"Why are we being kept in this drafty hall like common rogues, Jace? My feet are swelling, and this place smells like a crypt!" Bella’s voice, sharp and entitled, echoed off the towering obsidian walls of the Lycan King’s outer vestibule. She clutched Jace’s arm, her fingers digging into the expensive leather of his jacket. "We are the leadership of the Silver Moon. We shouldn't be standing here while some shadow-faced guards stare us down."

Jace’s POV: Jace adjusted the collar of his formal tunic, his jaw tight enough to crack. The psychic agony from the previous night had settled into a dull, thumping ache behind his eyes, but his pride remained wounded and festering. "Shut it, Bella. This isn't a regional council meeting. This is the Lycan King's court. If you want to be the Luna of a pack that survives the week, you’ll learn to wait until Valerius decides we exist."

"But to be treated like servants..." Bella hissed, glancing at the silent, armored guards flanking the massive doors. "It’s insulting. We came here to do him a favor! We’re helping him find that thief."

"We’re here to make sure Chloe is dead," Jace corrected in a low, dangerous whisper. He shifted his weight, trying to ignore the way the very air in the palace seemed to be pressing down on his Alpha aura, making it feel small and insignificant. "If she survived the night in these woods, she’s a witness to things I’d rather keep buried. The 'tests,' the lineage... we need the King to execute her so there are no questions asked by the Council."

"She’s dead, Jace. No Omega survives the Shadow Woods," Bella sneered, though she moved closer to him as a low, unnatural growl vibrated through the floorboards. "She’s probably a pile of bones in a ditch. We’re just here for the formal confirmation."

The massive obsidian doors at the far end of the hall suddenly groaned open, the sound like two mountains grinding together. A high-ranking Lycan official, draped in silks the color of dried blood, stepped out. He didn't offer a bow or a greeting.

"The King will see you now," the official stated, his voice devoid of emotion. "Leave your weapons. Leave your pride. Enter only when your name is called."

Jace’s POV: Jace felt a surge of indignation, but he suppressed it. He was used to being the most powerful man in any room, but the Lycan Palace was a different world. As they walked through the threshold, the scale of the throne room hit them like a physical blow. It was a cavernous space of black stone and violet fire, where the ceiling was lost in a swirl of artificial constellations. Dozens of Lycan nobles stood in the shadows, their eyes glowing with a predatory curiosity that made Jace’s skin crawl.

"Stay close," Jace muttered to Bella, who had finally gone silent, her eyes wide with a mix of awe and terror.

They were led to the center of the vast chamber, a circular dais surrounded by a shallow moat of what looked like liquid silver. At the far end, atop a flight of jagged stone steps, sat the throne. It was empty. But as they approached the base of the steps, Jace noticed a figure already in the room.

A woman was walking slowly toward the throne, her back turned to them. She was draped in royal silks of pure, shimmering white that trailed behind her like a fallen cloud. Her hair, once a dull and matted brown, was now a waterfall of luminous silver-white, cascading down to her waist. She moved with a fluid, ethereal grace that didn't seem human—or even entirely wolf. It was the gait of something ancient and untouchable.

Jace’s POV: Jace froze for a second, his heart skipping a beat. There was something hauntingly familiar about the curve of her shoulders, the way she tilted her head as she looked up at the empty throne. For a fleeting, panicked moment, he thought of Chloe. He thought of the girl he had discarded at the altar, the "sterile Omega" he had kicked into the dirt.

No, he thought, shaking his head to clear the delusion. That’s impossible. That woman looks like a goddess. Chloe was a mouse. A pathetic, plain thing that couldn't even hold her head up.

"Look at her dress," Bella whispered, her voice dripping with jealousy. "Who is she? A concubine? Or the Queen? I heard the King was unmarried."

"Probably just a servant of the High Court," Jace replied, though his eyes remained glued to the woman in white. "The Lycans have always had a flair for the dramatic. Don't let the silks fool you, Bella. She’s probably just another piece of furniture in this cave."

But as they stood there, waiting in the stifling silence, the woman stopped at the base of the throne. She didn't sit. She simply stood there, looking at the obsidian seat as if she were deciding whether or not it was worthy of her.

"Excuse me," Jace called out, his voice echoing a bit too loudly in the hollow space. He wanted to assert some form of dominance, to prove he wasn't intimidated by the opulence. "We are here for an audience with King Valerius. We were told he was ready to hear our report regarding a rogue."

The woman didn't move. She didn't even acknowledge he had spoken.

"Did you hear me?" Jace snapped, his Alpha temper beginning to fray. "I am Alpha Jace of the Silver Moon. I don't care how favored a servant you are, you will show the proper respect when a guest of the King speaks to you."

Bella stepped forward, emboldened by Jace’s tone. "Maybe she’s deaf? Or maybe she’s just as stuck-up as the rest of these shadow-dwellers. Hey! We’re talking to you!"

The woman finally began to turn. It was a slow, deliberate movement, the silk of her gown whispering against the stone.

Jace’s POV: Jace felt a sudden, cold dread wash over him. It started at the base of his spine and radiated outward, chilling his blood. His wolf, which had been agitated since he entered the palace, suddenly went silent. Not a peaceful silence, but the silence of a creature that has just realized it is standing in the shadow of a mountain that is about to fall.

His Alpha instincts, the very core of his identity, began to scream. It was a primal, gut-wrenching alarm. Kneel, the instinct whispered. Kneel or die.

"Jace, look at her face..." Bella’s voice trailed off, her hand going to her mouth.

As the woman completed her turn, the violet torches in the room flared to a blinding intensity. The light caught her features, and Jace felt the floor beneath him turn to water.

It was Chloe.

But it wasn't the Chloe he had known for twenty years. Her skin was flawless, glowing with an inner radiance that made her seem carved from moonlight. Her eyes, once a soft, pleading hazel, were now twin pools of brilliant, liquid silver—the color of a Lycan of the highest order. There was no trace of the Omega's fear, no hint of the "void" he had mocked. She stood there, draped in the wealth of a kingdom, looking at him as if he were a speck of dust on her sleeve.

"Chloe?" Jace whispered, his voice cracking. The word felt like a sin in this room. "How... how are you alive? What is this trickery?"

Chloe’s POV: She looked at the man who had been her entire world, the man she had once promised to die for. She saw the sweat on his brow, the way his hands were shaking, and the pathetic, gaping expression on his face. Behind him, she saw Bella—the sister who had stolen her life—looking like a common peasant in her "formal" pack gear.

The "voices" she had heard during her transformation were quiet now, replaced by a singular, cold clarity. She could feel Jace’s fear. It tasted like sour milk. She could feel his Alpha aura trying to fight back, but it was like a candle flame trying to hold back the tide.

"You called me a rogue, Jace," Chloe said. Her voice was no longer a thread of hope; it was a melody of power, resonant and deep, vibrating with the authority of the King’s Mark. "You told the King I was a thief."

"You... you are Chloe," Bella gasped, stepping back, her face turning a sickly shade of grey. "But you're white. Your hair... your eyes... what did you do? What dark magic did you use to look like this?"

"I didn't do anything, Bella," Chloe replied, her silver eyes narrowing slightly. "I simply stopped being what you told me I was. I shed the skin of the girl you broke, and I found the Queen you couldn't hide."

Jace’s POV: Jace took a step forward, his mind reeling. He reached out a hand, his fingers twitching. "Chloe, listen to me. I don't know how you survived, or what the King did to you, but you belong to the Silver Moon. You’re under my jurisdiction. I’ll explain everything to Valerius. We’ll get you back home, and we’ll—"

"Home?" Chloe interrupted, a small, chilling smile touching her lips. "I am home, Alpha Jace."

At that moment, the shadows behind the throne seemed to detach themselves from the wall. Valerius stepped forward, his massive frame looming over Chloe, his hand coming to rest possessively on her shoulder. His obsidian eyes scanned Jace and Bella with a look of such profound contempt it felt like a physical weight.

"You speak to my Queen as if she were a runaway dog," Valerius rumbled, his voice shaking the very foundation of the dais. "You stand in my house and dare to claim what the Goddess has placed in my care."

Jace’s POV: Jace felt his knees buckle. The sheer force of Valerius’s presence, combined with the terrifying radiance coming from Chloe, was too much. His wolf was whimpering now, a sound of absolute submission that he couldn't control. He looked at Chloe—the woman he had called sterile, the woman he had hunted for sport—and realized with a soul-crushing finality that the "void" he had seen was actually a mirror reflecting his own emptiness.

"Kneel," Valerius commanded, the word a thunderclap that shattered the silence.

Jace fought it. He gritted his teeth, his muscles bulging as he tried to stay upright. He was an Alpha! He didn't kneel to anyone! But as he looked into Chloe’s silver eyes, he saw the mark on her neck—the royal sigil pulsing with a violet light. It was the King’s Mark. She wasn't a guest. She wasn't a servant.

She was his superior in every way that mattered.

"Kneel, Jace," Chloe whispered, her voice carrying a weight of command that bypassed his mind and went straight to his blood. "Show your Queen the respect you denied your mate."

Jace’s legs gave out. He hit the obsidian floor with a bone-jarring thud, his forehead touching the cold stone. Beside him, Bella collapsed in a heap of silk and sobbing terror.

The Alpha of the Silver Moon was on his knees. And the girl he had discarded was looking down at him from the heights of a throne he would never reach.

"Now," Chloe said, her voice dripping with a terrifying, calm menace. "Let’s talk about that 'theft' you were so concerned about."

"Stand up, Jace. You’re embarrassing the Silver Moon with this display of cowardice," Bella hissed, her voice trembling despite her attempt at bravado. She tugged at Jace’s shoulder, but the Alpha remained pinned to the obsidian floor, his forehead pressed against the cold stone.

Jace’s POV: Jace gritted his teeth, his muscles bulging as he fought the invisible weight slamming into his spine. It wasn't just gravity; it was the crushing authority of the King’s Mark radiating from the woman standing above him. "I can't... move," he wheezed, the words scraping out of his throat. "There’s something... wrong with her. She’s using dark magic."

Chloe’s POV: Chloe looked down at the man who had once been her sun and moon. Seeing him sprawled in the dirt like a broken toy didn't bring the immediate satisfaction she expected; instead, it brought a cold, crystalline clarity. She realized that the "strength" she had admired in him for twenty years was nothing more than a loud voice in a small pond. Now that he was in the ocean, he was drowning.

"Is that what you call it, Jace?" Chloe asked, her voice echoing with a low, melodic power that made the violet torches flare. "Is truth so foreign to you that you mistake it for a curse?"

"You stole from us, Chloe!" Bella screamed, finding the courage to speak only because she hadn't been targeted by the full weight of the King’s aura yet. She pointed a shaking finger at the shimmering white silk of Chloe’s gown. "You took the pack’s heirlooms. You took the sacred artifacts! And now you’ve tricked the Lycan King into thinking you’re a royal. You’re a thief and a fraud!"

Jace finally managed to lift his head an inch, his eyes bloodshot. "Your Majesty!" he barked toward the shadows where Valerius stood. "I am here to reclaim my property. This girl... this Chloe... she is a runaway Omega of the Silver Moon. She fled justice after being caught in a web of lies. I demand you return her so she can face her sentence."

Valerius’s POV: Valerius stepped out of the gloom, each footfall sounding like a hammer striking an anvil. The floorboards beneath his heavy boots didn't just groan—they spider-webbed with cracks, the obsidian splintering under the sheer density of his power. He didn't look at Jace; he looked at Chloe, his expression softening for a fraction of a second before turning back into a mask of terrifying judgment.

"Property?" Valerius rumbled. The sound was so deep it vibrated in the lungs of every wolf in the room. "You come into my house, Alpha of a dying territory, and speak of the Queen of Lycans as if she were a stray dog?"

"She’s an Omega!" Jace yelled, his desperation overriding his survival instincts. "She was born in my pack! By the laws of the Great Hunt, she belongs to the Silver Moon until I say otherwise. I rejected her as a mate, yes, but she is still a member of my bloodline! Give her to me, and we will leave your forest in peace."

"You truly have no idea what you threw away, do you?" Valerius asked, a dark, jagged smile spreading across his face. He walked toward Jace, his presence so heavy that Bella finally collapsed, her knees hitting the stone with a sickening thud.

"I threw away a sterile defect!" Jace spat, though he flinched as Valerius towered over him. "I did what was best for the strength of my people. Bella is the True Luna of Strength. Chloe was a liability."

"A liability?" Chloe interjected, stepping forward. The silver tips of her ears flickered with a faint light. "Tell me, Jace. How is the harvest in the valley this morning? How are the waters in the Silver Creek?"

Jace blinked, confused by the shift in topic. "What does that matter? We’ve had a dry spell. The creek is low. It’s a bad season. It happens."

"It’s not a dry spell," Valerius stated, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. He reached into the air and seemed to pull a shimmering strand of light out of the ether, showing it to the court. "The lands of the Silver Moon were not fertile because of your leadership, boy. They were fertile because of the 'Goddess-Blessed' protector who lived within them. The Moon Goddess places a Vessel in every generation to anchor the life force of the earth. In your region, that Vessel was Chloe."

Chloe’s POV: She watched Jace’s face turn from confusion to a pale, sickly green. The realization was beginning to dawn on him. She had always wondered why the flowers grew faster where she walked, or why the pack’s cattle thrived even in the harshest winters. She had thought it was luck. She never knew it was her.

"When you rejected her," Valerius continued, his voice rising like a gathering storm, "you didn't just break a bond. You severed the connection between your land and the Goddess. By the ancient laws of the Lunar Pact, the moment an Alpha rejects a Blessed Vessel, he forfeits all rights to the territory she protected. As of last night, the Silver Moon lands no longer belong to you, Jace. They are crown property. And you are a trespasser in your own home."

"No..." Jace whispered, his voice trembling. "That can't be true. The Seers... they said she was a void!"

"The Seers saw a power they couldn't control and they lied to you so they could stay in your favor," Chloe said, her voice dripping with pity. "Or perhaps they were just as blind as you were. You wanted a 'Luna of Strength' who could fight and bleed, but you ignored the girl who was literally keeping your world alive."

Bella scrambled backward on her hands and knees. "It’s a lie! She’s making it up! Jace, don't listen to her! We have the bloodline tests!"

"The tests mean nothing in the face of the King’s claim!" Valerius thundered. He reached down and grabbed Jace by the collar, hoisting the Alpha into the air with one hand as if he were a sack of grain. "You come here seeking a thief, but the only thief I see is the man who stole the future of his pack to satisfy his own ego."

Jace kicked his legs, his hands clawing at Valerius’s iron-hard forearm. "Put me down! You can't do this! The Council will hear of this!"

"The Council is already watching," Valerius said, gesturing to the shadows where the Lycan Elders stood, their eyes glowing with ancient, cold wisdom. "And they are wondering why an Alpha of such low standing is still breathing in the presence of his Queen."

Valerius turned his gaze to Chloe. "My Queen, what is the sentence for an Alpha who dares to insult the Vessel of the Moon?"

Chloe’s POV: She looked at Jace, dangling helplessly in the King’s grip. She thought of the years she had spent trying to please him. She thought of the cold nights in the Omega quarters and the way he had laughed when he threw her into the dirt at the altar. The anger she felt wasn't a hot, impulsive thing; it was a cold, enduring flame.

"He wants to speak of property and law," Chloe said, her voice calm and terrifying. "So let us use the law. Jace, you have three seconds to show the proper respect to the woman you called a void. You have three seconds to recognize the rank that the Goddess herself has bestowed upon me."

"I will never... kneel... to you," Jace wheezed, his face turning purple.

"One," Valerius counted, his grip tightening.

"Jace, just do it!" Bella shrieked from the floor. "Just bow so we can leave!"

"Two," Valerius rumbled. The air in the room grew so cold that frost began to form on the obsidian pillars. The violet flames died down, leaving the room in a state of oppressive, silver-tinted twilight.

Jace’s POV: Jace looked at Chloe. For a split second, he saw the girl he had grown up with—the girl with the soft eyes and the gentle hands. But that girl was gone. In her place was a creature of shimmering light and absolute authority. He felt the power of her mark pressing against his brain, demanding his submission. His wolf was screaming at him to give in, to save himself from the certain death that stood before him.

"Three," Valerius whispered.

Valerius slammed Jace back down onto the floor, but he didn't let go of the pressure. He placed a massive boot on Jace’s shoulder, forcing him down until his face was inches from Chloe’s hem.

"You have forgotten your place, Alpha," Valerius thundered, his voice cracking the stone beneath Jace’s chest. The shockwave of his command sent the guards to their knees and made the windows rattle in their frames.

"You are in the presence of your Queen," Valerius’s voice boomed, filling every corner of the palace and echoing out into the very forest. "The woman you discarded is now the ruler of the lands you stand upon. She is the mother of the future Lycan line. She is the Moon’s chosen."

Jace tried to speak, but only a pathetic, gurgling sound came out.

"Every wolf in this hemisphere will know your shame," Valerius declared. "They will see you for the fool you are. But first, you will perform the one act of service you are still fit for."

Valerius looked around the room, his eyes glowing with a murderous obsidian light. The tension in the air was so thick it felt like it could be sliced with a blade. Every Lycan in the room drew their weapons, the sound of steel on leather ringing out like a death knell.

"Kneel," Valerius commanded one last time, his voice shifting into a terrifyingly calm growl. "Kneel and beg for the mercy your Queen is too kind to give you."

Chloe stepped closer, her silver eyes locking onto Jace’s. "Choose wisely, Jace. The Silver Moon is watching. Your warriors are watching. Do you want to die as a stubborn fool, or live as a lesson to others?"

Jace looked up at her, his lips trembling. He saw the sheer, unadulterated power in her gaze. He saw the King standing behind her, ready to erase him from existence with a single thought.

"Kneel," Valerius thundered, his voice reaching a deafening crescendo that made the very ceiling of the palace tremble. "Kneel, or be slaughtered where you lie."

Jace’s head bowed. His shoulders slumped. The pride of the Silver Moon was extinguished in an instant.

"I... I kneel," Jace whispered into the dirt.

But the cliffhanger was only just beginning. As Jace’s forehead touched the floor, the royal sigil on Chloe’s neck flared with a blinding, violent light. A scream ripped through the palace, but it wasn't Jace’s. It was Bella’s.

She was clutching her stomach, her eyes rolling back in her head as a dark, oily shadow began to seep out from under her skin.

"The baby!" Bella shrieked. "Jace, something is wrong with the baby!"

Chloe’s POV: She watched in horror as the "True Luna’s" belly began to pulse with a sickly purple light, a light that didn't belong to the moon or the earth.

"Valerius," Chloe whispered, her heart turning to ice. "That’s not a wolf."

Valerius’s eyes narrowed, his hand going to the hilt of his blade. "No," he growled. "It’s a parasite."

The doors of the palace flew open, and a cold, dead wind swept through the hall, extinguishing every flame. In the darkness, a voice that sounded like a thousand dying souls echoed.

"The Vessel is claimed," the voice hissed. "But the child belongs to the Void."

"Don't tell me you actually believe he loves you, Chloe. Look at him. He’s a king of shadows, and you’re just the newest piece of jewelry in his collection," Bella spat, her voice echoing through the marble corridor of the West Wing. She had cornered Chloe near the balcony, far enough from the throne room that the guards were mere silhouettes in the distance. Bella’s hair was disheveled, her silk dress stained with the dust of the floor she had just been forced to kneel upon, but her eyes burned with a familiar, toxic jealousy.

Chloe’s POV: Chloe stopped in her tracks, her silver-white hair shimmering under the violet lanterns. She didn't flinch. She didn't tremble. She felt a strange, detached calmness, a byproduct of the Lycan blood now thrumming in her veins. She looked at her sister and saw not a rival, but a frantic animal trying to bite its way out of a trap. "Is that what you think, Bella? That I’m just a decoration?"

"I know it!" Bella hissed, stepping closer, her breath smelling of bitter wine and desperation. "He told everyone in that room what you are. A 'Vessel.' Do you even know what that means in this castle? It means you're a womb with a crown. He didn't wait five hundred years for your personality, Chloe. He waited for your blood. He waited for the heirs you can provide to solidify his dying dynasty. Once you pop out a few Lycan princes, you'll be forgotten in some tower while he finds a real queen."

Chloe’s POV: The words should have stung. A day ago, they would have sent Chloe into a spiral of self-doubt and tears. But now, she could hear the rhythmic thud of Valerius’s heart from three floors away. She could feel the steady, protective hum of the mark on her neck. It wasn't a weight; it was a weapon. She turned slowly to face Bella, her expression unreadable. "You’re projecting your own failures onto me, sister. Jace chose you for your 'strength,' and yet, here you are, weeping in the hallway while he trembles at my feet."

"Jace is a fool, but he’s a wolf!" Bella shrieked, her face contorting. "Valerius is a monster! You think he’s touching you because he cares? He’s harvesting you. You’re a crop to him, Chloe. A 'Goddess-Blessed' field for him to plow. How does it feel to know that your only value is your fertility? To know that the moment you're empty, you're nothing again?"

"Are you finished?" Chloe asked quietly.

"No, I'm not!" Bella stepped into Chloe’s personal space, her eyes wild. "You've always been the pathetic one. The one I had to protect. The one who couldn't even shift properly. You don't belong here. You don't belong in silks. You belong in the mud, crying for scraps! This power... it's a fluke. A mistake. You're still that same, weak Omega inside, and I can see you shaking!"

Chloe’s POV: Chloe wasn't shaking. She was vibrating with a power that was becoming increasingly difficult to contain. She looked at Bella’s hand—the hand that had slapped her so many times in their childhood—and felt a wave of cold, righteous fury. For the first time, she didn't want to run. She wanted to strike back.

"I am not shaking, Bella," Chloe said, her voice dropping an octave. "I am holding myself back. There is a difference."

"Oh, please! What are you going to do? Tell your big, scary King on me?" Bella sneered, leaning in until their noses almost touched. "You're a coward. You've always been a—"

Before Bella could finish the insult, Chloe’s hand moved. It was a blur of silver light and white silk. She didn't use a fist; she used a flat, open-handed backhand, channeling only a fraction of a percent of her new Lycan strength.

The sound of the impact was like a whip cracking against a stone wall.

Bella’s POV: Bella didn't even see the strike. One second she was gloating, and the next, her world was spinning. She felt a force like a runaway carriage hit her jaw, snapping her head back. She was lifted off her feet, her body sailing through the air as if she were made of straw. She crashed into a heavy oak pedestal thirty feet down the hall, shattering the marble vase that sat atop it.

"My face..." Bella groaned, sprawling on the floor, her cheek already swelling into a bruised, purple mess. She coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "You... you hit me."

"I did," Chloe said, walking toward her with slow, predatory grace. Her silver eyes were glowing so brightly they illuminated the dark corners of the hall. "And if you ever speak of my mate or my purpose again with that filth in your mouth, I will do much more than hit you. I am the Queen of the Lycans, Bella. You are a guest of a man who just forfeited his life. Know your place."

Bella scrambled backward on her elbows, her eyes wide with a new, genuine terror. The girl she had bullied for decades was gone. This creature standing over her was something else entirely. "You've changed. You're a monster, just like him!"

"I am exactly what I needed to be to survive you," Chloe replied.

Bella’s POV: Panic flared in Bella’s chest. She looked around for an escape, but Chloe’s presence seemed to block the entire corridor. She needed leverage. She needed the one thing that had always kept Jace wrapped around her finger. She clutched her stomach, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

"You can't kill me!" Bella screamed, her voice hitting a high, hysterical pitch. "You can't touch me, Chloe! I’m pregnant! I’m carrying Jace’s heir! The future Alpha of the Silver Moon is inside me! If you harm me, the Council will have your head, King or no King!"

Chloe’s POV: Chloe stopped. She looked down at Bella’s stomach, where that sickly, oily purple light she had seen in the throne room was still pulsing faintly beneath the skin. It wasn't the warm, golden glow of a healthy wolf pregnancy. It was dark. It was wrong.

"You think that protects you?" Chloe asked, her voice turning deathly quiet.

"It makes me untouchable!" Bella laughed through her blood and tears. "A pregnant Luna is sacred! Jace will do anything to protect this child. Even if you’ve stolen our land, the bloodline continues through me! This baby is the legitimate ruler of our people. You’re just a vessel for a stranger, but I’m carrying the true Silver Moon legacy!"

Chloe leaned down, her face inches from Bella’s. The silver in her eyes began to swirl like a storm. She could sense the life inside Bella, but it didn't feel like life. it felt like a void. A parasite masquerading as a prince.

"Listen to me, Bella, and listen well," Chloe whispered, her words vibrating with the authority of the Moon Goddess. "That child you are so proud of? It was conceived in betrayal. It was nurtured on the lies you told to steal my mate and my rank."

"He’s the heir!" Bella shrieked. "He’s an Alpha!"

"No," Chloe said, her voice cutting through Bella’s hysterics like a cold blade. "That child is a bastard born of a broken bond. It carries the stench of your greed and Jace’s cowardice. It has no rank in this palace, and it will have no throne in the lands I now rule."

Bella’s POV: Bella flinched as if she’d been struck again. "You’re lying! You’re just jealous because you really are sterile! You know you can’t have his children!"

"I don't want his children," Chloe countered, standing tall and looking down at her sister with absolute disdain. "I am the mate of a King. My children will be the stuff of legends. Yours?" She paused, her eyes flashing a brilliant, terrifying silver. "Yours is a mistake that the moon will never acknowledge."

Chloe’s POV: She felt a sudden surge of psychic feedback. The "child" inside Bella seemed to react to Chloe’s words, the purple light beneath Bella’s skin flared violently. Bella screamed, clutching her midsection as she curled into a ball.

"It hurts!" Bella wailed. "Chloe, make it stop! It’s biting me!"

"I told you," Chloe said, turning her back on her sister. "The Goddess does not bless a union built on a stolen altar. You wanted his strength, Bella. Now you have to live with what that strength has become."

As Chloe walked away, the shadows in the hallway seemed to lengthen, stretching toward the sobbing woman on the floor. Chloe didn't look back. She could feel Valerius approaching from the other end of the hall, his presence a warm, solid wall against the coldness of her sister’s spite.

But as she reached for the door to the King's chambers, a low, wet sound echoed from behind her. It wasn't a human sob. It was a wet, tearing sound, followed by a silence that was even more terrifying.

Chloe’s POV: She spun around, her heart jumping into her throat. Bella was still on the floor, but she wasn't crying anymore. She was staring at her own stomach with a look of pure, unadulterated horror.

"Chloe..." Bella whispered, her voice barely audible. "It’s not moving like a baby. It’s... it’s clawing."

A dark, obsidian-colored liquid began to soak through the front of Bella’s dress—not blood, but something thicker and darker, like liquid shadow. The violet torches in the hallway flickered and died, plunged into a sudden, unnatural darkness.

"Valerius!" Chloe shouted, her silver eyes scanning the gloom.

The cliffhanger wasn't just the shadow. It was the realization that the "heir" Jace and Bella had boasted about was never a wolf at all. It was the first manifestation of the Sun-Eater, the darkness the Moon Goddess had warned her about.

"The bond wasn't just broken," a voice hissed from the shadows—a voice that sounded like Jace’s, but twisted and hollowed out. "It was fed to the abyss."