[POV: Ruvan]
Most assumed that Ruvan's descent into madness began when he researched forbidden texts and forged pacts with lost, evil gods.
It was a fair assumption, and Ruvan never bothered to correct them, because it made no difference if they knew the truth—but he was no older than three when he realized that he wasn't a normal wolf.
He experienced violent urges and constant thoughts of death, and the strange voices in his head weren't his own. His dreams were nightmares of lives he hadn't lived, from the eyes of people he had never met.
He was cursed.
Possessed.
Evil.
Unwanted.
…Unloved.
Ruvan's mother, Queen Nethya, never once held him, even when he was a pup fresh from her womb. Whenever his mother and father looked at him, all he saw was their fear and their guilt.
Fear that he would kill them, and guilt because they were the reason they had to fear him in the first place.
"They have no right… no right to pity me…" Ruvan growled. "It's their fault…"
———
