The Wolf King cruelly killed my family. When he learned the truth after I died, he regretted it crazy.
To bring an end to the brutal war, I volunteered to become a peace bride, marrying Kael, the formidable chieftain of the Wolfen Clans, my childhood companion.
Kael, a whirlwind of raw power, pinned me to the open plains. For three days and three nights, he took me until I faded into unconsciousness.
I truly believed Kael loved me.
But later, it was *he* who led a hundred thousand beast warriors, their iron hooves trampling throug the heart of Aethelgard.
He forced my head back, making me watch in horror: my King, torn apart by the wolves until his head was gone. My brother, the Crown Prince, cut down, his body trampled into unrecognizable pulp
beneath their horses.
Those savages even stripped my Queen Mother bare, shaming her until blood streamed from her legs…
Kael smiled at me, yet his eyes held no trace of emotion:
“Lyra, did you truly believe your beauty, magnificent enough to topple kingdoms, could ever captur my heart?”
“Your royal family slaughtered countless of my kin. You offer only yourself in return, yet you dare t dream of erasing this ocean of blood and vengeance!”
In the end, Kael united the lands, and he had his beloved Queen.
He locked me away in the forgotten chambers, stripped of my title and my very name.
Every time I tried to end my life, he’d exhume a corpse from the royal crypts and grind their bones dust before me.
“You will not die without my command!”
I stopped struggling.
save him, finally claimed my life.
***
Lena’s birthday feast. Kael granted me a rare reprieve from my solitary prison.
My eyes burned as I watched the woman on the high platform, adorned with an ornate, circlet – a sacred relic of my Queen Mother.
“Impudent wretch! Bow before His Majesty and the Queen!”
feathered
Someone brutally kicked me. My knees slammed against the stone floor, my forehead touching the ground as I numbly performed a deep bow.
Kael didn’t let me rise, his face expressionless: “Lyra, you’re late by a good fifteen minutes. Are you deliberately trying to disrespect Lena?”
“This slave deserves death.””
I knocked my head against the floor again.
I didn’t bother explaining that my legs were weakened, and walking all the
chambers would take at least a couple of hours.
Kael’s face twisted into a sneer. “You’ve learned your lesson, haven’t you?”
way
from my
secluded
The last time I disobeyed, he’d locked me in a beast cage and bled me half-dry to quench the thirst
of his monstrous hounds.
When I was on the brink of death, he’d then order his men to scour the lands for the rarest herbs and
potent elixirs, barely clinging to my life.
“My dear sister, please rise. You were once a princess, precious as a gem. Even with your kingdom fallen, why do you still act like a lowly servant?”
Lena herself helped me up, her words dripping with false kindness, twisting the knife deep into my
most painful wound.
She spotted the wolf fang bracelet coiled around my wrist, and a flicker of covetousness crossed her eyes.
She said she adored it and wanted it as a birthday gift.
I glanced at Kael. He showed no reaction.
This was a gift from Kael himself, an ancient heirloom of his clan. Each fang was said to be a potent remedy, carrying a unique, enduring scent that never faded.
