Chapter 10

Liliana made a full recovery—stronger than before. The coronation proceeded without incident.

The Silvercrown tribe was in high spirits. None of it had anything to do with me.

When Cassian came, he was battered—cuts and gashes all over.

He told me he'd uncovered the truth.

After Liliana's fall into the Abyss, her fate unknown, the Moon Goddess had designated a new mate for Adrian. That mate was me.

Not because I looked like Liliana. The Moon Goddess had chosen me.

And after Liliana returned, the fated bond between her and Adrian had already severed. He couldn't smell her scent. Touching her triggered nothing. The Moon Goddess doesn't give anyone a second chance.

He believed he still loved Liliana. But it wasn't destined love—only obsession and guilt.

Cassian also told me that the healer had confided something: my healing power wasn't the ordinary kind found in common Omegas. It was the mark of an extraordinarily rare Abyss bloodline. If that bloodline awakened, the resulting power would far exceed any Alpha's.

But with my healing power stripped away, the chance of awakening had plummeted.

Cassian's voice was heavy. "They may have destroyed the most important thing about you."

I sat there stunned for a long time. Then: "All the more reason there's nothing left to stay for."

Cassian told me one more thing. The scent on Little White had been that of the Abyss wolf clan. It was likely one of their people—and once healed, it had fled back home.

The Abyss wolves and the Silvercrown tribe were sworn enemies.

So that was it. It must have been embarrassed to reveal its identity. That's why it left without saying goodbye.

It needn't have bothered. I held no grudge against any tribe. And it had never harmed me—it had even thrown itself at Liliana when she held a blade to my throat.

Cassian stayed by my side for the next few days.

My body was failing, a little more each day. I could feel my life slipping away, and I was powerless to stop it.

It was time to go back to the Abyss. Back to the place I knew best.

I began packing.

There wasn't much. Everything I owned could be counted on one hand.

I waited for Cassian to leave on a border patrol, then placed a note on the chair where he always sat.

One line: "Thank you, Cassian. I know things were never easy between us, but I've realized recently—you've been the kindest person to me in this entire tribe."

Anything longer would read like a final letter. I wasn't going to die. At least, not entirely.

The healer had said my healing power was "no ordinary thing." Cassian said it was the mark of the Abyss bloodline. The rune the old wolf had carved into my palm had flared for one brief instant during the extraction.

Every clue pointed to the same place—the Abyss.

If any hope remained, the answer was where I'd been born.

But I'd prepared for the worst. If the bloodline wouldn't awaken—if I was nothing more than a hollowed-out, ordinary Omega—then I'd rather die in the Abyss. In the cave where I grew up.

Not in a crumbling cottage in the Silvercrown settlement, rotting away in silence.

I wanted to return to Elaine's place while I still remembered I was Elaine.

Dusk.

I slipped out through the castle's back gate and followed a path almost no one used, heading toward the Abyss.

Passing the small lake, I paused.

The water reflected the sunset. Beautiful. Cassian had said this was where Adrian and Liliana first fell in love.

I smiled.

Then kept walking.

No one noticed I'd left.

Just as well.

A clean departure. Owed nothing. Needed no one to see me off.

I looked back one last time at the silhouette of Silvercrown Castle. In the gathering dark, it rose tall and silent, like some great beast crouched on the ridge.

I'd lived here for years. Loved someone. Raised a wolf. Made one friend who maybe counted as a friend.

That was enough.

I turned and walked into the deepening dusk, toward the Abyss.