Annabella's POV

I didn’t know it was possible to gape while kneeling. I thought I’d be calm, dutiful, polite. Maybe even graceful. Maybe even… okay with it.

But when the high priestess leaned in and said the words, I swear my jaw unhinged all by itself.

“You will take the role of Bloodmate in Alpha Kael Silvercrest’s household.”

Bloodmate. The least. The absolute bottom rung in this horrifyingly complicated ladder of Alpha marriage politics. I blinked. Then blinked again. And then tried to reach for my brother, hoping, praying for some kind of lifeline. Maybe a comforting hand, a whisper, anything that said, this isn’t real.

Darian caught my hand mid-reach and shook his head. Hard. One of those shakes that screamed stop. My stomach sank. And you asked me what's worse than getting married to an Alpha? Being at the bottom of his wives. Why couldn't I be a CO consort. Oh my God, my heart ached.

I turned back to the priestess, panic clawing up my throat, ready to refuse, ready to throw the whole damn ceremony off, but she just waited. Calm.

“Do you accept your role?” she asked. Voice soft and deadly. She was literally like a knife wrapped in silk.

I scanned the hall. Elders, minor alphas, spies in silks and armor, everyone staring. I thought maybe if I looked long enough, the answer would come to me in a glowing flash. It didn’t.

Then my eyes landed on Kael.

He was leaning lightly against the carved railing at the far side of the hall, hands in pockets, expression unshaken, hair falling just so across his forehead. And then, God help me he smiled. A smile that had nothing to do with malice or cruelty or politics.

I had no choice. I swallowed the lump in my throat, the sick weight in my stomach, and nodded.

“Yes. I… I accept,” I said, voice cracking.

“Good,” the priestess murmured, and that was it. Ceremony over. Just like that. They’d announced my fate, my name, my position, and sent me into a lifetime of whatever the hell this world was.

My brother didn’t even hug me. Just a brief, stiff pat on my shoulder and a Go. That’s it. Gone. Off to whatever disaster or duty awaited him, leaving me standing like a discarded doll in a palace of staring faces.

The maids took over. They led me to a separate house within the palace, tucked away near one of the silver courtyards. My “personal quarters,” they said. I was supposed to stay there until summoned. Supposed to prepare. Supposed to… be ready.

Ready for what, exactly? The wedding night? The first night? The first hour? The first eternity?

I tried. God, I tried. I took a long bath, scrubbed every inch until my skin was raw, shaved every inch of hair on my armpits, my pussy, tried not to think about how cold the water was or how much my hands shook. I drank pineapple juice and later on I drank okra. I still drank another combination of pineapple juice mixed with okra because back in my home, rumor had it , it would “make me smell fresh and desirable down there.” I choked it down, gagged a little, but hey, desperate times. I was a virgin and I needed to make my first night count, judge me but who knows maybe this could be my chance to climb the ladder.

Night came but nothing. No Kael. Silence, except the faint rustle of silk from the maids.

Day two. Same routine. Bath, shave, juice. I even hummed to myself, like maybe a little song would lure him magically to my door. Nope. Silence.

Day three. I broke. Really broke. Cried until I thought my lungs would tear. Curling on the bed, knees to chest, face wet, tears dripping into my hair. No one to talk to. No friends here. Just the maids, who were sweet but didn’t understand the catastrophe that had just become my life. Did Kael not like me? Was I a problem. I couldn't fathom exactly what was going wrong or what I did wrong. He was so hot and handsome and sexy an now that I started thinking about him every night he didn't appear? Really?

By the fourth day, anger replaced sadness. If he wouldn’t show, I’d have to go to him. I couldn’t just sit and rot in isolation. I dressed as carefully as I could without collapsing into the gown again, ignoring the prickly silk sleeves, and walked through the palace corridors toward Kael’s quarters.

Halfway there, I ran smack into Zira. Kael’s Luna. Beautiful, composed, radiating calm that could kill, but… polite. Polite, until she wasn’t.

“Where are you going, little Bloodmate?” Her voice dripped sugar at first. “This area isn’t..”

“I need to see him,” I said, voice sharper than I meant.

Her eyes narrowed. That polite mask slid. “Excuse me?” She leaned closer, all elegance turned sharp. “You need to see him? You are yet to learn your place I guess, you should not parade around like…”

“Like what?” I snapped, because suddenly someone had to give a damn about me. “Like a human being who’s stuck here with no friends and no answers? You think I care about your rules? I need to see him. And I will.”

She froze. Just for a beat. And then, unexpectedly, she stepped aside with a cold smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Fine. Go. Just… don’t get yourself killed, little Bloodmate.”

As if.

And then, Lady Elara Moon passed by. The consort. Eyes flicked over me, smirked like she knew something I didn’t, and whispered, loud enough to hear:

“Trying to sneak into the lion’s den? Bold. Stupid. But bold.”

The doors to Kael’s chambers loomed ahead. I reached for the handle, anticipation and fear tangled so tightly in my chest I thought it might suffocate me.

And then click.

Queen Jiang. Mother of Kael. The universe’s way of reminding me I had no control over anything.

“Where do you think you’re going, Bloodmate?” Her voice was silk wrapped around steel.