Meanwhile,
In Nespresso.
Selene's POV
The wastelands stretched before me like a scar brutally carved into the world's surface. Once, this land had been known in hushed tones as Nespresso, a sacred dowry, a paradise of impossible silver lilies and moon-pools rumored to reflect heaven itself.
Yet, my own monumental greed and consuming pride had hollowed it out, leaving only a husk. The majestic trees had blackened, their branches jutting upward like skeletal, clawing hands. The thriving garden had been reduced to a polluted swamp and a dumping ground for refuse.
Though this ruination had been entirely my doing - a meticulous and calculated sabotage, I would never admit it aloud.
Instead of remaining inside the celebratory pack house, I was here now, wrapped in a cloak the color of the void, stepping across the devastated threshold. My elegant boots sank heavily into the brittle, compromised soil, crunching audibly against remnants of broken shells that had once been glowing lotus petals. The air carried no fragrance, only the faint, metallic bitterness of charred roots long dead.
I moved carefully, my steps echoing in the unnatural silence. My intense emerald eyes reflected the faint, cold light of the moon above, and my jaw was set with relentless determination.
Beneath all my saintly airs, I was not a woman who would ever surrender what I deemed mine. The Moon Tide Heart belonged to me alone. I had worked too long, lied too smoothly, and sacrificed far too much - including my integrity and the innocence of this land - to see it placed in anyone else's hand.
I had encouraged the wolves' destructive tendencies to ruin this sacred garden, all in hopes of forcing the elemental sprites to surrender the Moon Tide Heart. I had convinced myself that this was destiny, that I would become its mistress because I was the chosen one, the Luna-to-be, the saintess.
But the Moon Pool had spat me out like venom.
The memory came unbidden, sharp and stinging: the water striking me like a solid, forceful wall, instantly searing my skin with its magical purity. I remembered screaming, remembered the sprites' voices: a cold, unified chorus proclaiming me "unworthy," rejecting my claim with brutal, final certainty.
But now it was different...
My lips pressed into a thin, white line as I neared the pool's central depression once more.
Tonight, I was the Luna of the mighty Fenrir clan, a saintess blessed and championed by the church, Alpha Jaxon's lawfully wedded wife. Power and sanctioned holiness wrapped my name like impenetrable, divine chains.
Who else could the Heart possibly belong to now?
Yet my confidence faltered, momentarily undercut by a wave of disbelief, as I reached the very edge of the dry pool. What I saw there nearly brought me to my knees in pure, unadulterated shock.
The basin was no longer barren. A faint, almost dizzying silver light shimmered mysteriously across the water's surface, reflecting the cold moon above. The deep, jagged cracks that had once marred the ground around it now glowed as if brilliant veins of pure moonstone had filled them.
Around the edges of the pool, vibrant green moss crept along the stones, and tiny, resilient wildflowers were budding shyly in their shade. It was as though the wasteland itself had begun the difficult process of healing, spontaneously and without my input.
My chest tightened painfully with a surge of cold jealousy and confused denial. That wasn't supposed to happen. This place was supposed to remain ruined, a constant testament to my power and Lumira's supposed failure.
"No," I whispered, the sound raw and low beneath my breath. "This isn't possible. This land is cursed... I made sure of it!"
My hand trembled uncontrollably as I extended it toward the shimmering water. The very moment my palm hovered a hair's breadth above its surface, the pool erupted in a magnificent burst of silver brilliance.
Light cascaded upward like an inverted fountain, and from the glorious glow emerged several figures - sprites of moonlight, tall and impossibly ethereal. Their hair cascaded like streams of captured starlight, and their wings were translucent yet radiant with concentrated lunar energy. Their eyes burned with molten silver as they instantly circled the intruder.
My breath hitched in my throat, but I forced myself to steady my stance, tilting my chin upward in a practiced pose of regal defiance.
"I have returned," I declared, forcing an unnervingly false confidence into my voice. "I am now the Luna of Bloodvale Pack and the Saintess. I am the only one worthy to claim the Moon Tide Heart, for its mistress is the Alpha's wife."
The sprites' voices harmonized, a collective, unsettling resonance that vibrated deep within my very bones.
"You are not the mistress of the Heart." They snapped, the brutal words piercing my carefully constructed composure.
"What nonsense is this? I was blessed by the Holy Church, chosen by the divine moon itself to stand beside the Fenrir Alpha..."
"Oh, really?" a young sprite spat, "Then keep on believing whatever makes you sleep well at night!" The older sprites' eyes glowed brighter.
"Greed clouds your soul and contaminates this sacred ground. The waters rejected you once, and they reject you still, for your heart is rotten. Another has already claimed the Heart, she is true heir with the blood of the moon runs through her veins, the actual mate of the Lycan Alpha of the Bloodvale Pack."
My body stiffened with shock and fury, my throat closing around a raw snarl.
"No… impossible. Who would dare to claim it? The Duskbane line is dead!"
The sprites advanced, their wings shimmering like sharp blades of concentrated light, closing the circle around me.
"Leave this place, pretender. This land no longer belongs to you, nor will it ever again."
"Who was it? Tell me who dares to steal what is rightfully mine!" My voice broke into a raw, undisguised snarl of venomous anger. "Was it Lumira?"
As if in response to my consuming rage, the ground beneath me shook violently. Silver veins of light spiderwebbed outward from the pool's edge, racing across the brittle soil as life suddenly surged back into the waste. Dormant buds instantly blossomed into iridescent lilies, the blackened trees shivered and miraculously sprouted pale, trembling leaves, and the pool's water gleamed with a ferocious, renewed strength.
I stumbled backward, staring in mounting horror at the rapid regeneration. My mind screamed the unbearable truth even before my lips were capable of forming the name.
"Lumira," I gasped, the word tasting like ash and defeat.
The sprites' glow intensified, becoming so brilliant it burned my vision, forcing me to shield my face with my hands.
"Begone, pretender. The Moon Tide Heart has already been taken by its true mistress!"
The blinding light slammed into me like a physical gale. I hit the dirt with enough violent force to jar my teeth, a blinding pain wracking my entire body. The copper taste of blood instantly filled my mouth. My body spasmed uncontrollably, and a high-pitched, involuntary scream tore free from my lips.
Yet even as I writhed in the dirt, a desperate unwanted vision clawed its way into my mind. I saw Lumira standing at the pool's edge, draped in pure moonlight, a magnificent silver crown upon her pale brow, her hair a waterfall of luminous silver. She radiated a power I had long craved but could never ever touch. The agonizing sight gutted me with cold consuming envy.
Tears of frustration and furious resentment burned my eyes as I whispered the bitter truth.
"It should have been me."
The moon sprites' last surge of directed energy hurled me far beyond the pool's sacred edge. My cloak tore violently, my skin felt intensely seared, and I summoned the last vestiges of my strength, activating my divine blessing.
The world blurred around me in a flash of corrupted light, and in the next instant I found myself back inside my opulent chamber in the pack house, collapsing wretchedly to my knees.
The air was suddenly cold, my body drenched in sweat, dirt, and blood. Trembling, I clawed at the gilded rosary hanging around my neck, forcing words through choked, shallow breaths.
"Your Grace… it's me. I need immediate guidance. The artifact... it rejected me again. The Heart…"
The rosary flared weakly, a pitiful flicker of light, then instantly fizzled out. A harsh hiss of static filled the room, followed by an absolute, terrifying silence.
No comforting voice answered, no warm, divine light returned. The sacred connection to the church and the priest was completely gone and severed courtesy of the moon sprites.
My stomach plummeted to my feet. My hands shook violently as I pressed the cold, dead rosary against my forehead. Fear, sharp and icy, slithered through my veins, a realization of my utter isolation. I was truly alone.
That instant, the door to my chamber opened with a quiet click. Alpha Jaxon entered, tall and imposing in his dark, tailored suit, his golden eyes narrowing instantly as they fell upon my disheveled, pathetic state. His voice cut through the silence like a clean, cold steel blade.
"Selene. What happened to you?"
I let the dead rosary slip from my fingers. It clattered against the ornate floor with a hollow, final sound. I turned toward him, my face pale, the tears I had forced earlier now brimming genuinely in my eyes from the pain and fear. I instantly made myself smaller, more fragile, cultivating the perfect image of a saintess broken by unseen, malevolent forces.
"Jaxon," I whispered, my voice trembling artfully. "I went to the wastelands to pray. I wanted to bless us, to strengthen our eternal bond before the journey. But the sprites..."
My voice cracked perfectly, and I covered my mouth, allowing the sobs to shake my shoulders in a convincing display of despair
"—they rejected me violently. They struck me down and cast me out. And when I tried to call the church's blessing…" I lifted my empty, trembling hands. "They wouldn't answer my prayers. I've lost all my spiritual protection. I feel alone and powerless…"
Jaxon's expression darkened instantly, his powerful jaw tightening with protective rage. He strode across the room and pulled me roughly but possessively into his strong arms. His chest was solid against my cheek, his familiar dominant scent washing over me.
"Don't speak like that, Selene," he said, his voice a low, fierce growl of command. "You are my Luna and the Saintess. Anyone who dares reject you rejects me and the authority of the Fenrir clan."
I allowed myself to tremble convincingly against him, letting my tears dampen his expensive shirt. My lips curved into a faint, hidden smile before I buried it again deep against his chest. He didn't see the flicker of cold triumph in my emerald eyes.
"I don't deserve you, Jaxon," I whispered softly, twisting the blade of guilt deeper into his protective loyalty. "But I'm so afraid of losing you and our bond."
"You will never lose me, Selene." His arms tightened around me, his voice firm and absolute. "I swear it."
And in that fierce, possessive embrace, I pressed my cheek against his chest, my emerald eyes shining like polished stones, my mind alight with cold, venomous intent. Lumira had stolen what was mine - the Heart and the divine connection.
But if I could not take it back now, I would ensure that the House of Duskbane loses everything else.
Even if it meant destroying Lumira's soul entirely to claim my own destiny.