UNWANTED WIFE, A LYCAN PRINCESS

the dress was

ut a lot of thi

ears. Right down the middle, a thin split that cut

er fi

like me did not need a perfect mirror.

ine," I sai

t sound

fell straight to the floor and made me look younger than twenty-two. I had borrowed

one to zip th

ana

ays m

nly thing I had that came from before. Before the woman who raised me died. Before the years of

it onto

f was

ething big was happening. Restless, pacing, pushing at the edges of me. But

e alrea

ave listen

against my chest for a

d to the empt

ered. Nobod

bag, turned off the l

t. Stone-paved and narrow, lined on both sides by lanterns that had been lit si

ed it a hu

like

rs in their good clothes. Children sitting on their father

my eyes

before I reached

r. Two women

t's

no fami

one p

not sl

one in that old

anyone. Why did

my chin

you tilt it down they think you are ashamed. If you tilt it up th

, then t

wal

tone circle opened up ahead of me, wide and ancient, carved into the earth in an age before anyone a

ust one second

at was all I a

I wal

already

lack. No ceremony colors. Just black, like he wore every other da

ler than I

rom his jaw down his neck, pale against his skin,

he opposite side of the c

ed back

your fated mate for the first time. Rowan had described it lik

hing like tha

e way you look at

Not angry.

na

was possible. Like she pressed hers

d away

hen I saw

ld, which was strange for a ceremony where guests wore silver or white. Eve

t watching

s watc

something. Not admiring. Calculating. Like sh

know her

rstood what she was in th

n his eyes looked

d not kno

his staff and the

in the pack by at least two de

cestors gathered. To witness the sacred bond. To spe

ed on b

ough t

sl

rn," the Elder said.

ence st

se

w

on Kael. On the space betw

conds of

ore I heard it. A small ripple. A held breath

is voi

. Like a verdict b

rn, reject Lyra of the

owd er

rything and

ild asking their mother what happened. A woman laughing, h

not

imultaneously, like a thread pulled taut and then cut. It did not hurt the way I expected. It wa

did no

ot give t

xactly level. Not u

rned to

st

w

one was crying. Not for me, I understood tha

e s

e

nd it. The path home. My cracked mirror and my

ost m

one boundary, fire explo

mething that started under my skin and cracked through me

r bracele

it threw shadows across the stone behind

crescent and an open hand. Glowing the way the moon glows,

red a

ent complet

ery breath. The child who had been

o

f it

aff clattered

ad never seen an Elder's eyes go wide before, and he grabbed my wrist with both hands, and he stared at the mark the way a m