---- The pendant pulsed faintly in her hand, and the ancient, majestic power it gave off made my wolf instincts want to submit. "Impossible..."' I muttered. Elarah sneered. "And that viper, Seraphina. She set up 99 failed marking attempts. Every time she fainted, it was an act. And you, you fell for it every single time!" "No!" I yelled. "Seraphina is just frail, it's not her fault!" "Go look in Lyra's room," Elarah said, turning to leave. ''Maybe you'll find the truth." I burst into Lyra's room, tearing through everything. In the bottom drawer of her nightstand, I found a thick diary. Page 1: The 15th failed marking today. Kaelen said Seraphina fainted again, so the ritual had to stop. I'm starting to wonder if the Moon Goddess truly ---- blesses this union... Page 30: The necklace he gave me broke. Turns out it was cheap silver-plate. But the one Seraphina wears is pure silver. Maybe that's all I'm worth in his eyes. Page 67: I saw them hugging in the garden. When I showed up, Seraphina pretended to fall, and Kaelen immediately helped her up, completely ignoring me. My heart is bleeding... Page 99: This is the last time. If it fails again, I'm giving up completely. Dignity is more important than love. I won't be humiliated like this anymore... The diary slipped from my hand. Every word was like a silver dagger stabbing me in the heart. Irushed to the storage room, yanking open the boxes of gifts I'd supposedly given Lyra. The jewelry had turned into glass beads, the silks into coarse cloth, even the perfumes were cheap fakes. ---- Rage burned through me like a wildfire. Thad to find Seraphina, make her explain. I followed her scent deep into the forest, toa hidden spot. "that stupid princess is finally gone!" a gruff male voice said. I hid behind some bushes and saw something that shocked me to my core. Seraphina was pressed up against three of the werewolves who had jeered Lyra during the marking ceremonies. Seraphina's hand was roaming over one of the wolf's chests. "Five years! I played that part perfectly for five whole years." Seraphina laughed smugly. "Before every marking ceremony, I'd take herbs to make me pass out. That idiotic Moonshadow bitch actually believed I was frail." "you're so clever,'' one werewolf purred, kissing ---- her neck. "Making her suffer all those years." "Does she deserve any better?" Seraphina pushed him away, her eyes glinting maliciously. "A broke, wandering Omega daring to want the Alpha? Iam the true Luna of the Blackrock Tribe!" "and she never noticed the switched gifts?" another werewolf asked. "Of course not!" Seraphina laughed mockingly. "I swapped all her jewels for glass beads, her silks for rough cloth. That idiot she-wolf even kept thanking Kaelen for his 'thoughtfulness.' Hahaha! " My fists clenched so hard my knuckles cracked. The fury in my veins was about to explode. "But now her true identity is out. She's not some lowly Omega," the third werewolf said. "The Princess of the Moonshadow Realm? Are we going to be in trouble?"