Her breathing caught.
Her tongue resisted her every nerve's cry to confess, to blurt out the truth. She pulled her eyes away from him, breaking free from his hold. "I am who you think I am," she said, the lie heavy on her tongue. "Believe what you want."
Kael's eyes held on to her for long, tense moment. Then, with a cold scoff, he released her.
Off you go, he said, his tone low with disgust. "And remember: weakness, having once been noted, can never be unseen. Next time, don't make me catch it."
Selene whirled about and departed, her knees trembling beneath her cloak.
The moment she stepped outside the barracks, she exhaled a shaking breath, pressing her back against the wall. Her heart was thumping as if it wanted to burst.
Kael was watching her too closely. He was no fool and if she slipped again, he wouldn't just suspect—he would know.
But the memory of the omega boy's trembling hands refused to leave her. She had seen his fear, felt the raw instinct to protect him.
If playing Lyra's role meant crushing boys like him under her heel, she wasn't sure she could do it.
And that terrified her more than Kael's suspicion.
-------
That night, as she lay awake in her chambers, she heard it again—those whispers that followed her everywhere now. Omegas, moving through the corridors. Their voices were soft, almost reverent.
"She's different."
"She didn't hurt him."
"She's… kinder."
The words curled through the darkness like threads of fate, tangling around her heart. For the first time since stepping into Lyra's life, Selene realized something dangerous.
Her lie wasn't just protecting her anymore.
It was reshaping the pack.
-------
The rumors had traveled farther than Selene had anticipated before morning. The air changed when she stepped inside the dining hall. Omegas stopped serving, warriors looked up from their food, and for a moment, there was silence as she moved.
Not praise, not contempt.
It was Curiosity—that sharp, unsettling silence.
And curiosity was dangerous.
She forced her face into the same mask of indifference she had seen Kael wear, sliding into her seat as though she was oblivious to all the eyes on her. But her fingers tightened on the wooden cup in front of her, knuckles white.
"Quite the impression you made yesterday," somebody drawled.
Selene stiffened. A woman with eyes of amber stood leaning against the table, her smile sharp enough to cut. She was marked as a warrior captain, and her presence alone commanded respect. "You spared an omega in front of the whole yard. Not very Lyra of you."
Selene's stomach lurched. "And what would you know of Lyra?"
The woman's smile deepened, her voice mocking. "Enough to recognize when someone's playing her part poorly."
Selene's chest tightened. Every instinct screamed at her to retreat, but she couldn't—not here, not in public.
Kael entered then, breaking the tension like a storm breaking through silence. His gaze swept the room, and the moment it landed on her, Selene knew he had caught the exchange. He said nothing. Just stared, and that was somehow worse.
The captain bowed her head as he passed, her grin fading into obedience. Selene's pulse slowed only when Kael moved on, but her thoughts churned.
How many more eyes were watching her this closely? How long before one of them tore the truth from her?
-------
Later that day, Selene wandered through the eastern wing of the Blackthorn keep, trying to escape the stares. The corridor was lined with portraits—generations of Blackthorn alphas, their painted eyes cold and proud.
She stopped before the most recent one: Kael's parents—The former Alpha and Luna. The Luna's painted gaze seemed softer, almost sorrowful, as though she knew the secrets that haunted these halls.
Selene's fingers brushed the frame…Secrets. This whole place was thick with them.
She didn't hear the footsteps until it was too late.
"Admiring the dead?"
The omega boy from the training yard stood in the shadows of the corridor. His face was clean now, but the bruise of falling still purpled his cheek.
Selene startled. "You shouldn't be here."
He glanced over his shoulder nervously, "Neither should you."
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
The boy stepped closer, voice hushed, "You think yesterday was just about training? It wasn't. Lyra used to… punish us…Especially omegas. When you didn't punish me, you broke something…Something she kept in place."
Her stomach twisted. "She… punished you?"
His nod was small, weighted with shame. "We were terrified of her. Everyone was. But now…" His voice caught, his eyes searching hers. "Now, you're different. You gave us hope."
Selene's breath faltered, hope. That word could undo everything.
"You can't speak of this," she whispered fiercely. "Not to anyone."
The boy hesitated, then nodded reluctantly before scurrying away.
Selene pressed her hand to her chest, her heartbeat erratic. She had tried so hard to survive by playing Lyra's role, but the truth was bleeding through her every action.
And the pack was beginning to notice.
-------
That evening, she was summoned to the council chamber. The summons itself was unusual—Lyra was rarely called unless discipline was required. Her steps echoed against the stone as she entered, the councilmen already seated in a semicircle. Kael stood beside them, his presence a silent wall of authority.
"Lyra," one of the elders began, his tone clipped, "there are troubling reports about your conduct."
Her pulse spiked.
The elder's gaze sharpened. "You've shown… leniency. Compassion toward omegas. This is not the behavior expected of you as It undermines order."
Selene opened her mouth, but Kael's voice cut across the chamber.
"Order requires strength," he said coldly. "And if weakness festers, the pack suffers."
The words stabbed deeper than they should have.
Selene lowered her gaze, forcing steel into her voice. "I am not weak and Whatever you've heard, I will prove it wrong."
The elder's eyes glinted. "See that you do. The Alpha Trials draw closer and they will reveal much."
Dismissed, Selene left the chamber with her stomach churning. Kael's gaze followed her out, unreadable and heavy.
As the doors shut behind her, she leaned against the stone wall, trembling. The net was tightening around her lie.
Selene turned another page of the fragile journal with care. The half-burned pages whispered as though they still held secrets meant to remain hidden. She held her breath, eyes straining against the faint flicker of candlelight.
The handwriting was jagged, urgent, almost desperate. Words leapt out in fragments: "moon… twin flame… crown… shadow…" The rest was ruined, swallowed by fire long ago.
Her pulse quickened as every scrap of knowledge she found about Lyra only deepened the dread knotting her stomach. Who had burned this journal? And why had they wanted this page—this particular truth…erased?
Her thumb brushed across a passage near the bottom, where ink had bled into the charred edges. For a moment, she thought the words blurred because of her tired eyes. But as the candle guttered, the text seemed to shift, almost alive, pulling into dreadful clarity.
"One twin shall wear the crown. The other shall bring ruin."
The flame hissed and went out, smoke curling into the air. Selene's heart slammed against her ribs. She stumbled back, clutching the journal to her chest.
Her hand shook as she pressed it against her lips. Twin? Crown? Ruin?
She felt the cold certainty crawl across her skin like a curse: this was no mere bedtime story. It was about her.
The ash from the burned edge smeared across her fingers as though marking her. Her breath caught as the silence of the room pressed in on her.
"Which one am I?" she whispered into the dark.
The unanswered question lingered, heavy as a death sentence, as the night outside stretched deep and unforgiving.