Chapter 2 The Sister's Shadow

• [XENA]
• I feel restless—giddy, even—as I run to Cassian’s chambers with the scroll clutched in my hand. Along the way, the pack’s women part for me, bowing briefly with lowered gazes. For once, I don’t care what they think or what cruel words they might whisper behind my back.
• Lunar essence steady. Conception viable.
• Those words make home in my mind, and for the first time in years, I allow myself the ridiculous, thin thing called happiness.
• When I reach Cassian’s chambers, the doors are already open. I step inside carefully, grinning like an idiot—until I freeze.
• My brother, Axel’s voice drifts from the internal study.
• “Do you think Xena is a fool? She might be blinded by your love, but you have to be careful, Alpha Cassian. Many saw what happened in the training yard. Word will reach Xena.”
• Cassian’s reply is smug. “And she will know better than to doubt me. She’s devoted, Axel.”
• The breath leaves my body. I flatten myself against the folding screen which hides me from their view.
• “You still have two more years until Davina is freed from the Guild’s oath,” Axel remarks. “You’ve run out of patience? If Davina finds out you’re fucking a woman who’s her lookalike, she will shower the Goddess’s wrath upon you.”
• Cassian chuckles. “You won’t be the one telling her that, will you, Axel? The healer is interesting. What can I say—I’m tired of the omega whores. They’re too obedient and submissive. Astrid has a little defiance in her. A bitchy attitude.”
• “So, she’s Davina,” Axel concludes, “just not in name.” A sigh follows, then the creak of a chair. “I knew my sister was cruel, but even after all these years, I still can’t believe it was her who sent the rogues after Xena. She almost bled to death that night. She lost her wolf.”
• Cassian scoffs lightly. “It was a silly prank gone wrong. Davina only wanted to scare her.”
• “But she went too far.”
• “And she paid for it,” Cassian exhales, drinking deeply from a goblet. “Seven years of servitude in the Guild. An oath of celibacy.” A humorless laugh escapes him.
• “Paid?” Axel scoffs. “Hardly. She walked free into the Guild. She wears their sigil like a saint.”
• “And she’ll return to me in two years as a free woman. I’ll make her mine.”
• Axel hums. “And Xena? What happens to Xena then?”
• Cassian smirks—it’s audible in his voice. “I haven’t decided. Maybe I’ll leave it to Davina. But I could always claim she failed to provide me with an heir. I’ve made sure she’s given the Knotgrass tea every morning to maintain the instability in her lunar energy.”
• My knees weaken. Knotgrass tea. He’s been giving me… poison?
• “So, you’re keeping her as some… some broken relic while you wait for your true mate to return?”
• My heart shatters, my entire body going numb. The scroll slips from my hand. I wrap my arms around myself, sinking slowly to the floor, fighting the sob clawing up my throat.
• “The things we do for love,” Cassian declares, drinking again.
• Axel gets off the chair. “Xena loves you. You know that, right? She worships the ground you walk on. She has, since you were both children. I’d dare say she loves you more than Davina.”
• “It doesn’t matter,” Cassian snaps. “She’s a good woman, but she’s not the woman I want. She helped me maintain a good front. She has no strength, but her wits helped elevate my standing among the packs. I’m respected and feared. I married a wolfless, defiled woman. I’m the generous Alpha.”
• The words dig into my skin like blades. I clutch my ears, but they still pierce me, making my heart bleed.
• All this time, all these years, it was just a show… it was a lie.
• Cassian never moved on from Davina—my stepsister, and his fated mate.
• I should’ve known better, but Cassian was too convincing. I let myself be blinded by him because he played the caring, loyal husband so well. And I fell like a fool.
• Which siblings do not hate each other? It’s a common thing. Envy frayed the bond between us. The fact that both of us liked the same boy didn’t help. I did my best to hide the truth, but Davina knew that I liked Cassian. I tried to deny it when Davina confronted me one night and received a slap in return.
• And when she found out he was her true mate on her eighteenth birthday, she made sure to humiliate me in front of all the pack’s youth. I cried bitterly, snot running down my lips, but Cassian found me later, hunched up against a boulder in the abandoned mill. He wiped my tears and told me it was alright. He was still my friend, and he was flattered to know that I liked him.
• I believed him.
• He was nicer to me after that. I often wondered whether he did it only to tease Davina. Whatever his intention was, it always made Davina furious. She retaliated by coming up with ways to humiliate and torture me, disguising them as games and pranks.
• Until that night, when my sister tied me up in iron shackles deep in the forest woods. “Turn into your wolf and free yourself, Xena,” Davina snickered. The others laughed behind her. And then they all left. Cassian was the last to retreat in the group.
• I struggled against the shackles, knowing I was a young wolf—just a week older than eighteen—and that iron suppressed our powers. Still, I begged my wolf, “Come forth, Vera.”
• But Vera couldn’t help me.
• It wasn’t long after that the rogues found me. When they were done with me, they left me there to die, soaked in my own blood, skin torn and jagged. I was barely breathing when Cassian found me.
• Soon after, while I was still recovering from my grave wounds, Davina manifested her abilities, showing she was Moon-blessed. The Guild recruited her, and she was sworn to seven years of servitude—the duration for which she’d need to remain celibate.
• Cassian’s proposal came out of nowhere. But I was too broken to refuse, too fragile. My wolf didn’t answer me, no matter what I did. My parents suddenly hated me, and I learned that I wasn’t really their child. My father had rescued me from a village that had been torn apart by rogues when I was merely an infant, a scrawling, screaming babe. And my mother had just lost a child in a stillbirth. My arrival was seen as a blessing then. But after the rogue attack, I was called cursed. Many wanted me banished from the pack. They hurled rude words at Cassian for saving me. But then he ascended, and their voices were silenced.
• Our wedding was an intimate ceremony. Davina didn’t show up, claiming she was sick. I barely believed it myself for the first couple of months. But it was true. Alpha Cassian, once the boy I secretly loved, was mine. He’d claimed me and married me.
• But… it was all a lie.
• Axel doesn’t notice my silently sobbing figure when he walks out of the chamber. Still, I clamp my mouth shut with my hand, failing to keep the tears at bay. My chest hurts so much that it feels like I will die of a broken heart.
• Why? Why, Moon Goddess? Why do you hate me so much? I think bitterly, dropping my head between my folded knees. Why didn’t you let me die that night? Why keep me alive just to put me through horrendous, unending pain?
• Davina ordered the rogue attack. And Cassian—he’s giving me Knotgrass tea—a herb that keeps women from conceiving and helps them get rid of an unwanted pregnancy, all while claiming he wants me to have his children.
• Nothing makes sense, and yet everything is crystal clear. I have been a fool. A stupid, dumb fucking fool. My life has been a game even after Davina’s departure; the only difference is that the one pulling the strings is Cassian.
• The sound of footsteps fills my ears. I shift to the corner, hiding myself in the shadows. Astrid strolls in like she owns the place and goes straight into the study.