Seraphina's POV
My feet pound against the cobblestones as I run through the dark palace gardens. The footsteps behind me are getting louder. Closer.
"There! Don't let her escape!"
I don't recognize the voices, but they sound angry. Determined. My lungs burn, and my fancy dress keeps tangling around my legs. I rip the bottom of the skirt to run faster, not caring that it tears.
Mother's note crinkles in my pocket with each step: You are not what you think you are.
What does that mean? And who were those men chasing me?
I duck behind a tall hedge and press myself flat against it, trying not to breathe too loud. The footsteps run past me. I count to twenty, my heart hammering so hard I'm sure they'll hear it.
When the sounds fade, I peek out. The path is empty. They're gone.
For now.
I need to get home. Pack my things. Figure out what's happening. But home isn't really home anymore, is it? Viviane made that clear. I have until sunrise, and then I'm thrown out like garbage.
The walk back to the Ashford estate takes an hour. My feet hurt in these stupid fancy shoes. I finally kick them off and walk barefoot. The streets are empty this late at night. Every shadow makes me jump. Every sound makes me think the mysterious man in the cloak is coming back.
When I reach our gates, I expect them to be locked. But they're wide open, like Viviane couldn't even wait for me to come back before erasing me from her life.
The house is dark except for one light in Helena's window. I can hear laughter. My stepsister is probably trying on her new engagement jewelry, celebrating her victory.
I slip in through the servant's entrance and take the back stairs to my room. My hands shake as I open my door.
Everything is destroyed.
My bed is flipped over. My clothes are torn and thrown everywhere. The drawers are pulled out and emptied. Someone went through everything I own and destroyed it all.
"No," I whisper, dropping to my knees. "No, no, no."
"I did warn you."
I spin around. Viviane stands in my doorway, holding a candle. Her face looks different in the flickering light. Meaner. Like she's not even pretending to be nice anymore.
"Why?" My voice cracks. "Why destroy my things? I was leaving anyway!"
"Because I wanted you to have nothing," she says simply. "Nothing to remember. Nothing to sell. Nothing to give you hope." She steps into the room, and I see Helena behind her, smiling.
"Did you see his face when I kissed him?" Helena asks, her voice sweet as poisoned honey. "Marcus said he had to pretend to care about you for two whole years. He said kissing you was like kissing a dead fish."
The words stab into me. I want to scream at her. Tell her she's lying. But deep down, I know it might be true.
"Here." Viviane throws a small cloth bag at me. It hits my chest and falls to the floor. "That's all you get. One change of clothes. Nothing else."
I look inside the bag. It's the ugliest dress I own—brown, patched, the dress I wore when I worked in the kitchen after Father died. The dress that reminds everyone I'm not really nobility. Just a girl pretending.
"You can't do this," I say, but my voice is weak. "Father left me money. This house is half mine—"
"Your father left you debts," Viviane snaps. "I paid them. Every coin you think you're owed? I spent it cleaning up his mess. You have no claim here. No rights. No family." She leans closer. "You're an orphan now, Seraphina. Alone in the world. Just like your mother was before she trapped my husband."
"My mother was a good person!"
"Your mother was a nobody who got lucky." Viviane's eyes glitter with hate. "And now you'll be a nobody too. Get out of my house."
"It's not even sunrise yet!"
"I changed my mind. Leave now, or I'll have the guards drag you out." She crosses her arms. "Your choice."
I grab the cloth bag with shaking hands. There has to be something left. Something of Mother's they didn't find.
Then I remember. The loose floorboard under my bed.
"Can I... can I just have a moment?" I ask. "To say goodbye to the room?"
Viviane looks suspicious. But Helena laughs. "Let her have her moment. It's pathetic, but let her."
They leave, but I hear them waiting in the hallway. I move fast. I flip over what's left of my bed and pry up the loose board. Please let it still be there. Please.
My fingers find something wrapped in cloth. I pull it out.
It's a small wooden box, no bigger than my hand. I've never seen it before. It must have been hidden deeper than I thought. The wood is carved with strange symbols—the same symbols that were on the glowing mark the cloaked man made.
My hands tremble as I open it.
Inside is a silver dagger with a moon-shaped handle. A folded piece of paper. And a small glass vial filled with glowing blue liquid.
I unfold the paper. Mother's handwriting again:
"My dearest Seraphina, If you found this, the binding spell broke. They'll come for you now. The dagger is made of blessed silver—it can kill things that normal weapons cannot. The potion will hide your scent for one day. Use it wisely. You are a Luna Priestess, my darling. The last of our bloodline. Your power was bound to keep you safe, but now it's waking up. You must reach the Oracle's Temple before the next full moon, or the power will consume you from the inside. Trust the wolf with silver eyes. He's the only one who can help you survive what's coming. I love you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you longer. —Mother"
Luna Priestess? Blessed silver? Wolf with silver eyes?
None of this makes sense!
"Time's up!" Viviane shouts from the hallway.
I shove the box into my cloth bag and stand up just as the door slams open.
But it's not Viviane.
It's the cloaked man from the palace. And he's not alone. Three more figures in dark cloaks stand behind him, their faces hidden.
"Hello again, little priestess," he says, and I see his smile is full of teeth that are too sharp. Too wrong. "Did you really think you could run from us?"
Viviane gasps and backs away. "Who are you? How did you get into my house?"
The man doesn't even look at her. His eyes—now glowing yellow in the darkness—stay locked on me. "We've been waiting twenty years for the binding to break. Waiting for you to ripen into your power. And now..." He takes a step forward. "Now we're going to take what should have been ours all along."
"Guards!" Helena screams. "Guards!"
But when guards rush up the stairs, the cloaked figures move faster than anything human should. One guard falls. Then another. Their screams cut off too quickly.
The man reaches for me. "Come quietly, and we'll make it painless."
I grab Mother's dagger from my bag. My hand closes around the moon-shaped handle, and suddenly it burns with silver light. The man hisses and jumps back.
"She's awakening," he snarls to the others. "Take her now!"
I do the only thing I can think of. I run straight at the window and jump.
Glass shatters around me. I'm falling from the second floor, the ground rushing up too fast.
But instead of hitting the ground and dying, something impossible happens.
I land on four paws.
I have fur.
I have a tail.
I look down at my body and see white paws tipped with silver claws.
I'm a wolf.
I'm a wolf, and I never knew I could change shape. Somewhere in my confused, terrified mind, I remember Mother's words: You are not what you think you are.
Behind me, the cloaked man leans out the broken window. His yellow eyes find me in the darkness, and he smiles that too-sharp smile.
"Run, little priestess," he calls down. "Run fast. Because when we catch you—and we will catch you—you'll wish you'd never been born."
I run.
I run on four legs into the dark forest, leaving behind everything I knew.
Not knowing where I'm going.
Not knowing what I am.
Only knowing that something inside me just woke up.
And it's hungry.