Chapter 2

"Next time, you'll score below the top hundred. Got it?"

My fists tightened.

Caleb had always made me stay below Ivy.

The reason was simple.

If I, the stolen pup, did better than Ivy, the fake heir, people would laugh. They'd say the Manor-raised Ivy wasn't as good as the shelter-raised Wren.

It would only highlight that she was sitting in a stolen cradle.

She would be embarrassed. She would cry.

Caleb couldn't stand that.

He'd always been that way. He loved Ivy to the bone.

He even delayed his own First Shift training by a year just to be in the same cohort as her, so he could protect her.

Back then, for the Bond Recognition points, I'd had to go along with it.

But I had no chains anymore.

I didn't have to listen to him.

I gave a cold snort.

"She cries because she can't score? Why is that my problem?"

"If she wants to prove she's good, she can actually work for it. Not stand there waiting for everyone to let her win."

Caleb hadn't expected me to push back in public.

His eyes went wide with rage.

"Wren. What did you just say?"

"Because of you, Ivy has been called a stolen-cradle fraud for years. She has to listen to it behind her back. She's already pitiful enough. And you stand here and mock her?"

"If you hadn't come back, she'd never have to carry any of it!"

The moment the words left him.

He seemed to realize he'd gone too far.

He froze.

But I laughed.

The corridor rang with my laugh.

"That's exactly why I severed the blood bond."

"Young Lord Caleb. We have no relation anymore. You have no right to order me to do anything."

Caleb's face went dark as ash.

He bit out his threat through clenched teeth.

"Wren. If you don't do what I say, you will never come back to Sterling Manor."

I waved it off. I didn't care.

"Who wants to."

A little threat like that wasn't going to stop me from taking first in the second mock trial.

Caleb didn't come after me this time.

He just sent out invitations to Ivy's Bonding Age Celebration. Every student in our year got one.

Except me.

Ivy and I share a birthday.

But every time they threw a celebration, they left me out.

After my ninety-second failed run.

Even the System had cracked.

"Look, if you can just get them to throw you one celebration, I'll count it as a success."

So I started mentioning it. Every day. Every chance I got.

And every time, they still forgot.

The invitations still only had Ivy's name. The one they called up on stage to cut the cake was still only Ivy.

The System was exasperated and half-feral.

"You can't even manage one birthday party? Are those people really your Pack?"

By then I'd failed ninety-nine runs.

And I had reminded them. They still forgot me on my birthday for the twenty-second time.

I was too tired.

I couldn't even reply. I just smiled, bitter.

Caleb probably thought I still cared about the party, the way I had those first two years. That's why he'd gone all-out publicly. He wanted to break me.

But I didn't need any of it.

A birthday. You can do it alone.

I went out for a nice meal. I bought myself a pair of shoes. Then I went back to the Academy.

At the foot of the dorm block, I ran into Garrett, Marianne, Caleb, and Ivy.

Caleb's eyes locked on the new shoes. He frowned hard.

"Those cost several hundred. Your card was frozen. Where did you get the money?"

After I'd left Sterling Manor, I hadn't touched the Pack stipend card they'd given me.

So this was the first I was hearing that they'd frozen it.

Fine. Let it stay frozen.

They'd only ever given me five hundred a month in allowance anyway.

Garrett and Marianne said my old life had been rough, and they worried I'd pick up bad habits if they gave me too much.

But I knew the truth. They were afraid that if they gave me too much, Ivy would feel neglected. Ivy would be sad.

So I didn't understand.

If they only cared about how Ivy felt, and not about me.

Why were they here?

The evening wind cut through.

My voice drifted into it, cold.

"Mr. Sterling. Mrs. Sterling. The blood bond is severed."

"Where my money comes from is not something I owe you."

I turned to leave.

Then Ivy spoke up.

"Sister, what's that red mark on your neck?"

"It almost looks like… a mating mark!"

I stopped mid-step.

Even a bug bite, she could spin into a mating mark.

Whatever Ivy was planning was obvious.

I turned. My gaze sliced toward her shocked, innocent face.

She flinched. Her body swayed a little.

But she kept the innocent act going.

"Sister, even if you don't have money, you can't go selling your body."

"How is Father and Mother going to face the Pack after this?"

For a moment, the air was still.

Then the sharp scolding came down on me.

"Wren! For a pair of shoes worth a few hundred, you go do something this shameful? Is that how cheap you are?"

"That's what you get, growing up in the gutter. No manners."

"How did we produce a daughter this shameless? You've brought disgrace to the entire Sterling name!"

I didn't react.

I walked, step by step, right up to Ivy. My eyes narrowed.

"Little sister seems to know exactly what a mating mark looks like. Sounds like you've been in plenty of beds yourself."

Ivy's eyes went wide.

She opened her mouth to speak.

And I slapped her. Hard enough to turn her head.