The Betrayed Moon Heir

"To a bountiful harvest!" a High-Lunar noble shouted, raising a crystal goblet high above his head.

"May the Moon Goddess bless the hunt!" another answered.

The Ashborne Pack great hall erupted in cheers, the sound of clinking glass echoing off the vaulted ceilings.

I stood in the arched doorway. The cold autumn wind blew past my shoulders, rustling the fabric of my simple dress.

"Ah, the Alpha's mate arrives," a woman sneered from the nearest table. "Late as always."

"Probably scrubbing the kitchen floors," another noble added. "Old habits die hard for the moon-blind."

I ignored them. My gaze locked on my husband, Caelan, standing at the head of the room.

Next to him was Serena Ashford. My best friend. The woman who had spent countless hours sitting at my kitchen island, drinking tea and listening to me cry about my marriage.

Tonight, she wore a stunning silver gown. Her arm looped tightly through Caelan's.

And wrapped around her left ankle was a crimson cord bracelet.

I stared at the intricate knots. I had woven that cord myself. I spent weeks perfecting the pattern, bleeding from the rough threads, preparing it as a fifteenth-anniversary gift for him.

Serena noticed my stare. She stepped forward, lifting her hem so the red silk caught the chandelier light.

"Do you like it, Elara?" Serena asked, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Caelan gave it to me this morning. He said it was just lying around the house."

My throat tightened. I walked up to the dais.

"I made that for him," I said. "Today is our anniversary."

Caelan swirled the amber liquid in his glass. He refused to meet my eyes.

"You always cling to these pathetic gestures, Elara," Caelan said, his voice flat and annoyed. "Anything to remind everyone you hold the title of Alpha's mate. It's exhausting."

"Gestures?" I stepped closer, closing the distance between us. "I waited at home with a dinner you never showed up for. I took a rogue wolf's claws to my ribs to save your life three years ago. I tailor your winter coats because you hate the heavy fabrics from the market. Are those just gestures to you?"

"They are survival tactics," Caelan replied coldly. "You do them to secure your place here."

"You told me he was just bad at expressing his feelings," I said, turning my focus to Serena. "You sat in my kitchen and told me to be patient with him."

Serena smirked. "I told you what you needed to hear, Elara. Did you really think an Alpha like Caelan would settle for a mutt forever?"

She laughed, a sharp, ringing sound that echoed over the music.

"Oh, stop looking so betrayed. You sound like a desperate maid," Serena mocked.

She picked up a heavy silver pitcher from the banquet table.

"Since you're so good at domestic chores, pour the wine," Serena commanded. She shoved the pitcher hard into my chest. "Low-blood women are best suited for serving anyway."

I shoved the pitcher back at her. Wine sloshed over the rim, staining the white tablecloth.

"I serve no one, Serena," I told her. "Especially not a traitor."

Serena's eyes narrowed. "Watch your mouth."

She lunged forward, her foot shooting out to hook my ankle.

I stumbled backward. The open terrace doors offered no support. My shoes slipped on the slick stone.

I fell hard into the rain-soaked courtyard. Mud splashed across my face, coating my hair and soaking into my dress.

The hall erupted in laughter. High-Lunar nobles pointed and jeered from the warmth of the room.

Serena stepped out into the mud. She pressed her heavy leather boot directly onto my fingers.

Pain shot up my arm. I gritted my teeth, refusing to scream.

"Lick it clean," Serena ordered. She ground her sole into my knuckles, tearing the skin. "You dirtied my shoe, Faded-born."

I looked up past her, finding Caelan. He stood in the doorway, watching with hollow eyes. He did absolutely nothing.

"Caelan," I said, my voice steady despite the crushing weight on my hand. "Tell her to stop."

"You brought this on yourself," he replied, taking a sip of his drink. "Learn your place."

I yanked my hand free. My skin tore against the gravel beneath the mud. I scrambled to my knees, scanning the laughing crowd.

"Kael!" I called out.

My fourteen-year-old son stood near the edge of the terrace. He was my blood. My last reason for staying in this frozen, loveless marriage.

I reached out my bleeding hand to him. "Kael, help me up."

He walked over slowly. But when my muddy fingers brushed his tailored sleeve, he violently yanked his arm away.

"Don't touch me," Kael spat, wiping his sleeve as if I were a disease.

My hand hovered in the freezing air. "What's wrong with you? I'm your mother."

"You're a Faded-born," he shouted, his face flushed with anger. "The High-Lunar boys at the training grounds mock me every single day because of you. They call me a mutt!"

"I taught you how to track," I reminded him, staring at the boy I had raised. "I hired the best warriors in the territory to train you. I alter your clothes every season because you grow too fast."

"I didn't ask for any of that!" Kael pointed sharply at Serena. "Serena actually understands what I need to be a true Alpha. She doesn't embarrass me."

I pushed myself up to my feet, mud sliding off my skirt. The cold wind bit into my soaked skin.

"If you walk away with them right now, Kael, you are making a choice," I warned him. "Think carefully."

Kael crossed his arms. "Of course Dad and Serena. Why would I choose a weak, mixed-blood mother who makes everyone look down on me?"

My chest hollowed out. A deep, agonizing void replaced the love I had carried for fourteen years.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a second crimson cord.

"I made this one for you," I said softly, holding the woven silk out to him.

Kael snatched the red string from my palm.

He turned to Serena, holding it up like a hunting trophy. She gave him an approving nod.

He threw the cord directly into the deep puddle at my feet.

He raised his boot and stomped on the woven silk, burying it deep into the muck.

"There," Kael said, glaring at me. "Are we done here?"

Caelan finally stepped onto the terrace. He didn't spare a single glance for the ruined bracelet in the mud.

"Pack your things by morning," Caelan declared, his commanding voice carrying over the silent crowd. "A woman with impure blood was never worthy of this position."

He turned his back on me. He guided Serena and Kael back into the warmth of the hall, shutting me out.

The heavy wooden doors slammed shut, cutting off the light and the music.

I stood alone in the freezing rain.

I didn't shed a single tear.

Bending down, I dug my raw, bleeding fingers into the mud. I pulled out the ruined crimson cord Kael had crushed.

As I brushed the thick dirt from the silk, the dark storm clouds above suddenly split apart.

A blinding beam of full moonlight pierced the darkness, washing directly over the courtyard.

It struck my shoulders, instantly warming the chill in my bones.

I glanced down at the ground. My shadow stretching across the muddy stones wasn't black.

It glowed with a faint, pulsing silver light.

Deep within my chest, a heavy, ancient bell—silent for three hundred years—began to slowly toll.

*Dong.*

The vibration rattled my ribs, sending a surge of forgotten power through my veins.

I wasn't just a mixed-blood.

My true lineage was waking up.