He stood rigidly, his chest heaving, as Lyra whispered urgently into his ear. I caught fragments of her scent—satisfaction laced with triumph.
I dragged myself upright, every nerve screaming.
“I’ll leave by dawn,” I said. “I won’t interfere with your pack again.”
That was when he finally looked at me.
There was no love in his eyes.
Only calculation.
“You will not leave,” Kael said. “Not yet.”
My heart sank. “What do you mean?”
“Your father’s spirit anchor is bound to Silvermoon territory,” he replied evenly. “The ancestral flame is weakening. If you cross pack borders now, his soul will fade before dawn.”
The words were calm.
They destroyed me.
“You promised me,” I whispered. “You said as long as I was your mate, you would keep him safe.”
“And you are no longer my mate.”
Lyra stepped forward, resting a hand lightly against his arm. “The Council will be deciding the next Luna soon. It wouldn’t do for you to disappear in the middle of such an important transition.”
I stared at her. “This was always your plan, wasn’t it?”
She tilted her head. “If you mean surviving? Yes.”
They left me there.
Not dragged to a cell. Not banished. Simply abandoned in the ritual chamber like discarded ash.