Augusta immediately dropped to her knees. "Your Grace, the Ivory Spirit Fox was indeed felled by my arrow."

The moment our words landed, the Alpha Heir's expression shifted. He stared at me, his voice sharp with disbelief. "Seraphina, there's no way you missed that shot."

"Your archery, your horsemanship. You don't miss. What kind of game are you playing?"

Luna Supreme Lenora's face changed the instant she heard the fox had been Augusta's kill.

Augusta caught the Alpha Heir's tone and turned to him, eyes reddening with wounded hurt. "Does Your Highness not believe I made the shot either?"

Aldric realized his blunder and quickly helped her to her feet. "Of course I do. I was simply so stunned I couldn't believe it at first. Your archery has truly improved, my dear."

The Luna Supreme studied Augusta, still kneeling, then turned her gaze to me with a thin smile. "Seraphina, you are the trueborn daughter of the Alpha Sovereign of Ironhold. No she-wolf in the capital can match your skill on horseback. How could you possibly lose?"

This Mate Selection Hunt was dressed up as a fox hunt, but every great pack house had received word beforehand. It was nothing more than a grand performance to crown me as the Alpha Heir's Luna.

In all the capital, who could outride or outshoot me? But this time, I had no intention of winning.

I lifted my head and let out a regretful sigh. "I beg Your Grace's pardon. My horse grew temperamental for reasons I cannot explain and threw me from the saddle. I injured my left shoulder and could not draw my bow with any force."

"But my elder sister's marksmanship was superb. I accept my defeat without reservation."

Augusta stood beside the Alpha Heir, tilting her delicate face up at him. "Your Highness, are you not pleased that I brought down the Ivory Spirit Fox?"

Aldric smiled and took her hand. "Don't be silly. I'm delighted."

The Luna Supreme beckoned her head attendant forward. "How did Seraphina take such a fall? Go at once and see whether she's been hurt."

"If anything has happened to her, her parents will hold me responsible for not looking after her properly."

The Luna Supreme's personal attendant helped me to my feet and led me away to be treated. She lifted the edge of my sleeve gently; my left shoulder was scraped raw and swollen red.

The attendant gasped. "What a terrible fall."

When the salve had been applied and I returned, the attendant gave the Luna Supreme a confirming nod. Lenora exhaled at last, but she was far from ready to let the matter rest. "Seraphina is the Alpha Sovereign of Ironhold's trueborn daughter, unmatched in archery and horsemanship. Today's loss came only because she was injured. The contest was hardly fair to her. Why not wait until she has recovered and hold a second match?"

The words had barely left her lips before Augusta's eyes turned red again. She bit her lower lip and looked to the Alpha Heir. "Your Highness, my sister is the Alpha Sovereign's trueborn daughter. The title of Luna was always meant to be hers."

"Does it even matter that I shot the fox? In the end, the position will go to Seraphina regardless."

Tears rolled down her cheeks like pearls slipping from a broken string.

Her little speech had the opposite of its intended effect on the assembled she-wolves. Resentment rippled through the crowd. The competition was supposed to be fair. Why was the Luna Supreme so blatantly favoring me?

Discontented murmurs swelled. "This isn't right. Augusta was the one who made the kill."

"Exactly. Seraphina got hurt. That's just how it goes. A loss is a loss."

Their reasoning was simple: losing to any other she-wolf would sting, but letting Augusta take the title was a different calculation entirely. A lesser-born daughter no one respected becoming Luna posed no real threat.

Aldric wiped Augusta's tears with a tender hand, clasped her fingers tightly, and stepped forward to face the Luna Supreme. "Mother, the rules of this selection were set well in advance. Every pack in the capital knows them. Augusta brought down the Ivory Spirit Fox. She is the Luna."

"The High Alpha's word is law. It cannot be undone."

"I care for Augusta, and I wish to take her as my bonded mate."

Augusta flushed scarlet, her face tilted up toward the Alpha Heir. "I would gladly remain by Your Highness's side, never to part."

The Luna Supreme stared at Augusta, her expression darkening by the second.

She had schemed and plotted for the Alpha Heir, engineering this match so he would claim me as his bonded Luna, binding the Ironhold Pack to him as his most powerful pillar of support. She never imagined a lesser-born daughter like Augusta would ruin everything.

The distinction between trueborn and lesser-born was easy enough to say aloud, but in practice, the gap was as wide as the sky.

The Ironhold Pack would move heaven and earth for its trueborn daughter. A lesser-born pup of no consequence? No one would lift a finger.

Unwilling to concede, the Luna Supreme spoke up, her face the picture of tender concern. "Seraphina, you and my son have known each other since you were pups. You were sweethearts. I know it pains you that your injury today cost you the Ivory Spirit Fox."

"I understand the bond between you and the Alpha Heir. Fate can be so cruel. Though you were injured and could not claim the fox, I would like to name you his secondary mate. What do you say?"

She leaned close and lowered her voice. The scent of red amber and dried rose petals pressed against me, warm and suffocating, with that dry papery undertone beneath it. "Bonded Luna, secondary mate, what does it matter? It's all for show."

"Once you enter the Heir's Den, I give you my word: the place beside the Alpha Heir will be yours."

She gripped my hand, her lacquered nails digging into my flesh hard enough to leave marks.

Behind me, the Alpha Heir let out a scornful laugh. "Seraphina, my mother is graciously offering you the position of secondary mate. In common terms, yes, that makes you a concubine. But you should understand: a concubine of the Valdris Sovereign Pack outranks any common wolf's bonded Luna by a wide margin."

"You would be concubine to me, the Alpha Heir of the Valdris line."

Augusta spoke softly from his side. "Your Grace, please don't say any more. You'll upset my sister. She was raised like a jewel in the palm of Alpha Sovereign Ashvane's hand. How could she ever agree to be a concubine?"

"Perhaps I should give up the position of bonded Luna to her instead. As long as I can stay by your side, titles mean nothing to me."

The Alpha Heir drew her closer with a gentle arm around her shoulders and smiled. "Silly girl. The position of bonded Luna is rightfully yours. Why would you give it up? I told you, I will make you the most honored she-wolf in the Heir's Den."

Then he coaxed her away, murmuring, "The decree naming the Alpha Heir's Luna will reach the Ashvane estate soon. Let me take you to see the ceremonial gifts first, and the bonding gown. You can choose whichever pattern you like."

With that, he led Augusta away under the gaze of every wolf present.

I lifted my chin and addressed the Luna Supreme, my voice ringing clear. "I beg Your Grace to withdraw the offer. Augusta and I both come from the Ironhold Pack. Two daughters of the Ashvane bloodline cannot both mate into the Heir's Den."

"I humbly ask Your Grace's forgiveness."

The warmth drained from the Luna Supreme's eyes.

What good was a lesser-born daughter of the Alpha Sovereign's household? Making a girl like that the Alpha Heir's Luna was a joke.

When the hunt concluded, I climbed into the Ashvane carriage to return home, but the Alpha Heir blocked my path.

"Seraphina, I know the title of secondary mate stings your pride. But you should count yourself fortunate."

"Augusta put in every good word she could for you. She said that once she enters the Heir's Den, she would let you manage the household. She's too gentle and soft for it, not decisive the way you are."

"I will give her the title of Luna and nothing more. The real power will be yours."

"You are the trueborn daughter of the Ironhold Pack's Alpha Sovereign, groomed from birth for exactly this. I trust no one more than you to run the Heir's Den."

"There is just one condition. If you agree, Augusta says she will allow you to bear pups after you join the household."

I tried to wrench my hand free, but his grip held. The scent of dark amber resin and smoldering oak rolled off him, that bitter iron undertone coating the back of my throat like blood. I kept my composure and said evenly, "I have no intention of mating into the Heir's Den, Your Grace."

Irritation flashed across the Alpha Heir's face, coloring it with barely concealed anger. "Enough. I know you're upset. But I said there is one condition. Agree to it, and three days after the Luna's formal entry, I will come for you."

"Augusta is lesser-born. Her dowry is modest. It would be humiliating for her to enter the Heir's Den with so little."

"You are trueborn. Simply transfer your dowry into her name so she can be carried through the gates in proper splendor, and I will see to it that you become my secondary mate without a hitch."

I stared at her, wide-eyed. "Your Highness wants me to what? Transfer my dowry into Augusta's name?"

The audacity of this woman.

Augusta trailed behind the Luna Supreme, her voice small and trembling. "Sister, I may only be a lesser-born daughter, but I'm still a daughter of the Ironhold Pack. I'm about to become the Alpha Heir's Luna. I simply don't want to bring shame upon our bloodline's name."

The Alpha Heir tenderly wiped her tears, then turned to me with a mocking look. "I'll have my Chief Sentry deliver my personal decree to Alpha Sovereign Fenwick Ashvane's estate. They are to treat the future Luna with the respect she deserves and prepare a proper bonding tribute for her."

By the time Augusta returned to the Ashvane Pack Estate, the Alpha Heir's Chief Sentry had already arrived and delivered the message.

The moment Augusta stepped through the door, she dropped to her knees before my mother, the picture of pitiful innocence. "Mother, the Alpha Heir took pity on me for my humble birth and suggested the estate prepare a proper bonding tribute. He said Seraphina could lend me her dowry first, so I'd have something respectable when I enter the Heir's Den."

"Seraphina will only be a secondary mate. No one will care how large her dowry is. Once we're both in the Heir's Den, what's mine and what's hers will be one and the same."

"After all, I may be lesser-born, but I'm still Father's daughter. Surely he wouldn't want the whole realm mocking the Alpha Sovereign of Ironhold for treating his daughters unequally?"

Her eyes glittered with calculation. My mother regarded her with quiet disappointment, then finally spoke. "Enough. Go and rest. Focus on your bonding preparations."

Augusta rose, a satisfied smile playing on her lips as she swept out of the room.

My mother took my hand. "Seraphina, do you truly intend to become the Alpha Heir's secondary mate?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry, Mother. I will never mate with the Alpha Heir. I wouldn't even want to be his Luna, let alone his concubine."

"I've already refused the Luna Supreme's offer to make me a secondary mate, but I doubt she'll give up so easily."

My father's expression turned grave. The scent of cold-forged iron and ancient cedar deepened around him, the way it always did when he was weighing something that could not be undone. "The Ironhold Pack cannot be dragged into the succession struggle. The only way to extricate ourselves is to bond you to someone else before the Sovereign Den can issue a decree."

"If Augusta wants to mate into the Heir's Den, let her. When the time comes, our pack will have its own answer."

On the day of the Alpha Heir's bonding ceremony, crimson banners draped every archway of the Sovereign Den and ceremonial howls echoed across the grounds. When the Alpha Heir arrived at the estate and spotted me standing off to the side, he smiled. "Seraphina, three days from now, I'll petition His Majesty for a decree naming you my secondary mate. Behave yourself, and I'll give you a grand ceremony too."

Then his gaze drifted toward Augusta's courtyard, where forty-eight chests of bonding tribute stood in neat rows. His expression darkened. "Is the Ironhold Pack trying to humiliate me?"

"My Luna, and she brings only forty-eight chests? This is an insult."

My father stepped forward. His Alpha aura, which he had kept carefully banked all morning, unfurled like frost spreading across stone. The air thickened. Several of the assembled wolves shifted their weight, shoulders dropping involuntarily under the pressure. "Forgive the offense, Your Highness, but Augusta is not my biological daughter. Forty-eight chests for a girl I raised out of kindness is more than generous."