Chapter 4: Death in the Dark
The dungeons smelled of damp stone and old blood.
When the guards dragged me down the narrow steps, my feet barely touched the ground. Their claws dug into my arms, uncaring if they bruised me. I tried to fight them, tried to pull back, but my strength had drained with every hateful stare I’d seen in the courtyard.
The iron door screeched as it opened. They shoved me inside. My knees hit the cold floor, pain shooting up my legs. Before I could rise, the door slammed shut, locking me in darkness.
My hands trembled as I pressed them against the stone. It was icy, rough, biting into my skin. The chill sank deep into me, wrapping around my bones.
I was Luna now, wasn’t I? The Alpha’s wife. Shouldn’t that have meant protection, respect? But all it took was one lie, one dagger, and suddenly I was nothing more than a prisoner.
No. Worse. A traitor.
I curled in on myself, hugging my knees to my chest. My wolf whimpered inside me, restless and afraid.
“This isn’t real,” I whispered into the dark. “It can’t be real.”
But it was.
I had seen the fury in Kael’s eyes. I had felt his hand around my throat.
He believed I killed them.
My chest ached with a pain no wound could match.
I don’t know how long I sat there before I heard the door creak again.
Light spilled into the cell, a faint torchlight that blinded me after so much dark. I scrambled back, heart pounding.
It was Kael.
He stepped inside, the guards remaining at the door. His shadow filled the cell, tall and unyielding. The torchlight painted harsh lines across his face, making him look more beast than man.
For a moment, hope flickered in me. Maybe he’d come because he believed me. Maybe he’d realized it wasn’t true.
“Kael,” I whispered, voice breaking. “You have to listen. I didn’t do it. I swear on the Moon Goddess, I didn’t…”
“Enough.”
The word cut through me sharper than any blade. His eyes blazed, but not with the warmth I had foolishly longed for. Only fire. Only rage.
“I should never have agreed to this marriage,” he said, his voice low, shaking with fury. “I should never have let you into my pack. Into my life.”
My breath caught.
His words were worse than his hand at my throat.
“Kael…” I tried to reach for him, but he stepped back as if my touch would poison him.
“I don’t want to hear your lies,” he said. “I only came to tell you this—you were nothing to me. And now you’re less than nothing. When justice comes, you’ll get what you deserve.”
The last shred of hope inside me shattered.
He turned, the torchlight casting his broad shoulders in shadow, and then he was gone. The door slammed shut, leaving me in darkness once more.
This time, I didn’t whisper. I didn’t move.
I simply broke.
Hours passed, maybe days. Time blurred in the dark. Hunger gnawed at my stomach, thirst burned in my throat, but it was nothing compared to the ache inside me.
I thought of my small territory. My parents passed away long ago. The lonely nights when I told myself I was strong enough, that I didn’t need anyone. Then Lyall came. My friend. My sister in everything but blood.
She had been the only one who stayed by me when others mocked my weakness. The only one who promised I wasn’t alone.
And now…
The memory of her smile at the festival burned through me like acid. She had looked straight at me as she spoke the lie.
I saw Fianna near them before the attack.
A single sentence. A single betrayal. And my world was ash.
My nails dug into my arms until they broke skin.
“Why, Lyall?” I whispered. “Why?”
The door creaked again.
I didn’t look up. I didn’t think I could survive another visit from Kael.
But the voice that slipped through the dark wasn’t his.
“Well, well. Look at you.”
My head jerked up.
Lyall.
She stood just inside the door, her figure outlined by the torch in the hall. Her arms folded, her mouth curved in a smirk that made my stomach twist.
“Lyall?” My voice cracked. “You… you did this.”
“Of course I did.” She stepped closer, her boots clicking against the stone. “Did you really think I’d let you rise higher than me? You, with your soft voice and weak wolf?”
Tears stung my eyes. “I thought we were friends.”
“Friends?” She laughed, cold and sharp. “You were useful, Fianna. Easy to trust. Easy to control. But Luna? No. That place was never meant for you.”
I shook my head violently. “You killed them. Kael’s parents…you”
She crouched down in front of me, her dark eyes gleaming. “And I framed you for it. Perfect, wasn’t it? He already thought you weak. He already doubted you. All I had to do was whisper, and he believed me.”
My breath came in ragged gasps. “Why? Why hurt them? They did nothing to you.”
Her smile widened. “Because their deaths break him. And a broken Alpha is easy to destroy.”
Horror iced through my veins. She didn’t just want me ruined. She wanted Moonstone itself to fall.
“You’re a monster,” I whispered.
“And you’re a fool,” she said simply. Then she rose, brushing imaginary dust from her cloak. “Don’t worry, Fianna. You won’t suffer long. They’ll put you to death soon enough. And I’ll be there, standing beside him when it happens.”
She turned to leave.
“Lyall!” My voice cracked with desperation. “Please, if there’s anything left of the friend I knew”
But she didn’t pause. She didn’t even look back.
The door closed, and I was alone again.
The strength drained from me.
I slumped against the wall, my body shaking with sobs that tore through my chest. The darkness pressed in on me, heavy and suffocating.
This was it.
This was how my story ended.
Alone. Betrayed. Condemned for a crime I didn’t commit.
My throat ached, my voice barely more than a whisper as I lifted my face to the black ceiling.
“Moon Goddess,” I breathed. “If you hear me… if you have any mercy left… give me another chance. Please. Let me return. Let me make this right. Let me burn the ones who destroyed me.”
Tears slid down my face, hot against the cold stone.
“Please,” I whispered again. “Let me be strong. Just once. Just once.”
My chest tightened. My body sagged. The strength left me as surely as breath leaving my lungs.
The last sound I made was a broken sob, followed b
y a whisper that carried all my fury, all my grief, all my hope.
“Give me vengeance.”
The world went dark.
And Fianna, the weak Luna, died.