King

eighteen years, my daughter's face, her tiny hand slipping from mine. The accident that stole her

hake them. I climbed out of bed, steeling myself. I needed a walk to the forest, the place where my daughter went missing, where her absence still felt raw. For years, I'd visited that c

felt wrong, charged with something I couldn't name. Small animals darted past, colliding with my legs, foolish creatures that should've fled at the sight of m

Moon Goddess, marking my bloodline. No wolf, no matter how strong, could mimic it. Eighteen years ago, my daughter, our onl

me to the riverbank. A beast loomed there, fangs bared, ready to lunge at a figure in the water. I d

air. Her lips were pressed tight, eyes closed, yet something about her felt achingly familiar. My heart slammed against my ribs, breath

again." Her body was cold, limp, but I ran, legs burning, toward the pack's stronghold. I hadn't felt th

oward her. "Save her," I rasped, hands shaking. Servants stared, shock

e to change out of my soaked clothes. I barely heard them,

girl is. I won't break her heart again." My wife had never recovered from our daughter's loss,

. "Your Highness, I mean no disrespect but

't. The Moon Goddess marked our bloodline with Lavender. No one else carries it." Her features mirro

carried the guilt of failing to protect her. I'd been a king, a warrior, but not a father who could sa

epared." "She's not out of danger. She fell from a great height, which ha

condition that she hadn't fully awakened but was still battling the claws of death.

broken-hearted father, pleading for his child. The doctor nodded, and ushered

ulse haunting me. I'd carried her once as a baby, her tiny fingers curled around m

y wife's questioning gaze. I hadn't told her, couldn't bear to until I knew t

. "She's stable, Your Highness. Out of danger, for now. But her recover

ed, more to myself than her. "Thank you." I turned to leave, then pau

ck. I'd failed her once, but never again. The Moon Goddess had given me a seco