Lysandra POV:

"You will die," the High Priestess insisted. "All of you. Unless you accept the bonds."

"Then we die," Kieran said, and he meant it. I could see it in his eyes. "I will not bind myself to a wolfless weakling. I'd rather face death with dignity than live as a laughingstock."

"Same," Theron said immediately. "I'm a warrior. I face death every day. If this is how I go, so be it. At least I won't be tied to a dead weight."

"My reputation is worth more than my life," Darius added. "Being bound to her would destroy everything I've built. Death is preferable."

"I've made my peace with death a long time ago," Zane said quietly. "This changes nothing."

"Your pride will kill you," the High Priestess said desperately.

"Better than the alternative," Cassian replied, his silver eyes cold. "I've spent my entire life building my power. I will not throw it away to save myself by binding to someone who has nothing to offer."

They all meant it. Every single word. They genuinely would rather die than be mated to me.

The room was in chaos now. Council members shouting, arguing, some agreeing with the Alphas, some begging them to reconsider.

I just stood there, feeling numb.

"Miss Vane," the High Priestess said, turning to me with tears in her eyes. "Surely you don't want to die. Surely you'll convince them to..."

"Why would I convince them of anything?" I interrupted. "They've made their position very clear. They'd rather die than be with me. And honestly? I feel the same way about them."

"You can't mean that," she whispered.

"I absolutely mean it." I looked at the five Alphas. "You five have made it crystal clear that you think I'm worthless. That I'm weak. That I'm an embarrassment. So why would I want to bind myself to you? Why would I spend what's left of my life tied to people who despise me?"

"See?" Kieran said. "She agrees. Problem solved."

"You're all going to die!" the High Priestess screamed.

"Then we die," I said simply. "I'd rather die free than live as someone's unwanted burden."

"This is insanity," the scarred Alpha said. "We need to find another solution."

"There is no other solution," the High Priestess said, her voice breaking. "This is it. Accept the bonds or die."

"Die it is, then," Theron said, crossing his massive arms.

"Agreed," the other four Alphas said in unison.

"I vote for death too," I added. "Since apparently that's what we're voting on."

The High Priestess sank into a chair, looking defeated. "You're all fools."

"Maybe," Kieran said. "But we're fools with our pride intact."

"Pride won't save you from the Void," she said weakly.

"Neither will binding ourselves to a wolfless orphan," he shot back.

I should have felt something. Hurt, maybe. Anger. Something.

But I just felt tired.

"If we're done here," I said, "I'd like to go back to my room."

"You're dismissed," Kieran said, waving his hand like I was a servant.

I walked out of that council chamber with my head held high, even though I could feel everyone staring at me. Could hear the whispers starting up again.

"...she actually agreed to die..."

"...no self-preservation instinct..."

"...good riddance..."

Mira was waiting outside, her face pale. "Miss Vane, I heard everything. Are you... are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied. "Just peachy. Apparently I'm going to die in less than a year, but at least I won't have to deal with five Alphas who think I'm garbage."

"This isn't funny," she said.

"I know. But if I don't laugh, I'll cry, and I'm not giving them that satisfaction."

She walked me back to my room in silence. When we got there, she turned to me with worried eyes.

"There has to be another way," she said. "Some way to break the curse without accepting the bonds."

"If there is, the High Priestess would have mentioned it." I sank onto the fancy couch in my sitting room. "Face it, Mira. We're all screwed."

"But you don't want to die."

"Of course I don't want to die," I said. "But I also don't want to spend my life with five people who literally said they'd rather die than be with me. That's not living. That's torture."

She didn't have an answer for that.

After she left, I sat alone in my fancy rooms and stared at nothing.

I was going to die.

In less than a year, I would be gone.

And the crazy thing was, part of me was almost relieved. At least death would be peaceful. At least I wouldn't have to keep fighting, keep pretending, keep being strong when everything inside me was broken.

My wolf stirred, angry at my thoughts.

She didn't want to die. She wanted to fight. Wanted to show these idiots exactly what they'd rejected.

"Not yet," I whispered to her. "Let them think they've won."

I was stronger than all five of them combined.

But they didn't need to know that yet.

Let them think I was weak. Let them think I was nothing.

I'd save the kingdom without them. I'd stop the Demon King. I'd do it all alone, just like I always had.

And when I succeeded, when they realized what they'd rejected, I'd be long gone.

Dead, probably, from these broken bonds.

But at least I'd die knowing I was worth something.

Even if they never figured it out.

Lysandra POV:

The next few days were absolute hell.

The five Alphas didn't just ignore me. They went out of their way to make my life miserable.

It started at breakfast the morning after the council meeting. I'd made the mistake of going to the main dining hall instead of hiding in my room. The moment I walked in, the entire room went quiet.

Kieran was sitting at the head of the table with Theron and Cassian. They all looked at me, and the disgust on their faces was almost comical in how obvious it was.

"Oh good," Kieran said loudly. "The dead girl walking has joined us."

Several nobles laughed.

I kept my face blank and walked to the buffet table to get food. My hands were shaking, but I refused to let them see it.

"I don't understand why she's still here," Theron said, his voice carrying across the room. "Shouldn't she go crawl back to whatever basement she came from?"

More laughter.

"Maybe she likes the food," Darius said from another table. He'd just walked in with Zane. "Can't blame her. It's better than table scraps."

"Is that what the Blackwater family fed her?" Cassian asked, tilting his head. "Scraps?"

"I heard they kept her in the basement like a dog," someone said.

"At least dogs have some use," Zane said coldly.

The entire room erupted in laughter.

I stood there with a plate of food in my hands, my face burning, trying to decide if I should stay or run.

"Aww, look," Kieran said, false sympathy dripping from his voice. "We've hurt her feelings."

"Does she even have feelings?" Theron asked. "She agreed to die rather easily. Maybe she's not fully human."

"She's not fully anything," Cassian said. "No wolf, no power, no purpose."

I set my plate down carefully and turned to face them.

"Are you all done?" I asked.

"Done?" Kieran raised an eyebrow. "We've barely started. We have months to make fun of you before you die. Might as well enjoy it."

"How gracious of you," I said.

"I thought so." He smiled, and it was cruel. "Tell me, Lysandra. What's it like knowing you're completely worthless? That even the Moon Goddess's prophecy couldn't make you valuable enough to keep?"

"I don't know," I said. "What's it like being so insecure that you need to mock a wolfless orphan to feel powerful?"

His smile disappeared. "Watch your tone."

"Or what? You'll reject me again? Already done. You'll make fun of me? Already doing that. You'll kill me?" I laughed. "Already dying. You have no power over me, Your Highness. None of you do."

"We have all the power," Zane said, stepping out of the shadows. "You're here because we allow it. You eat because we allow it. You breathe because we haven't decided otherwise."

"Wow," I said. "That's incredibly threatening. I'm so scared."

His eyes went dark. "You should be."

"Why? The worst you can do is kill me, and I'm already dying. So congratulations. You're impotent threats walking."

Theron stood up, his chair scraping loudly. He was huge, towering over everyone, and he looked furious. "You really want to test us?"

"Not particularly," I said. "I just want to eat my breakfast in peace. But apparently that's too much to ask."

"Peace?" Darius laughed. "You're going to die because you're too weak to accept a mate bond. You don't deserve peace."

"And you're going to die because you're too proud to accept a mate bond," I shot back. "So I guess we're all stupid together."

"The difference," Cassian said coldly, "is that we have reasons to be proud. You have nothing."

"You're right," I said. "I have nothing. No family. No pack. No power. But at least I'm not so pathetic that I need to gang up on someone weaker than me to feel good about myself."

The room went dead silent.

Lysandra POV:

Kieran stood up slowly, his Alpha aura rolling out like a physical force. It pressed down on everyone in the room, making the weaker wolves whimper.

It slid right off me because I was a True Alpha, but I pretended to feel it. Pretended to struggle under the weight.

"You will show respect," Kieran said, his voice deadly quiet. "I am your Crown Prince."

"You're a child playing dress-up," I said, and I knew I was going too far but I couldn't stop. "You rejected a divine prophecy because of your ego. You're condemning yourself to death because you can't stand the idea of being tied to someone you think is beneath you. That's not strength. That's cowardice."

His eyes flashed gold. For a second, I thought he might actually shift and attack me right there in the dining hall.

But he didn't.

Instead, he smiled. Cold and cruel.

"You know what?" he said. "You're right. I am a coward. Because I'd rather die than spend one more minute bound to something as pathetic as you."

He walked out, the other four Alphas following him.

The nobles and council members stared at me like I'd just committed treason.

"Well," I said to the room at large. "That was fun. Anyone else want to tell me how worthless I am? There's still time before I die."

Nobody said anything.

I picked up my plate and walked out, leaving the food behind because I'd suddenly lost my appetite.

***

That afternoon, I was in the palace library trying to research Void beasts and maybe find some way to break the death curse without accepting the bonds.

I was reading an ancient text about prophecy magic when someone cleared their throat behind me.

I turned to find Cassian standing there, his silver eyes gleaming with something that might have been amusement.

"Still alive?" he asked.

"Barely."

"Pity." He walked over to the shelves, running his fingers along the spines of books. "I thought Kieran might actually kill you at breakfast. He was close."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Oh, I'm not disappointed." He pulled out a book, examining it. "Your death is inevitable anyway. Why rush it?"

"How kind of you."

"I'm not kind." He looked at me, and his eyes were cold. "I'm curious. You're researching ways to break the curse."

It wasn't a question.

"How did you know?"

"I'm the Grand Alpha Sorcerer. I know everything that happens in my library." He gestured at the books around me. "You won't find an answer here."

"You've looked?"

"Of course I've looked. I don't want to die any more than you do. But the only solution is accepting the bonds." He smiled without humor. "Which we've all agreed we'd rather die than do."

"So we're all just giving up?"

"Not giving up. Choosing dignity over desperation." He set his book down. "I've spent centuries building my magical power. I've studied under the greatest sorcerers in history. I've mastered spells that would make gods weep. And you... you have nothing. No magic. No power. No potential."

"Thanks for the reminder."

"Binding myself to you would actively diminish my abilities," he continued like I hadn't spoken. "It would be like pouring pure water into mud. The water doesn't lift the mud. The mud just makes everything murky."

"That's a lovely metaphor," I said. "Really makes me feel special."

"You're not special. That's the point." He leaned closer, and I could feel the magic radiating off him like heat. "The Moon Goddess made a mistake. We're all paying for it. But at least we'll die knowing we didn't compromise who we are."