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00:00Every unmated young wolf in the Southern Pax Union wanted a taste of my nectar.
00:04At 16, I tricked my father's battle brother into taking his first sip.
00:08That night, he drank every last drop from me.
00:11By dawn, Silvermoon City exploded.
00:13His childhood sweetheart fled with tears.
00:16I moved into the most lavish estate in Silvermoon,
00:19became the wife of the North Legion's rising star,
00:22the woman every she-wolf envied.
00:25Every night, the entire manor reeked of rose nectar and pine,
00:29tangled so thick that passing pack members didn't dare come near.
00:33Each time he rode north with the Legion, I counted the days until his return.
00:37Until this time, he returned from the northern border as a hero,
00:41brought back his childhood sweetheart and her two-year-old pug, Amber Eyes.
00:46His Amber Eyes, he moved them into our house,
00:49taught the pup to call him Daddy.
00:51I didn't rage, didn't cry.
00:53I simply handed over the keys to our estate, the rights to the family properties.
00:57My place is Ironclaw's matriarch.
00:59He thought I'd finally learned to be docile,
01:02that I'd accepted my place as the unloved wife.
01:04What he doesn't know,
01:06while he was busy playing house with his sweetheart and their pup,
01:09I was on my knees before the Alpha King.
01:11Child, you once knelt here begging the Moonbloom's blessing for your mating bond.
01:16Do you understand what price must be paid to Strever what the Moon Goddess has granted?
01:20Yes. To earn your consent, I will go to the Frostlands in the Prince's place.
01:25Bring me the Severance Oskrolt with his signature and yours.
01:29The next full moon after you deliver it, the Moon Goddess will answer your prayer.
01:34My remaining years traded for freedom.
01:36The countdown begins.
01:3821 days, that is all I have left.
01:4021 days, until the Goddess severs our bond.
01:4321 days, until I leave this cage and ride north.
01:46Not as a discarded wife, but as a bride to the Lord of the Frost.
01:50He wanted a docile wife.
01:52Never would he get one.
01:53He'll only watch me become a legendary queen.
01:5621 days, until the Moonsevering Rite.
01:58Kael returned from the Royal Palace and went straight to Seraphine's bed in the East Wing.
02:03I heard them.
02:04The night was still and my hearing had been trained sharp.
02:07Her moans, his growls,
02:09they coupled from moonrise to moonset.
02:11They had many such nights.
02:13Ones, whenever Kael returned to Silvermoon from the border.
02:16Lyra, do not disturb me.
02:18Be a good wife.
02:19Be decile.
02:20I would bend every effort to please him,
02:22but all I earned was refusal and correction.
02:25Now I finally understood,
02:27Dossiel was for the unloved.
02:28The loved received companionship.
02:30So I learned docility.
02:32Even when my handmaiden Mira rushed to report.
02:35Mistress, today Kael went to the palace.
02:37He's petitioning the Alpha King for a formal title.
02:39For Seraphine.
02:40Let him.
02:41He failed.
02:42Of course, that evening,
02:44Seraphine wept in his arms, sorrowful and trembling.
02:47He would continue to fail.
02:49The Alpha King regarded me as his own daughter,
02:52so he would never consent to Kael's request.
02:54Not when it humiliated me.
02:56Then, as expected,
02:57Kael came seeking my help.
02:59Lyra.
03:00Your petition?
03:00The King refused.
03:02I will ask again.
03:03With military honors with-
03:04I drew a scroll from beneath my pillow and pressed it into his palm.
03:08Give her the title.
03:10My signature marked it.
03:11The Royal Seal marked it.
03:13Formally acknowledge her.
03:14Let her enter the halls.
03:16Attend pack gatherings.
03:17Gain standing in society.
03:19A female raising a bastard cut alone in Silvermoon?
03:22Survival is too harsh.
03:25Kael's expression faltered at my indifference.
03:27Your military honors were bought with years of blood on the northern border.
03:31Do not waste them on household issues.
03:33How did you convince the King?
03:35The King regards me as his daughter.
03:37I asked as a daughter,
03:38and he granted it.
03:39Of course, the truth was simpler.
03:41I had offered to sever our mating and take the princess's place as bride to the Lord of the Frost.
03:46That was my price.
03:47Now only his signature stood between us and freedom.
03:51Cell's eyes trembled,
03:52moved by my reasonableness.
03:54He stepped forward.
03:56Seeking to kiss me,
03:57I pushed him away.
03:58From my drawer,
03:59I withdrew the prepared family property inventory.
04:02Your signature is required to formally transfer management to Seraphithine.
04:06Eager to please Seraphine,
04:08he signed and sealed without hesitation.
04:10Never noticing that buried in the stack of documents lay the mating bond dissolution agreement.
04:15I had hidden from him.
04:17Ansi signed.
04:18Once it was delivered to the moon bloom altar.
04:20On the next full moon when the moon goddess's consent arrived,
04:23he and I would be north and south never to meet again.
04:26Twenty days until the moon severing right,
04:29I secured Kael's signed documents and went to the palace.
04:32The Luna Queen received me very soon.
04:34With this severance scroll,
04:36the alpha king can arrange the moon severing right for the next full moon in twenty days.
04:40You...
04:41The Luna Queen hesitated.
04:43Lyra, there is something I think you should know.
04:46The moon bloom priest discovered large quantities of frost moon grass toxin
04:50in the calming tea samples you sent last month.
04:53This poison is extracted from the northern wastelands,
04:55colorless and tasteless,
04:56extremely cold in nature.
04:58If a she-wolf consumes it long term,
05:01she will be barren for life.
05:03The words fell softly.
05:05My mind went white.
05:07Frost moon grass toxin,
05:08a forbidden substance only the North Legion could access.
05:12In that calming tea,
05:13Kael had prepared it himself after every border return.
05:16I had drunk it for three full years.
05:19Thirty-six moon cycles.
05:21How many tears had I shed?
05:22Believing myself barren,
05:24unable to give Kael an heir,
05:26unable to make him a father.
05:28Yet Kael had said it mattered not.
05:30When elders urged him to seek other females for bloodline continuation,
05:34I will only raise young with the one I love,
05:36and I will touch no other she-wolves.
05:38I had wept at his devotion,
05:40believing I was that love.
05:42Now I saw myself the complete fool.
05:44The one he wished to raise young with was not me.
05:47I was of the other she-wolves.
05:49Tears finally spilled.
05:51Unstoppable.
05:51So this was his sworn devotion.
05:53This was the mate I had loved for three years.
05:56I rushed back to the estate,
05:58desperate to confront him.
06:00The sitting room was empty.
06:02The study was empty.
06:03Then they must be in the East Wing.
06:04The East Wing maids could not stop my fury.
06:07I burst through the door.
06:08Seraphine's musk scent engulfed me,
06:10but the room was empty.
06:12The master accompanies Madam Seraphine
06:14on inspection of family holdings.
06:16Rage seized me.
06:17I grabbed every document on her desk
06:19to tear them apart.
06:20Then I saw it.
06:21My moon, my blood, my only,
06:24counting the days until I need not share your shadow.
06:27Every word burned with the heat of faded mates
06:29from sale to Seraphine.
06:31From number one,
06:32the first day I miss you,
06:34to number 523.
06:36My heart flies to thee.
06:37Three years of marriage.
06:39523 letters.
06:41Messengers could scarcely have rested,
06:43delivering daily.
06:44Every day they corresponded in secret.
06:46Even on nights I believed he belonged only to me.
06:49Only raise young with the one I love.
06:51I whispered his words and I knew.
06:53This love he had performed for three years.
06:56All of it illusion.
06:57Fortunately, the moon bloom tree would sever our bond in 20 days.
07:02End Kale's formal acknowledgement ceremony for Seraphine.
07:05That same day.
07:0610 days until the moon severing rite.
07:09Kale's return to Silvermoon grew later and later.
07:12Mira told me he spent these days taking Seraphine everywhere.
07:16Pack gatherings from the Alpha King's moon hunt ceremonies
07:19to the seven clans rotating blood oath banquets.
07:22Even the border military councils.
07:24Restricted to North Legion officers and Silvermoon officials.
07:28Sale found ways to seat Seraphine among the observers.
07:31I knew what he was doing.
07:33Fastest way to establish her as future matriarch of Ironclaw.
07:37Every step climbed over my spine.
07:39But I did not care.
07:40I continued performing my duties as Ironclaw's current matriarch.
07:44Including visiting Kale's grandmother at her estate.
07:47The moment I entered, I saw Seraphine kneeling beside the old woman's lounge chair.
07:52Hands folded, the picture of obedience.
07:55Kale stood behind her, palm resting on her shoulder.
07:58Fingers buried in her loose red hair.
08:00The grandmother's clouded amber eyes sharpened at my presence.
08:04You still have the face to come here?
08:06Three years mated to Kale and your belly remains empty.
08:09You wouldn't even let him seek other she-wolves to continue the bloodline.
08:16If not for Seraphine's sensibility,
08:18offering to enter the house and bear Ironclaw's heir,
08:22Kale's line would have ended with you.
08:24This useless, barren she-wolf.
08:26My posture froze.
08:28I looked at Kale.
08:29He only turned away.
08:30His gaze fixed on the dancing flames in the hearth.
08:32Not once did he speak to me.
08:34This was not the first time his grandmother had tormented me over the topic of bearing young.
08:38But it was the first time he had not stood by my side.
08:41I remained silent for a long moment.
08:44Then, empty of grief or rage, it is my failing.
08:47There, there, grandmother, don't be angry.
08:50Even if Sister Lyra cannot bear young,
08:52you should calm yourself.
08:54For Kale's sake.
08:56And for your own health's sake.
09:00I lowered my eyes, hiding bitterness,
09:03and seated myself farthest from them.
09:05Soon made-served grilled meat.
09:06The traditional morning meal of wolf nobility.
09:09I reached with silver fork for a cut of tenderloin
09:12when Kale's furious voice cracked like a whip.
09:14Who prepared silverberry sauce?
09:1620 strips, now!
09:18I looked at Kale instinctively.
09:20Three years mated, and Kale was famous for one thing.
09:23At a moon hunt banquet,
09:24he had publicly smashed his plate,
09:26removing every dish containing silverberries.
09:29Because I was allergic.
09:31The berry swelled my throat,
09:32stripped my human form,
09:33left me vulnerable in half-wolf shape before the pack.
09:36For this, Kale became the perfect mate
09:39in every she-wolf's eyes.
09:40See how Ironclaw's master loves his wife,
09:43the trouble he takes for her.
09:44I opened my mouth to plead for the maids when I heard,
09:47Remember this well.
09:49Serafina cannot consume anything related to silverberries.
09:51If I see you forget again,
09:53I'll throw you into the northern mines
09:55to feed the snow wolves.
09:56...every fragment of my pride.
09:58So, this rare proof that he cared for me,
10:01also an illusion.
10:04Five days until the moon-severing rite,
10:07the Luna Queen invited females of all clans
10:09to the Moonbloom Garden for pre-ceremony blessings.
10:12Sale had prepared the carriage early.
10:14The Ironclaw crest,
10:16Iron Wolf on cold silver,
10:17gleamed through morning mist.
10:19I reached for his hands instinctively,
10:21but he stepped back.
10:22The carriage is crowded.
10:23Inconvenient.
10:24I froze.
10:25Lyra, it truly is cramped.
10:28You'll have to take the rear carriage, I'm afraid.
10:30I laughed quietly, understanding.
10:32Inconvenient.
10:33Not the space, me.
10:34I would crowd his true love.
10:36I climbed the rear carriage alone.
10:38When I got off the rear carriage,
10:40I came to the cluster of weighing looks from clan females.
10:43Pity, mockery, rare sparks of sympathy.
10:46Serafina proudly made her formal debut before the Luna Queen.
10:49It went poorly, the Luna Queen's face iced,
10:52she demanded Kale.
10:53I am the Luna Queen appointed by the Moongoss' own oracle
10:56to wed the Alpha King.
10:57I invited clan dignitaries and their goddess-blessed mates.
11:01You dare to bring a Paranor today?
11:05Do you mean to strike my face?
11:08Kale dragged the trembling Seraphine down,
11:11not a curtsy,
11:12but the four-limbed submission posture of wolves showing fealty.
11:15Your grace, Seraphine is my mate.
11:18We love truly.
11:20She is no Parazor.
11:21The Luna Queen laughed coldly, fangs glinting.
11:24Unblessed by the moon,
11:25she is no mate.
11:27Ask those gathered,
11:28who sense bond marks between you?
11:31Forget not.
11:32You stood beneath the moon-bloom tree and swore to Lyra.
11:36This one before you is unbonded.
11:38She can only be the Paraman.
11:40Females of all houses spoke.
11:42The Queen speaks truth.
11:45What love, what truth!
11:47What love!
11:48Without mating reach,
11:50she is outsider.
11:51Indeed,
11:52Kale was called the model of fated devotion.
11:54I see now,
11:55all falsehood.
11:56Kale's face flushed crimson.
11:58He fled with Seraphine,
12:00disgraced.
12:01After the ceremony,
12:02the Luna Queen showered me with gifts.
12:04Moonstone charms,
12:06silverberry preserves,
12:07northern furs for warmth,
12:08comfort,
12:09perhaps,
12:09or pity.
12:10The morning after our return to Ironclaw state,
12:13Meera fumed at me.
12:14Seraphine's people seized half the Queen's gifts.
12:17Best she ate it all,
12:18silverberries included.
12:19Let her be allergic,
12:20swell,
12:21and suffer.
12:21I watched Meera's indignation
12:23and gently patted her hand.
12:25She is not worth the charge of attempted murder.
12:28I went to the East Wing
12:29to fulfill my obligation of notice.
12:31My hand rose to knock.
12:32Then I heard Seraphine's weeping voice within.
12:35Kale,
12:36you swore to take me as true mate
12:37beneath the moonbloom tree.
12:40Why must I remain nameless,
12:43unacknowledged?
12:44Kale sighed,
12:45that tone I had never heard from him,
12:47soft as melting snow.
12:49Whatever outsiders say,
12:50within Ironclone you are my mate.
12:54Always.
12:54Seraphine pressed on.
12:56Then Lyra,
12:57three years mated,
12:58did you ever love her?
13:00I held my breath.
13:01Nails bit crescents into my palm,
13:03drawing blood.
13:05Kale was silent.
13:06Seraphine,
13:07I love you.
13:08Only you.
13:09Years ago,
13:10I arranged Lyba's drunkenness
13:12and my mating with her
13:12to establish myself in Silvermoon.
13:14To bring you both here,
13:16do not be angry.
13:17I drugged her for our future.
13:20Without that knight,
13:21how would I have caught the king's eye?
13:23Become North Legion commander
13:25in three short years?
13:27My raised hand fell limp.
13:29The wolf tooth bracelet on my wrist
13:31struck the door ring.
13:32A sharp cry.
13:33Who is outside?
13:35Kale threw the door open,
13:37met my burning eyes.
13:38L-
13:39Lyra.
13:40I forced a hideous smile.
13:42The queen's gifts Seraphine took
13:44included silver berries.
13:46I came to warn her not to consume them.
13:48Sel reached for my hand,
13:49blocking my departure.
13:50Lyra,
13:51listen to me.
13:51A pained wail cut him short from within.
13:54A maid's voice rose.
13:55Master!
13:56Madam Seraphine feels unwell.
13:58Please attend her.
13:59His hand withdrew.
14:01I turned and left without looking back.
14:03One more second
14:04and I would have lost control.
14:06The wine would have escaped.
14:07My half-wolf phone would have shown my shame.
14:10I bit down until blood filled my mouth.
14:12Eyes crimson,
14:13even walking away.
14:14I felt Kale's panic.
14:16Burning gaze on my spine.
14:17Kale,
14:18you disgust me.
14:19To the core.
14:20All these years,
14:20I blamed myself for that impulsive night.
14:23Believed I had forced you into marriage.
14:25Now I learned I was your ladder to power.
14:27Your tool to claim Alpha King's attention.
14:30Your key to unlock my late father's
14:32Northern Legion connections.
14:33Three years of marriage I had cherished.
14:36Every moment,
14:37deception.
14:37Three days until the moon-severing rite.
14:40Late that night,
14:40a drunken Kale pushed open my door.
14:43I sat up,
14:44pulling the quilt to cover my thin nightgown.
14:46Who permitted you entry?
14:48Kale pressed me down into the bedding.
14:50His face buried in my neck,
14:51his voice rough with irritation.
14:53You are my mate,
14:55blessed beneath the moonbloom tree.
14:57We are fated pair.
14:59Why may I not come?
15:00He tried to kiss my jaw.
15:02I turned away,
15:03calling loudly for Mere.
15:04Mera!
15:04He is drunk.
15:06Arrange for him to be escorted to his own chamber.
15:08Kale braced himself on one arm.
15:10The other forcing me to face him.
15:12I saw the flush drain from his face.
15:14Who says I wish to return to that chamber?
15:16Then deliver the master to Seraphina's east wing.
15:19Sail flung himself from the bed,
15:21standing to glare at me in fury.
15:24Lyra,
15:25have you lost your mind?
15:26You would send me to another she-wolf's quarter?
15:29Do you even regard me as mate?
15:31I pulled at the corner of my mouth.
15:33Do you ever regard me as mate?
15:36Lyra,
15:36I know granting Seraphina title displeases you.
15:39I only,
15:39I only wish to give you a young.
15:42Give me a young?
15:44So Seraphine is avatar of the fertility goddess?
15:47Thanks to her blessing,
15:49I who never conceived may now bear fruit?
15:51Or perhaps she is a miracle healer,
15:54able to purge three years of frost moon grass toxin from my blood?
15:57The drugging laid bare in mockery.
15:59Kale froze,
16:00reaching as if to grasp me.
16:02Lyra,
16:02I-
16:03Master!
16:04Madam Seraphine feels unwell.
16:05Please attend her!
16:07A maid's voice cut through from beyond the door.
16:09Sail loosened his hand,
16:11standing silent.
16:12Go.
16:13I lowered the bed curtains,
16:15separating myself from him.
16:16Cell did not move.
16:17He only watched me for a long while.
16:20The voice outside continued.
16:21Master!
16:22Master!
16:23Cell finally turned.
16:24As he left,
16:25Do not dwell on it.
16:26I will still treat you well.
16:28Liars speak devotion so easily,
16:31performing depth for whom to witness.
16:33Disgusting.
16:34The following days,
16:35I had Mira inventory all my personal property.
16:38I would take nothing belonging to Ironclaw,
16:40leave nothing of myself behind.
16:42If we do, Munister,
16:43we sever it clean.
16:44Three hours until the moon severing right.
16:47The estate was hung with silver,
16:49white silk,
16:50and moonbloom branches,
16:51decorations reserved for true mating ceremonies.
16:54Seraphine had insisted.
16:56Seal had granted it.
16:57Mira entered,
16:58interrupting my gaze through the window.
17:00Madam,
17:01all your personal assets have been inventurated and packed.
17:04She helped me remove the Ironclaw-crested cloak before the mirror,
17:07dressing me in gowns from my maiden days.
17:09Beautiful.
17:10You look as you did then.
17:12The door opened.
17:13Sail stood in mating rights attire,
17:15a groom's finery.
17:17Yet his face carried something like sorrow.
17:20Soon I go to swear with Seraphine beneath the moonbloom tree.
17:24Have you nothing to say to me?
17:26May your bond hold firm.
17:28May you bear many young.
17:30Kale's eyes dimmed after silence.
17:32Rest assured,
17:34I will still treat you well.
17:35I said nothing.
17:36Rose pushed past him toward the door.
17:38Kale,
17:39I never wanted your charity,
17:41especially not built on lies.
17:43Three hours until Alpha King's envoy arrives.
17:46The incense of the moonbloom herb filled the estate purification for ritual space.
17:51One hour until the moon-severing rite.
17:53I stood in the main hall.
17:55Pity,
17:56mockery,
17:56schadenfreude.
17:57I smiled at them all.
17:58Thirty minutes until the moon-severing rite.
18:01Kale took Seraphine's hand.
18:03The pair advanced toward the temporary altar in the estate gardens,
18:07surrounded by guests.
18:09He paused passing me,
18:10eyes holding something I did not understand,
18:13would not understand.
18:14I only watched coldly as the pair prepared their vows.
18:17Swear to the moon goddess.
18:19Swear to the pack.
18:20Swear to...
18:21Decree from the Alpha King.
18:23Silver,
18:24armored guards burst through,
18:25escorting moonbloom priest Eldrin in moon white ritual robes.
18:30Moonbloom priest Eldrin spoke calmly.
18:33I trust my arrival does not interrupt your...
18:36celebration?
18:39Priest,
18:40you jest.
18:41What business brings the Alpha King's decree?
18:45Today is Kale's joyous occasion.
18:47The king surely brings honors.
18:50Obvious,
18:51is it not?
18:52The king himself approved this second mate.
18:54He comes to add blessing.
18:56Ah,
18:57but if so,
18:58Lady Lyra will be thoroughly shamed.
19:00First the king's approval for Seraphine,
19:02now wedding day honors.
19:04She'll have no standing left in Silvermoon nobility.
19:07Lyra might hear.
19:08I felt their pity,
19:09mocking eyes.
19:10My face remained serene.
19:12I stepped before Eldrin,
19:13kneeling to receive the decree,
19:15then was roughly pulled aside.
19:17Kale's grandmother surged forward,
19:19fawning smile for Eldrin,
19:20venomous glare for me.
19:22Move aside!
19:24This must be the king's blessing for Kale and Seraphine.
19:26Do not disgrace us here!
19:27Her whisper carried.
19:29Kale's face darkened.
19:30He reached for me.
19:31I evaded.
19:32Grandmother,
19:33Lyra is my first mate.
19:34How could she disgrace us?
19:35Such words shame me.
19:36Whatever comes,
19:37Lyra remains Ironclaw's first lady.
19:39Shock rippled through the hall,
19:40especially Seraphine.
19:41What do you mean?
19:43You said I was the mate you wanted.
19:46Lyra was only a convenience.
19:48Guests beyond heard clearly.
19:50What?
19:50I misheard.
19:51Kale never loved Lady Lyra.
19:53Only the parasite.
19:54This is ridiculous.
19:56Seraphine flung her bouquet to the floor.
19:58Lyra, hear me well.
20:00Kale never loved you.
20:02Never.
20:02He married you from necessity.
20:05Even your mating night,
20:06he spent it writing to me.
20:08Silence!
20:11Limah, listen.
20:12I can explain.
20:13She is mad.
20:15Her words are false.
20:16I love you.
20:17I truly love you.
20:18I looked at his face
20:19and felt only irony.
20:20Three years married.
20:21Three years I loved him truly.
20:24In return,
20:24five twenty-three nights
20:26of secret letters.
20:27Poison in my tea
20:28made barren
20:29before his grandmother's contempt.
20:31Now I woke.
20:32Now I chose not to love.
20:34Yet he spoke of love.
20:35I laughed, ironic,
20:37absolute, belated devotion.
20:39How cheap.
20:40I smoothed my disheveled hair,
20:41knelt slow and certain
20:42before Eldrin.
20:43Priest,
20:44read the decree.
20:46Eldrin nodded,
20:47opening the moonstone casket,
20:49withdrawing the gold-sealed scroll.
20:51All knelt to hear.
20:52Only Kale remained frozen,
20:54standing.
20:54Some foreboding gripped him,
20:56as though something precious
20:57would slip away.
20:59Wait!
20:59Kale's voice cut through.
21:01All turned to stare-shock confusion.
21:03His grandmother seized
21:05his ritual garment,
21:06whispering urgently,
21:07Whatever it is,
21:08wait until the priest finishes.
21:10Kale opened his mouth,
21:12met Eldrin's displeased gaze.
21:13Kale,
21:14you repeatedly interrupt
21:15Alpha King's decree.
21:17Do you question
21:18the king's proxy
21:19of the moon goddess's will?
21:21The threat woke him.
21:22He knelt silent.
21:23Eldrin cleared his throat,
21:25unrolled the gold-sealed scroll.
21:26By the moon goddess's name,
21:28the Alpha King decrees.
21:29The king's ward,
21:30Lyra Silverstone,
21:31and Kale Ironclect's
21:32moonbloom-blessed bond
21:33is formally severed
21:34at the consent
21:35of the moon goddess.
21:36Henceforth,
21:37each may wed where they will.
21:41So ends the decree.
21:43Eldrin's voice fell.
21:45Kale and his grandmother
21:46cried out together.
21:47Priest, have you misread?
21:49How could the king
21:50permit Lyra
21:51to sever our moon bonding?
21:53This must be error.
21:54His grandmother followed.
21:55Lyra is Kale's mate,
21:56blessed beneath the moonbloom tree.
21:58How can separates
21:59be so casual?
22:00Eldrin ignored them.
22:01Congratulations,
22:02Miss Lyra.
22:03You may return home today.
22:06I received the gold-sealed scroll
22:08with both hands,
22:09my truest smile in days.
22:12Priest Eldrin,
22:13my thanks.
22:14Eldrin sighed,
22:15his gaze fond.
22:16No need.
22:16I watched you grow
22:17from cub, child.
22:19The king grieves
22:20for you too.
22:21Then all remembered
22:22who I was.
22:23Beyond Kale Ironclaw's
22:25first mate,
22:26I was Silverstone's daughter,
22:27only child of the late
22:28North Legion commander.
22:30When my parents fell,
22:31the Alpha King
22:32and Luna Queen
22:33raised me among their own.
22:34Before marriage,
22:35few noble females,
22:36but the princesses
22:37in Silvermoon ranked above me,
22:39married to Kale.
22:40His careful construction
22:41made my first attribute
22:43Kale Ironclaw's wife,
22:44erasing my old fame
22:46as the Pearl of Silvermoon.
22:47Eldrin departed soon after,
22:49the festive estate fell silent.
22:51Guests exchanged glances,
22:53then withdrew as one.
22:54The royal carriage arrived,
22:55with twenty moon guards
22:57to transport my belongings.
22:59As I left,
23:00Kale seized my sleeve.
23:02Lyah,
23:04did you petition the king
23:06for this severance?
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