Lorelei POV
It wasn't always like this.
I mean, I was the cursed daughter from birth, but it was never this bad.
My father always hated me. He believed in the prophecy more than anyone, especially since his own mother died the day I was born. To him, that was proof enough.
But my mother still had the smallest soft spot for me. After carrying a child for nine months, it isn't easy to turn that kind of connection into pure hatred.
Callista was always treated better, even when we were little. Nicer dresses. Sweeter words. Softer touches. But I was still treated like a daughter back then. I had private tutors. I ate well. I slept in a proper bed. I wasn't a maid. I wasn't a curse they were trying to hide.
Everything changed when we were eight.
A boy Callista liked had written me a love letter.
I never even answered it. I barely understood what it meant. But she found out.
We fought. Screamed at each other. And in the middle of it, I pushed her.
It was an accident. I didn't even push that hard. But she fell, hit her head against the edge of a stone bench, and went unconscious for two days.
For two days, I wasn't allowed to leave my room. For two days, I heard whispers through the walls about how the shadow had tried to kill the light.
When she woke up, everything shifted.
I was scolded more. Watched more. Touched less.
And Callista realized something.
She realized she was untouchable.
The moment she understood she could twist the story and everyone would believe her, she started doing it on purpose. Hurting herself just enough. Crying at the perfect moment. Trembling when she pointed at me.
It started small.
A ribbon she claimed I stole, which she had actually buried in the garden herself.
Then one day she sliced her own wrist with a shard of glass while our parents were in the next room, only to stumble out sobbing and accuse me.
The punishments grew worse each time.
By ten, my tutors were dismissed.
By twelve, I was moved into the servant's quarters "for my own safety," according to my mother. Though everyone knew it was to keep my supposed curse from contaminating Callista's perfect light.
By fourteen, I was scrubbing the same marble floors I used to run across as a child.
And now, here I am.
Curled in the corner of a pack cell.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling as cold air seeped into my exposed skin.
I had been locked in here for five days now, surviving on one meal—if you could even call it that. A stale hunk of bread and a cup of water. The guard slid it through the slot once a day, never speaking to me.
With my wolf suppressed, it took longer for my wounds to heal. Which meant I was still severely bruised, cuts still oozing, my back crisscrossed with half-scabbed lash marks that pulled and burned every time I moved. The ropes had left raw rings around my wrists and ankles. My lip was split and swollen from Harlan's fist. Every breath hurt. Every shift on the damp stone floor sent fresh fire racing up my spine.
The night before I was supposed to be released, I heard approaching footsteps. The door slid open, and this time it wasn't a tray.
It was Jaxen, standing before me with an unreadable expression.
"Leave us," he ordered the guard, who bowed and stepped out.
The second we were alone, I forced myself to my feet.
"Jaxen," I breathed, stepping forward with my arms already lifting, ready to fall into him but he took a step back.
My heart broke all over again.. Hurt flashed across my face so fast I couldn't hide it. My arms dropped like dead weight, and the air between us thickened.
He didn't speak right away. He just stared, those blue eyes raking over me before he finally looked away.
"Why did you do it?" he asked quietly and my chest tightened.
"I told you I would get you out of this life," he continued, his jaw clenching. "We had one month left. One month. Why couldn't you wait? Why did you betray me?"
I shook my head, tears spilling before I could stop them.
"You believe them," I whispered, the words barely forcing their way past the lump in my throat. "After everything… you actually believe I was in that bed with another man."
"I didn't want to," he said after a long silence. His voice sounded strained. "I didn't want to. But he confessed. The man in that video confessed…"
"There is no man." The words tore out of me louder than I intended, breaking into a sob halfway through. "There is no man, Jaxen. Don't you see? If someone confessed, he was paid. Or threatened. Callista has been planning this since we were children, and now she's finally found a way to take the one thing she could never steal from me. You."
"Callista doesn't even know we're together," he shot back. "Why would she go to that length?"
He wasn't wrong. No one knew about us.
But that wasn't the point.
I moved closer, gripping the cold iron bars until my fingers turned white. "Look at me, Jaxen. Please. Use the bond. You're the Alpha's heir. Your wolf would know if I'm lying. Does it feel like I've shared my body… my soul… with anyone else?"
He flinched like I had struck him.
For the first time since he walked in, he truly looked at me. And I saw it then. The war behind his eyes. The pull of our bond straining between us, desperate and aching. He wanted to believe me. I could feel it.
But doubt had already taken root.
"He knew details, Lorelei," Jaxen said hoarsely. "He knew about the scar on your inner thigh. He knew you're sensitive when someone touches your spine. How would a stranger know that if he hadn't been that close to you?"
The words sucked the air out of my lungs.
I had no answer.
Those were things only Jaxen knew.
"I need time to think," he said finally. His face hardened like he was forcing it to. "Whatever this is between us… let's put it on hold. For now."
For now.
I stumbled back as if he had physically pushed me. Tears blurred everything. Worse He didn't reach for me. Didn't brush them away like he always did.
He just turned around and walked out.
Just like that.
After I was released, the next two weeks were torture. We passed each other like strangers.
I was hurt. Furious.
But worse than that, I missed him.
And the most humiliating part?
If he had just admitted he was wrong… I would have forgiven him.
During that time, preparations for his coronation were already underway. The entire pack buzzed with excitement. Decorations were being ordered. Invitations sent. Rumors flying.
For everyone else, it was a celebration.
For me, the world had turned gray.
My wounds had barely healed, but I was back to scrubbing floors and serving meals like nothing had happened.
One afternoon, I was serving lunch to my so called parents when Callista suddenly burst into the room.
"Mama, Papa…" she said softly. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. Her hand trembled as it moved to her stomach. "I think… I think I'm pregnant."
My hand froze on the soup jug. Surely I'd misheard her.
Even my father stood abruptly from his seat.
"You are what?" he barked. It was the first time I had ever heard him raise his voice at Callista, and a small, ugly flicker of satisfaction sparked inside me.
Callista flinched, tears spilling over instantly.
"How could you?" my mother whispered, rising slowly from her chair. "Do you want to bring shame to this family?"
"Who is responsible?" my father demanded, his voice rumbling like distant thunder.
My ears strained too. I couldn't help it. I wanted to know which idiot had managed to touch the golden daughter.
"It's…" she stuttered, clutching her stomach like it was something fragile and precious. "It's Jaxen."