Chapter 9

On the day of the Luna's coronation, I was in my cottage drinking, figuring I'd pack up and head back to the Abyss once this was over.

There was nothing left here worth staying for.

But fate has never been kind to me.

Guards escorted me forcibly to Liliana's chambers.

She'd collapsed into a sudden coma just before the coronation. The healer said an old wound inside her had never fully healed—damage from her fall into the Abyss five years ago, rooted deep in the bone. Ordinary medicine couldn't suppress it. Without intervention, her body would slowly fail.

The healer looked at Adrian and spoke a single sentence.

"Elaine's healing power can do it. But the essence of her healing force is bound to her life. Extracting it will cause rapid physical deterioration and gradual loss of mental clarity."

My legs buckled. I staggered back several steps.

Before this, Liliana had come to see me privately.

She'd leaned against the doorframe, looking down at me. "You think he let you break the bond because he respects you? He just didn't want the hassle."

She'd smiled. "The only useful thing left in you is that healing power. Once it's gone, you won't be worth as much as a dog."

So this had been her plan all along. Drain me dry, leave me as nothing.

Adrian looked my way. He'd already decided.

No one asked if I was willing.

No one cared.

Adrian extended his hand toward me. "Elaine."

I stepped back.

His voice dropped. "Your healing power is something you were born with. If Liliana misses this chance, there won't be another."

I shook my head. "I have no obligation to trade my life for hers."

The room seemed stunned that I'd talked back.

A flicker of disappointment crossed Adrian's eyes.

He raised his hand and pressed it to my forehead.

The Alpha's dominance pinned me in place. I couldn't move, couldn't struggle. I wanted to cry, but no tears would come.

If before I'd only been hurt by Adrian's treatment of me, now everything was different.

I hated him. Of that, I was certain.

The healer's incantation activated. The moment my healing power was ripped away, the pain was like nothing I'd ever known. A hundred times worse than losing a finger.

The rune the old wolf had carved into my palm flared white-hot—then guttered out in an instant.

I crumpled to the floor, every ounce of strength gone.

Adrian murmured: "It's over, Elaine. It's done."

He reached to gather me into his arms.

I shrank back, staring at him in terror.

His hand froze in midair.

Liliana stirred awake. The first thing she did was glance in my direction.

The corner of her mouth curved upward.

Someone spoke, cold and matter-of-fact: "Elaine was always just Adrian's stand-in for Liliana. Now that the real one's back, might as well send her away—spare the Luna the discomfort."

I dragged my unsteady body back to the cottage.

A dead leaf drifted down and settled at my feet.

Little White was gone.

Its scent had vanished from the cottage entirely.

I fought the fog in my head and searched everywhere. Every corner. The weeds behind the cottage, the hollow beneath the old tree, the stone slab by the wall where it loved to curl up in the sun.

Nothing.

While searching, I caught my hand on a thornbush. The blood came, and it kept coming.

It wouldn't have happened before. Even a deep cut would have closed quickly, mended by my healing power.

That power wasn't mine anymore.

I stood in the middle of the empty courtyard, blank, for a long time.

Then, all at once, I understood.

I'd been born alone. Alone in the Abyss. Alone in the Silvercrown tribe. I'd thought that by taking in a broken wolf, I'd have someone to keep me company—something to lean on.

But it probably had somewhere more important to be. Something more important to do.

Once it healed, it didn't need me anymore.

Just like Adrian. Once Liliana came back, he didn't need me either.

It seemed like everyone who stopped in my life was only passing through.

The moment they found somewhere better, they'd leave. And I would always be the one left standing in place.

I lay in bed, drifting in and out. My mind grew hazier by the day. I spent less and less time awake.

The healer had been right—with my healing power gone, my cognition was dulling, piece by piece. Sometimes I'd stare at the ceiling and suddenly forget where I was.

Adrian came to see me.

He stood by the bed and told me it was just weakness, that rest and time would fix it.

I didn't acknowledge him. I wouldn't even open my eyes.

Then he seized my left hand, a startling edge in his voice: "Why hasn't your finger healed?"

I had no idea what had gotten into him.

After a long silence, he spoke, voice raw: "Do you hate me? Do you regret it?"

I said: "The thing I regret most in my life is walking out of the Abyss with you and bonding with you."

Adrian went rigid.