Chapter 79: Silver Wounds and Broken Bonds
Chapter 79: Silver Wounds and Broken Bonds
(Celeste’s POV)
The silver poison from Victoria’s dagger still burned through my veins.
Every step sent fire through my body, but I forced my back to stay straight and my steps
steady. I wouldn’t let the discomfort show. Weakness in this pack was an instant target for
attack.
Scarlett and Alexander stood outside Eleanor’s chambers. Scarlett, predictably, was leaning
into his protective stance.
“My grandmother’s wolf is too weak for visitors,” I stated coldly, keeping my tone sharp. “You
should leave.”
Scarlett’s emerald eyes sparkled with defiance, but I caught the flicker of hesitation beneath.
She pressed slightly closer to Alexander, her hand tightening on his arm.
“You don’t have the authority to speak for Eleanor,” Scarlett countered, her voice trembling just
enough to appear victimized. “I have just as much right to visit Grandmother as you do!”
My wolf bristled at her audacity, and the memory of her last “visit” crashed into me like a tidal wave. It had left Eleanor’s wolf dangerously close to collapse.
I stepped forward, my violet gaze narrowing as an ominous growl built low in my throat.
“Right?” I whispered, my tone dangerously low, like the quiet before a storm. “Is it the same
‘right‘ you used to provoke her until she broke?”
Scarlett flinched, her wolf retreating slightly in submission. Instinctively, she angled herself
more behind Alexander.
“I–I didn’t mean to upset her!” she stammered, clutching his arm like a lifeline. Her voice
wavered in just the perfect manner to evoke sympathy. “I only wanted to talk!”
Her wolf whimpered, its aura projecting vulnerability. It was the same performance she always gave, polished and calculated.
Alexander’s white wolf growled protectively. He stepped in front of Scarlett, his towering form
intentionally cutting into my line of sight.
“Do you think this hostility is helping anyone, Celeste?” he demanded, his ice–blue eyes
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locking onto mine with unrelenting cold.
“You need to control your aggression.” His tone carried the weight of judgment, a tone he had likely perfected in years of combat and command.
But this wasn’t about combat. This was about family. His judgment held no authority here.
“Scarlett’s wolf is too delicate for such confrontations,” he continued, defensive energy rolling
off him like a tide.
Delicate.
The word made my scarred lips twist into a bitter smile. Wasn’t that always the excuse for
her?
“Delicate?” I repeated, the word sharp as glass. “Like her deliberate endangerment of Eleanor’s
wolf? Or does her fragility only appear when it’s convenient for you?”
Alexander’s white wolf bristled at my remark. His ice–blue gaze darkened in defense of
Scarlett, who let out a perfectly timed gasp.
“My intentions were pure!” Scarlett cried, her voice trembling with wide–eyed sincerity. Her
bruised face tilted slightly toward him, shadows accentuating her victim act like a carefully
painted portrait.
“I didn’t know Grandmother’s wolf was so fragile. I didn’t mean to upset her!” Scarlett pressed further into Alexander’s form, her wolf letting out a soft, pitiful whine.
The fire under my skin burned hotter, but I kept my expression cold and composed.
“How convenient,” I said dryly, my voice filled with mockery. “That your ‘pure intentions‘ always seem to result in someone else’s suffering.”
Scarlett dissolved into fresh tears. People often called her crying beautiful, but all I saw was
manipulation.
Her slender hands clung tighter to Alexander’s arm, allowing her wolf’s distress to spread like a contagious disease.
“You always assume the worst!” Scarlett said between exaggerated sobs. “I love Grandmother
too! I would never mean to hurt her!”
My wolf snarled quietly in disbelief. I kept it contained, though my hands clenched tightly at my sides.
“Love?” I echoed sharply. “Eleanor nearly collapsed after your last ‘loving‘ visit. Let’s save the
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Chapter 79: Silver Wounds and B…
affectionate words for someone who still believes you.”
Scarlett sobbed harder, leaning so heavily against Alexander that a lesser man might have
faltered.
“Enough, Celeste!” Alexander’s voice boomed like a command, startling a nearby pack servant. His white wolf surged forward protectively, towering between me and Scarlett.
“Scarlett isn’t the type to hurt anyone intentionally.” His tone hardened further. “You need to
stop this baseless aggression.”
Baseless?
How easily he dismissed years of proof, years of Scarlett’s manipulations.
“And where was your concern,” I asked, my voice like frozen steel, “during my four years in silver chains? Your ‘delicate‘ mate didn’t seem to mind back then.”
For a moment, his confident posture faltered. His gaze flickered with something–recognition, maybe regret–but it was gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
Scarlett, meanwhile, clung tighter to him. Even as tears ran down her face, a small, almost imperceptible smirk began tugging at her lips.
“Please, Celeste!” Scarlett begged again, her trembling voice cracking perfectly on the word
“please.”
“I don’t want to fight anymore! Can’t we set aside our differences for Grandmother’s sake?”
My wolf snarled low beneath the surface, disgusted by her theatrics.
Alexander’s pale gaze sent another wave of cold judgment over me. “She’s reaching out with peace, Celeste,” he said firmly. “You would do well to accept it.”
“Peace?” I asked bitterly. My lips twitched in what could have been a smile if my heart hadn’t been so numb. “Maybe you’ve forgotten what she’s done, but I haven’t.”
I stepped forward again, my eyes cutting into Scarlett’s tear–streaked face like daggers.
“Before Scarlett so much as looks in Eleanor’s direction, she should return to the Sacred Moon Temple,” I said coldly, “and complete her silver punishment beside Lucas.”
The words landed heavier than I anticipated. Scarlett’s wolf emitted a sharp, fearful whimper
at the mention of more silver chains.
The mention of returning clearly struck something in her fragile airs. Her trembling hands clutched Alexander tighter, her voice barely above a panicked whisper.
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“But I’m still injured from the last punishment,” she protested weakly, her tears spilling in deliberate rhythm. “I can’t endure more silver-”
“One night.” My interruption came quiet but edged with venom. “You barely lasted one night.”
Scarlett flinched as if struck.
“And yet you wail about your suffering,” I continued bitterly. “While expecting the rest of us to carry the consequences of your actions?”
Alexander’s white wolf growled sharply, stepping closer to close the growing tension.
“That’s enough, Celeste!” His voice was sharp with warning, his ice–blue eyes blazing with frustration.
“You shouldn’t talk down to her like this. She’s already been through so much!”
I tilted my head slightly, locking eyes with him.
“I’m not talking down to her,” I replied, mock amusement lacing my words. “I’m reminding her of reality.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened, his wolf posture shifting uncomfortably.
Scarlett, sensing his momentary hesitation, jumped on the opportunity to strengthen her facade.
“I’ll support Lucas,” she declared suddenly. Her trembling wolf surged forward as if mustering courage. “I’ll face anything by his side!”
A bold claim, but one my enhanced senses easily detected as a lie.
“Anything?” I echoed softly, my tone sharper than intended. “Yet it seems you faked your illness to escape even one full night in chains.”
Scarlett flinched again, though she quickly masked it behind another artful veil of tears.
“It’s true,” she confessed softly. Her voice cracked like fragile glass, perfectly calibrated to elicit pity.
“But only because Lucas told me to!” she added quickly. “He said I should preserve my strength after recent… attacks.”
Nina snorted softly beside me, her amusement barely concealed.
“Attacks?” I pressed skeptically. “Or consequences catching up to you?”
Scarlett’s fragile facade cracked further, but she didn’t let it fully crumble.
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Her wolf shifted tactics, kneeling dramatically on the polished floor of Eleanor’s corridor.
“Please,” she begged, reaching toward Eleanor’s door with wide, tear–filled eyes. “I’ll return to
the temple… I’ll endure my punishment, finish it to completion! Just let me ask for
Grandmother’s forgiveness first!”
Her voice cracked, and the tears flowed like a storm. The sight might have been moving if I
hadn’t known her game so well.
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