Morning came too quickly.
The sun, almost blinding through the trees, I grunted as I got up. My knees were tight and stiff. The mud had dried to my face, as I dragged myself back inside to go wash off before anyone could see me. My eyes felt swollen, my body stiff, but no one cared enough to notice. Not even my father.
The house buzzed with preparations. Servants rushed about carrying trays and fabrics, their voices hushed but urgent. Tonight was supposed to be my night. My mating ceremony. The night I would finally escape.
Instead, I felt like a ghost drifting through a home that had never wanted me.
When Caius walked into the hall, his hair still damp from a bath, his shirt hanging open at the collar, I thought stupidly that maybe he would look at me, maybe he would say something that made sense. That he loved me and can't wait to be with me.
Maybe it had been a nightmare, a cruel trick my mind had conjured.
But then Liana followed him. Barefoot. Wearing his shirt. Her lips swollen. Her eyes smug, giving her "I just had the best morning sex ever"
The ground tilted beneath me. My head spun, and I was this close to collapsing on the floor.
"Father," Caius's voice rang with authority, cold and sharp. I could feel the hairs in my neck rise as my father drew closer to were we stood in the hall.
"The ceremony tonight will not be for Rain."
The world stopped. Every servant stilled, the sound of clattering trays fading into silence.
"What?" I whispered, though no one was listening to me.
Caius's gaze landed on my father, not on me. Never on me. "I will take Liana as my mate. She is strong. Worthy. She carries the bloodline your pack deserves."
I stumbled forward. "No you can't do that. You're my mate! The ritual it's supposed to be me!"
Liana smirked, sliding her arm through Caius's like a queen claiming her throne. "Don't embarrass yourself, my dear sister. He doesn't want you I mean who would. Look at you"
My chest cracked open. I whimpered so hard I nearly doubled over, but the sound was lost beneath the laughter that rippled from Caius's throat.
I turned to my father, desperation clawing through me. "Please, don't allow this. Please, Father. You promised me. You—"
"Enough, Rain, I have had enough of your silly tears" he cut me off with a snarl, eyes burning with irritation instead of pity. "You should be grateful. Caius has agreed to keep you. He wants you as their servant."
The words gutted me.
Servant.
Caius didn't even flinch at the cruelty. "She'll come with us when I take Liana back to my pack. Someone needs to tend to her needs. And Rain….. she's accustomed to the role."
I shook my head violently, tears blinding me. "No! You can't do this. You can't force me to serve them. Please, I'll do anything else. Anything but this!"
But my father's jaw stayed hard, his gaze full of the same disgust he had shown me my entire life. "You'll obey. This is more than you deserve. Caius is still honoring his agreement by taking you under his roof. Consider it mercy."
Mercy.
The word made me want to vomit.
Liana leaned close, her voice dripping with triumph. "Don't worry, stepsister. I'll make sure you know your place. You can lay out my gowns, fetch my water, scrub my floors. Maybe I'll even let you sleep by the hearth like the mutt you are."
Her words seared me like acid.
My knees buckled, can't anybody see this?! I cited internally, my life is going to be a living hell, somebody please! Help!.
But I refused to fall. Not in front of them. Not when their eyes were gleaming with victory.
"Please," I begged again, the sound raw, ragged. "Father, don't let them do this to me. Don't throw me away like this. I can stay here and be your servant, but please don't let them take me away.0
But he turned his back, dismissing me like an unwanted dog.
And just like that, my fate was sealed.
I crumpled to the ground watching as the servants resumed the duties and my world spun.
The rest of the day blurred. Servants fitted Liana for a dress that had been meant for me. The gown I had chosen. The silks I had touched with trembling hands, imagining what it would feel like to walk into the circle of fire and bond myself to my mate.
Now it was hers.
Every laughter that floated from her room, every murmur of Caius's voice beside her, felt like a blade driving deeper into me.
When the sun began to set, I sat on the edge of my bed, a half-packed bag at my feet. My hands shook as I folded the little I owned: a few dresses, a comb, the locket that had belonged to my mother.
The walls seemed to close in, suffocating.
I thought of the lake. Of the howl I'd heard last night, low and distant. A promise of something outside these walls. Something beyond this suffocating fate, that somehow seems so out of reach.
I was trapped. Bound to the cruelty of a man who had broken me, and a sister who delighted in my ruin.
And my father? Well I didn't expect much. Grace pretty much as him wrapped around her finger and it was probably her plan all along to have me serve her daughter.
The drums outside began to beat the call to the ritual.
It should have been for me.
But tonight, I was nothing more than a shadow. A servant. A discarded mate.
And as I shouldered my bag, waiting for Caius and Liana to claim me like property, I swore that if the goddess had truly cursed me… then I would learn how to curse her back.