00:00Kale, how I want to sever the mate for you to.
00:04Since she has returned, this bond was always meant to be hers.
00:08I am giving it back.
00:10Kale's eyes widened, staring at me undisputed.
00:14My sister fled on the day of her bonding ceremony.
00:18I was forced to marry the Lycan king, known for his brutality.
00:24Six years later, she returned.
00:27Still as bold and brazen as ever, she pressed a crimson kiss against Kale's cholerite,
00:35in front of the entire council of elders.
00:38Kale went rigid.
00:40Then she turned to me, her eyes gleaming with mockery.
00:46Little sister, thank you for keeping my throne warm all these years.
00:52Now that I'm back, it's time you gave me back my place as Luna Queen.
00:59Silence swallowed the whore.
01:02Everyone remembered what happened when she ran away.
01:06Kale had nearly slaughtered half-arrival territory in his rage.
01:10So now, I wondered too.
01:14Would this unpredictable, brutal king lose his mind for her once again?
01:23Kale stripped off the road bearing her lipstick mark.
01:26I said nothing.
01:28Only gathered the wool blanket I had used for six years,
01:32and turned toward the side chamber.
01:35Kale blocked my path.
01:37Where are you going?
01:41I paused.
01:43Thinking that after six years of sharing my bed,
01:46he was simply attached to the blanket.
01:49I laid it gently back on the edge of the mattress.
01:54Don't worry, my king.
01:55I remember our agreement.
01:59I never dared to dream of replacing my sister.
02:03I kept my voice steady,
02:05but it still came out rough.
02:08Since she's back,
02:10the position of Luna Queen should be returned to her.
02:15We had agreed on this six years ago.
02:18But saying it aloud still felt like a needle piercing my heart.
02:24Don't worry, I will keep my limits.
02:27Don't worry, I will keep my limits.
02:28And never appear before you again.
02:30And never appear before you again.
02:34Six years ago,
02:36after crushing the rival paths,
02:38Kale returned victorious.
02:42His first act was to petition the Council of Elders
02:46to arrange a bonding ceremony with my sister, Elara.
02:51But on the day of the ceremony,
02:53she fled.
02:54She ran off with a rogue wolf.
02:57Father panicked.
02:58That night,
02:59he sent me to the altar in her place.
03:01On our wedding night,
03:04Kale was devastated.
03:06To preserve the pack's dignity,
03:08he drank himself into oblivion
03:10and completed the bond with me.
03:13Elara.
03:14Elara.
03:18I could only respond to him by crying.
03:21For six years,
03:23I gave everything.
03:25The title of Luna Queen looked glorious.
03:30But I walked on shattered glass.
03:33While Elara wandered the world without a care,
03:37I navigated pack politics,
03:39managed the great families,
03:41and took arrows meant for him in the dark.
03:45His enemies once captured me
03:47to learn his whereabouts.
03:49They tortured me with silver chains.
03:52I never spoke a word.
03:58Tell me where he is,
03:59and I will let you go.
04:00I gritted my teeth,
04:02and persevered.
04:08I don't know where he is.
04:10Liar!
04:11You are his.
04:12Luna!
04:14He tightened the silver chain.
04:17I screamed in pain,
04:19and desperately tried to call Kale through the link.
04:21But he didn't respond to me not once.
04:25I crawled back to the pack hall with broken ribs
04:29and third-degree burns on my wrists.
04:33Kale was in the war room.
04:35I waited outside his door for three hours.
04:39Finally,
04:40he walked out of the war room
04:42and caught sight of me,
04:43covered in wounds.
04:46He walked right past me.
04:48He didn't ask where I'd been,
04:50didn't notice the burns.
04:52I told myself he was busy,
04:55that he had a pack to run.
04:57Three years ago,
04:58a rival pack launched a night assault.
05:01That night,
05:02I didn't know I was eight weeks pregnant.
05:05I fought with the guards
05:07until Kale's reinforcements arrived.
05:10Help!
05:11Help!
05:12Someone!
05:13Anyone!
05:16But as pain tore through my abdomen
05:18and I curled on the floor of the side chamber,
05:20bleeding,
05:22every single healer had been summoned away
05:25to the master chamber
05:27to revive a pot of silver-edged lilies.
05:30It was the only thing Alara had left behind.
05:34It was dying,
05:35and Kale had ordered everyone to save it.
05:41Fix it.
05:42whatever it costs.
05:45Please.
05:46My baby.
05:48Please.
05:50Luna.
05:51Luna, I don't know what to do.
05:54The only person with me
05:56was a maid
05:57who knew nothing
05:59of childbirth.
06:00By the time a healer
06:02was dragged through the door,
06:04the bleeding wouldn't stop.
06:06Luna, I am sorry.
06:08I am so sorry.
06:10No.
06:10No, please.
06:11Try.
06:13Just try.
06:15I can't.
06:16The damage is too deep.
06:18The child is already...
06:21The child,
06:23not yet formed,
06:25was gone.
06:26I lay in a pool of blood.
06:28My heart turned to ash.
06:31Seeing my grief,
06:33he visited every sacred altar
06:36in the territory.
06:39He built a shrine for our child
06:42and lit eternal flames.
06:46Before the moon goddess,
06:49he braided strands of our hair
06:51into the wick
06:53of a ritual candle,
06:55swearing to continue the bond
06:57we had never finished.
07:00From that day,
07:02he seized absolute power
07:03over the pack
07:04with ruthless precision,
07:06unstoppable in his rise.
07:09Not long ago,
07:10he had personally
07:12petitioned the council
07:13to bestow their highest
07:15honor upon me.
07:17But before the ink
07:18on that decree had dried,
07:21Elara returned.
07:22As for that place
07:23beyond this month
07:24in Kale's love,
07:26she can take it
07:27if she wants.
07:28I don't want anything of it.
07:30I looked at the ring
07:31on my finger,
07:32slowly removed it,
07:34and tossed it
07:35into the nearby fireplace.
07:39Thinking of the child
07:40who had left
07:41without ever opening
07:42their eyes,
07:43my chest hurt so badly
07:45I could barely breathe.
07:47Kale noticed my expression
07:48and immediately signaled
07:50for Mother to remove Elara.
07:54Then he took my hand.
07:56Isla,
07:57Elara has lived away
07:59for so long.
08:00She doesn't know
08:01the full story.
08:02She has a simple nature
08:03and speaks bluntly.
08:04Don't take it to heart.
08:06I gently withdrew my hand
08:09and lowered my lashes.
08:13My king,
08:14you act strangely today.
08:17You never involve yourself
08:18in disputes
08:19among the pack's women.
08:21Yet the moment
08:22and Elara appears
08:23you change.
08:25Such devotion.
08:29Kale's gaze darkened,
08:31pain flooding his eyes.
08:37Is that truly
08:38what you think of me?
08:40Isla?
08:42You still blame me
08:44for what happened,
08:45don't you?
08:46He thought I blamed him
08:48for not arriving in time.
08:50But that wasn't
08:51what I blamed him for.
08:52It was the night
08:53of the attack.
08:55When Kale returned,
08:57I didn't tend
08:58to my injuries first.
09:00I forced myself
09:01to the master chamber.
09:03I wanted to see
09:04that he was safe.
09:05But he didn't look at me.
09:07He carried the pot
09:09of silver-edged lilies
09:10straight into the inner chamber.
09:12It was the only thing
09:14Elara had left behind.
09:16He summoned every healer
09:18to study how to revive
09:20its dead roots.
09:26I curled on the couch
09:28in the side chamber,
09:29waiting for someone
09:30to treat my cramping stomach.
09:32The lilies sat on the windowsill
09:34of the master chamber,
09:36only a few steps away.
09:41Later,
09:41I learned that the roots
09:43of the silver-edged lily
09:45release a silver-tainted scent
09:47harmful to pregnant women.
09:50I had lain too close that night.
09:53The bleeding became unstoppable.
09:55In that moment,
09:57it felt as though
09:58someone had reached
09:59into my chest
10:00and ripped out my heart.
10:02All those years of sacrifice
10:04became a cruel joke.
10:08The air in the room
10:09grew suffocating.
10:11He stood.
10:15I need air.
10:17But outside the door,
10:19a maid was already waiting.
10:24Miss Elara
10:25has asked to see you,
10:27my king.
10:28She wishes to
10:29catch up.
10:32Their voices
10:34weren't loud,
10:35but the courtyard
10:36was too quiet.
10:38I heard every word.
10:40The door
10:41wasn't fully closed.
10:43I could see
10:44Kale pause,
10:46saying nothing.
10:47His back was to me.
10:49I couldn't see his face,
10:51but I knew he would go.
10:53A man is forever trapped
10:54by what he could never have
10:57in his youth.
10:59Besides,
11:00he had loved her so deeply.
11:02As expected,
11:03he turned back toward the room,
11:06wanting to say something.
11:10but I cut him off first.
11:16My king,
11:18you owe me no explanation.
11:21I had heard too many lies
11:23in my life.
11:25Today,
11:26I was too tired
11:28to listen to whatever
11:29absurd reason
11:30he had fabricated
11:32for Elara.
11:33The distance in my words
11:35hung naked
11:37in the air.
11:38Kale stiffened,
11:40his brows
11:41snapping together.
11:44Isla,
11:45do you hate me so much?
11:48The moment
11:49your sister returns,
11:50you can't wait
11:51to push me away?
11:52His chest heaved,
11:53a storm
11:54raging in his eyes.
11:56He grabbed his robe
11:57and slammed the door
11:59as he left.
12:00How ridiculous.
12:02He was the one
12:03who crossed the line first,
12:05yet now I
12:06was the heartless one.
12:08Tears spilled over
12:10before I could stop them.
12:11I wiped them away fiercely.
12:14Then mother slipped in
12:16and took my hand.
12:19Isla,
12:20I have no eloquence.
12:22I couldn't talk
12:23sentence into your sister,
12:24so I asked the king
12:25to comfort her.
12:26Can you bear with her
12:27a little longer?
12:32She is stubborn,
12:34but kind-hearted.
12:36she will understand
12:38eventually.
12:41I lowered my eyes,
12:44a bitter smile
12:45tugging at my lips.
12:47Kind-hearted,
12:48when she fled
12:49six years ago,
12:51did she ever consider
12:52that a bonding ceremony
12:54is the pack's highest right?
12:56One misstep
12:58and our entire bloodline
13:00would have been destroyed.
13:02I gently pulled my hand free,
13:04my voice dropping like ice.
13:08Mother,
13:09after all these years,
13:10you still indulge her
13:11every whim without question.
13:16In your heart,
13:18was there ever a place for me?
13:24Ilara and I
13:25shared the same mother,
13:26but because I had been
13:27frail since childhood,
13:29I was sent to live
13:31in the countryside.
13:32I was only brought back
13:34the year I came of age.
13:36But Ilara,
13:37who had monopolized
13:39our parents' love,
13:40despised me.
13:42She framed me,
13:44tormented me,
13:45never stopped.
13:47I cried.
13:48I defended myself.
13:51But every time,
13:52father and mother
13:53punished me
13:54without asking
13:54right from wrong.
13:56No matter how clumsy
13:58her excuses,
13:59they believed her
14:00unconditionally.
14:01They even locked me
14:03in the cold cellar
14:04for days.
14:05It wasn't until
14:06Ilara ran away
14:07that they remembered me,
14:08barely breathing
14:10in that cellar.
14:12In truth,
14:13we had only lived together
14:15for half a year.
14:19Isla, in your heart,
14:20is there truly
14:21no affection for me at all?
14:23Pain filled
14:24mother's eyes.
14:26I was stunned.
14:27So the cold distance
14:29we both understood
14:30without words
14:32in their eyes.
14:34It was something
14:35that needed
14:35to be questioned.
14:36Did six years
14:38without Ilara
14:39make everyone forget
14:41that I had only
14:42ever been a replacement,
14:44a spare part
14:46brought in
14:46to fill the gap?
14:48Mother,
14:50please let me go back.
14:51I need to sleep.
14:53I stopped looking
14:54at her.
14:57Dawn broke
14:58and Kale still
14:59had not returned
15:00to the bedchamber.
15:02It gave me
15:03the quiet I needed
15:04to finish drafting
15:05the severance
15:06of our mate Bond.
15:07By the time
15:08the maid came
15:09to call me
15:10for breakfast,
15:11the ink was dry.
15:13I folded
15:14the paper carefully
15:15and slipped it
15:16into my sleeve.
15:18My whole life,
15:19it seemed,
15:20I had lived
15:20for other people,
15:22sent away
15:23as a child,
15:24brought back
15:25when I came
15:26of age,
15:27forced into
15:28a marriage
15:29that was never
15:29meant to be mine.
15:31But once this
15:32document was sealed,
15:34the road ahead
15:35would finally
15:36be my own.
15:37I had barely
15:38stepped into
15:39the front hall
15:40when I saw
15:41Kale seated there,
15:43Ilara beside him,
15:45smiling,
15:46as if she already
15:47owned the room.
15:48isla,
15:50last night I...
15:54He never finished.
15:56Ilara picked up
15:57a honeyed fruit
15:58and pressed it
16:00gently between
16:00his lips.
16:02The sight
16:03burned behind
16:03my eyes.
16:04I have no appetite.
16:06I'll return to
16:06my rooms.
16:08I turned and
16:09left before he
16:10could say
16:10another word.
16:12Whatever he
16:12had meant to say,
16:14I was done
16:15listening.
16:17Isla,
16:18must you
16:18treat me
16:19this way?
16:22My steps
16:23faltered,
16:24but then
16:24Ilara pressed
16:26her handkerchief
16:27to her face
16:27and began
16:28to weep.
16:32Kale,
16:33it's all my fault.
16:34I shouldn't
16:35have come back.
16:36I've made
16:36Isla feel like
16:37I'm trying
16:37to take her place.
16:40If my presence
16:41distresses her,
16:44I'll leave.
16:46I would never
16:47cause trouble
16:48for you both.
16:48Don't speak
16:49nonsense.
16:51No one is
16:52sending you
16:52anywhere.
16:54Kale's voice
16:55was low
16:56and soft
16:57as he comforted
16:58her.
16:59Then,
17:00he turned
17:01to me.
17:02Ilara has
17:03just returned.
17:06I'm holding
17:07a feast
17:07in her honor.
17:08I hope
17:09he'll join us.
17:12Yes,
17:13sister,
17:13do come.
17:14We're family,
17:16after all.
17:17Ilara agreed
17:18in that same
17:18gentle tone.
17:20The sight
17:21stung my eyes.
17:22I didn't answer.
17:24I simply
17:25walked away.
17:26Of course
17:27I would go.
17:28This
17:29was my pack.
17:31I was
17:32the rightful
17:32Lona Queen.
17:34What did
17:34I have to fear?
17:36I returned
17:37to my chamber
17:38and summoned
17:39the most skilled
17:40maid.
17:41High chignon.
17:43Painted forehead
17:44ornament.
17:46Silk robes.
17:47Incense.
17:49Two hours
17:50later,
17:50I entered
17:51the great hall
17:52in a gown
17:53of silver-threaded
17:54gold,
17:55woven with the
17:56wolf crest.
17:57Ilarra,
17:58Ilarra,
17:59lounged at ease
18:00in the same
18:01plain dress
18:02she had arrived
18:03in,
18:04leaning against
18:05our parents
18:05and KL,
18:07laughing freely.
18:11Ilarra blinked
18:13at my attire,
18:14then laughed.
18:16Aya,
18:17it's only
18:17a family
18:18dinner.
18:19Why such
18:20grandeur?
18:21Is your need
18:22to compete
18:22truly so
18:23desperate?
18:25I paused,
18:27my nails
18:27digging into
18:28my palm,
18:28but my face
18:29revealed nothing.
18:31You've lived
18:32in the wilds
18:32too long,
18:33sister.
18:34You may not
18:35understand.
18:37I am the
18:38Luna of this
18:38pack.
18:39Every word,
18:40every gesture
18:41reflects its
18:42honor.
18:42How could I
18:43appear before
18:43guests in
18:44disarray?
18:46You!
18:48Ilarra swayed,
18:50clutching her
18:51chest,
18:51her face
18:52a mask
18:53of wounded
18:54fragility.
18:55You're nothing
18:55but a
18:56replacement!
18:58You stole
19:00my life!
19:02Took
19:03my place!
19:05All of this
19:06was meant
19:07to be mine!
19:09Absurd.
19:10Hadn't she
19:11been the one
19:12to throw
19:12all of this
19:13away!
19:14The hall
19:14fell silent!
19:16I lowered
19:17my eyes,
19:18my voice
19:18barely audible.
19:21Sister,
19:21you speak
19:22such
19:23interesting
19:23words.
19:24What did
19:25I steal?
19:26You were
19:27the one
19:27who found
19:27the throne
19:28too fragile.
19:29You handed
19:29it to me
19:30with both
19:30hands.
19:32You walked
19:32away so
19:33easily,
19:34unwilling
19:35to bear
19:35the burden.
19:36Why should
19:36I have spent
19:37six years
19:38holding your
19:38place?
19:40facing what
19:41you refused
19:42to face?
19:42Kale's voice
19:43cracked like
19:44a whip.
19:45Kyla!
19:48Must you
19:49make your
19:49words so
19:50ugly?
19:50Does
19:51marrying me
19:52fill you
19:52with such
19:52bitterness?
19:55Kale looked
19:56beyond furious.
19:58His eyes
19:58were bloodshot.
20:00Before the
20:01words had
20:01left his
20:02mouth,
20:02his alpha
20:03presence
20:03crashed over
20:04me like an
20:05avalanche.
20:06Gasps rippled
20:08through the
20:08hall.
20:08I didn't
20:09flinch.
20:11If you
20:11mean to
20:12strike,
20:12then strike.
20:14I am
20:14tired.
20:16Kyle!
20:17Ilara threw
20:18her arms
20:19around him.
20:20When he
20:20didn't move,
20:21she pressed
20:22a slow
20:22kiss to
20:23his cheek.
20:24A touch,
20:25then gone.
20:26Last night,
20:27I learned
20:27your true
20:28heart.
20:29I am
20:30content.
20:33If I
20:34have caused
20:34strife between
20:35you, I will
20:36carry the
20:36guilt forever.
20:37What true
20:38heart?
20:40And why
20:41hadn't he
20:41pulled away
20:42from her
20:42kiss?
20:43Could it
20:44be?
20:44My mind
20:45went blank.
20:47I looked
20:47at the
20:48hand he
20:48had settled
20:49against her
20:49waist, and
20:50spoke softly.
20:54Kale, so
20:55you do know
20:55how to be
20:56gentle, just
20:58not with
20:59me.
20:59A crystal
21:00goblet on
21:01the side
21:02table exploded
21:03under the
21:03weight of
21:03his rage,
21:04shards
21:05scattering
21:06across the
21:06marble.
21:07Kale stared
21:08at me, his
21:09own eyes
21:10red, as
21:11if he were
21:11bleeding for
21:12me, or
21:13perhaps for
21:14himself.
21:15Is that
21:16what you
21:16believe?
21:17I stepped
21:17back, and
21:19withdrew the
21:19paper from
21:20my sleeve,
21:21laying it
21:22on the
21:22table.
21:23Kale, I
21:24want to
21:25sever the
21:25mate bond.
21:27Since she
21:28has returned,
21:28this bond was
21:29always meant
21:30to be hers.
21:31I am
21:32giving it
21:32back.
21:33Kale's eyes
21:34widened, staring
21:36at me in
21:36disbelief.
21:37in disbelief.
21:39Kale, I
21:39have
21:39been
21:40to be
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