Chapter 2

For three whole days after the coronation, the Cascade Court was immersed in extravagant revelry.

Rowan was busy accompanying Sloane on tours of the territory, busy introducing her to various dignitaries.

Meanwhile, I was completely drowned in mud, blood, and endless defense duties.

The birth of the territory's new King triggered turbulence in the power structure. Rowan dumped all the wounded placements, pack disputes, and perimeter defenses onto me like taking out the trash.

It was as if, as long as he didn't look, this Court built on bones was naturally glamorous.

When the alarms blared, winter rain mixed with sleet was smashing against the spine of the Cascade Mountains.

The wolf packs on the northern border publicly refused to pay tribute to the new Court. Their Alpha, leading dozens of frenzied giant wolves, brutally tore through the outermost defense line.

By the time I arrived with the vanguard squad, the defense line was already dyed red with blood.

Two young Court guards were trampled in the mud. The hostile Alpha's crimson eyes were locked onto a collapsed bunker where several terrified commoners were huddled.

"Push them back!" I roared in the torrential rain, transforming into a blur as I charged into the enemy ranks first.

The battle was exceptionally brutal.

These northern werewolves were massive and had completely abandoned their reason.

I could feel the fragility of the Court's outer barrier.

Because my energy had already been drained to its absolute limit by the severe overexertion of the past few days.

Seeing a giant wolf's claws about to shred the commoners' bunker, I had no other choice.

I bit the tip of my tongue, forcefully drawing upon the magic suppressed deep within me.

"In the name of the Moon Goddess, let frost be the boundary!"

The silver mark hidden at my collarbone erupted with a stinging heat. A layer of faint light spread down my blood to the ground.

An indestructible silver shield rose from the mud, not only stabilizing the collapsing barrier but also violently blasting the rioters in front of me away.

Seizing this opening, I formed a hand seal and attacked the Alpha.

He let out an agonized howl as his massive body crashed to the ground, his limbs twitching in submission.

However, in the split second I was distracted covering the evacuation team, a traitor lurking in the shadows lunged from my flank.

Razor-sharp claws viciously tore open my left ribs, and blood instantly gushed out.

Worse still, the intense agony caused the seal to loosen.

Specks of silver Moon Goddess light began to spill out, mixing with the blood from my wound.

If discovered, the Council of Elders would definitely tie me to the altar and drain my magic to nourish the barrier.

"Captain!" several guards cried out as they rushed over.

I clamped my hand tightly over my bleeding left ribs, using every last ounce of my strength to force the silver light back into my body. Cold sweat instantly soaked my back.

"I'm fine," I squeezed the words through gritted teeth. "Take the wounded back to the Court."

When our blood-soaked, exhausted squad dragged our feet back into the main keep, the melodious sound of a cello was flowing through the grand hall.

A warm fire dispelled the chill, and the air smelled of roasted meat and rose perfume.

Clutching my still-bleeding side, I immediately saw Rowan standing by the ornate spiral staircase.

Wearing a pristine white silk shirt, he was directing servants to carry several velvet sofas, gleaming with an antique luster, up to the second floor.

He was decorating a brand-new bedchamber for Sloane.

Hearing the heavy footsteps, Rowan turned his head.

His gaze swept over my dripping hem, over the wounded supporting each other behind me, and finally landed on my face, which was deathly pale from blood loss.

There wasn't even a fleeting moment of concern.

Rowan's brows immediately twisted into a knot of disgust.

He strode down the stairs. Not only did he fail to check the dark blood seeping through the fingers clutching my wound, but he also lowered his voice, his tone filled with unconcealed anger: "Why did you bring them in through the main entrance? Why didn't you use the side door to go to the infirmary?"

He didn't even bother to spare another glance at the injured guards. He just irritably pointed at the muddy water, mixed with visceral residue, that we had tracked onto the expensive marble floor.

"Sloane just went to sleep. If she smells this heavy stench of blood, she'll have nightmares." Rowan looked down at me, his eyes filled with a sense of justified accusation. "Besides, it's just a bunch of stragglers from the northern border. How could you make such a huge mess handling such a trivial matter? You never used to let riots spread to the inner circle."

My stomach churned violently, whether from severe blood loss or this bone-chilling heartbreak, I didn't know. I looked at him—this man I had once been willing to die for without hesitation—and saw that his eyes now held nothing but expensive carpets and his delicate new Queen.

"Those were the pack's elites, not stragglers," I took a deep breath, forcing down the taste of blood rising in my throat. "The barrier is extremely unstable, and my power is no longer enough to cover the entire grid. Hand over the defense clearance. Let the Elders' people, or the army your pureblood Queen brought, take over. I can't do it anymore."

Rowan sneered, his eyes instantly filling with arrogance and defensiveness.

He took a step forward, glaring at me as if he had seen through my trickery.

"What game are you playing now, Mara? Playing hard to get?" He suppressed his fury, the sarcasm in his tone slicing at my nerves like a razor. "Do you think that by refusing your duties, you can force me to give you a title in public? I've already explained to you that marrying Sloane was for the greater good! Must you use your ten years of hard work to blackmail me?"

The more he spoke, the more absurd he found it, even shaking his head in contempt. "Don't be stupid. Know your place. If it weren't for my protection, do you think a stray mutt of unknown origins like you could survive the next full moon in the Cascade snow? Put away your ridiculous possessiveness and clean up the blood on the floor!"

Blackmail?

I repeated the word softly in my heart.

At that moment, the heart-wrenching anger strangely subsided.

The Rowan who had held my hand by the campfire, swearing to share the world with me, had long died on the steps leading to the pinnacle of power.

The man standing before me now was just a selfish, cowardly thief blinded by authority.

I didn't offer a single word in my defense, nor did I spare another glance at this absurd tyrant.

I walked past him, leading the wounded straight toward the dark passage leading to the basement.

Late that night, in my cramped, narrow room at the very bottom of the Court, I sat alone in front of a rusted bronze mirror.

With trembling hands, I unwrapped the blood-soaked bandages.

The deep, bone-exposing laceration on my left ribs came into stark view.

And deep within the torn flesh, the silver mark representing the "Moon Goddess's Chosen"—which I had desperately suppressed for ten years—was pulsing with a blinding light in rhythm with my breathing.

As the light swept over the reopened wound, I gasped in pain.

This was the mark's severe backlash against the host who tried to seal it.

It was calling to me, and warning me.

I took a clean towel and expressionlessly wiped away the dried blood on my skin.

Then, I closed my eyes and immersed my consciousness into the massive, invisible magic network enveloping the entire Court.

Over a hundred magical threads maintaining the Court's operation were tightly connected to my heartbeat and magic.

I opened my eyes, my gaze falling on my pale yet hardened face in the mirror.