Chapter 2

I was born when Silvercrest was running out of food.

Game had vanished from the surrounding woods, and hunters had been returning empty-handed for weeks.

The night I was born, the howls of a successful hunt finally echoed through the pack.

Mara, the old servant who raised me, told me what happened that night before she died.

The left side of my face was covered by a dark red mark that ran from the corner of my eye to my jaw.

Celeste stared at it, her expression turning cold.

“How can she look like that?”

Outside the room, Alpha Darius asked if the Luna and the baby were well.

Celeste stayed silent for a long time.

Then she said, “We’re fine.”

The Seer arrived before dawn.

He looked at me once and bowed his head.

“The Luna’s firstborn daughter carries the blessing of the Moon Goddess.”

Darius was thrilled.

Celeste only stared at my face like it was something she wanted gone.

Vivienne had also given birth that night.

Her daughter was healthy, pale, and beautiful.

When Celeste saw her, she made her choice.

“Give me your daughter,” she told Vivienne.

Vivienne thought she had heard wrong.

Celeste pointed at me.

“You take this one.”

Vivienne hesitated.

Celeste did not.

“Everyone already knows my daughter was blessed by the Seer. If they see that mark, they’ll call her cursed.”

Vivienne looked at her own baby.

Then at me.

And agreed.

By morning, Serena Vale had become Serena Ashbourne, the precious daughter of the Alpha and Luna.

I became Lyra Vale, the unwanted daughter of the Second Mate.

No one outside those rooms knew the truth.

Vivienne never hid how much she resented having me around.

She kept me away from the main rooms of the pack house.

The servants left my food outside the door and walked away.

Sometimes it was cold. Sometimes there was barely enough to eat.

They called me ugly and cursed, and Vivienne never stopped them.

When she was angry, she had me brought to her.

She would sit there and stare at my face.

“Do you know what’s wrong with you?”

I learned early not to answer.

“You look like that.”

Sometimes she hit me.

Sometimes she let someone else do it.

But she always came back to the same thing.

“If it weren’t for you, my daughter would have grown up with me.”

I did not understand what she meant.

Until I was seven.

One winter night, I heard voices near the courtyard.

Celeste and Vivienne were arguing.

I hid behind the stone wall and listened.

“Keep her out of the Moon Ceremony,” Celeste said.

Vivienne laughed.

“Why? Afraid someone might notice?”

“Watch your mouth.”

“Everyone already worships Serena. No one is going to look twice at that ugly girl.”

Celeste went quiet.

Vivienne’s voice dropped.

“She’s still your daughter, Celeste.”

I stopped breathing.

Celeste did not deny it.

Vivienne laughed again.

“Or have you forgotten that too?”