Years passed, but the stain of her birth never faded.

Aurelia grew among the shadows never quite invisible, but never allowed to be seen. The servants of the Gravemire Keep knew better than to show her kindness. Those who tried were swiftly reassigned or punished. The message was always clear: she was not to be favored.

By the time she was six, she could scrub floors until her knuckles bled, carry firewood twice her weight, and keep her gaze down no matter who walked past.

But even obedience couldn’t shield her.

Not when the Alpha’s new Luna, Lady Isabelle, made her mission painfully clear.

“She walks like her mother,” Isabelle would sneer.

“She looks like a Virelsa. That’s the problem.”

“No… she looks like something pretending to be one.”

The court’s children parroted their parents’ hate.

They yanked Aurelia’s hair as she walked past. Stole her food. Pushed her into wells and thorns and blamed her for their bruises. School wasn't easy for her either.

But Tricia didn’t. Tricia? She stood by her and used her power as Beta's daughter to defend her when she could.

Tricia was the Beta’s daughter round-faced, warm-eyed, with a mouth too sharp for her own good.

She found Aurelia curled up behind the stables one winter evening, skin cracked from the cold.

“You’re bleeding,” Tricia said, crouching beside her.

“I fell,” Aurelia mumbled.

“Liar.”

Then Tricia had thrown a coat around her and handed her a chunk of stolen bread. “I don’t care what they say. You don’t smell cursed. You smell like ash and burnt sugar.”

Aurelia blinked at her. “That’s… not a good thing.”

Tricia grinned. “Better than horse piss.”

It was the first time Aurelia laughed.

Life didn’t get easier, but it became survivable with Tricia.

They shared food behind the kitchens and whispered stories late into the night while scrubbing pots. Tricia taught her how to climb onto the roof without getting caught. Aurelia taught her how to sew wounds without being scared.

But even friendship couldn’t protect her from the Virelsa heirs.

Especially Kaelen.

The Alpha’s firstborn son. Taller than the others. Quieter. Smarter. Crueler.

His stare felt like a hand wrapping around her throat.

Aurelia pretended not to notice, until one afternoon, as she cleaned the floor outside the war council chamber, a shadow fell over her.

She didn’t look up. “I’m nearly done, my Lord.”

His voice was low. Too close. “Do you remember your mother?”

She froze.

“I remember her face,” he murmured. “So soft. So defiant. I wonder if you’ll grow into it.”

“I was only six years old but I always loved how kind she was to me. I could feel myself react to her scent and touch. And you remind me so much of her.”

Aurelia forced herself not to move. Not to cry.

He knelt beside her, trailing a finger through her hair. “You’ll always belong to this pack. And to me.” He yanked her face closer to his and then put his lips on hers as he forced his tongue into her mouth.

“What are you doing, she exclaimed as she pushed him.”

Pah. Aurelia received a solid slap to her face.

“I've been so patient with you. Waiting for you to grow some titties and mature a little.” He said caressing her not so big titties with one hand while the other was on her head.

“You turn me on so much..” he whispered. And then he pushed her as he got up.

Aurelia had been holding her breath all along and then she let out a huge sigh. She wasn't going to cry but her eyes betrayed her.

She couldn't believe what has just happened.

From then on, he became a presence in her nightmares.

He didn’t touch her again. Not yet. But he was always there. In the corners of rooms. Lingering in doorways. His eyes never blinking.

He would even come in and jerk off while watching her undress or take a bath.

But the enemy she didn’t expect came in the form of someone even worse.

Esmira.

Her step sister who was two years older.

At thirteen, Esmira would derive pleasure from slapping Aurelia just because she didn't want to accept how pretty she was. She always called her pretty, “pretty in a wild sort of way.”

But she didn’t smile with her eyes either.

And one evening, after a celebration feast, she cornered Aurelia behind the greenhouse walls, where the fireflies blinked like tiny dying stars.

“You smell like him,” Esmira whispered, brushing Aurelia’s hair back from her cheek.

“Who?”

“Kaelen. I’ve seen him watch you. It drives me mad.”

Aurelia’s back hit the stone. “I need to….”

Esmira’s lips brushed hers, sharp and wet. “Don’t you want someone to want you, Aurelia? You’re already broken. Let me make you mine before Kaelen does.”

Aurelia shoved her back and ran.

But Esmira only laughed after her. “You can’t run forever. You’re in our house.”

The nightmares got worse after that.

Waking up gasping. Hearing footsteps that weren’t there. Feeling hands on her even when she was alone.

She kept her eyes down. Kept working. Kept her voice quiet.

But inside her, something started to crack.