Chapter 1

The night I am born, our pack's Seer tells the Alpha, “The Luna’s daughter is the Moon-Blessed Daughter.”

But my mother takes one look at the dark red mark covering half my face, turns away, and switches me with another newborn girl that very night.

From then on, the beautiful girl becomes the Alpha and Luna's precious daughter, worshiped by the entire pack, while I become the ugly girl everyone in the Second Mate's household treats like dirt.

-

Seventeen years later, I sit inside the carriage waiting to leave Silvercrest Pack.

A thin veil covers my face.

One of the servants told me it would be better if the Northern Pack did not see my mark before I reached the border.

Outside, pack members fill the road.

They are not here to see me off.

They are here for Serena.

She stands beside the Alpha and Luna in a white cloak, surrounded by people praying for her blessing.

No one asks why the Moon-Blessed Daughter is not the one being sent north.

Serena cannot leave.

So I have to.

A servant lifts the carriage curtain.

Serena steps closer.

“Lyra.”

Her voice is soft enough to sound kind.

“Don’t blame Father and Mother. The pack needs me here, and the Northern Alpha demanded a bride. Someone has to go.”

I look at her through the veil.

She is wearing the silver moon pin reserved for the Luna’s firstborn daughter.

She has worn it for three years.

I have never been allowed to touch it.

“You really think Silvercrest can’t survive without you?” I ask.

Her smile tightens for half a second.

“Of course not.”

She leans closer.

“Everyone knows what I am.”

I say nothing.

Serena lowers her voice.

“Besides, I heard the Northern Alpha hates ugly things.”

My fingers curl under my cloak.

She always expects me to react when she hurts me, and I never give her what she wants.

When Vivienne punished me, Serena liked to watch.

When servants laughed at my face, Serena always told me not to be angry with them.

Once, after I was locked in my room, she sent me a mirror.

She said I should get used to looking at myself.

Today is no different.

Instead, I lift my eyes to hers.

“Then you’d better protect them.”

Her smile fades.

“What?”

I do not answer.

The driver closes the carriage door.

A moment later, the wheels begin to move.

Behind me, voices rise from the road.

“Bless Silvercrest, Serena!”

“May the Moon Goddess keep you safe!”

“Protect us, Moon-Blessed Daughter!”

I sit still as the voices grow smaller.

No one calls my name.

No one asks me to come back.

Inside my sleeve, my fingers close around an old piece of carved stone.

The Seer left it before he was driven out of Silvercrest.

The words are worn, but I have read them so many times I no longer need to see them.

The Luna’s firstborn daughter bears the Moon Mark.

As long as she remains, the pack will prosper.

The day she leaves, Silvercrest will fall into danger.