My eighteenth bonding ceremony with Kael Frost was canceled—again—because of my adopted sister. Mother opened a mind-link, her voice flooding into my head laced with agitation: "Briar's having another episode. Stomach cramps, bad ones. Your father and I are taking her to the infirmary. Handle the ceremony yourself—you've canceled enough of these by now, you're better at it than anyone." My lifelong best friend and maid of honor, Liora, was even blunter: "Is your ceremony really more important than Briar's life? She's in so much pain she's nearly blacking out—are you seriously expecting us to stay for the ceremony? Selene, when did you become so heartless?" And my fiancé. I waited a full twenty minutes. All he sent was this: Ceremony's off. We'll reschedule. We'll reschedule. I rolled those words over and over in my mind. He'd used the exact same phrase to dismiss me eighteen times. A bitter laugh slipped through my lips. Suddenly, none of it mattered anymore. The moon still hung at the edge of the sky, pale as a sliver of bone about to shatter. I closed my eyes and silently addressed that moon— Sever it. Every bond I share with them—let it end. Right now. Moonlight flashed behind my eyelids, and a line of silver text crystallized at the center of my vision, visible only to me: Connections severed. Countdown: 72 hours. When the time expires, all who were once bonded to you shall return everything—including their lives. … I opened my eyes, drew a deep breath, picked up the microphone, and walked onto the ceremonial stage. Violets. Everywhere. My bonding ceremony, blanketed in Briar's favorite flower. Laughable. "My apologies, everyone. Tonight's ceremony is canceled." The Northern Realm's aristocrats exchanged glances, though none looked particularly surprised. "Expected, isn't it? How many times have they tried over the years? Not once has it actually gone through. If I were the Graves heiress, I'd have stopped showing up ages ago." "The entire Graves clan dotes on that adopted little sister. Why bother competing? Stepping aside would at least let Selene keep her dignity." "You don't understand—Frost operations fall apart without Selene. They've tested it more than once. Every time Kael has a falling-out with her, the clan's holdings take a nosedive. That's the only reason he hasn't dropped her." I descended the stage under the pitying, faintly mocking gazes of the crowd. My lips twitched. This time, it wouldn't be a mere dip in holdings. I changed into plain clothes and returned to the Graves estate, wanting only to grab a few things before leaving for good. But the moment I pushed open the front door, a procession of people swept into the foyer around Briar, all chattering and laughing. The instant they saw me, every smile vanished at once. Kael's dark gray eyes clouded with anger, his tone thick with undisguised reproach: "Selene, why didn't you give any explanation when you canceled the ceremony? You said nothing—now people are going to blame Briar again." Father cast me a cold glance. "You handled this appallingly. In the past, cleaning up a canceled ceremony never required our involvement. Today, you have thoroughly disappointed me. Issue a statement immediately—say you canceled on a whim, and that it had nothing to do with anyone else." Liora already had her phone out. "I'll have the publicist contact the major outlets. If Selene puts out a statement now, we can still get ahead of it. We'll plant a few narratives online, redirect the discourse toward her—then nobody will even think of Briar…" I didn't respond to any of it. Not a single word. I simply stared at the silver countdown hovering in my vision. Remaining: 2 days, 18 hours. When the time came, they would lose everything they had. "Selene, what the hell are you staring at?" Kael stepped closer, his impatience reaching its peak. "I'm warning you—if you don't handle this properly, I can't guarantee when we'll schedule the next ceremony." I lifted my eyes and looked at him for one brief moment. That face I'd once fallen for at first sight now looked like a stranger's. It didn't matter. There wasn't going to be a next time. ---
"That's enough." Briar chimed in at the perfect moment, her voice a breathy wisp, her slender fingers tugging at Kael's sleeve. "It's all my fault… I'm the reason Selene's ceremony fell through again… There are still auspicious dates this month—please, stop pushing it back…" Halfway through her sentence she broke into a fit of coughing. Kael turned instantly, his palm settling on her back, patting gently. "This has nothing to do with you. Don't overthink it. Your sister can't live without me—it makes no difference when we hold the ceremony." "That's where you're wrong." I finally spoke. My voice was so calm it startled even me. Every expression in the room froze at once. I gave the backpack in my hand a little shake. "I'm leaving." The words had barely left my mouth. Crack— Mother's palm struck my face with full force, the sharp sound echoing through the foyer. My head snapped to the side. I tasted iron on my tongue. Her hand was still trembling, her nails digging into her own palm. "You dare cause another scene! All these years we've spoiled you rotten. How did a perfectly good child turn out so insufferably willful?" "Leave? And go where? So you can set the whole Northern Realm buzzing with gossip, make everyone think we're playing favorites? Selene, when are you going to grow up? How could I have raised a daughter like you—you're not worth half of what Briar is!" The taste of blood spread through my mouth. Yes. Every time before, I'd made a scene. Because I didn't understand. I didn't understand why, when it was Briar who shattered Father's prized ancient fang crown, they decided I was the one who'd smashed it. I didn't understand why, even with the estate's security footage, they refused to believe I hadn't pushed Briar down the stone stairs. Even the moonflowers I'd planted in the garden that triggered Briar's allergies had been entered into evidence as proof that I was trying to murder her. And this wasn't the first time Mother had raised her hand. The last time was only two days ago. Briar had wanted to wear the custom ceremonial gown I'd spent six months preparing for the bonding. I said no. And then—right on cue—she fainted. Mother charged at me, shoved me so hard I stumbled, then grabbed a pair of scissors and, right before my eyes, shredded that gown I'd waited half a year for into ribbons. Over Briar, she and I had been driven nearly to the point of drawing knives. So the old me had fought back with everything I had—demanding that someone, anyone, tell me I was right. But this time, I truly didn't want to fight anymore. Because I'd finally seen it clearly. I am the incarnation of the Moon Goddess. In all the Northern Realm, only those who forged an emotional bond with me could receive the blessings the Goddess bestowed. The day after I was born, the Graves family—teetering on the brink of extinction—were struck overnight by a string of miraculous windfalls. Their power swelled at breakneck speed until they secured their place as the most powerful clan in the Northern Realm. Father's chronic illness, already deteriorated to a terminal stage, vanished as if it had never existed. Even the elder who treated him couldn't explain it. My best friend Liora, inseparable from me since childhood, grew more stunning with each passing year and she became Hollywood's first werewolf to win Best Actress. And Kael. He had been nothing more than a stray low-rank gray wolf roaming the border territories. No parents. No pack. No surname. He scraped by running a market stall at the border bazaar, hounded by enforcement patrols, beaten up by rival vendors. Until one night, he found me—a little girl lost in a night market. I stared up at his handsome face. In that single instant, I fell for him. From that moment on, he awakened as a White Wolf Alpha, his abilities and influence soaring at an impossible rate. He established the Frost Clan, never once losing a business deal or a territorial dispute, and today stood as the man closest to the Alpha King's throne in all the Northern Realm. All he had to do was complete the bonding ceremony with me—make me his Luna—and the throne would be his. For over twenty years, they'd held me in the palm of their hands, showered me with love. Kael, above all, had treasured me like something precious. Because of me, they'd gotten everything they ever wanted. And then Briar was brought into the Graves household. And everyone changed. ---
Briar performed a textbook-perfect faint right in front of me. The arc of her body falling backward was precisely calibrated—graceful enough to land squarely in the arms of the people who'd rushed over at the commotion. Before anyone could even ask a question, Kael had already stepped in front of me—five fingers clamped around my throat, slamming me against the corridor's stone wall. "Selene, did you hit her again?" His pupils blazed with the dark-gold pressure unique to an Alpha. "Do you actually think I won't lay a hand on you?" I didn't even get the chance to deny it. "Guards!" Father's roar erupted at the far end of the corridor. "Take her away—lock her in the dungeon. Punish her according to clan law!" The dungeon. Damp, dark, and devoid of sunlight all year round. This was my second time being thrown in here. The memory of the first was still knife-sharp. That night, I'd discovered Briar slipping silently into Kael's bedroom after dark. When I pushed open the door, she was perched on the edge of his bed, her clothes half undone. I confronted them on the spot. But Briar, eyes brimming with tears, offered her defense: she said she'd nearly been snatched by a rogue wolf as a child, which had given her severe sleepwalking. Subconsciously, she explained, she felt safe near Kael. It wasn't intentional. My parents and Kael believed her without question. Kael even told her gently that if she was ever scared, she could come find him anytime. Back then, my love for him burned at its most intense. I'd been so possessive that I'd issued an order—no female was to hold a position anywhere in the Frost Clan's inner circle. So that day I'd slapped Briar across the face without a moment's hesitation. The price was seven days in this dungeon, with nothing but a bowl of cold porridge each day. They didn't let me out until I was so starved I could barely stay conscious—and agreed to apologize to Briar. This time, they clearly didn't intend to stop at starving me for a few days. The heavy iron door groaned open. Father walked in, a cane rod gripped in his fist. Kael followed behind him. "Per the Graves family code, the sentence is thirty lashes." Father's voice was frigid. "However, Briar took pity on you and begged me on her knees to use the cane instead of the silver whip. Since the cane is lighter than the whip, the count is raised to fifty." Crack— The first blow landed across my back. A livid purple-red welt swelled up instantly. After a dozen or so, my skin split open. Every strike after that came with a corrosive, bone-deep burn—mercury. The cane Briar had so "kindly" begged them to substitute had been soaked through with mercury. I could barely hold my human form. When the fifty lashes were done, my entire back and arms were a raw, bloody mess. Thin rivulets of blood traced my spine downward, pooling on the stone slab beneath my feet. My body had long since slipped beyond my control, warped into something half-wolf, half-human—a grotesque thing. I curled up in the corner, gasping in great heaving breaths, shaking all over. Father tossed the cane aside, dropped a single remark—"Utterly incorrigible"—and strode out. Kael crouched down in front of me and unfolded a bundle of clothes. "These are the fresh clothes and ointment Briar prepared for you. Selene, she's always been respectful toward you. As her older sister, you should be looking after her. Why do you insist on assuming the worst about her?" He shook out the garments and "thoughtfully" draped them over my blood-soaked back. The instant the fabric touched the open wounds— It was as if my entire body had been plunged into boiling brine. The pain hit so hard I curled into a ball in a single convulsion, my spine arching, my lengthened wolf-claws gouging into the cracks between the floor stones. "Always so dramatic. Briar goes deathly pale from her episodes and still doesn't carry on the way you do." He stood up, tossed out that contemptuous remark, and walked away. The echo of the iron door slamming faded slowly into nothing. It was a long time before I clawed back even a thread of breath. Moonlight filtered through the single narrow slit above, pale and silent. I closed my eyes and silently addressed that moon— Accelerate. I want to sever all connections faster. Silver text materialized in the darkness: Acceleration engaged. Tomorrow at noon, twelve o'clock sharp, all repercussions will descend. ---
Watch? https://cps-front.novelix.live/app-api/ext/new/20260623kI32QsZO6A ? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "Novelix" app ? search for "ni378844", and watch the full series ✨! #Novelix