Sunlight caught his platinum-blonde hair, making him look every bit the perfect royal heir. His icy-blue eyes, however, held no warmth. He looked at me as if I were an unfortunate mistake he had finally found the courage to correct.
"Ilinca Drăghici," he announced, his voice carrying through the hall. "By the authority of my bloodline and the consent of the High Council, I am here to correct a grave mistake."
I pressed my palms against the marble and forced myself to meet his gaze.
"Five years ago, our fathers bound us by contract," he continued. "We believed your bloodline possessed the divine grace needed to strengthen the Silver Spire. We were wrong."
Whispers spread through the crowd.
I heard someone laugh.
"Your wolf remains dormant, Ilinca," Cyprian said, stepping closer. "Your bloodline offers nothing to my kingdom. My borders are failing, and I cannot sacrifice my throne for a woman who brings no power to the crown."
For a moment, I couldn't speak. I had stood beside him through every doubt, defended him when the court questioned his judgment, and believed his promises even when his family treated me like an embarrassment.
Was I truly nothing to him now?
"You swore an oath to me," I managed. "In the sacred groves, you promised you would never abandon me."
His expression didn't change.
"Oaths are for those worthy of keeping them."
He drew a silver ritual blade from his waist.
My stomach tightened. I knew what was coming. The Severing was more than a broken engagement. It would strip me of my royal standing and erase the sacred bond that had tied our families together.
Cyprian cut his palm and let his blood fall onto the marble.
"By blood and silver, I sever this bond. I erase our promise and cast you out of the Silver Spire. You are nothing to this court, Ilinca Drăghici. Nothing to me."
He seized my left wrist before I could pull away.
The heated blade pressed against my betrothal mark.
Pain shot through my arm, and I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming. Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of the people who had spent years waiting for me to fail.
When he finally released me, I caught myself against the floor.
A fresh scar marked the place where our promise had once rested.
Cyprian turned away.
"Guards. Remove her from the grounds."
He didn't even look back.
I rose slowly, ignoring the trembling in my legs. After smoothing the skirt of my black gown, I walked down the central aisle alone. Five hundred pairs of eyes followed me, waiting for me to crumble.
I gave them nothing.
Outside, rain poured over the courtyard, soaking my clothes before I reached the gates. I barely noticed the cold.
When the iron gates slammed shut behind me, I stopped on the muddy roadside and looked back at the castle.
My wrist throbbed with every heartbeat.
I had loved Cyprian enough to trust him with my future. He had repaid that trust by turning my humiliation into a royal spectacle.
Whatever remained of that foolish girl ended there.
I pressed my thumb against the fresh scar and let the pain remind me of what I must never forget.
I would never bow to him again.
Not to a prince. Not to a council. Not even to a god.
Then I turned toward the mist-covered forests of the Carpathians and walked away from the only life I had ever known.
Five Years Later
Rain tapped against the arched windows of the Obsidian Citadel, but the King's private war room was warm, filled with the scent of leather and burning candles.
I stood beside the map table, studying the southern trade routes. My black silk suit fitted neatly, its sleeves covering the scar on my wrist.
"You've been quiet for twenty minutes, Ilinca."
I looked up.
Alpha King Lucian-Cazimir Văduva sat behind his mahogany desk, his dark hair slightly disheveled and his amber-gold eyes fixed on me.
Lucian had never looked at me with pity. He treated me as an equal, trusted my judgment, and understood that the girl who had arrived at his court five years ago was not the woman standing before him now.
"I'm calculating the risks of tomorrow's delegation, Your Grace."
He rose and came around the desk.
"If Cyprian's presence here troubles you, I'll cancel the summit. We don't need his treaty, and I won't allow him to use my halls to humiliate you again."
"Personal feelings have no place in statecraft," I replied. "His kingdom is weakening. His ancestral magic is dying, his borders are vulnerable, and he needs our military support."
I rolled up the map.
"We hold the advantage. I arranged these negotiations, and I intend to see them through."
A faint smile touched Lucian's lips.
"You're a ruthless strategist."
"I'm simply what life made me."
His gaze dropped briefly to my covered wrist.
"Tomorrow, Cyprian will see what he threw away," he said quietly. "And he'll learn that you're no longer someone he can discard without consequences."
Before I could answer, the doors flew open.
Commander Radu-Mathei Cosma strode inside, rain dripping from his copper-red hair.
"Your Grace, the Silver Spire delegation has arrived early. They were attacked on the mountain pass."
Lucian's expression hardened.
"Who attacked them?"
"We're still investigating. But there's something else." Radu glanced at me. "Prince Cyprian brought an ancient relic from the Moon Temple. A divine seal."
I frowned.
"Why bring a sacred relic to a peace negotiation?"
"Because it shattered the moment he entered the Great Hall."
For the first time that evening, Radu looked genuinely frightened.
"It reacted to a bloodline within these walls. One that shouldn't exist anymore."
A strange uneasiness settled in my stomach.
"What are you saying?"
"Cyprian demands to see you immediately." Radu swallowed. "The seal didn't simply break, Ilinca. It released golden fire."
He stared at me, as though he no longer knew who stood before him.
"Then it called you by a title no one has heard in centuries."
My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
"The First Sovereign."
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