Esmira (Enora)
He looked up at Esmira’s maid in the corner of the room and murmured.
“Take her to her room.”
But as he turned to leave, Esmira picked up a shard of broken glass from the floor and scrambled to her feet, raising it to her neck.
Then she called to her father.
“Father.”
Alpha Eldric sighed before turning to face her.
“What—”
He trailed off, his eyes widening, his body lurching forward towards Esmira.
“Come to your senses, Esmira!” he roared.
“You are my daughter! Why would you stoop so low, to beg a man for his love?”
Esmira laughed, a wild, unhinged sound that filled the room.
“There is no other man I want except Roderic. We’re fated, Father. He’s only confused because I haven’t been by his side. I’ll change him. I know I will.” Then her voice took a bitter note.
“Besides, every man in court is terrified of you. Your wonderful personality and your appetite for violence have made sure of that. No one will even dance with me. Who else would I marry?”
Eldric stared at her, and pain filled his eyes.
“Your mind is fixated on Roderic,” he said quietly.
“That’s the only reason you can’t open your heart to someone else. My darling, you’re yet to meet half the people who will love you in this lifetime. I promise you, so drop the glass, go to your room and rest.”
“That’s the problem with you,” Esmira gritted her teeth in annoyance.
“You never listen to me. I’ve been speaking, but you choose what you think is important. It’s my life, father, not yours, and I won’t rest until—”
“Until what?” Eldric snapped.
“If your mother were here, do you think she’d be proud of who you have become? Her daughter reduced to nothing but a simpering beggar to a man who doesn’t even rule his Kingdom. I would rather you bring a commoner to me who loves you than Roderic Valdren.”
“Oh please, leave Mother out of this,” Esmira snapped back.
“And not everything has to be dreamy and romantic like you and her. If it was so easy to meet people and fall in love with them, why is it that you never remarried? I haven’t even walked in on you with another woman, and my mother has been dead for more than a decade.”
“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Eldric growled.
“Oh, you can’t, right?” Esmira continued, cackling as she took a step towards her father.
“Because you love her. I know how many times the Elders and Council have tried to push you to get another mate who will give you a male heir and how you’ve repeatedly turned them down. I know you think you’re doing it for me, but no, father, it’s because you loved Mom and Mom didn’t even love you.”
“I SAID SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Eldric growled louder.
“If you don’t, I’ll send you to the holding cells to cool off that foolishness.”
“The truth hurts, doesn’t it, Dad?” Esmira laughed louder.
“All these years, you endured her meeting with everyone behind your back. She was sad for the longest time despite all your efforts to make her happy. Are you even sure I am your child? I could belong to one of those numerous men she used to sneak into the palace.”
“Esmira!” Eldric’s eyes had darkened; his fists were clasped beside him.
“Don’t make me treat you like a stranger.”
“Maybe we’re never meant to be with people who love us, but unlike you, I’m going to make Roderic love me, just you wait. Approve the damn marriage.”
Eldric stared at his daughter, his eyes flashing with regret.
He thought he’d done a wonderful job raising her after his wife’s demise, but obviously he had failed as a father.
“Fine, your mother wasn’t perfect, but you’ll speak about her with respect and for what it’s worth. I don’t want you to end up like me. Go out, Esmira, socialise, meet people; there’s always one social event or the other nowadays, and I promise I’ll marry you to any man you love, regardless of his social standing, but not Roderic.” He pulled himself to his full height.
“We’re done here.”
As he turned away, Esmira moved the shard from her wrist to the side of her neck, stabbing her flesh.
Instantly, blood spurted out.
I gasped as I felt the pain.
I staggered backwards, clutching my neck as a scream tore through my body.
I felt warmth flooding down my collarbone, heard Esmira’s maid shriek from the doorway, saw the room spin sideways as her legs gave way.
The world grew distant, muffled, as though I was sinking underwater.
I heard her father’s roar filled with terror, and felt his arms catch me before I hit the floor, and his voice, breaking apart, calling my name over and over—
What was happening to me?
I wasn’t Esmira.
How could I feel the pain?
My vision darkened, and I felt consciousness slipping, and then I gasped, my eyes flying open.
I was back in the great hall.
The noise, the light, the heat of a thousand bodies crashed over me at once.
I was gripping the armrest of my throne so tightly my knuckles had turned white.
My heart was hammering, and sweat beaded along my hairline.
Alpha Eldric was staring at me, his broad face creased with worry.
“Cupcake? Are you alright? You’ve gone pale. Should I fetch the healers?”
I blinked rapidly, trying to steady my breathing.
The vision — the memory — was already fading, but the echo of it pulsed inside me.
I could still feel the phantom sting at my neck, still hear the maid’s shriek, still see Eldric’s face contorted with terror as he caught his daughter, which was me.
How was I Esmira?
How?
How was I seeing her memories?
I wasn’t Esmira.
I had never been Esmira. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
And yet the vision had been so vivid, so detailed, so achingly real that for a moment, I hadn’t known where she ended and I began.
The tincture.
It had to be the tincture Lord Aven had given me before the ceremony.
Or the blessing rites.
Or the red thread that had bound my wrist to Roderic’s.
“I’m truly fine, Father,” I managed, forcing a smile.
“I just spaced out for a moment. The ceremony was a bit overwhelming.”
“This won’t do,” he muttered, already moving to lift me from the chair.
“No, please.” I stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“I’m alright. Really. Stay and enjoy the celebration. I need a moment.”
He studied my face with those dark, searching eyes — the same eyes that had been filled with terror in the memory that wasn’t mine — and finally nodded.
“Y—You won’t hurt yourself, right?” He asked quietly.
“I was not trying to bring back old memories; I’m just worried that—”
“I’m fine, Father,” I flashed him a smile; a part of my heart tugged with pain.
“I won’t hurt myself. I only want a breather.”
He nodded and gave me a quiet smile too.
“You’re as stubborn as your mother,” he said gruffly, squeezing my hand before releasing it.
He stood and turned back toward the crowd, where Lord Maxwell Vaelis was waiting to speak with him.
The two men’s eyes met across the platform, and even from where I sat, I could feel the hostility between them like heat from a forge.
I was still trying to steady my breathing and wait out the haziness before I left the room when the High Priestess appeared beside my chair.
“Luna Queen,” she said quietly, her voice pitched low enough that only I could hear.
“During the blessing rites, when I touched the sacred water to your skin, I felt something.”
My pulse spiked, but I tried to play it cool.
“Felt something?”
“Your wolf.” She paused, and in that pause, the entire celebration seemed to dim around us.
“It responded to the rite. Strongly. More strongly than I expected from a wolf weakened by illness.”
I couldn’t speak.
“In fact,” the High Priestess continued, her gaze never wavering, “in forty years of performing the sacred rites, I have never felt a wolf quite like yours.”
She let the words hang between us, waiting for me to take the bait…
“Is that why you didn’t bother with completing your mate bond with his majesty? Were you worried that your wolf would be exposed?”