Katelyn stepped forward, her voice soft and honeyed as she wove her thoughts directly into my mind. “Riana, my beloved Danny has passed suddenly from sickness. I was grief-stricken, and I asked Roderic to accompany me. Do not be angry with us.”

Her words were gentle, yet her eyes gleamed with a subtle, unspoken claim, as if to declare, “With me, he will never leave.”

“Oh, your mate is ever so devoted,” I murmured, my expression cold, betraying nothing.

Roderic’s brow furrowed, tension coiling in his mind. “Riana, can you be reasonable? Danny’s passing has grieved Katelyn deeply, and yet you taunt her still?”

His eagerness to defend her struck me, and I cast him a glance sharp as a fang.

Without another word, I pressed lightly against his shoulder, shoving him aside, and turned away. My steps were calm, controlled, but the fire in my chest roared beneath.

Roderic paused, a flicker of daze in his eyes. It was the first time I had seen him and Katelyn together without cries or flares of despair. I left the grove quietly, deliberately.

Only moments later, Roderic’s presence brushed against my mind, soft and lingering. “Is it only because I did not bring Aeliana home? Why hold such anger against me still? Why dwell on pettiness?”

He had erred, yet I bore the weight of blame.

“All of it is my fault,” I said, voice sharp and distant, not sparing him a glance.

A flicker of surprise crossed Roderic’s mind at my indifference. His tone softened, conciliatory, almost humble. “Danny’s passing struck Katelyn hard. I feared she might falter alone, and I hurried to her. Is Aeliana angry with me? I will make it right when I return. She is obedient—she will forgive me, yes?”

If he had opened his senses to our pack, he would have felt the emptiness where Aeliana should have been. But his thoughts clung solely to Katelyn, blind to all else.

“You have no chance left,” I said, turning again, my mind closed to him.

Roderic’s hand caught my arm, firm, pleading. “Why no chance? Very well, I will fetch Aeliana from her lessons each day. Do not bear anger so long against me.”

His willingness to bend for the first time flickered in my senses. Had Aeliana survived the attack, perhaps I could have softened. But that path was forever barred now.

“Let us set the time and end this bond swiftly,” I said, wrenching free from his grip. My steps carried me forward, unhesitating, never once looking back.

Behind me, Roderic lingered, the awareness of loss creeping into him. His frown deepened, and he sent word to his servant. “Maelis, bring the finest doll to my daughter. Bid her persuade her mother that she should not seethe against me.”

Before I even reached the edge of the graveyard, a sharp thought pierced my mind, carried by the caretaker of the grounds. “Riana, someone disturbs your daughter’s resting place!”

The words struck me like a bolt of silver lightning, shattering my heart. My breath came in ragged gasps as I turned and ran through the cold mist toward Aeliana’s grave, all else forgotten.

Aeliana had always been a sunlit spirit. She adored daisies, those flowers that turned ever toward the sun. She once dreamed aloud that she would carpet the entire backyard with them.

Her dream had ended before she could realize it. After her passing, I had planted daisies upon her grave instead. No tombstone marked the place, only countless blooms, each one carrying my ceaseless longing for her.

“Roderic, see how many daisies bloom here. Danny would love this!” I thought, my mind aching with her memory.

But when I arrived, my chest tightened with fury. Katelyn had already placed an urn into the soil, two guards refilling the grave, shattering the daisies I had so tenderly sown. Aeliana’s small urn was cast aside upon a mound of dirt, desecrated.

“What are you doing?!” I shrieked, running forward, shoving the guards aside with all the strength of grief and fury, my claws—hands trembling with rage—barely controlled. “Who gave you leave to touch her grave?!”

Katelyn shrank back into Roderic’s side, weaving her thoughts into mine like honey and venom. “It seemed abandoned, with no marker. Beautiful flowers covered the place, so I thought Danny could rest in peace here. I had the caretaker contact the family, offer them compensation. Why do you scream? You frighten me.”

She wore the guise of delicacy, but every nerve in me recoiled. I wasted no words. Snatching the shovel from a guard’s hands, I clawed at the disturbed soil, desperate to reclaim the sanctuary I had prepared for Aeliana with all my heart.

“Riana, stop this!” Roderic’s voice thundered, his form looming over me as he wrested the shovel from my grasp.

“Roderic, you are a monster!” I spat, sinking to my knees and tearing at the soil with my bare hands, the chill biting into my fevered skin.

Katelyn’s panic flared, her mindlink shrieking across the distance. “Stop her! Do not let her touch Danny!”

Two guards seized me, dragging me back. “Let me go!” I howled, thrashing against their grip, wild and untamed, every heartbeat a drum of anguish.

Roderic approached, his eyes hard as frozen moonstone. “Katelyn is already grieving Danny’s passing, and now you desecrate his resting place. You have gone too far. Apologize to Katelyn at once.”

Roderic’s thoughts struck me, sharp and cold, carrying disdain and command: “Apologize to the woman who desecrated your daughter’s resting place.”

At that instant, a tide of sorrow surged through me, almost unbearable. I glared at him, teeth bared in silent fury, and sent a thought as resolute as iron: “Never.”

“Roderic,” Katelyn’s presence coiled around his mind like a serpent, “you claimed your mate is virtuous and kind, yet see how she rages. A madwoman for all to witness. Would the pack not whisper and mock you?”

Roderic’s eyes narrowed at me, glinting with disgust. “Do you hear her? Do not shame me. Go home, to Aeliana. How can you leave her alone?”

I clenched my jaw, teeth grinding. “Do you even care for Aeliana?”

“What nonsense?” His mindlink came firm and confident. “Of course I care. I may be burdened with work, but all I do is for her. She is my only daughter. When she joins a mate of her own, I will give her the greatest treasures of the pack. She will be proud of her father.”

His words struck like cold iron in my chest. Rage and grief roared through me. “Roderic, stop pretending! If you truly cared, you would not have left her alone in the woods, vulnerable, for Katelyn’s sake! She was but six cycles old! Did you ever sense her fear, her helplessness?”

“Why do you persist? Why torment me over trifles?” His patience snapped; his roar shook the clearing.

With a brutal movement, he struck the urn lying by the mound of disturbed soil. Bang!

The urn tumbled, rolling over itself, scattering Aeliana’s ashes across the earth. My mind shattered. When I had first seen her struck by the carriage, my soul had broken; now, seeing her remnants desecrated by her own father, the pain plunged deeper still.

The wind rose, carrying the ashes like drifting mist. “No! Don’t!” I struggled against the guards, reaching desperately to grasp the ephemeral remains. But the ashes slipped through my fingers, fleeting as the life they once held.

The last tangible piece of Aeliana was gone.

Shattered, I fell to the soil, clawing at the earth, desperate to reclaim even a fragment. Tears carved trails down my face.

Katelyn stepped forward, crushing the scattered ashes beneath her foot, her voice a serpent’s hiss: “Riana, it is but a stranger’s remains. Why this spectacle? If you wished to deny Danny her rest, these theatrics are needless.”

“Away from me!” I snapped, rising and shoving her. She stumbled, striking the ground with a thud.

Roderic’s rage erupted like wildfire. Without a word, he advanced, striking my face with a sharp blow. The sting was nothing compared to the ache gnawing at my heart.

“You left Aeliana alone to torment Katelyn in petty jealousy. You fail me utterly! How did our daughter come to have such a mother?” His voice thundered, laced with fury. “Cry over a stranger’s ashes as you wish. But from this day, Aeliana is mine. You are unfit to guide her, to nurture her. I will protect her from your influence!”

A cold weight settled in the clearing as Roderic’s mind linked outward, his command reaching the one who served him. “Maelis, take Aeliana to the private sanctuary. Riana is not to see her without my leave.”

A pause, hesitation in her reply. Then her thought arrived faintly, trembling: “Lord Ravenshade… Aeliana perished the day you failed to fetch her. The daisied grave where Ms. Crowe wished to lay her hound… that is where Aeliana’s ashes rest.”