choosing her, Mother! The cursed one, the mistake! You said she'd be gone!"
Alara's jaw tightened. "She will be."
Seraphine's breath came fast. "Then how…"
"We wait." Alara turned slowly, her composure returning like a mask snapping into place. "We can't challenge him tonight. The Nightbane Alpha kills for less than a whisper of disrespect. If we defy him now, the council will call it treason."
"So we just… let him keep her?"
"For now." A small, cruel smile touched Alara's lips. "Let him see what she truly is. Let her curse him from the inside. Then, when his patience dies, he'll do our work for us."
---
Down the hall, in a chamber lit by dying flames, Selena sat wrapped in a blanket, trembling. Her wrist still burned where the mark glowed faintly beneath the bandage, silver veins pulsing to the rhythm of another heartbeat.
The door creaked. Heavy footsteps.
Alpha Lucienne stepped in.
The room seemed to shrink around him. He didn't speak immediately, just stood there, watching her with those storm-gray eyes that saw too much.
Selena swallowed hard. "Why did you stop them?"
He moved closer, his expression unreadable. "Because they would have died trying."
Her voice wavered. "You should've let them. It would've made everything easier."
Lucienne's brow lifted slightly. "For who?"
"For you. For me. For everyone."
He studied her for a long moment, then said, voice low, "You think I wanted this bond?"
She met his eyes. "Didn't you?"
"I came for a Luna blessed by the Moon." His gaze flicked briefly to the mark on her wrist. "Instead, I got one cursed by it."
Her chest tightened. "Then break it."
Lucienne's jaw clenched. "Break it?" He stepped closer, his voice roughened by something like restrained fury. "You have no idea what happens when a bond breaks, girl. You burn from the inside out. Every breath feels like swallowing fire. The Moon doesn't just join souls, she chains them."
Selena's throat ached. "Then I'm your chain."
His lips twisted faintly. "And I, yours."
For a moment, silence pressed between them… thick, suffocating.
Selena's voice came softer. "You should've let my mother deal with me. You don't owe me protection."
Lucienne's eyes softened, almost imperceptibly. "Maybe not. But the bond does."
Before she could respond, the door opened again. Luna Alara entered, grace wrapped in venom.
"Alpha Lucienne," she said, bowing slightly. "Forgive the chaos. My daughters were born under an omen that still confuses the Goddess herself. I fear the ceremony exposed it."
Lucienne's expression didn't change. "The Moon doesn't confuse herself, Luna. She chooses."
Alara smiled tightly. "Then let us prove her choice is true."
He folded his arms. "How?"
"Take both girls with you," Alara said smoothly. "Until the bond proves itself. If the mark remains, then we'll accept it as fate. If it fades, the Goddess will have spoken."
Selena looked up sharply. "Mother…"
Alara ignored her.
Lucienne studied the Luna's face, seeing the manipulation beneath the silk words. "You're asking me to take both daughters of the house that tried to imprison one."
"I'm asking you to preserve peace," she said sweetly. "Until we understand what this omen means."
He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded once. "Very well. Both will come with me."
Selena's chest tightened. Seraphine, standing quietly by the door, went pale.
Lucienne's gaze flicked between them. "But hear me clearly Luna, if anyone tries to harm the marked one again, I will burn this pack to ash."
The promise was delivered calmly, but every syllable trembled with power.
Alara inclined her head, smile never faltering. "Of course, Alpha. You have my word."
Lucienne turned, his cloak whispering across the floor. "We leave at dawn."
When he left, the silence stretched like a blade drawn in the dark.
Seraphine turned to her mother, fury returning in trembling waves. "He's taking her. With us!"
Alara's voice dropped to a whisper. "Let him. A man's desire is a tide, not a mountain. When it turns, it always returns to the shore it once abandoned."
Seraphine didn't fully understand, but she nodded anyway… eyes cold, hope rekindled.
---
The night grew long.
Selena sat by her window, staring at the moon, the silver mark still faintly glowing. She pressed her palm to it, whispering, "Why me?"
Down in the courtyard, guards prepared horses and supplies. The wind carried murmurs, the kind of whispers that bruise reputations faster than truth ever could.
"Did you see her mark?"
"They say it burned the chosen Luna."
"The Alpha's cursed now too."
Selena closed her eyes against the sting of their words.
Then came a knock.
Seraphine entered, face calm but eyes sharp as a blade. "I came to say you'll regret this" she said.
Selena didn't turn. "You mean gloat."
Seraphine smiled faintly. "You think you've won something. But you haven't. You'll see what it means to be tied to a man who doesn't want you."
Selena finally faced her, anger flickering through the fear. "And you'll see what it means when the Goddess doesn't want you."
For a heartbeat, silence burned between them… two mirrors, cracked in different ways.
Then Seraphine left, the scent of her perfume lingering like deceit.
---
Dawn crept in quietly.
The courtyard was pale with mist when the twins were led out…. Selena in a simple cloak, Seraphine in white silk that glimmered faintly in the morning light. Alpha Lucienne waited by his black horse, the same stillness around him that had silenced the temple.
He didn't look at either of them as he spoke. "We ride east. You'll both learn the laws of Nightbane before the next moon. Fail to obey, and you'll wish the curse had taken you first."
Seraphine bowed her head in false humility. Selena only nodded.
Behind them, Luna Alara stood, regal and smiling. "Safe travels, Alpha Lucienne. May the Moon guide your steps."
Lucienne mounted his horse, eyes cold. "And may she forgive yours."
The wind picked up. The guards opened the gates.
Before they could move, Luna Alara moved close to Seraphine.