Chapter 4

Marwen's POV

Two hours later, Caisy slipped in through the side door.

"Kael didn't earn that Alpha title. Last month, he and Valora poisoned the Morwulf leader." She clenched her jaw, her voice trembling. "And it was your husband who sent his private guards to help them crush the rebellion."

"Why would my husband help them?"

"A trade made in bed," Caisy said, "Five minutes ago, I saw Valora and your husband on the west balcony. He was tearing her dress off."

My stomach heaved. A wave of sickening realization washed over me.

If they were sleeping together all along, why did she let me marry Rhydian in this life?

My two lifetimes felt like a suffocating web designed solely to devour me alive.

Just then, Valora hurried back in from the balcony. Her face was flushed with post-coital heat, and though she pulled up her collar, she couldn't hide the fresh, dark hickeys on her neck. Right behind her came Rhydian, smelling of sex and sin, casting a look of pure disgust in my direction.

A heavy, wet thud violently snapped me back to reality.

"Liora!" Alaric’s roar shook the foundations of the hall.

I spun around. Liora, his wife, had collapsed face-first onto the banquet table. Black, foul-smelling blood was spewing from her mouth, staining the white carpet.

The hall erupted into pure chaos.

In the midst of the terror, a nightingale landed gently on my shoulder.

"Use White Dittany! Force her to swallow White Dittany, it's the only cure!"

I stared at the bird, grinding my teeth until my jaw ached.

It was the exact same phrase from my past life. Back then, I had recklessly poured the Dittany juice down her throat. One second she was twitching; the next, she bled from her eyes and ears entirely dead. They later discovered Liora wasn't poisoned at all—she was taking a specific herbal regimen, and the blood was just a violent detox reaction. The White Dittany I forced her to drink clashed fatally with her medicine and killed her instantly.

Because of that cup of herbs, Rhydian and Alaric shattered my arms, banished me, and let rogue wolves tear me apart piece by piece.

"Marwen! You have the Moon's blessing! You can heal her!" Alaric pleaded, his eyes bloodshot.

I stepped back coldly. My voice was absolute. "Do not touch her, Alpha. That is not poison. She has been taking specialized herbs, and her body is aggressively purging toxins. If you introduce any other medicine into her system right now, it will kill her."

Alaric believed me instantly. He roared at the pack healers to back away with their herbs.

I hid in the corner, watching coldly, thinking I had finally dodged the guillotine.

But late that night—

My heavy oak door was kicked into splinters. Guards stormed in, dragged me out of bed, and slammed me onto the freezing stone floor of the great hall.

"You vile, venomous bitch!"

Alaric’s roar shattered the stained glass windows. He raised a blood-soaked whip, his eyes bulging with murderous intent. "Liora is dead!"

My head snapped up. "Impossible! Once she got through the purge, she should have woken up—"

"Bullshit! The healers checked her body! If we had given her White Dittany to suppress the reaction, she would have survived!" He kicked me squarely in the chest. The sickening crack of my ribs echoed off the walls.

I curled into a ball, shaking uncontrollably.

It was madness.

"Throw her in the lowest level of the dungeon!" Alaric snarled into the dead silence. "Strip her of her title. I’m going to make this bitch bleed out as a sacrifice for my Luna!"

The guards’ iron grips locked onto my shoulders, dragging me toward the abyss. My fingernails dug into the stone floor, screeching as I fought them.

The memories of two lives. The beasts' warnings.

Every tangled, bloody thread suddenly slammed together into a single, horrific, perfectly closed loop.

I finally understood what happened.