Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN CHOSEN TO REPLACE HER
My mother arrived in Seattle the following afternoon.
She looked older than she had three weeks earlier.
Her dark hair was pulled into a loose braid.
She wore the same green cardigan she always wore when nervous.
The moment she saw me, she began crying.
I didn't hug her immediately.
For the first time in my life, I was angry enough to need answers before comfort.
“Am I your daughter?”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
“Biologically?”
She hesitated.
And that hesitation answered me.
I stepped backward.
My father entered behind her.
“Honey, please.”
I looked at him.
“You knew too?”
He nodded.
The room seemed to tilt.
I sat down.
My mother knelt in front of me.
“We raised you from the time you were three days old.”
I closed my eyes.
Three days.
Twenty-six years.
A lifetime built around a fact everyone else knew.
“Who gave birth to me?”
My mother began crying harder.
“Her name was Selene Vale.”
The name meant nothing.
Then she added, “She was the last recognized Moonkeeper.”
I stared.
“Recognized?”
My father sat beside me.
“Selene was my cousin. She entrusted you to us during the Winter Schism.”
“Why?”
My mother wiped her face.
“Because the council believed her child might become the key to restoring powers the old Alpha families had stolen.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Wonderful. I'm a political weapon.”
“No,” my mother whispered. “You're our daughter.”
I looked at her.
“Then why lie?”
“Because they were hunting newborn girls from Selene's family.”
My anger faltered.
She continued.
“We moved to Ohio, changed your name, and built a human life. We thought the old war was over.”
I stared at the photograph in my cardboard box.
My parents outside their dental practice.
For years, I had looked at that picture and seen an ordinary family.
Now I understood they'd built that ordinary life deliberately.
Not because it was easy.
Because it was the safest gift they could give me.
I began crying.
My mother reached for my hand.
This time, I let her.
That evening, Dondre invited me to the Blackwood residence.
I agreed because I wanted access to historical records.
Not because he requested my presence.
That distinction became important the moment I entered the reception hall.
A woman stood beside the fireplace wearing a white silk dress.
She was tall, elegant, and strikingly beautiful.
Her golden hair fell over one shoulder.
The instant she saw me, her smile vanished.
“Dondre,” she said.
He stopped.
“Lady Celestine.”
She approached.
“You didn't tell me your guest was coming.”
“Her name is Honey Evans.”
Celestine looked me up and down.
“How unusual.”
I smiled.
“That's usually the polite way people say something much ruder.”
Her expression hardened.
Dondre made a sound suspiciously like a suppressed laugh.
Celestine turned toward him.
“The council meeting has been moved forward.”
“By whose authority?”
“Chancellor Varrick's.”
Dondre's face changed.
I noticed.
Then Celestine touched his arm.
“We need to discuss the engagement announcement.”
I froze.
The what?
Dondre stepped away from her.
“There is no engagement.”
Celestine's smile tightened.
“Your father promised our families would unite.”
“My father is dead.”
The room went silent.
Celestine looked toward me.
“And apparently, his promises mean nothing now.”
I stared at Dondre.
“You're engaged?”
“No.”
“Were you?”
“A political arrangement was proposed when we were children. I rejected it years ago.”
Celestine's eyes flashed gold.
“Rejected without the council's consent.”
Dondre's voice turned cold.
“My marriage does not require the council's approval.”
I looked between them.
Then I sighed.
“I'm going to need a very large cup of coffee.”
Later, Celestine cornered me in the conservatory.
“You have no idea what you've walked into,” she said.
“That's becoming a recurring theme.”
She stepped closer.
“Dondre has spent his entire life preparing to lead. The kingdom needs stability. It needs an Alpha queen from a proven bloodline.”
I folded my arms.
“And apparently you've applied for the position.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You think this is amusing?”
“No. I think you're discussing a marriage as though it's a corporate merger.”
Celestine went quiet.
Then she whispered, “You don't understand what happens to women who refuse the council.”
I studied her.
For the first time, I saw fear beneath the arrogance.
“What happened to them?”
She looked toward the door.
Then stepped back.
“Ask Dondre about the last woman who rejected a royal bond.”
May you like
Before I could speak, she walked away.
And for the rest of the evening, I couldn't stop thinking about her warning.
