The moon-cart slowed to a halt before our den, yet Eason made no move to step out.

I frowned at him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking strangely hesitant.

After a moment, he cleared his throat. “There’s this… thing. Nancy’s spirit-dance circle needs a ceremonial battle-sphere for their graduation performance. I thought maybe she could borrow the one we have.”

The battle-sphere.

The one I gave him when the war council nearly expelled him from training.

The one he carried into the final trials that carved his name into clan history.

The one he clutched afterward, promising he’d keep it forever—because it came from me.

Now he wanted to hand it over as a prop for Nancy’s celebration.

He waited for my reaction.

I nodded. “No problem.”

Relief washed over him instantly. He pulled me into a hug—until I turned my face away before he could kiss me.

His smile flickered. Only for a heartbeat. Then he straightened.

“If it’s urgent, why don’t you bring it to her now?”

The light returned to his face like someone had reignited a torch. He grabbed the sphere and practically bounded toward the exit.

“Once Nancy’s graduation is over,” he called back brightly,

“we’ll finally have our mating ceremony. I swear no more delays this time!”

I smiled and said nothing.

Because I knew our wedding would never happen.

As his cart rolled away down the ridge path, I pressed a hand to my belly.

“Little one… forgive me,” I whispered.

“I once vowed to give you a happy life. But it seems I’m going to break that promise. Please don’t hate your mother.”

On the way to the healer’s hall, the moon-cart slowed near the entrance—and that’s when I saw her.

Nancy. Standing outside the maternity wing, arms folded, lips curled.

My breath stilled. My hand flew protectively to my belly.

Then, through the open hallway, I caught a glimpse of him.

Eason.

His stride. His shoulders. I knew them as well as my own heartbeat.

Before I could react, my message crystal pulsed. I opened it—and my world dropped away.

Dozens of rune-recordings.

Dim lighting. Bare skin. His body. Her sounds.

Their faces were out of frame, but it didn’t matter.

I knew the shape of his back, the flex of his muscles, the rhythm of his breathing.

Her whisper of his name between gasps felt like a blade.

It was the kind of intimate recording meant to shame or inflame.

I didn’t blink.

Even though I had long known there was no blood relation between Eason and Nancy—that everything forbidden had already happened—I still felt my heart crack, raw and tender, when it was thrown so nakedly before me.

I wiped my tears quickly.

When I looked up, she was staring directly at me.

Her gaze was sharp, triumphant.

That’s when I knew.

She sent them.

Every recording. Every image.

She wants to replace me as Eason’s mate. Fine. She can have him.

I completed my check-up, walked outside, and descended the steps…

A cart came barreling toward me.

I instinctively stepped back, but before I could move farther, a hard shove sent me forward—straight into the path of the rushing beast.

I slammed onto the cart’s hood before collapsing on the stone pavement.

Pain erupted through my leg like lightning. My body curled protectively around my belly.

But my right leg twisted grotesquely beneath me.

The agony pulsed with every breath—sharp, electric, unbearable.

Then her voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

“Ouch! Ouch! My ankle! Eason, help me!”

I twisted my head.

Nancy stood there like a victor basking in her triumph, pretending to clutch her perfectly fine ankle.

Now I was certain.

She was the one who pushed me.

Moments later, Eason arrived, his eyes darting between us—confused, hesitant.

Nancy burst into tears like a helpless child.

“Eason, that cart almost hit me! I tried to pull Sophia back, but she shoved me toward it! Look—my ankle!”

Eason’s brows knitted as he looked at me.

My shattered leg was hidden beneath my long skirt; he likely didn’t understand why I was on the ground at all.

He merely sighed.

Then he turned—to pick Nancy up in his arms.

As she rose, her foot swung out and struck my shin—directly where the bone had broken.

White-hot pain exploded up my body.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood and swallowed every scream.

Inside my mind, I only counted.

One hundred.

Eason… this is it. Let’s never see each other again.

I sat alone for a long while in the cleansing chamber of the healer’s hall, the white stone walls cold enough to sting. I stared at the message crystal in my hand before finally summoning the courage to call my father.

“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll marry into the Ashbournes.”

My parents arrived in less than ten minutes.

My mother didn’t even pretend to hide her satisfaction.

“See? We could’ve avoided all this if you had just agreed from the beginning. I told you Eason was a mistake!”

I watched her quietly as memories washed over me.

Years ago, when the Ashbournes first offered a mating pact, I chose love over legacy. I chose Eason.

Now, with a single decision, my parents were ready to erase him completely—as if he had never been part of my life.

That was the Ashbourne way. Anything—and anyone—could be replaced.

“But you’re carrying a pup,” my mother said, her eyes narrowing like she had stumbled onto an inconvenient detail. “That’s going to complicate—”

“I scheduled the procedure,” I said. “But I need your signatures.”

Her eyes lit up at once.

“Oh! Perfect. Perfect! Tell me where to sign. We can end this today.”

She was practically glowing, thrilled to package me neatly and hand me off like tribute.

I looked at her the way someone might look at a stranger wearing a familiar face.

My father tugged lightly at her sleeve.

“Sophia’s leg is still injured. Let her rest.”

She frowned, displeased that she couldn’t deliver me to the Ashbournes immediately.

“Fine. A couple of days, then. I’m only thinking about what’s best for you. The longer you wait, the more troublesome things become.”

I turned my face away and shut my eyes.

I didn’t want to look at my own mother anymore.

Back then, they used my pregnancy to pressure me into mating with Eason.

Now, the pup was just an obstacle to a more profitable match.

Funny how fast everything changes.

Three days later, I was discharged.

I was limping back toward my den when I saw them again—

Eason and Nancy.

She was pressed into his chest like she belonged there. They looked inseparable, like a pair of wolves bound by the same heartbeat.

Eason’s eyes locked on mine. He took a step toward me—

but Nancy’s hand on his wrist pulled him back.

“Sophia! Where have you been these past few days?” she chirped, dripping false concern.

“He’s been so worried.”

She walked toward me, smiling sweetly, the expression soft… but her eyes—

There it was. That sharp, mean glint.

I tried to sidestep her—forgot for a moment that my leg couldn’t support me.

I stumbled backward.

And she fell with me.

Only, she wasn’t falling.

She threw herself down.

Her elbow slammed into my belly.

Her foot crashed into my already-broken leg.

Pain exploded, white and blinding.

My mind went empty for a heartbeat.

Somewhere in the haze, I heard her pathetic wailing.

Just like last time.

Just like all the times before.

One hundred and one times, to be exact.

And every single time, Eason chose her.

Never me.

But now, it didn’t sting.

Not anymore.

Because this was betrayal number one hundred and one.

There would be no “next time” for us.

Eason rushed straight to Nancy, lifting her in his arms as she sniffled dramatically.

He glanced at me awkwardly as I lay on the ground, trembling, cold sweat sliding down my temples.

“Sophia, Nancy’s ankle—she only just healed. I…”

I clenched my fists and kept my voice even.

“I’m fine. I can manage. Go.”

He didn’t hesitate.

He was gone before I drew my next breath.

I stayed on the ground a moment longer, staring up at what used to be our home.

Tears slid silently down the sides of my face.

Five years of memories.

And now the den looked unfamiliar—as if none of it had ever belonged to me.

Large portraits covered the walls—Nancy’s face everywhere.

Images of her and Eason smiling, posing as if for a mating ceremony announcement.

There was only one carving of Eason and me—and Nancy stood in the middle of that one, too.

Clinging to his side.

And I looked like a stranger wandering into someone else’s picture.

A small, tired smile curved my lips.

It doesn’t matter anymore.

Half an hour later, a great sky-beast descended from the clouds—the Ashbournes’ private sky-wing, its metal wings shimmering like a giant hawk.

Within the hour, news of my new engagement was carved into every clan’s message boards, spreading through the territories like wildfire.

When Eason found out, he came running.

But he was too late.

From the sky-wing’s window, I watched him sprint across the clearing, shouting my name, reaching out as if he could drag me back with his bare hands.

But everything between us was already gone blown away like the wind roaring past my ears.