The pain in my belly twisted like a knife. Cold sweat beaded across my forehead. Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at the box of pastries. A faint wrongness clung to them, something my wolf had nudged at when Caelan first set them down. I hadn't listened.

"Caelan, this is your pup too. How could you bear to..."

Caelan's eyes reddened. He apologized again and again.

"I'm sorry, Seraphina. She knows you exist. By the timing, your pup is further along than hers. She won't allow you to give birth to the firstborn..."

So he laced my favorite pastries with the drug, and I ate them without a second thought.

"Caelan, my stomach hurts so much. I just ate them, there's still time. Please, go find a healer."

He didn't move. My voice cracked raw with panic. "I won't mate with you, is that what you want? I just want my pup. I'll take her and leave, go far away. I won't be in your way, I swear."

No matter how I screamed and begged, Caelan didn't flinch.

He held out his arm. "Bite down on this. It won't hurt as much."

I shoved his arm away. "Go find a healer. I'm begging you, Caelan."

"Seraphina, don't be ridiculous. No pack healer is going to treat someone of your standing."

"The wolfsbane's already taken effect. It's too late. Be good. Once Sable gives birth to the legitimate heir, we can have another pup."

I seized his hand and held on with everything I had. "Caelan, listen to me. I am a princess. Princess Seraphina Silvercrest. Go get the healer. Save this pup."

But he thought I was lying. He wrenched his hand free, anger flashing across his face.

"You've truly disappointed me. If you're going to lie, at least make it believable. This is the Silvercrest Dominion's capital territory, not your little borderland den. One wrong word here can cost you your head."

He flicked his cloak and stormed out.

"A pup loss won't kill you. Look after yourself."

I watched his retreating figure until it disappeared. Every last shred of hope in me went with it. Deep in my chest, my wolf went silent. Not howling, not keening. Just silent, as though the part of her that knew how to make sound had been cut away.

I curled into the corner, the pain splitting me open. I could feel it, every moment of it, the pup slipping away from my body.

The pup I had longed for day and night, killed by its own father on the very first day he learned of its existence.