Seraphina froze for a moment. She poured me a cup of tea, her movements stiff with embarrassment, then answered in a flat voice, "On your Moon Blessing Day."
The blood drained from my body. A moon cycle ago, on my Moon Blessing Day, Seraphina had vanished without a word. I searched for her the entire night, combing every slope and valley in wolf form, up the mountain and down, nose to the ground, tracking her scent until it dissolved into nothing at the river crossing.
She didn't return until the next day, windswept and dusty, claiming she'd gotten lost while looking for a gift for me.
Then, beaming like a child presenting a treasure, she produced a snow lotus from behind her back.
I hadn't slept all night, but seeing how much thought she'd put into it, I couldn't bring myself to scold her. I took the flower and tended it carefully.
Now she was telling me that on my Moon Blessing Day, she had been with Caspian Stormfang in secret. Nausea churned through me.
Even so, thinking of everything we'd shared, I couldn't stop myself from wanting to give her one more chance.
"Seraphina, can you not mate with him?"
She turned the teacup between her fingers, brow furrowed tight.
"Not mate with him? Mate with you instead?"
"Do you really have to force me to say something cruel?"
"He's the Alpha heir of the Stormfang Pack. And you? An unmarked wolf who knows nothing but watering crops and tilling soil. How could you possibly be worthy of an Elder Councilor's trueborn daughter?"
My face went white. I pressed on, unwilling to let go. "Do three years of what we had really have to be measured by bloodline standing?"
A sharp, twisting pain tore through my lower abdomen. I clutched my stomach, but I still waited for her answer.
"In pureblood families, bloodline and rank are everything. The line between trueborn and unmarked is absolute."
She paused, and guilt crept across her face as she looked at me.
"The pup I'm carrying might be his."
My mind went blank. I stared at her, unable to comprehend.
"Fenris, my pup has to be recognized as the Stormfang Pack's firstborn legitimate heir. That's the only way you'll be safe."
The pain in my gut twisted like a knife. Cold sweat beaded across my forehead. Something deep inside me, the faintest ember of my inner wolf, stirred with a low whine I barely recognized as my own. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the box of pastries.