"You poisonous bitch!"

The slap sent my head spinning. Lilith was sobbing, clinging to Ethan's arm.

"What did you do to Leo?" she cried. "He suddenly got a high fever last night, he's been having seizures!"

Leo? Her son?

"I didn't do anything..." I said weakly.

"Liar!" she shrieked, pointing at me. "Who else would use a mental attack on a pup?"

Ethan looked at me, a storm gathering in his eyes.

"Seraphina!" He yanked me up. "How could you attack my pup, yet fight to the death for Jullian's?"

"I didn't!" I shook my head frantically.

"Leo is only four!" Lilith cried harder. "He's innocent!"

Innocent?

"You want a confession?" A wild, broken smile twisted my lips. I met his furious gaze, feeling nothing but a chilling calm. "Fine. I did it."

"You!" Lilith’s eyes went wide with shock.

"I curse him," I whispered, my smile terrifying and real. "I curse your precious heir to die just as my daughter did. A life for a life. An heir for an heir."

"Sera, I thought Lydia's death would teach you a lesson." He walked up to me and lifted my chin. "But you've disappointed me. If you won't learn to be an obedient Luna," he said, his voice dangerously soft, "then you can go to the silver cells and reflect."

The silver cells. My blood ran cold.

They were underground vaults made of solid silver, kept at thirty degrees below zero.

"Ethan..." For the first time, I was afraid.

"Ethan, isn't that too harsh?" Lilith pretended to object. "I just want her to lift the curse."

"Scared now?" Ethan ignored her, looking down at me. "Too late."

The guards dragged me downstairs. The silver cells were three floors down. The moment the door opened, a wave of frigid air hit me.

"In!"

They shoved me inside and slammed the door shut.

The biting cold was instant. The pure silver walls sizzled where they touched my skin. Every breath was fire and ice, a lungful of silver that choked my healing.

I huddled in a corner, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.

For three hours, I thought I was going to die there.

But then the door opened.

Ethan walked in alone, holding a heavy coat.

I was huddled in the corner, shaking.

He walked over, crouched down, and wrapped the coat around me, but he made no move to lead me out.

"Cold?" he whispered, his warm breath ghosting over my skin. "This is nothing. The ice in this room is nothing compared to the ice you put in my soul, Sera."

"I didn't... poison him..." my teeth chattered.

"Shh—" he pressed a finger to my lips. "The truth doesn't matter," he whispered. "What matters is that you understand. Your life is mine. Your death is mine. Your honor, your pain... it is all mine to command."

I was about to break. To shatter.

Then, a voice echoed in my mind.

Not Ethan's. Julian's.

[Seraphina. Listen to me. Your daughter is safe.]

Hope—a dangerous, treacherous thing—slammed into me, so powerful it knocked the breath from my lungs.

[What?]

[My warriors intercepted her fall. Lydia is alive. She's with me, and she's waiting for you.]

Tears streamed down my face. My daughter was alive!

"Well?" Ethan asked coldly. "Have you made up your mind?"

I looked up at him, the fear gone, replaced by a chilling emptiness.

"Ethan," I said, my voice terrifyingly calm. "I want to sever the bond."

"Fine."

Ethan's answer stunned me.

"You agree?" I looked at him, trying to read his impossibly deep eyes.

"If you're so desperate to sever it," he said with a shrug, "then fine. I'll grant your wish."

He stood, but didn't lead me out. Instead, he snapped his fingers.

A moment later, the pack elder scurried in, trembling, a document already in his hands.

It seemed Ethan had planned this all along.

"Don't look at me like that, Sera." Ethan took the document from the elder. He scanned it slowly, his tone matter-of-fact. "Leo is the only pure-blood heir of the Blackwood pack. He needs a legitimate title to inherit."

So that was it.

To pave the way for his bastard son. To make room for Lilith.

"So this is just for your heir," I sneered.

"Of course." He closed the document and walked to me, cupping my face. "But know this, Sera. This is temporary." He leaned in, his eyes burning with that sick possession. "Once Leo's position is secure, you will return to my side. You can abdicate as Luna. You can give up the title. But you will never stop being mine."

Such arrogant charity. What did he think I was? A piece of furniture he could move around and summon back at will?

I lowered my eyes, feigning submission.

"I understand," I whispered. "To atone for my sins... I'll play my part."

Ethan narrowed his eyes, studying me, trying to gauge how real my obedience was.

"I'll go quietly. I will disappear until the day you summon me back," I continued, my voice trembling just enough.

"Not just the penthouse." Ethan's hand suddenly clamped onto the back of my head, forcing me to look him in the eye. "Starting today, you will move to the estate on the edge of the city. It's quiet there. A good place for you to reflect. Sera, even without the mate bond, I can find you anywhere in the world."

"I know." I met his gaze. "I won't run."

"Good."

Ethan handed me the pen.

I took a deep breath and signed my name.

Next was the severing ritual.

The elder chanted the ancient words. Ethan and I pressed our palms together as a silver knife sliced them open.

Our blood mixed, followed by a searing pain deep in my soul.

It felt like a part of my soul was being torn out. Ripped from my very being.

"Ugh..." I gasped, my face pale and covered in cold sweat. My wolf howled, threatening to burst free.

Ethan let out a muffled grunt, a vein throbbing in his temple.

But he didn't pull back. Instead, he laced his fingers through mine, gripping my hand tightly.

In that moment of shared agony, as our bond shattered, his eyes burned with more possession than ever before.

"Do you feel that, Sera?" he gasped, a cruel smile twisting his lips. "This agony... it's proof we were one. The bond may be broken, but the scar it leaves on your soul? That's mine. A permanent brand to remind you who you belong to."

The ritual ended.

I felt empty, a part of me gone where the bond used to be.

But I also felt light. It was the taste of freedom.

"Go." Ethan released my bloody hand and elegantly wiped his own with a handkerchief, his cold arrogance returning. "Go back to the penthouse and pack your things. I want you at the estate by tonight."

"Yes, Alpha."

I turned and walked out of the silver cell on unsteady feet, leaving that suffocating building behind.

Back in the penthouse, I took one last look at the gilded cage I once called home.

Seven years of our bonding was a lifetime of lies.

It was all a sick joke.

I took out my phone and dialed Julian's number.

"I'm ready."

"Good. I'll pick you up after the pack assembly tomorrow."

"Don't wait," I said with a cold smile. "Come tonight."

"Why the rush?"

"Because I'm not running," I said, a slow, cold smile spreading across my face. "I'm making a statement. A parting gift, if you will."

I hung up and walked to the storage closet. I found what I was looking for: cans of gasoline. Time to light a fire.

The living room, where I used to wait for him to come home.

The bedroom, where we slept in the same bed as strangers.

The study, where I helped him strategize for his pack.

Every corner held a memory, and every memory made me sick.

I drenched them all in gasoline, burying them for good.

I struck a single match. The tiny flame flickered, a promise of destruction in the darkness.

"Goodbye, Ethan," I whispered to the house, to the ghost of the woman I used to be.

I let the match fall.

Fire roared to life, a hungry beast consuming everything in its path.

The penthouse, the symbol of our bond, was turning to ash.

I didn't stay to watch. I didn't need to. I turned my back on the roaring inferno, the funeral pyre for the pathetic, loyal wife I once was.

I didn't look back. I just walked into the darkness, and toward my revenge.