(Moira’s POV)

“Your own mate has been slipping moonroot poison into your tonic every single day, yet I’m the one carrying his pup.”

Daciana smiled faintly while watching my face carefully.

“Tell me, doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”

“You probably still don’t know this either.” Her voice became softer with hidden pride. “Axton comes to the manor every single day. Every day.”

She stepped closer slowly.

“Have you ever seen what he looks like after losing control?”

“He always tells me the noblewomen in the capital bore him. He says I’m the only woman who truly stirs his wolf.”

A blush appeared across her face.

“Every time, he holds me so fiercely that I end up begging him to stop before he finally lets me rest.”

As she spoke, Daciana slowly loosened the collar of her dress right in front of me without shame.

Her pale skin became visible. Dark bruises and faded marks covered her body layer after layer.

My breathing tightened painfully, and I turned my gaze away.

“Look closely,” she whispered. “These are all marks Axton left on me. Whenever he loses control, I cannot even leave bed the next morning.”

Then she gently touched her stomach again.

“Axton once told me that as long as you could never give him an heir, guilt would slowly consume you sooner or later.”

Her smile deepened.

“He believed eventually you would offer him permission to take a second Luna willingly.”

“All I had to do was wait.”

She spoke endlessly, one sentence after another.

By the end, my emotions had already become numb.

Alpha Axton Graveclaw truly was terrifyingly skilled at manipulation.

I leaned weakly against the chair behind me while pressing my thumb hard against my mating ring.

The silver band suddenly felt more like a burning chain around my finger.

A long silence passed before I finally forced myself to speak.

“If that is truly the case, then the Luna position belongs to you,” I said quietly.

I no longer wanted to remain Luna Graveclaw. And I no longer wanted Axton either.

After Daciana left, Axton sent word back to the castle through one of his warriors.

Urgent council matters had forced him to leave the capital city.

He would not return for at least two weeks.

Perhaps it was fate itself.

I calmly packed my belongings before climbing into the carriage already waiting outside the rear gates of the Graveclaw castle.

Then I left the pack overnight.

The capital slowly disappeared behind me as the carriage traveled farther south beneath the moonlit sky.

Axton…

Perhaps you already forgot the promise I once made to you.

“With the Moon Goddess as my witness, if your heart ever belongs to another woman one day, I will disappear somewhere you can never find me.”

Two weeks later, Axton finally returned to the capital.

The moment he arrived at the Graveclaw castle, he hurried through the castle without even removing his overcoat.

The guards immediately straightened upon seeing him. The servants throughout the hall lowered their heads silently.

Axton strode directly toward our chambers.

Only the Moon Goddess knew how desperately he wished to see the woman he claimed to love more than life itself.

His precious moon.

The mate he once said he wanted carved into his very bones.

But the moment he pushed open the doors, another woman looked back at him instead.

Daciana sat inside the chamber with one hand resting against her stomach while smiling coyly.

The color instantly drained from Axton’s face.

“What are you doing inside Moira’s chambers?”