Chapter 3 The Bite of Betrayal

The great hall of Nightfang roared with tension.

Lyra stood before the council of Elders, her voice smooth as silk but heavy with venom. "She is a danger to us all," she declared, gesturing toward Seraphina, who stood chained-by Lyra's orders-at the center of the stone floor. "A rogue with no known lineage, bearing a stolen mark."

"She bears the Bloodmark," the High Priestess corrected calmly from her seat. "That cannot be forged, not even by the Goddess herself."

"She's cursed," Lyra snapped. "Ever since she arrived, Kael has defied the laws of our kind. The bond he claims? Nothing but a spell of seduction."

Kael remained silent. But his wolf, Ashen, clawed at the walls of his mind.

He had felt the bond the moment Seraphina touched the sacred Heartroot.

No oath could rewrite that.

No lie could suppress it.

But politics were not ruled by truth. They were ruled by fear.

Later that night, as the keep settled under a heavy fog, Kael unlocked Seraphina's chains in secret. "You shouldn't be here like this," he whispered. "You've done nothing wrong."

"I was born wrong," she muttered bitterly. "Or so it feels."

He cupped her cheek gently. "You were born with fire. And fire doesn't ask permission to burn."

Their eyes locked.

He wanted to kiss her. He nearly did.

But Seraphina pulled back, her voice soft. "I dreamt of you again last night."

Kael's brow furrowed. "What did you see?"

"You... dying. In battle. With a wolf's cry in the wind, and blood on your hands. And Lyra laughing above a pile of bones."

His throat tightened. "A warning?"

"Or a memory yet to happen."

In the depths of the keep, Lyra lit a black candle in the Hall of Shadows. Beside her stood the one person she trusted above all-her mother, Dame Callista. Once the midwife who orchestrated the switch, now a dark seer whispered to be half-blooded witch.

"She's remembering," Lyra said, pacing. "The prophecy is awakening in her."

Callista stirred a vial of ashroot and wolfsbane. "Then it's time we finish what we started."

"I tried. The poison failed. The moon protects her."

"Then we break the moon's gaze."

Lyra's eyes flickered with malevolence. "How?"

Callista handed her a dagger carved from obsidian, etched with old runes. "This blade was forged in the Age of Silence, before the Goddess rose. It cuts deeper than flesh it severs destiny itself."

Lyra gripped it tightly.

The next morning, under the guise of peace, Lyra approached Seraphina in the courtyard gardens.

"I wanted to speak," she said smoothly, eyes glinting with false kindness. "Away from the others."

Seraphina hesitated. Everything in her screamed no.

But something else a desire to face the woman who had tried to kill her - forced her to nod.

They walked the ancient pathway that led to the Moonpool. Trees whispered above them. Birds stilled.

And then Lyra struck.

Without warning, the obsidian dagger sliced across Seraphina's side.

She cried out, staggering, blood staining her tunic.

But before Lyra could strike again, light erupted from the trees.

A massive white wolf leapt between them Kael, in his full shifted form.

His growl shook the stones.

Lyra was thrown backward by the force of his aura alone. The dagger clattered to the ground.

But the real miracle came next.

Seraphina's blood touched the earth-and vines sprouted. Moonflowers bloomed instantly, glowing silver.

And the Moon Goddess herself appeared in spirit, her eyes sad and shining.

"She is my chosen," the goddess said, her voice echoing like wind through crystal. "Touch her again... and the fate you fear will become your own."

Lyra screamed. The light seared her skin. She fled into the shadows.

Kael shifted back to human form, chest rising fast. He lifted Seraphina into his arms.

She was still bleeding.

But she was alive.

In the Temple's sacred wing, Seraphina rested under constant watch. The cut left by the obsidian blade refused to heal a wound not just of body, but of fate.

Kael sat beside her, his hand wrapped around hers. "This is war now," he whispered.

"I don't want war," she said weakly. "I want the truth. I want peace."

"There won't be peace until Lyra is gone."

A pause.

"Do you believe I was born to rule beside you?" she asked, searching his eyes.

"I believe the Goddess doesn't make mistakes."

"And what about Lyra?"

Kael's jaw tensed. "I once saw her as my future. Now I see her as the one who tried to take yours."

But betrayal was never far.

From the shadows of the Temple, Elias watched everything. The warrior who had once followed Kael without question now stood at the edge of a cliff within himself.

He had loved Lyra once, long ago, before she chose power over him.

He had buried that love.

But now it returned - darker. Fueled by a desire to be her shield again.

That night, Elias went to Lyra's chambers. "You tried to kill her," he said coldly.

"I tried to save us."

"She was marked by the Goddess. What did you expect to happen?"

"She's not special," Lyra spat. "She's in the way."

Elias paused. "Then let me remove her."

Lyra blinked. "You'd do that?"

"I'll bring her to the outer cliffs. You know what lives there."

She smiled slowly. "Good. Do it quietly."

But Elias lied.

He had no intention of handing Seraphina over.

He wanted proof.

And the cliffs were sacred ground where spirits revealed all secrets in moonlight.

That night, Seraphina followed Elias under the guise of a secret meeting. Kael had been summoned to the council, unaware.

As they reached the edge of the cliffs, the wind howled.

Elias turned to her. "Tell me the truth. Do you remember your real mother?"

Seraphina blinked. "No. Only... warmth. Lavender. And her voice humming the moon hymn."

Elias's breath caught. "Liora sang that to her child. No one outside the royal family knew the hymn."

His face paled.

"It's true," he whispered. "You really are her."

Then he turned toward the shadows.

"Lyra... she stole you."

But Elias wasn't alone. Hidden in the cliffs was another a spy of the Elders, sworn to Lyra's blood pact.

He had heard everything.

And war drums were about to sound.