Chapter 4

Before I answered, Celeste ripped off her veil.

"So that's what this was. You told me to light the colorful lanterns, and it was all so you could fake being the Princess and ruin my ceremony."

"You have some nerve."

I tilted my head and looked at the two of them.

"What? You're surprised a girl from the woods could turn out to be a Princess?"

Cain stepped close, his brow tight. "Aria, you can't joke about being the Princess. Go back, now."

He reached for me. Before he could touch me, Jade stepped between us.

"Watch yourself. Do you think you can just touch the Princess?"

Jade had been with me since childhood, trained as a warrior. She stood between us and didn't move.

"Open your eyes. How many people would dare wear this crest? The gem in this crown is one of a kind, gifted personally by the Alpha King. Say one more word against her and see what happens to your necks."

The whole courtyard stared at my robes and crown. The rank was unmistakable.

Cain thought back to the moment I had begged him to get a healer, told him who I was. He finally understood why there had always been something he couldn't explain about me.

His eyes went red. He looked straight at me.

"Aria, you're really the Alpha King's daughter. Why didn't you tell me from the beginning? Maybe then I would have—"

I cut him off.

"Maybe you wouldn't have bonded with Celeste?"

"I hid my identity because I wanted a simple life, away from rank and title. That was my choice."

"But what did you do?"

Cain opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

"You hid your own identity first. You bonded with someone else while I was carrying your pup. You knew exactly whose child it was and you put poison in my food anyway because Celeste wanted her pup to be the firstborn."

Cain had gone completely white. "I'm sorry, Aria. I had reasons. I thought—I thought this way you'd survive."

I gave a cold laugh.

"You killed my pup. You wouldn't even send for a healer. Your last words to me were 'a miscarriage won't kill you.' That's how you love me?"

I didn't give him a chance to speak.

"You locked me up. You let Celeste pour that tonic down my throat. Then you dragged me to that Sanctuary without food or water and made me crawl the entire sacred stone path on my knees just so you and Celeste could have a blessing token. I was up there the entire night. Did you once ask me if I was all right?"

I watched his eyes go red, but not a single tear fell from mine.

"Cain Thorne. Is this what you call loving me? Is this what 'you're still the one I care about' looks like?"

The whole courtyard drew a sharp breath.

Cain broke. He dropped to his knees.

"Aria, I was wrong. I hurt you. My Pack put me in an impossible position. I know that doesn't excuse it."

"Forgive me. Every piece of what was taken from you, I'll pay it back a hundred times over."

I looked down at him kneeling at my feet and stepped away.

"Pay it back with what?"

"Can you bring my pup back? Can you undo the tonic they poured into me? Can you heal what's been broken inside me? No. You can't fix any of it."

Cain was in tears.

"If I had known who you were from the beginning, I would have—"

He stopped. He looked over at Celeste.

She had collapsed on the ground, the ceremonial crown that had been my father's gift sliding off her head. She was a mess.

Celeste saw Cain looking at her with hatred and threw herself at my legs.

"Your Highness, please have mercy on me. I was forced into this. I never wanted to bond with Cain. I got pregnant by my cousin and my father was desperate to cover it up by marrying me off quickly. I'm innocent."

Cain's head snapped up. He stared at Celeste.

"What did you just say?"

He hadn't expected it. Everything he'd told himself about doing what was right, about the legitimate firstborn, about the bonding he owed Celeste—all of it was a joke from the very beginning.

Celeste sobbed. "I was forced. I didn't want this either."

Cain looked like he'd been punched in the stomach. He hit the ground, and his knuckles split open.

If he had just chosen me from the start, he would have had everything he ever wanted. A mate he loved. A pup. Rank. All of it.

He hadn't held on to any of it.

Gerald Thorne, watching his son's disaster unfold, stepped forward to speak on his behalf.

"Your Highness, my son acted in ignorance. He caused you tremendous harm and deserves every punishment. But please, he did not know your identity. I ask for your mercy."

I looked coldly at Gerald.

"Even if I weren't the Princess, even if I were an ordinary she-wolf, does that make it acceptable for your Alpha Heir to lock up a female, poison her pup, and destroy her ability to carry future pups? Is that what Thorne Pack teaches?"

Gerald had nothing left to say. He stayed down.

I looked at Cain and Celeste on the ground.

"I have nothing more to say. I'll just wish you both a long and happy bonding."

I turned and walked away.

"Aria!"

Cain lunged toward me. Jade stepped in and dropped him.

He lay there, his voice breaking. "Aria, three years. Does none of it mean anything to you?"

I stopped walking but I didn't turn around.

"Did any of it mean anything to you when you burned the cottage and killed my pup?"

Behind me, Cain opened his mouth. No sound came out.