Darkness.

Then, pain.

A dull, pounding ache spread through my skull, making me wince as I stirred. My body felt foreign—like I had been asleep for too long, detached from it. I tried to move, but my limbs were sluggish, heavy, like they weren’t mine.

I exhaled sharply and forced my eyes open.

White.

The ceiling above me was smooth and unfamiliar. The bed beneath me was soft, the fabric of the sheets rich against my skin. None of it felt right. My chest tightened.

Where… am I?

Panic crawled up my throat as I sat up too fast, the room spinning violently around me. I gritted my teeth and pressed my palm against my temple, trying to steady myself.

I didn’t recognize this place.

I didn’t recognize...

My breath hitched.

I didn’t recognize anything.

The thought sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Why couldn’t I remember?

A door creaked open, pulling me from my panic.

Footsteps. Steady and controlled.

A tall figure stepped into the room. My chest tightened instinctively at the sheer presence of him—towering, commanding, exuding a silent power that made the air feel heavier.

His golden eyes locked onto mine, unreadable.

“Awake at last.”

The deep, cold voice sent a sharp jolt through me.

Something about him felt… dangerous.

I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice. “Who are you?”

His expression remained impassive. He didn’t move, didn’t react, as if my question was irrelevant.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “Where am I?”

Nothing. No answer.

Fear curled in my stomach.

I clenched my fists against the sheets, my breathing unsteady. My mind was blank, painfully empty. No memories, no names, nothing that could explain why I was here or who I was supposed to be.

And yet…

Something about this man, Something about those eyes.

A strange feeling stirred deep inside me, an instinct I couldn’t place.

“Why can’t I remember anything?” My voice was hoarse, unsteady.

Finally, he moved.

Slow, deliberate steps carried him closer until he stood directly in front of me, looking down with an expression that sent ice through my veins.

“You don’t need to,” he said simply.

I blinked. “What—”

Before I could finish, his hand lifted.

Something pulsed in the air, something unseen but alive. I barely had time to flinch before his fingers pressed against my forehead.

A searing light erupted in my mind.

White-hot, electric—ripping through me like a storm.

I choked on a gasp, my entire body seizing as the world around me shattered.

And then—

Memories flash into my mind. It hit me like a tidal wave, brutal and unforgiving.

Pain. Betrayal.

And Ezekiel.

I saw him. I felt him—his touch, his warmth. The way his arms had wrapped around me, his voice a soothing promise in my ears.

“You are my queen, Viana. Naya is our princess. I will always protect you both.”

“You are my life. You and Naya. Nothing will ever come between us.”

“I will be the strongest Alpha for you. No one will ever hurt you two—not while I still breathe.”

The words echoed in my head.

Lies.

The memory twisted, warping into something darker.

Naya’s cries, desperate, weak.

Blood. So much blood.

And Ezekiel—

Turning away.

I gasped, my entire body shaking as the memories kept crashing down.

The humiliation. The way they laughed at me when he abandoned me.

The agonizing, soul-crushing moment when I realized...

He chose her.

Not me. Not our daughter.

Skyla.

Rage burned through my veins, an all-consuming fire that threatened to devour me.

I clenched my jaw, my nails digging into my palms as I tried to steady myself. My chest rose and fell with each ragged breath, the weight of everything I had lost pressing down on me.

A name slipped past my lips before I could stop it.

“Prime Bloodbane...”

A sharp, suffocating silence filled the air.

I lifted my gaze, my vision still spinning, and met his eyes.

He was watching me—unmoving, unreadable. But there was something in his gaze now.

Satisfaction.

“You remember everything now,” he murmured, his voice disturbingly calm. “But tell me, Viana, do you still intend to keep your promise?”

His words were a dagger to my chest.

The promise.

I had made it before everything fell apart.

But now, now that I remembered everything…

My lips parted, but no words came out.

For a split second, I hesitated.

Ezekiel’s touch. His warmth. The way he had once looked at me like I was his world.

It was stupid. It was pathetic.

And Prime saw it.

His eyes darkened, his expression shifting into something dangerous.

A cold laugh left his lips. He leaned closer, his voice a sharp whisper.

“You’re hesitating?”

I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering in my ears.

Prime’s gaze sharpened, cutting into me like a blade.

Prime’s voice turned cruel. “Did you forget what he said that night?” His golden eyes burned with something unreadable. “He denied her, Viana. He denied that she was even his.”

My breath hitched.

“A child that carried his blood, a child who loved him, yet he chose to believe a fabricated test over his own mate.”

Something inside me snapped.

Like a thread pulled too tight.

Prime stepped back slightly, watching me with unreadable eyes. But there was no amusement anymore.

Just cold expectation.

“Tell me, Viana.” His voice was steady, unwavering. “Do you still intend to keep your promise?”

My hands curled into fists.

The memories burned. Ezekiel’s betrayal. Naya’s death.

I lifted my gaze to meet Prime’s.

And this time, there was no hesitation.

“Yes.”

The word was final. Absolute.

Prime’s lips curled into a slow, knowing smile.

“Then prove it.”

A force slammed into me, like the ground itself had risen to crush me. A suffocating, merciless heat filled the space, pressing down on my lungs.

The flames of judgment had begun.

I gasped. The moment I opened my eyes, the world had shifted.

I was no longer in Prime’s room.

A massive arena stretched before me, the sky above shrouded in crimson haze. Surrounding the stone platform I stood on were thousands—no, tens of thousands—of wolves. Their eyes glowed in the dim light, watching in eerie silence. Rogues.

A shadow moved in front of me.

Prime.

He stood tall, his silver eyes reflecting the flickering torches lining the arena walls. His presence was unshaken, as if he had been expecting this all along.

“You feel it, don’t you?” His voice was calm.

I clenched my fists. My entire body was burning—not with fire, but with something deeper, something that reached into my bones and coiled around my very soul.

“What… did you do to me?” My voice came out strained, foreign.

Prime’s lips curved slightly. “I have cast the Ritual of the Hollowed.”

The words sent a ripple through the watching rogues. A hushed murmur spread among them, some stepping back, others standing rigid, as if the mere mention of it was enough to shake them.

I swallowed hard. “The what?”

Prime’s expression remained unreadable. “An ancient spell. Lost for centuries. Forbidden even among the strongest of our kind.” His gaze darkened. “It strips away what makes you weak. Fear. Regret. Love. Every emotion that binds you to the past.”

I sucked in a sharp breath.

Love.

Ezekiel’s face flashed in my mind. His voice. His warmth. His betrayal.

A sharp, twisting pain coiled in my chest. The mate bond, the one that still lingered despite his rejection—was unraveling, fraying apart thread by thread.

“It is not instant,” Prime continued. “The ritual lasts three days. Three days of agony, where your very soul will be torn apart and rebuilt.”

My breathing hitched. “And if I don’t survive?”

His gaze locked onto mine. “Then you die.”

Silence.

A cold, unrelenting silence.

I turned my head slightly, looking past Prime at the thousands of rogues surrounding us. They weren’t just watching, they were waiting. Expecting.

I could feel it in the air.

They wanted to see if I would make it.

If I was worthy.

Prime took a step forward. “There is no turning back, Viana.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was afraid. My body screamed at me to run. But deep down, I knew there was nowhere left to go.

I had already lost everything.

What else was there to fear?

My lips parted. “I’m ready.”

Prime’s gaze lingered for a second longer before he stepped aside. Behind him, a structure stood—a tall, coffin-like chamber made of black stone. The door was slightly ajar, revealing a darkness so deep it swallowed the light.

“This is the threshold,” Prime said. “Once you step inside, there is no leaving until the ritual is complete.”

I exhaled slowly. Then, without another word, I walked forward.

The moment I reached the doorway, Prime’s hand pressed against my back. A single, forceful push.

Darkness swallowed me whole.

The door slammed shut.

The walls closed in.

I was trapped.

A space so tight I could barely move. My arms were pressed to my sides, my back against the cold stone, my head locked in place.

Then it began.

A sudden, unbearable heat exploded inside my chest. It wasn’t fire—it was worse. It was like my very soul was being dragged from my body, shredded apart piece by piece.

I screamed.

The pain was unlike anything I had ever known.

Every inch of me burned. My veins felt like they were being carved open, my bones splitting apart. My wolf howled inside me, thrashing against the invisible force that was tearing us apart.

No. No. No.

Ezekiel’s face surfaced in my mind again, his golden eyes, the way he used to look at me, the warmth of his touch—

RIP IT OUT.

The ritual obeyed.

The memory was yanked from me, ripped out so violently I could almost hear it shatter.

I gasped.

Another memory. Another wave of pain.

Ezekiel’s voice whispering my name—gone.

His scent—gone.

His touch, his love—gone.

The pain grew worse, consuming, endless. I clawed at the walls, my nails digging into the stone, but there was nothing to hold on to.

Everything was being erased.

I sobbed. I screamed. I begged.

And then...

Silence.

I was floating. Weightless. Empty.

For the first time in three days, there was no pain. No grief. No love.

Nothing.

And then—

The door opened.

A rush of cold air hit my skin.

I didn’t move.

“Viana?”

A voice. Deep. Steady. Familiar.

Prime.

I felt him step forward. He was close, his presence looming. “You survived.”

I did not answer. He exhaled. “Your emotions have been erased. Your fear, your pain, your love—they are no more.”

Silence.

I heard him shift, as if hesitating. “Are you—”

I opened my eyes. Prime stilled.

I stepped out of the chamber, my body light, effortless. The weight—the pain, the anger, the sorrow—it was all gone.

I walked past Prime without a word.

And then—

A sound. A single rustle.

Then another.

Then, as if a wave had crashed over the arena, thousands of rogues dropped to their knees.

Their heads bowed. Their voices rose as one.

“Hail, Bloodbane Queen.”

The words echoed across the vast arena, a chant that rumbled like a storm.

“Hail, Bloodbane Queen.”

“Hail, Bloodbane Queen.”

They were kneeling for me. They were swearing loyalty to me.

I lifted my gaze to the sea of wolves before me, the thousands who now bowed in reverence.

I should have felt something.

Pride. Power. Victory.

But I felt nothing.

Nothing at all.

Because Viana—the woman who once loved, who once cried, who once bled for the mate who betrayed her, was gone.

And in her place, a Queen was born.