Chapter 17 : What Was Taken

Liora pov

I woke to Elara’s soft knock.

"My lady, I’ve brought fresh bandages."

For a second, I forgot why I would need them. Then I remembered the cut. The blood. The pendant rising from my palm.

I looked down at my hand. Smooth skin. No scab. No tenderness. No mark.

Of course.

I had healed myself before. Small burns. Minor scrapes. But this had been deeper. I expected at least a trace.

There was nothing.

"Come in," I said.

Elara entered quietly, closing the door behind her. She carried a small tray with salve and clean linen. She didn’t look at me at first, just set everything down with practiced care.

"Let me see your hand."

I gave it to her. She unwrapped the cloth I had tied around it last night and froze.

"My lady..." Her fingers hovered over my palm. "Where is it?"

"It healed."

She looked up sharply. "Overnight?"

"Yes."

She pressed her thumb gently against the skin where the cut had been. "There isn’t even a scar."

I pulled my hand back slowly. "You’ve seen wolves heal."

"You’re not a wolf."

No.

Whatever I was, it wasn’t that.

The words sat between us. Her breathing had changed. Not panicked. Just unsettled.

"This isn’t normal," she said quietly. "Even alphas take time to heal blade wounds."

"I heal quickly," I repeated.

Her eyes searched my face, trying to understand what she had stepped into.

Before she could push further, something else struck me.

The side table. Empty. My gaze snapped to the pillow. The velvet pouch was still there. But it felt wrong. I grabbed it and opened it.

Empty.

The pendant was gone.

"Elara."

She stiffened. "my lady?"

"It’s missing."

"What is?"

"The pendant."

She crossed the room quickly. "You moved it."

"No."

She checked the floor, the edge of the bed, beneath the table. "Are you certain you didn’t—"

"It was under my pillow."

Her face changed. "Under—? Who would—"

We both understood the implication. Someone had come close enough to reach beneath my head while I slept.

And I had not woken. My stomach tightened.

"Did you tell anyone about it?" I asked.

"No. I swear to you."

I believed her.

"Then someone already knew."

We began searching without speaking further. Drawers emptied. Bedding pulled apart. Cushions overturned. The wardrobe inspected.

The pouch was still there.

Which meant whoever took it didn’t want me to notice immediately.

The door opened without warning.

Kael stepped inside.

He stopped just past the threshold, eyes moving slowly across the room. The overturned chair. The scattered garments. Elara standing near the bed.

"What is happening here?" he asked.

His voice was controlled, but sharp. Elara stepped back slightly.

I straightened. "I’m looking for something."

His gaze settled on me. "What?"

"A piece of jewelry....it’s uhmm.. My mother sent it as a wedding gift." I lied

He didn’t react immediately. Just watched me.

"I thought I left it here," I continued evenly. "I wanted to wear it for the ceremony."

His expression shifted just slightly. Then he reached into his coat.

"Is this what you’re looking for?"

He held it out, The pendant.

Same silver frame. Same dark stone. Same delicate chain. Elara inhaled sharply beside me. I walked toward him and took it from his hand.

The moment my fingers closed around it, I knew.

It was identical.

But it was not the same.

There was no warmth beneath the surface. No faint pulse. No weight of something sealed within.

This was cold metal and polished stone.

A copy.

"Where did you find it?" I asked.

"On the floor near the dresser," he said. "It must have fallen."

It had not been near the dresser. It had been beneath my pillow. He was lying.

"This indeed looks like it," I said slowly, turning it in my hand. "But it feels as if it’s not what I’m searching for."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

Elara’s fingers brushed lightly against my arm.

Stop.

I forced a small breath through my nose. "Nothing. It must be the ceremony pressure. Everything feels... off today."

He studied me. Then nodded once.

"Wear it," he said. "If it matters to you."

Elara stepped forward and fastened it around my neck.

"It seems old," Kael observed. "You might want something newer. Something more fitting for tonight."

"I’ll keep this one," I replied.

He didn’t argue. Instead, he shifted the conversation.

"How are you preparing?"

"For the ceremony?" I asked.

"Yes."

I met his gaze steadily. "I will stand where I’m required to stand."

"That wasn’t my question."

I held his stare. "I’m prepared."

He watched me as if measuring the truth in that statement.

"You’ll be expected to remain composed," he said. "There will be wolves in their true forms. Displays. Challenges."

"I know."

"Unmated wolves will attempt to scent you."

I lifted my chin. "Let them."

Something unreadable passed through his expression.

"Your family has arrived," he said finally. "They’re waiting in the east hall."

My pulse jumped despite myself. "Already?"

"They arrived at dawn."

Dawn. The messenger. The sealed letter.

"They’re eager to see you," he added.

I nodded. "I’ll greet them."

He stepped aside, allowing me to pass.

As I moved toward the door, questions crowded my mind. When had he entered my room last night?

Why did he take the pendant? Did he recognize it?

He had said he never bonded with any of his previous wives. Elara had told me none of them lasted long enough to be celebrated as Luna.

But he had looked at that pendant as if it meant something.

What did he do with the real one? Did he suspect me? Or was he protecting me?

I walked out without looking back.

---

Kael pov

I remained in the room after she left. Elara was still there, quietly restoring order.

"Leave ," I said.

She bowed and slipped out. Silence returned. I moved toward the bed. I had felt her cut herself.

The bond flared sharply in the middle of the night, brief pain, then controlled focus.

I knew she would heal. I had seen it before. But I went anyway. I told myself it was to ensure she had not done something reckless.

That was only partially true. She had been asleep when I entered. Her breathing steady.

The velvet pouch had been visible beneath her pillow.

I reached for it out of curiosity.

I took it because I recognized it. I knew that pendant.

I had commissioned it three years ago.

For Amelia. The fourth bride Seraphina selected.

The only one who lasted longer than a few weeks. She asked questions. Too many.

She watched too closely.

She noticed patterns.

Then she died.

Officially, it was a rogue wolf attack during a night patrol.

Unofficially, I knew better. I had held that pendant when I gave it to her.

It was meant to symbolize protection. The irony had not been lost on me.

When I found it beneath Liora’s pillow, sealed with old magic, I felt something I had not felt in years.

Suspicion, and something else.

Fear.

The pendant carried blood magic. Not fresh. Not Seraphina’s signature.

Older. Intentional.

I could not risk it remaining in her possession without understanding it. So I replaced it.

Had a replica made before dawn and returned it, to Let her believe nothing had changed, But she knew.

The moment she touched the copy, I saw it in her face.

Subtle. Controlled. But there. She felt the difference.

Which meant she knew the difference.

How did she get it?

She said her mother sent it. That made no sense.

Unless—

Unless Ebonvale had access to something buried here.

Or someone delivered it to her.

Or worse—

her family knew exactly what happened to Amelia.

The thought tightened something in my chest.

I pulled the real pendant from my coat. The stone seemed darker in daylight.

I turned it over slowly. There, near the clasp, faint engraving.

I hadn’t noticed it before. A single word.

Again.

My jaw tightened.

Again what?

Again a ceremony? Again a Luna? Again a death?

If Amelia had hidden this intentionally, she had expected another woman to find it.

Expected the cycle to continue.

Which meant she knew she would die.

I closed my fist around the pendant.

If Liora’s family was involved, why send her here?

As sacrifice? As pawn? Or as something else?

And why did the bond react so strongly when she cut herself?

I exhaled slowly.

I had told her I never bonded with any of them. That was true.

None of them were true mates.

None of them reached ceremony. None of them were allowed to. Seraphina ensured that.

But this time was different.

The bond with Liora was real.

Which meant she was vulnerable in ways the others had not been.

If this pendant was part of something older than Seraphina’s current control—

Then tonight would not be simple.

Outside, a distant horn signaled preparations beginning.

The pack would gather soon.

Liora would face them.

Wolfless.

Wearing a copy of a dead woman’s pendant.

Believing I did not know.

And I would stand beside her, knowing far more than I could safely say.

If Ebonvale was involved—

If Seraphina was tightening her hold—

If Amelia had left a warning—

Then tonight would not be tradition.

It would be revelation.

And I had no idea who would survive it.