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