No Chains Left To Break

The royal court fell into a hush after Selene spoke.

"I wish to be emancipated from the Ravenshade family. Remove my name from their records. I want no title, no inheritance. Nothing."

The queen looked stunned for the first time since Selene had entered the palace. The king frowned, leaning forward from his throne, but he didn't interrupt. Kael, standing by his father's side in ceremonial black and gold, didn't look surprised at all.

"And in return?" the King finally asked.

"I'll give you the location of the rebel hideout. Every trap, every route, every name I know."

Gasps echoed in the hall. A silence more dangerous than outrage followed.

Then Kael stepped forward. "I'll go with her."

The queen's brows rose. "Kael-"

"She'll be a target the moment she steps past the gates," he said, tone calm but firm. "She's already marked by too many."

The king and queen exchanged a glance. After a moment of pause, the King nodded. "So be it."

Selene gave no smile. No bow. She only said, "Thank you."

And then she left.

It was around afternoon by the time she left the hall

She was almost to the gates when a sharp voice stopped her.

"Selene!"

Her mother.

Selene paused but didn't turn. Only when her father's heavier steps joined the click of her mother's heels did she finally face them.

Mirella's face was pale, eyes wide with disbelief. Alaric's jaw was locked tight.

"How could you do this?" Mirella whispered. "How could you stand in front of the King and Queen and... and ask to erase us?" Mirella actually looked affected as if... as if she really cared for a second. Selene saw her mother who once actually loved her before Aria came along; however, she refused to be stupid again.

"You mean the way you erased me?" Selene replied quietly.

"You're being dramatic-"

"No, I'm being honest," Selene cut in, voice like cold steel. "I begged for your love. You gave it to someone else. I was your daughter, but you made me feel like I was born from shadow and shame."

Alaric frowned. "We were trying to protect the family. Your jealousy of Aria-"

"She had everything," Selene snapped. "Even my family. And you let it happen. Everything was always about her, my birthdays, and all my milestones; I was just a shadow. It was like I was the orphan and not her!"

"We were trying to raise you to be strong." Her father spoke, trying to justify his actions.

"No, you were trying to silence me, you were trying to erase me. And now I've finally learned to speak." Selene said while looking straight at him, her eyes were cold, and her voice was stern; she was done with their bullshit.

Mirella's expression faltered. "You don't have to do this…"

"I already did."

Selene turned away.

But once again, another figure stepped into her path.

Tall. Imposing. Familiar. Selene rolled her eyes.

Alpha Aeron.

He looked like he'd come straight from court, his dark coat still crisp, his boots dusted with the clean sheen of palace stone. There was a tension in his jaw, though, something unsure behind his usual stoic front.

"You really meant to humiliate me in front of the entire court?" he asked.

"No," Selene replied calmly. "That was just a bonus."

His eyes narrowed. "You should've spoken to me first. Tried to know me. I'm not what they say. And why do you hate me, we have barely ever interacted with each other in the past."

Selene tilted her head slightly. "I do not wish to marry a cold-hearted barbarian."

He flinched, just a little. Then he said, "Give me a chance, Selene. Let me prove I'm not what they say. I thought better of you than to believe gossip."

Selene looked at Aeron and nearly laughed. This man was asking for a chance? After he had left her to die in the past. It was actually funny. This man, who had neglected her in her past life and thought of her as a burden and pretended that she never existed, was now asking to get to know her, she wondered what changed in this life.

"And I thought better of you than to care what someone like me believes," she replied.

He looked at her, deeply disappointed. "So that's it? You judged me based on rumors?"

"I did," she said, voice clipped. "And you should stay away from someone who so easily believes them."

He didn't have a reply.

She stepped around him.

But he grabbed her wrist.

"Don't go," he said. "Not like this. You're making a mistake."

Selene didn't pull away. She looked at his hand, then back up at him.

"I've made many mistakes," she said. "Loving the wrong people was the worst."

She was about to speak again. Maybe curse him, maybe scream when a new presence entered the courtyard.

"Let her go."

The voice was soft. Even. But it carried like thunder.

Kael.

He walked toward them in his dark coat, eyes on Aeron, not angry just final.

Aeron's jaw clenched, but he let go.

Kael didn't look at Selene as he stopped beside her. He didn't need to. The air around him changed a protective force that wrapped around her as naturally as the wind.

"I'll take you home," he said simply; it wasn't a request, it was a statement.

Selene nodded.

She didn't say goodbye to her family. Or to Aeron.

She just walked away beside the only man, the only person she strangely felt at ease with. He had killed her in the past but still she wasn't threatened by him; she did not hate him, maybe because in her past life when Kael had killed her, it was not an act of betrayal or brutality; instead, it was kindness.

Kael has never harmed her.

Not yet.

But one day maybe he will hurt her. He will betray her too. That's why she will never trust him or let him get close to her.