From then on, my place was here—behind hoods and roughspun linen, cleaning and scrubbing.

“His fate is uncertain” the bone oracle's voice loomed in the ritual chamber.

I covered my hood fully and placed the Moonwater bowl on the fur mat, just in front of the cross-legged Seer.

Sir Kaelen sprang almost immediately to head out.

“Please,” Luna Isolde clutched his wrist with white knuckles. “Son. Do not walk from me. Not before the Seer has spoken.”

Unwillingness was all-over him as he slumped back onto the fur mat.

“Great Seer—hope my Kaelen wouldn't be lost on the battlefield”

The fear was undeniable in her voice, I peeked through my hood, the Bone Oracle's eyes were rolled white, his lips whispering to a world I couldn't see.

“Fear not, Isolde,” he rasped, bones rattling. “The Moon Goddess will grant him victory… but at a cost no Alpha should bear.”

“My poor Son” Luna Isolde choked on a tear.

Despite being his step-mother, Luna Isolde had always prioritized his wellbeing.

Gossips in the maids quarter had it that barely a week after Luna Selene died, Alpha Brannock was compelled into finding a mate.

But then no noble Luna wanted to nurse a curse pup.

Isolde, the shieldmaiden of Luna Selene volunteered willingly, nursing Kaelen until he weaned.

Marvelled by her selfless sacrifice, Alpha Brannock upgraded her status from a shieldmaiden to Luna just a day after Kaelen’s coming of age ceremony.

Strange right? Sometimes I wonder why he waited that long before bestowing her with the status.

“Mother—the ambush is going to escalate” Sir Kaelen’s hoarse voice cut the prophecy impatiently.

Isolde gave his silky hair a stroke before sending him away,

Shadowcrest—a dominant rival pack, had laid ambush on Lycaon’s northern borders last night.

“Do you need a personal invitation?” a presiding aura hit my ear.

Alpha king! My knees buckled and I flattened to the floor, praying he would spare me.

“My Lord” Luna Isolde strode in-between, “Please come forward, the Seer has been waiting”

The Gamma's grabbed me with a savage jerk.

“Do not waste my time. Speak your prophecy.” the Alpha king rumbled faintly as I was yanked down to the dungeon.

It wasn't until midnight did the Gammas flung me back into the hallway like a sack of grain.

My knees scraped stone but I didn't even notice, the weight of my slain braid hurt more.

Luna Isolde had severed it as my punishment, saying;

“The pride you flaunted is no more. Next time wench, I’ll scrape your face.”

I shut my eyes and my tears rolled freely.

Even after Eira snitched on Leoric and me as children, Luna Isolde’s eyes still carried a shadow of tolerance.

But five years later, when whispers slithered through the palace walls that Leoric and I were “seeing each other,” her gaze hardened from tolerance to indifference.

She didn't raise her voice, never openly scolded—her cruelty was colder than that.

Work became her weapon—endless chores, and I was her anvil.

Tasks once shared among five maids were heaped onto my shoulders alone.

By dawn I was scrubbing soot from the hearths, by noon I was hauling water skins twice my size, and by dusk I was bent over the flagstones.

Leoric would sneak into the maid quarters in the wee hours of the morning to console me, disappearing before his mother, the Luna, discovers he's missing.

One unfortunate morning she'd stormed in on us. Hell broke loose.

Leoric wasn't able to stop her from thrashing me in front of the household.

“Morwen—always remember, you are a thrall, a shamed bloodline. Never dream to be noble.” she spat, as the horse whip ripped my skin.

She only stopped when the cursed Alpha emerged from the training field.

He glanced silently at us and walked away.

Eira, of course, made sport of my humiliation.

“Brother's little whore” She mocked, “what makes you think that you can sleep your way to royalty?”

Her laughter rang in the hallways long after she was gone, but I could not answer.

A Thrall has no voice,

Leoric sure did leave tumeric balm and simmering hot ginseng tea at my cabin, a reassurance of his commitment to me.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the maltreatment continued. But Leoric was always there, offering little comfort with his gestures.

On the days I go to bed on an empty stomach, he will lower his own meal to my window. Our bond kept pushing through the Luna's wrath.

Then one evening, Luna Isolde couldn't handle it anymore, she sent me to the male barracks with a bundle of linens to distribute.

I knew it was no task for a maid, but her hollow eyes dismissed me.

After I returned from the barracks with my braid torn loose — apron wrinkled like trampled parchment.

I found myself cornered by Leoric. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing—I just slipped” I lied, but He was no fool,

“Morwen… when did you start lying?" His voice was sharp with rebuke, in a way that made my chest ache.

I whispered the truth of the wolf soldiers’ foul claws, of the way they laughed while I screamed.

Leoric’s fury was swift, he gripped my hand and stormed to his mother, demanding justice in my name.

For one fragile breath, I thought perhaps Luna Isolde would protect my dignity, since Alpha Brannock was present.

But Luna Isolde only sighed, as though Leoric had spoken of spilled milk.

“Morwen is no child. If she suffered so, why did she not come to me? Silence is consent. Perhaps she enjoyed their touch.”

Her words that day did carve away the last shred of dignity I clung to.

I bowed lower, while Leoric stood speechless — his outrage crushed beneath his mother’s cold decree.

“Father!...your soldiers did that” he turned to Alpha Brannock for justice.

But not a word of defense. His silence told us all we needed to know — it was no accident.

At the end of it all, Leoric’s departure was the price tag for my justice.

With Alpha Brannock as a witness, Leoric accepted Luna Isolde's decree of going to Fenrir’s Blood Pack so I could be free from her maltreatment.

On the night of his departure, he held my hand beneath the oak, the moonlight dripping on us through its branches like a blessing

“Even if the Goddess herself denies you as my mate, I will defy her. If my mother casts you into fire, I will walk through the flames to reach you. Morwen, you are already mine. When I return, we will stand beneath this oak as Alpha and Luna.”

Now, holding my severed braid in my hands, I pushed my grief aside. If Leoric can leave his royal pack for our love, then what is Luna's cruelty that I cannot endure?