Chapter 3

SYLVARA POV

I woke to the sound of birds.

For a moment, I didn't move. I just lay there, staring at the sunlight bleeding through the curtains. The air smelled faintly of ashes and the wildflowers someone must have placed in a jar by the window days ago.

For half a heartbeat, I almost forgot everything that had happened. Then the memories came flooding back.

The ceremony. The whispers.

Aedric's voice saying I cannot.

The humiliation.. The pain.

My chest ached as something sharp had lodged there. I pulled the blanket over my head and wished I could sink into the bed and disappear.

But even under the covers, the world pressed in. My heart wouldn't stop pounding. My mind wouldn't stop replaying the way everyone had looked at me... the pity, the shame. The way he had walked away without a single backward glance.

Another day, another humiliation.

Another day to be a thing of gossip and ridicule.

I sat up slowly. My throat burned. I hadn't even realized I'd been crying again. I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand, trying to breathe evenly.

He'd been my dream since we were children. My friend. My protector. My only real family.

And he had thrown me away like I was nothing.

A soft knock broke the silence. Three steady taps against the door.

My stomach turned. I froze, listening. No one had come near my room since last night. Not even the maids.

The knock came again, a little firmer.

"Who is it?" My voice came out hoarse.

A pause. Then a voice I knew better than my own.

"It's me. Aedric."

Everything inside me went still.

For a long moment, I didn't move. Then I got out of bed, pulled a robe over my thin nightdress, and walked to the door. My hand trembled on the handle as I opened it.

He stood there, calm as ever. The morning light caught his face... golden hair, proud jaw, pale blue eyes. He looked like he always had… perfect, untouchable, every bit the Alpha he was raised to be.

"May I come in?" he asked.

I didn't trust myself to speak, so I stepped aside.

He walked in and looked around, as if the small room was unfamiliar. His gaze landed on the folded white dress from yesterday, the torn silver ribbon on the table. He sighed quietly.

"You didn't join us last night," he said.

I bit back a bitter laugh. "Did you expect me to?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous gesture he hadn't grown out of. "I wanted to make sure you're all right."

"All right?" I repeated, the word almost breaking on my tongue. "You humiliated me in front of everyone, Aedric. I don't think all right covers it."

"I didn't mean to humiliate you," he said softly. "You know how much I respect you."

"Respect?" I let out a sharp breath. "You rejected me to marry someone else."

He looked away. "It wasn't my choice. My father and the council decided. The Frostmoon alliance will strengthen the pack. You of all people should understand that."

"I understand you made your choice," I said quietly. "And it wasn't me."

He didn't argue. He only stepped closer. The faint scent of pine and smoke wrapped around me, familiar and cruel.

"You've always been important to me, Syl. You were my first friend. You'll always mean something to me."

The words cut deeper than I expected.

A friend nothing more

"I don't want to mean something," I whispered. "I wanted to be the woman you love and marry."

Silence.

He reached out, fingertips brushing a stray strand of my hair. "You're strong. You'll move on from this."

"Don't," I said, pulling back.

He dropped his hand, jaw tightening. "The wedding's tonight."

I stared at him, confused. "Why are you telling me that?"

"I'd like you to be there," he said.

The words didn't make sense. "You want me to come to your wedding?"

"It would mean a lot to me," he said quickly, like he could fix it if he said it fast enough. "It would show the pack that there's peace between us. That there's no bitterness."

I laughed softly, though it didn't sound like laughter at all. "You don't want the pack to think you broke me."

His silence was the answer.

My throat closed. "You really don't see what you're doing, do you?"

He took a step forward. "Please, Sylvara. I want to part as friends."

"Friends?" I repeated, shaking my head. "Friends don't destroy each other."

He didn't say anything. He only looked at me with that same sad expression that had once melted me. And before I could step back, he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against my forehead.

It was soft. Brief. Final.

I didn't move. I didn't even breathe.

When he pulled away, his eyes were bright. "You'll always be special to me, and I'm sorry again, I didn't mean to hurt you" he murmured. Then he turned, opened the door, and left.

The sound of the latch closing echoed through the room like a bell.

I stood there for a long time, staring at the space where he'd been. Then I lifted a hand to my forehead. The spot where his lips had touched felt cold.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and let the tears come. Quiet, bitter ones that burned my eyes and soaked into my sleeves.

He was gone.

He was really gone.

By tonight, he'd belong to someone else...another woman, another pack, another life.

And I would still be here, the forgotten girl in the empty room.

I looked around at the walls that had never felt like home and whispered to the silence, "I can't stay here anymore."

The words trembled out of me like a vow.

For the first time since yesterday, I meant it.