Minnie

When we reached a grand room, he pushed me down into a chair and leaned over me, his breath hot on my face. "You will tell me everything," he demanded.

I took a deep breath, deciding to play along. "I'm not lying. I was blind before, but not anymore," I said with as much confidence as I could muster. "I saw how you all treated me, and I decided to change."

His eyes searched mine, looking for any signs of deceit. But all he would find was the truth. "How?" he asked, his voice low and gruff.

"I...I don't know," I replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "It just happened."

He stood back, his jaw clenched. "You expect me to believe that?"

I nodded, hoping my bravado would be enough to convince him. "Yes," I said firmly. "I am not a blind, helpless Luna anymore."

"Yes, but you are still useless to me without a wolf." I swallowed back my response when I heard his words.

The room was silent for a moment, and I could feel the tension in the air. Then, without warning, Kearn leaned in and kissed me, hard and possessive. It took me by surprise, and I felt a jolt of something I didn't understand.

When he pulled away, his eyes searched mine again. "I told you before, Lianna," he murmured, "you can't be Luna. But you'll make a good slave. That, or be killed for lying."

My heart was racing as he released me and walked out of the room, leaving me to contemplate his words. A slave? What could that mean?

That I would be under his command and under his watch, unable to leave. How could I escape like that?

Besides, going from being Luna to becoming a slave was absolutely devastating even though it wasn't my story. It made my insides twist with betrayal as I thought about it.

The dungeon’s chill still crawled through my skin even in the grand room. I wrapped my arms around myself to warm myself. The stones under my bare feet were cold, but I could barely notice them since all I could think of was the fire in my chest.

Alpha Kearn had kissed me as a way to prove that he owned me. Maybe not me exactly, but the real Lianna. But it was still degrading. He had forced his claim the way he forced everything else on the poor woman, through power and through control. That realization burnt through me because it reminded me of what the book said, that Lianna Pyrn had been nothing but a toy to him. A blind Luna, mocked by her Alpha and replaced with her own sister.

But I wasn’t Lianna. I was Minnie Stars. And if he thought I would cower, he had another thing coming.

I touched my lips, hating the faint tremor in my hand. I hated that my heart had betrayed me by racing. This wasn't an attraction, I told myself firmly. It was fear, anger and shock. Nothing more.

The guards outside the room muttered under their breaths, their gazes flicking in through the doorway like they were looking at a ghost. Maybe I was one to them. Lianna had risen from the dead, after all.

"Slave," I whispered the word to myself, testing how it felt. It sat bitter on my tongue. A downgrade from Luna, a life chained to his command. This was hell. I wondered how Lianna herself would have felt.

I leaned back against the chair, my mind racing. If I couldn’t leave yet, then I would play this game on my own terms. They thought I was a weak, blind Luna who had stumbled back from death. But I wasn’t. I was a chess player, and the board was mine now.

And as long as I breathed, I had time to plan.

The door banged open, so loud the walls seemed to shake. I looked up, and my breath caught when I saw who entered. The infamous Vienna.

She was as flawless as I remembered from the story. Her skin glowed like she had been kissed by sunlight, her hair flowed in soft waves down her back, and her gown clung perfectly to her figure. She was every inch the woman men turned their heads for. But her piercing blue eyes burned with the cunningness and evil I read in the book the moment they landed on me.

"You’re supposed to be dead, sister," she spat, her voice sharp enough to cut through skin.

I pushed myself to my feet. My heart pounded, but I folded my arms like I didn’t care. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m still breathing. I didn't expect you would be glad about that."

For a second, she looked like I’d slapped her. The Lianna she knew had been quiet, weak, and blind. But I wasn’t her. Not anymore.

Vienna’s lips curled into a cruel smile. "And you have regained your eyesight, I see."

"Why?" I scoffed. "Did you wish for me to keep being blind so you could continue to treat me like shit?"

Her eyes widened, her lips parted in shock. "How dare you? You don’t even know your place. I know you’ve always been pathetic, but now you dare come back from the grave just to embarrass me?"

I tilted my head, meeting her glare with one of my own. "What is my place, Vienna? I'm sure it's definitely not beside the Alpha. All you'll ever be is his toy to be played with in bed."

She raised her arm to smack my face but I was faster. My grip around her wrists caused her to squeal.

"I'm letting this disrespect off this time. But let me give you a warning. Try me again, Vienna, and you’ll regret it."

Her eyes widened. Her hand trembled at her side like she couldn’t decide between slapping me or clawing my face. "You—you threaten me?"

"Take it however you want, twin sister."

Her breath came in sharp gasps, her cheeks burning red. "You little—"

The heavy sound of boots on stone silenced her. Alpha Kearn walked in, his broad frame filling the doorway like a dark cloud swallowing light. His cold gaze swept the room, resting first on Vienna, then on me.

"What’s happening here?" His voice was calm, but it rolled through the air like thunder.