- 13 minutes ago
The elders faked the sacred prophecy to get her banished, and now the original scrolls have been found! A massive pack conspiracy is ripped wide open in True Luna's Second Chance as the rightful Luna returns for blood. Stream the full drama episodes now to see the traitors fall!
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00:00I was born with a scent that drove Alpha's feral, true Luna bloodline, rarest in three centuries.
00:07At my naming ceremony, I crawled past sacred objects and grabbed the crown prince between his legs.
00:14The Alpha King howled with laughter.
00:16She'll be a clingy little mate someday.
00:18They were wrong.
00:19Caleb and I became sworn enemies.
00:22For 17 moons, I watched his golden eye learn to flinch from my scent.
00:27On my 18th moon, the king summoned me.
00:30Tell me who you want, little wolf.
00:32Any Alpha in this kingdom, I will grant it.
00:35Before I could speak, Caleb's voice cracked like a whip.
00:39I'd rather be torn apart by rogues than take her as my Luna.
00:42Something in me snapped.
00:44Fine, I'd mate him out of spite.
00:46Then I choose him.
00:47Then go die a lot.
00:49I thought he was joking.
00:50The mating ceremony was beautiful, but Caleb didn't look at me once.
00:55That night...
00:56Sleep on the floor.
00:58Your scent makes me want to vomit.
01:00Moons passed.
01:01My womb stayed empty.
01:03The pack stopped bowing.
01:05She-wolf spit in my food.
01:07Tore my dresses.
01:08Whispered, barren.
01:10Caleb watched and smiled.
01:12Then I overheard him.
01:14She forced this bond.
01:16She deserves everything she gets.
01:18You feel nothing?
01:22A moon later, Caleb threw me to the rogues.
01:26A harlot belongs in the pleasure dems.
01:29I died there.
01:30Beaten.
01:31Discarded like meat.
01:32My last thought was his face.
01:34Never looking back.
01:36Then, light.
01:37I gasped awake on cold marble.
01:40Tell me who you want, little wolf.
01:42I will grant it.
01:43The throne room.
01:44The gala.
01:46The scent of moon blossoms.
01:48I was 17 again.
01:49I would not waste it on Caleb Ironforge.
01:52Everyone knows Alara is obsessed with Prince Calum.
01:56She's practically in heat for him.
01:58Every eye pinned me.
02:00I inhaled.
02:01Your Majesty.
02:03The crown prince and I grew up together.
02:05I respect him only as a brother.
02:07I've never desired him.
02:09Caleb's head snapped toward me.
02:11His scent roared.
02:14My heart has always belonged to Alpha Silas.
02:17If I may mate with the Blood Moon Alpha, I will die content.
02:22The throne room exploded.
02:23I chose the king's own brother.
02:26The legendary Blood Moon Alpha.
02:28The wolf who had crushed the rogue uprising and put his brother on the throne.
02:34Alpha Silas was struck down one year ago on the northern front by an unseen blade.
02:40Comatose ever since.
02:41The healers said he'd never wake, but I knew better.
02:44Last life, Silas woke in my third year of misery.
02:48When the Ironforge She-Wolves cornered me in the kitchens,
02:52a broken, half-crippled Alpha dragged himself out of his wheeled chair to stand between us.
02:57Little one, this would waste you.
03:00Let me choose another Alpha.
03:03One who can stand beside you.
03:05Speak back to you.
03:06I didn't lift my head from the stone.
03:08Your Majesty.
03:10I swore before the Moon Goddess herself.
03:13It is Alpha Silas, or no one.
03:15I slammed my forehead into the marble.
03:17A wet crack of bone on stone.
03:20If the Ashfield girl is truly set on our brother-in-law,
03:23let her have him.
03:25The Moon Goddess guides us in strange ways.
03:27The king looked at his mate, looked at me.
03:30So be it.
03:31Your house is gone.
03:34Silas cannot speak for himself.
03:36The mating will be arranged by the Queen herself.
03:39I pressed my forehead to the stone a third time.
03:42I am grateful beyond words.
03:44I rose on shaking legs.
03:46I did not look at Caleb.
03:48I could feel him, though.
03:50Sent violent.
03:51Let him burn.
03:52I would not mate Caleb again.
03:54I would not die in the rogue territories again.
03:57Silas was my answer.
03:59Last life, he spent his days in a wheeled chair.
04:03And still he gave me kindness.
04:05This life, we would walk out of hell together.
04:09I slept for three days after the gala.
04:12Deep.
04:13Dreamless.
04:14The sleep of the freed.
04:16Then came the knock at the Ashford gates.
04:19The Queen requests your presence at the Royal Den.
04:23Tonight.
04:24I went cold.
04:25Madame Voss led me through the Royal Halls at dusk.
04:28Moon blossoms perfumed the stone corridors.
04:31My heart beat slow and careful.
04:33Then Madame Voss froze and bowed.
04:35Your Highness, the Crown Prince.
04:37I lifted my head on the kingdom.
04:40His face dropped into my vision like a blade.
04:43Sharp.
04:44Cold.
04:45Beautiful in that cool Ironforge way.
04:48His scent hit me before his eyes did.
04:50Iron and jealousy spiking hot.
04:53He stared.
04:54Golden eyes raking me from crown to feet.
04:58Crown Prince.
04:59May the moon favor you.
05:01He knew my old pattern.
05:02Last life, I tracked his schedule.
05:05Baked him honey cakes.
05:07Engineered accidental meetings just to press them into his hands.
05:11He used to throw them to the hounds.
05:13Alara.
05:14Stop this pathetic chase.
05:16You're mating my uncle.
05:18Have some dignity.
05:20You make me sick.
05:21Your Highness, I'm not chasing anything.
05:24At the gala, I told your father the truth.
05:27I have no feelings for you.
05:28Then you wandered into the Royal Wing by coincidence?
05:33The Queen summoned me.
05:35Ask Madam Vos.
05:38It's true, Your Highness.
05:40Caleb's scent turned volcanic.
05:43So she really wasn't here for him?
05:45My uncle is a corpse that breathes Alara.
05:48You'll be a widow before the moon sets on your bonding night.
05:50Then I'll be the happiest widow in the kingdom.
05:53His pupils blue, black.
05:54I've loved Alpha Silas for years.
05:57Awake or sleeping.
05:58I want only to be at his side.
06:00Caleb's face went black.
06:02The Queen is waiting.
06:03I walked away and felt his stare burning into my back.
06:06The Queen greeted me in her chamber with a smile that never reached her eyes.
06:10Elora, darling.
06:11Come sit.
06:12Your Grace.
06:14May the moon bless you eternally.
06:17So formal.
06:19And you came alone?
06:21Your Grace.
06:23There's no one left in the Ashford den to walk me anywhere.
06:26Good.
06:26Two dates were inked on silk before her.
06:29The third of the sixth moon.
06:31The nineteenth of the tenth moon.
06:33My blood iced.
06:35The nineteenth of the tenth moon was my mating date with Caleb.
06:39Last life.
06:40Auspicious, the packs had called it, until the sky split open and drowned the ceremony in rain.
06:46The bonding procession arrived, soaked to the bone.
06:49The pack whispered for years.
06:51Cursed.
06:51Ill-omened.
06:52A wolf who would bring ruin to the royal line.
06:55I think the nineteenth is perfect, the Queen said gently.
07:00It's very kind, Your Grace.
07:02But I prefer the third of the sixth moon.
07:05That's only two months away.
07:07Too rushed, surely.
07:08I can't wait to be at Alpha Celis' side.
07:11Behind me, the chamber door opened.
07:13Caleb had followed.
07:14He heard every word.
07:16His teeth ground loud enough that I caught the sound.
07:20Caleb, come help me reason on her, the Queen trilled.
07:24Caleb's eyes raked me, cold as the northern wastes.
07:27If she's so desperate to mate my uncle, why stop her?
07:31Drug it to autumn and she'll have the whole court howling rumours.
07:35The crown prince speaks wisdom.
07:37The third of the sixth moon, then.
07:39You must attend the ceremony, Your Highness.
07:43I have matters to attend.
07:45Excuse me.
07:50Oh, Ilara.
07:51Silas can't perform the escort himself.
07:53Tradition requires an unbonded royal alpha to fetch the bride from her den.
07:57I thought Caleb would be perfect.
07:58The crown prince is far too important.
08:00Lord Torrin, the Riverstone heir, is unbonded 19.
08:02Perfectly suited.
08:03As you wish.
08:04The trap was so obvious, I almost admired it.
08:08If Caleb escorted me, he'd have every excuse in the kingdom to humiliate me on my mating day.
08:15Spill the sacred bonding wine.
08:17Arrive late.
08:19Dress in mourning colours.
08:21Last life, I'd have walked into it eyes shining.
08:24This life?
08:26Never.
08:27The carriage rattled home through twilight streets.
08:31Old memories surfaced like bodies in a river.
08:33My grandfather had been the royal claw, Caleb's mentor.
08:38He'd dragged me into the royal den from the time I could walk.
08:42Caleb and I had been inseparable once.
08:45Sneaking past guards.
08:47Running wild through the human city below the mountain.
08:50One day, a runaway cart came thundering down the cobblestones.
08:55I shoved Caleb out of its path.
08:57The wheel caught my left knee.
08:59Bone met stone with a sound I still hear in nightmares.
09:05Caleb's face was wet with tears and sweat.
09:08He gripped my hand so hard my fingers went numb.
09:11I'll take care of you forever, Alara.
09:14I swear it on the moon.
09:16When had that boy died?
09:18I didn't know the answer.
09:19I'd never find out either.
09:21And this life?
09:22I'd stopped caring.
09:23The moons flew.
09:25The royal den, Blood Moon Manor, and the Ashford Estate prepared feverishly.
09:29Crimson banners, silver lanterns, moonblossom petals raining from every beam.
09:36Caleb sat in his chambers, surrounded by his uncle's bonding colors.
09:39His cousin Torrin arrived with news.
09:42The queen had chosen him, not Caleb, to escort me from the Ashford gates.
09:47She had refused him.
09:49Maybe she thinks you're overworked.
09:51I've got nothing to do.
09:53Easier for me.
09:55About what happened back then.
09:57Alara was innocent.
09:58You know it was never her fault.
10:00Hating her for that was never fair.
10:01Torrin, didn't you have somewhere to be?
10:02Torrin fled.
10:04Caleb burned.
10:06That night, Caleb fell ill.
10:08He dreamed he was the groom.
10:10He dreamed rain lashed his procession.
10:13That his cloak and boots were drenched through.
10:16He dreamed of walking into the bonding chamber and finding me sitting on the bed.
10:21Dark hair coiled high.
10:23Silver coronet woven with moonblossoms.
10:26Crimson mating gowns stitched with silver phoenixes.
10:29Dream me smiled at him.
10:31Caleb couldn't look away.
10:33Only the hammer of his own heart.
10:34He woke, drenched in sweat.
10:37Fever raging.
10:38What day is it?
10:39The third of the sixth moon, my prince.
10:41Alpha Silas mates the Asheville girl tonight.
10:44Something carved a hole in his chest.
10:46The queen swept into Caleb's sick room.
10:49She sat beside his bed.
10:50Cool hand on his forehead.
10:52Thank the moon that messes off my hands.
10:55Now we can focus on your mate choosing, my darling.
10:59That Asheville pup was trouble from the day she was born.
11:02Always dragging you into danger.
11:04I never liked her.
11:06After her house fell, she clung to you like a leech.
11:09If the Asheville name hadn't still held weight, I'd have driven her out years ago.
11:14Now her whole pack is dead.
11:15She's nothing.
11:16Mating Silas was her smartest move.
11:18Blood Moon Manor is a nest of vipers.
11:20Simus' cousins circle his Komopo's body like carrion.
11:23Without me smoothing this mating through, she'd never have survived the approval.
11:26She'll suffer enough there.
11:28Trust me.
11:29Rest, my love.
11:30I'll choose properly this time.
11:33With me as Lunar Queen, no one takes your crown.
11:37She swept out.
11:39Caleb stared at the ceiling.
11:41Somewhere across the capital, at that exact moment, I was being carried out of the Ashford
11:47gates on Torrin's back.
11:49Drums.
11:50Silver horns.
11:52A procession vast enough to make the Crown Prince's own mating last life look like a funeral.
11:58As if Blood Moon Manor had waited years for this day.
12:02You know, Lara.
12:04Caleb is sick.
12:06They're hiding it from the Pax.
12:07He's been fevered for a week straight.
12:11Torrin, I don't care about the Crown Prince anymore.
12:14The past is past.
12:16I'm looking forward now.
12:19And next time, call me Aunt Lara.
12:23Inside Blood Moon Manor.
12:26Luna, I am Commander Zane, Silas's second.
12:30The Alpha has slept eight moons.
12:32He's thinner, but otherwise whole.
12:35A separate chamber is prepared for you across the hall.
12:40No.
12:40He is my mate.
12:42Where would our bond rest?
12:43Sleeping in separate rooms?
12:46Starting tonight, I share his bed.
12:50Across the manor, on the mating bed, Silas's fingers twitched.
12:54Neither of us saw.
12:59I walked into the bonding chamber, where the candles burned low and gold.
13:04He lay where they had placed him.
13:06Sharp-boned.
13:07Fierce, even in sleep.
13:09A sheathed blade of a man.
13:11Too pale.
13:12Too thin.
13:13His scent filled my lungs.
13:16His scent filled my lungs.
13:16Cedar, blade oil.
13:18A storm over the mountains.
13:20A warrior's scent.
13:21Hot-blooded.
13:22His pulse running high, the way my fathers and brothers always had.
13:27I'm sorry I mated you while you slept, but I swear on the moon goddess, I'll take care of you.
13:34I'll be a Luna worth waking up to.
13:37And across the kingdom, Caleb dreamed of me again.
13:41Caleb, go on, climb higher.
13:45Not in the mating chamber this time, but in a garden.
13:50Laughing, he woke sobbing, and didn't know why.
13:55Luna, you didn't sleep?
13:59I'm not used to the bed.
14:02And there's a very large alpha next to me.
14:05Luna, Madam Thorne sends for you.
14:08New Luna tradition.
14:10Present yourself to the alpha's aunt on your first morning.
14:14I went still.
14:15Blood Moon Manor was a nest of vipers, and I had just slid into the middle of them.
14:21The matron at my door reeked of jasmine and condescension.
14:25I knew Blood Moon Manor's politics well.
14:28Silas and the king were full-blooded brothers, born of the great Luna Seraphine.
14:33Her younger brother had died fighting beside Silas in the north.
14:37Out of guilt, Silas had moved his uncle's widow and children into his manor.
14:42Aunt Thorne.
14:44The dead warrior's mate had seized the household keys.
14:48She had tried to mate her youngest daughter to Silas.
14:51Silas had refused.
14:53Now I had arrived in her place.
14:55She hated me before she met me.
14:57The Luna just woke.
14:59Why such urgency?
15:01Of course.
15:02A general's daughter, the king's own pick, wouldn't stoop to greet a humble widow.
15:07I never said that.
15:08If you can't keep your mouth straight, shut it.
15:12Well, Luna?
15:13So Madam Thorne wanted first blood on day one.
15:20Of course, I should pay respects to Madam Thorne.
15:24Luna misunderstands.
15:26Not respects.
15:27Just a visit.
15:29Her husband died, saving my mate.
15:31His widow deserves deep honor.
15:34My visit to her is a sacred duty.
15:36So, please, go to the royal den and inform the king.
15:45The... the royal den?
15:47Yes.
15:48Tell his majesty that I must pay respects to a fallen warrior's widow before I present myself at court.
15:54She apparently outranks the king in my morning's duties.
16:01Luna jokes.
16:02Of course the king and queen come first.
16:09Then tell Madam Thorne I'll visit when my schedule permits.
16:14Luna, are we really going?
16:18Of course.
16:20She's an elder.
16:21But I choose when, not her.
16:24I ordered the carriage.
16:26As I stepped into the courtyard...
16:32Not drunk?
16:34Old Damien could do three more barrels.
16:42Do you know who I am?
16:44Silas is my cousin.
16:46The great Luna raised me.
16:48I've looked the king in his face.
16:52That's Simus' cousin?
16:54Yes.
16:55Luna.
16:56Damien Thorne.
16:58Known in every brothel in the capital.
17:01Pleasure Dems, Moonshine, gambling pits.
17:04Your mating ceremony was last night.
17:06As the royal relative, he didn't show up and slept in some she-wolf's bed.
17:11Silas.
17:13What kind of kin did you take into your manor?
17:15I climbed into my carriage without acknowledging him.
17:19Who is that?
17:21Why haven't I seen her before?
17:22That's the new Luna, my lord.
17:24Right.
17:25Cousin Silas had mated yesterday.
17:28Cousin's still asleep.
17:30She'll be sleeping empty sheets for years.
17:33I didn't see any of it.
17:35I went to the royal den to pay my respects to the king and queen.
17:38I timed it perfectly.
17:40The concubines would have finished their morning bow.
17:42The dawn council would nearly be over.
17:44I'd sip tea with the queen until the king appeared.
17:47I missed one calculation.
17:49At the royal gates, I walked straight into Caleb.
17:56Torn had said Caleb was ill.
17:58That's why he wasn't at council.
18:00None of my concern.
18:02Crown Prince.
18:05A bonded Luna in crimson silks.
18:09Last night's dream.
18:11Alara, does it feel good?
18:13Mating my uncle?
18:17No.
18:18You should address me as Aunt Alara.
18:21Caleb stared.
18:22The delay before his brain caught up was almost funny.
18:26Calling me by my given name is a breach of protocol.
18:29Show some manners.
18:31You are happy, aren't you?
18:34This mating is what I asked for.
18:37Of course I'm pleased.
18:38Why do you ask what you already know?
18:41The crown princess is still ill.
18:44Rest.
18:45Medicaid.
18:45I have the king and queen to greet.
18:48That morning in the royal den, I sipped tea with the queen.
18:52The king arrived from council in shockingly high spirits.
18:56The first time in years, the civil wolves and warrior wolves had agreed on something at council.
19:02They had praised my mating.
19:04In the courtyard, I saw Zane leading two servants into Silas's chamber.
19:09What are you doing?
19:11Luna, it's time to dose the alpha.
19:14A clay medicine jar steamed on her tray.
19:16Luna, please wait outside.
19:18It takes time.
19:19The alpha is hard to dose.
19:21I'll come too.
19:23Luna, with us?
19:24Yes, I'm his mate.
19:25Caring for him is my duty.
19:27Show me today.
19:27From tomorrow, I do it.
19:30Luna.
19:31The alpha cannot swallow willingly.
19:33He forced the drape down.
19:35He vomits half of it.
19:37It's not pleasant.
19:53Zane.
19:54You're wasting most of it.
19:56Let me.
19:57Give me the bowl.
19:58All of you, step back.
20:00Luna, we'll wait outside.
20:01Why?
20:02Luna, surely you'll want to feed the alpha mouth to mouth.
20:07Don't be absurd.
20:08There's no such custom.
20:10I took the bowl.
20:11Felt the warm clay ground me.
20:13I remembered a technique my sister-in-law had taught me.
20:15In deep unconsciousness, pressing the philtrum can trigger a brief reflex opening of the mouth.
20:21I slipped the spoon between his lips.
20:23Tilted his chin with my free hand.
20:26Stroked his throat until the reflex carried the draught down.
20:29It worked.
20:30A little still escaped, but most of it stayed inside.
20:33By the time I emptied half the bowl, my hairline was damp with sweat.
20:38I set the bowl down.
20:40Silas' throat worked.
20:41His brow creased.
20:43My heart lurched.
20:44I leaned in close.
20:46His lashes trembled.
20:48He didn't open his eyes.
20:49But something had moved.
20:51Luna, that was incredible.
20:54I didn't answer.
20:55My own stomach was still fluttering.
20:58Last life, Silas woke fragile.
21:00Years of botched dosing had hollowed him.
21:03He'd never fully recovered his strength.
21:06This life, if I was his mate, he wouldn't suffer that again.
21:10Every day, I fed him the draught myself.
21:13I bathed him.
21:15Massaged his wasted calves.
21:17His sword-calloused hands.
21:18The manor whispered.
21:20A general's daughter doing servants' work.
21:24She shames the Ashfield name.
21:26Let them whisper.
21:28One afternoon, Aunt Thorne came herself.
21:30Found me kneading the cords of Silas' thighs.
21:34Alara, darling, let the servants do this.
21:37You're the Luna.
21:38What will the Pax say if you grind yourself down like a maid?
21:43Aunt, forgive me.
21:45Caring for my mate is my honor.
21:47Alpha Silas fought all his life on those legs.
21:50They're his foundation.
21:52Only I can be trusted to tend them.
21:57But Aunt, you must be exhausted,
22:00managing the whole mansion on top of visiting me.
22:03Let's go over the household ledgers together soon.
22:06I noticed a few entries lift.
22:08Tangled.
22:09Her scent curdled.
22:11She had run those ledgers for years.
22:14I knew she had skimmed.
22:15She knew I knew.
22:18She made an excuse and fled.
22:20No need to trouble the Luna.
22:22I'll have them cleaned up.
22:24She never sent another matron.
22:26But Damien Thorne?
22:27He was another problem.
22:29Damien began haunting the manor.
22:32Visiting his cousin, he said.
22:34His eyes lived on me.
22:36Oily.
22:37Lingering.
22:38Appraising.
22:39One afternoon, he caught me alone in the garden.
22:42Moon wine thick on his breath.
22:44Aunt Alara.
22:46Cousin's been asleep forever.
22:47You must be so lonely.
22:51Lord Damien.
22:52Mind yourself.
22:53The Luna is your elder by rank.
22:56Speak with respect.
22:58Elder?
22:59Cousin might never wake.
23:01Shall Aunt Alara waste her whole life as a breathing widow?
23:04My business is not yours.
23:07If you have nothing to do, leave.
23:09You're cluttering the view.
23:10His face flushed purple.
23:12He slunk off.
23:13I marked him.
23:14Damien was a viper.
23:16I would need to watch him.
23:17That night, I set guards on every corridor that touched my chambers.
23:21Every day, draft, bath, massage, reading aloud.
23:25I read Silas, his own annotated war treatises.
23:29Poetry.
23:30The old histories of the Blood Moon pack.
23:32I talked to him like he could hear me.
23:34Some nights, I thought he could.
23:36Caleb recovered from his fever and began asking, quietly, constantly, about Blood Moon Manor.
23:42About me.
23:43He heard I fed Silas by my own hand.
23:46That I ran the household.
23:48That I'd broken Aunt Thorne to heal in under a month.
23:51The news poisoned him in ways he couldn't name.
23:54A royal feast came.
23:56As Luna of the Blood Moon, I had to attend.
23:58I wore the deep crimson of a bonded Luna.
24:01Hair up.
24:02No blush.
24:03No trembling hands.
24:05A different woman entirely from the girl who'd chased him with honey cakes.
24:09Caleb crossed the hall to me.
24:10His voice was rough.
24:11Alara, be honest.
24:14Is life in that manner truly good?
24:16By the Crown Prince's grace.
24:18And very well.
24:19Well?
24:20Nursing a corpse.
24:22Doing servant work.
24:23You call that well?
24:24Your Highness misunderstands.
24:26I chose Alpha Silas willingly.
24:28He is asleep, but he is a good man.
24:30He deserves my care.
24:31Unlike some who wear fine silks and carry cold blood in their veins.
24:35I let a pause land between us like a blade.
24:38Unlike some who wear fine silks and carry cold blood in their veins.
24:45His face went bloodless.
24:47He knew exactly who I meant.
24:49Enough, enough.
24:50Family feast.
24:51No grim faces.
24:52Alara, I've heard you tend my brother with your own hands.
24:56It moves me.
24:59Your majesty is too kind.
25:01It is only my duty.
25:03The king patted my shoulder and moved on.
25:06Caleb stared after me like he'd been struck.
25:09I didn't look back.
25:11Moons rolled on.
25:12The autumn deepened.
25:14That afternoon, I sat by Silas' bed, reading from his own annotated war treatise.
25:19The handwriting in the margins?
25:21Fierce and sloping.
25:23Something brushed my palm.
25:25I jerked my head up.
25:26Silas' fingers had curled.
25:28His eyelids trembled.
25:30Alpha.
25:31My voice shook.
25:33I reached for his pulse.
25:35His eyes opened.
25:36Those eyes.
25:37The eyes I had imagined in every quiet hour.
25:41Alara.
25:42Doctor!
25:44I've heard everything.
25:48My blood froze.
25:50Heard?
25:51Silas had been conscious inside his body this entire time.
25:55He had heard Zane tend him.
25:57Heard Aunt Thorne's scheme.
25:59At the gala.
26:01You said you wanted me as your mate.
26:03I froze.
26:04What?
26:05I never knew.
26:06Silas spoke slowly.
26:08The words I prayed for.
26:11I heard them while I couldn't move.
26:14Seven years ago, at a royal garden feast, a ten-year-old Ashford girl had slipped on the
26:20mossy stones and fallen into the lotus pond.
26:23A wounded warrior on leave, him, had fished me out.
26:28Ashford she-wolves aren't afraid of water.
26:30I had stood, soaking wet, chin up, snarled.
26:34That stubborn, electric little creature had burned herself into him.
26:38He'd shipped out to the northern front soon after.
26:41But he'd sent wolves to watch over me every year since.
26:45He knew I liked riding, archery, sword work.
26:49He knew I'd stitched a mating gown dreaming of Caleb.
26:53He knew what the Ironforge pack did to me in the life before this one.
26:57Because when he finally woke that life, he'd searched the whole kingdom for me.
27:02And found my body in a rogue territory pleasure den.
27:06I stopped breathing.
27:07I asked for the northern front to prove myself worthy before your 18th moon.
27:12I meant to return and ask the king for you.
27:14But I was struck down the night before victory.
27:17Not in battle.
27:18Betrayed.
27:20Betrayed? By who?
27:22Kale's inner circle.
27:24He feared I'd eclipse him at court.
27:27Feared worse that I'd return and take you.
27:30Alara.
27:32Your father's death.
27:34Your brother's deaths.
27:35That was not simply a lost battle.
27:37Someone leaked the Silver Vanguard's march route to the rogue warbands.
27:42That someone was the Queen Bloodkin.
27:45The world tilted.
27:47Caleb believed, wrongly, that your father's death was my doing.
27:51Some poisoned whisper in his ear in the year of the morning.
27:53He turned that hatred on you.
27:55And he hated me more for loving you.
27:58Last life's venom rushed back.
28:00You make me sick.
28:02You harlot.
28:03You cursed thing.
28:05All of it rooted in a lie.
28:08A lie soaked in conspiracy.
28:10A lie his own mother had fed him.
28:13Last life.
28:13When I finally woke.
28:15Two years after your maiden, I searched for you.
28:17I found your body in the rogue territories.
28:19I dragged myself to the throne and laid every truth before the king.
28:22The Queen's kin were hunted down to the last place.
28:25Kalen was stripped of his own.
28:26Caged in the royal den until he rotted.
28:28But I couldn't save you.
28:29His voice broke.
28:31This life, Alara.
28:32This life, I will never fail you again.
28:34Two lifetimes of pain broke open inside me.
28:38Tears fell silently.
28:40Soundless.
28:41The healers.
28:41Let me hold you first.
28:43He pulled me down against his chest.
28:45His heart beat slow and strong beneath my ear.
28:48Alive.
28:50Alive.
28:50Alive.
28:51For the first time in two lifetimes, I let myself cry.
28:55The healers flooded the chamber within the hour.
28:58The Blood Moon Alpha had woken.
29:00And the Blood Moon Alpha had talked.
29:03He told the king everything.
29:05The betrayal on the northern front.
29:07The blade that had come from his own side.
29:09The leaked march route that had slaughtered the entire silver vanguard.
29:13The old case was reopened.
29:14Every court wolf who had ever touched the queen's bloodline was dragged before the royal tribunal.
29:20Ledgers pulled.
29:21Messengers tortured.
29:22War pigeons traced back through three years of smuggled correspondence.
29:27The evidence was overwhelming.
29:29The queen's uncle, the war minister, had sold the march route to a rogue warlord for a chest of northern
29:35gold
29:36and a promise to weaken Silas' influence.
29:39My father.
29:40My three brothers.
29:42Eight hundred silver vanguard wolves.
29:45Sold.
29:46The queen's bloodline was condemned.
29:48Exposed.
29:50Tried.
29:51Executed to the last pup within seven days.
29:54The queen herself was stripped of her crown and locked in the high tower to await trial.
29:59And Caleb?
30:00Caleb learned that his hatred of me, his disgust at my scent, his cruelty across two lifetimes,
30:08had been built on his mother's lies.
30:10That I had never betrayed him.
30:12That I had never had anything to do with the northern front disaster.
30:17That the girl who'd shoved him away from a runaway cart at eight years old and broken her own knee
30:22doing it
30:23had been the one wolf in the whole kingdom who'd ever loved him with nothing asked in return.
30:29And he had thrown her to rogues.
30:32In one life, anyway.
30:34In this one, he had only destroyed her with words.
30:38But words, in the end, had destroyed him too.
30:42He shattered.
30:43He ran for Blood Moon Manor.
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