The rain came down heavily, as if crying with Selene. It had soaked through Selene’s clothes until the fabric clung to her skin.Her boots stiffened in the mud as she walked, her body numb, her cheek still throbbing from Darius’s hand. Each step toward her father’s house felt heavier than the last, but she pushed forward, telling herself that here, at least here, she would not be turned away.

By the time she reached the gates, her hair was in wet strands against her face, and her fingers were stiff with cold. The guards at the door hesitated, whispering, but when they saw her pale face and drenched clothes, they let her pass without a word.

The moment she stepped inside, warmth rushed over her, the crackle of fire filling the silence. But it wasn’t comforting. It was grief.

Her father knelt before a low table, his hands trembling as he lit incense before an offering. Beside him, Selene’s stepmother stood with red eyes, clutching a piece of cloth that had once belonged to Liora.

The sight stopped Selene in her tracks.

She had never seen her father cry. Not once. His eyes, always hard as steel, now glistened with tears that streamed freely down his weathered cheeks. His shoulders shook, his lips pressed tight as if holding back sobs.

“Framed,” he whispered hoarsely, staring at the incense smoke curling upward. “My daughter was framed, the Alpha, he will not even let her be buried.”

His words broke, his voice cracking in ways Selene never thought possible. Her stepmother touched his arm gently, her own face etched with sorrow.

For a brief moment, Selene’s heart softened. Maybe, maybe there was love here. Maybe he did care. Maybe he would understand her pain, take her in, and protect her.

“Father” Her voice trembled as she stepped closer. Water dripped from her cloak onto the polished floor.

His head lifted slowly. His eyes, wet with tears only a moment ago, shifted. Grief hardened into something colder. Anger.

“Why are you here?” His voice was sharp, cutting through the room like a blade.

Selene’s breath caught. She moved closer anyway, wringing her hands together, searching for words. “I, I had nowhere else to go. Darius, he struck me, Father. He called me by her name. He told me she was dead.” Her voice cracked. “I came here hoping you would.” She swallowed hard, fighting the lump in her throat. “I thought you would accept me. That you would”

Her father laughed suddenly, a sound so bitter it chilled her blood. He leaned back, shaking his head. “Accept you?” He laughed again, louder this time, his lips curling into a cruel smile. “I should reward Darius for what he has done.”

Selene blinked, stunned. “Reward him? For hurting me?”

“For reminding you of your place.” His voice harshen, echoing through the hall. “Do you not see? You are paying for your crimes, Selene.”

Her chest tightened. “Crimes?”

He stood, towering over her, his face twisted with rage. “If you had not refused the marriage, it would have been you lying dead in the Alpha’s palace! Your sister” His voice broke for a second before rising again. “Your sister wanted nothing more than to reconcile with you. She begged for peace. And in her kindness, she chose to take your place. That choice cost her life!”

Selene shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “No, Father, that’s not true; I never wanted her to die. I thought.”

“You thought only of yourself!” he snapped, his voice cracking like thunder. “Your foolish love. Your selfish choice. You put your own happiness above your family, and now you want my sympathy?” He stepped closer, his shadow falling over her. “You live because your sister is dead. Do you understand? You owe her your life.”

Her knees felt weak, her breath shallow. She tried to speak, but no sound came.

He turned to the others in the room, his voice ringing with cold finality. “From this day forward, I have no daughter named Selene. She is disowned. If she dares set foot in this house again, I will kill her myself.”

The words cut through her like blades. She stumbled back, the weight of his rejection crashing down. Her tears mixed with the rain still dripping from her clothes as she turned and fled into the night.

The days that followed blurred into weeks, and the weeks into months. Selene returned to Darius’s house, not because she wanted to, but because she had nowhere else to go.

Her father’s words echoed in her mind day after day: “You live because your sister is dead.”

So she let Darius yell at her. She let him beat her when his temper was at its peak. She let him call out Liora’s name when he touched her, her body trembling with shame but her lips silent.

Guilt rooted her to the ground, telling her she deserved this suffering. That every bruise, every tear, was payment for Liora’s life.

But the guilt did not stop the tears that came at night when she lay awake alone.

A year passed this way, hollow and endless. Until one morning, Selene held her stomach, her breath catching as she realized she was late. Days late. Weeks late.

Her trembling fingers pressed against her belly. A child. Her child.

Tears filled her eyes, but for the first time in so long, they weren’t only from pain. A flicker of hope grew inside her. A life. Something new. Something hers.

She whispered to herself, “Maybe, maybe it will be a girl.” She pictured small hands clutching hers, laughter filling the empty halls, a child’s warmth softening Darius’s heart. Maybe this was their chance. Maybe they could start again.

She held onto that hope as tightly as she could.

That night, she prepared dinner carefully, her hands steady even though her heart raced. She lit the candles, set the table, and waited. When Darius walked in, she greeted him with a small smile.

But as always, he didn’t sit with her. He never did. Dinner had become his ritual alone; he ate while she stood, silent, pouring his wine, serving his food, and watching from the side like a servant.

Tonight, though, she gathered her courage.

When his cup was half-empty, she spoke softly. “Darius, I have something to tell you.”

He didn’t look up. “What is it?”

“I, I’m pregnant,” she stammered, but she forced herself to meet his eyes. “I thought, I thought you would want to know.”

At first, silence. Then he set his cup down slowly, his eyes lifting to hers.

But instead of warmth, there was only coldness. His lips curled in a sneer.

“Abort it.”

The words hit her like a slap. She staggered back, shaking her head. “No, Darius, no. This is our child. Please.”

He stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor. His hand struck out, knocking her to the ground. Pain shot up her arm as she hit the floor, her breath stopped for a while as she tried to process what is happening. He stood over her, his eyes burning with fury. “If you don’t, I will end it myself.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Why? Why would you say that?”

“Because I never loved you!” he roared, his voice shaking the walls. “Not once. Do you understand that, Selene? You were nothing but a distraction.”

Her heart cracked, her body trembling. She forced the words out, her voice breaking. “Then why marry me? Why pretend?”

Darius’s face twisted, his voice rising in a bitter snarl. “Because that was the plan! Do you hear me? The plan!” He leaned closer, his words like poison in her ears. “I was already with Liora when I was with you. I was hers, even then.”

Selene froze. Her breath caught. Her heart felt as if it had been torn from her chest.

She could not speak. Could not move.

The man she had loved, the man she had married, the man she had endured so much for, had belonged to Liora all along.

And she was nothing but the fool who had believed in him.

“No, tell me that is a lie”