Chapter 48
They say a wedding is the end of loneliness.
For me, it was only the beginning-
Of fate’s second trial.
PERTINYURLERSTE
The night before my wedding, the moon was cold and the air carried silence like a blade.
I sat beneath a silver–draped canopy, clad in ceremonial moonborn robes, fingers tracing the mark over my heart.
Caelum stirred faintly in the bond between us, still sleeping, still safe. His presence like starlight in the darkness.
“You nervous?” Riven’s voice curled in my ear, low and teasing.
あい
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I turned, smiling. “Afraid I’ll run?”
“I’m not afraid you’ll run,” he murmured, taking my hand. “I’m afraid you’ll sacrifice yourself again–for someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
I kissed his palm.
“This time… I won’t.”
Elsewhere, in the empty halls of Greaves Keep–Noah knelt, broken.
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The floor was littered with torn bloodline seals, shredded photos of me, and shattered relics from our past.
His eyes were bloodshot. His spiritual field trembled with madness.
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“She chose him,” he whispered to no one. “After everything, she chose him…”
“She said she’d protect our child… But she never told me he was mine.”
“I didn’t just lose her.”
He grabbed the ceremonial blade from the wall–cut deep into his arm, blood spilling over the pale marble.
“I lost my entire world!”
No one came. No one dared approach.
The keep stayed lit all night.
But it felt like a tomb.
The wedding morning dawned with soft silver light.
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M
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**
I walked through the Moon Chapel’s ceremonial aisle, the veil trailing behind me like mist. Every step was a farewell to who I had been.
Riven stood at the altar, eyes burning with emotion, lips curved in that quiet, unshakable smile.
“Sadie Hale,” he whispered, “do you vow to walk with me, through full moons and waning ones alike?”
“I do,” I said.
And I meant it.
But before the vow could be sealed, a voice rang out–shrill, trembling:
“Stop!”
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All heads turned.
K 13
પાટ
GENE
A woman stumbled into the chapel, gown torn by wind, hair tangled, eyes wild.
Aria Linford.
Pregnant.
1 x
ch
“I… I’m carrying a child!” she cried. “He’s Greaves blood–the only rightful heir!”
Gasps swept the room.
“This baby,” she said, pressing trembling hands to her stomach, “is the future Alpha. Not hers. Mine!”
Riven’s expression turned glacial.
I stepped off the altar and stood before her,
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unflinching.
“You think I’ll fall for your ‘poor, perfect Omega‘ act again?”
“I’m not lying!” she wailed. “He has a moonmark! He’s spiritually awakened! He’s the true heir!”
At that moment-
Moonlight burst through the chapel’s ceiling like a divine blade.
From it stepped a glowing figure-
Silver hair. Eyes of stars.
Lunara.
The Moon Goddess herself.
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www
All fell to their knees.
COMES
chris!
She raised one hand and pointed directly at Aria.
“The child you carry holds no rightful power”
“Your blood is corrupted. Your spiritual seal- falsified. Your line–tainted by Nightshade’s remnants.”
Aria paled.
“No–no, I have proof! He–he’s awakened! I felt-!”
“Silence,” Lunara said coldly.
“You used lies to mimic the divine. You manipulated sacred trials.”
“From this day forward, Aria Linford is
Calitative
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Chapter 48
く
marked as an Abandoned.”
Shock roared through the room.
Everyone knew what that meant.
To be an Abandoned was to lose all rights, all names, all bonds.
An eternal exile from the Moonborn line.
Aria collapsed to her knees, screaming:
“You can’t do this! I was his wife! I–he loved
me!”
I looked her straight in the eyes.
“He isn’t your Alpha anymore.”
“And you… are no one.”
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*100;”
2
But just as Lunara began to fade, my body
stiffened.
Caelum.
He was seizing. Trembling.
Something in the spirit bond cracked.
“Caelum?” I cried. “No–no no–what’s happening?!”
Rima rushed forward, scanning him through our link.
“His spirit is destabilizing, she gasped. “He’s absorbing future memories too fast–he’s seeing things not meant for now-!”
A vision ripped through me.
I saw Caelum–older–standing in a burning
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Mbish
field.
His eyes were red. And I-
I was holding a blade.
Pointed at him.
“Mama…”
“Why are you trying to kill me?”
“You said… you’d never leave.”
I dropped to my knees, sobbing his name.
His heartbeat faded.
And then-
Lunara turned, her voice grave:
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“The Spear of Fate has pierced the fabric of time.”
“Your trial nears.”
“You must choose: be a mother… or become a god.”
Cl mant
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