Chapter 3

Thea's POV

Before I could finish speaking, Talia grabbed the glass of iced water from the table and hurled it at me. Freezing water splashed across my face and soaked into my clothes. It chilled my heart even more.

"Wake up, Thea! The one who was abandoned is you, not Vera!"

As Vera's muffled sobs filled the room, Talia furiously grabbed my arm and dragged me into a room upstairs.

I knew the room well. It was a laboratory Ryder had built especially for me as a place where I could work on my potions.

Knowing how often I forgot to eat while working, he would personally bring me meals cooked exactly the way I liked. And he knew I was afraid of the dark, so he lined the walls with glowing moonstones…

All those little acts of tenderness became part of our daily life. For a long time, I mistook them for love.

But now, my laboratory was nothing but a prison, a hellhole used to confine me. Everything we had shared before had been completely erased.

"He only ever loved Vera as his fated mate. As for you, he just thought he loved you because you saved his life years ago. He mistook gratitude for love."

I stared at Talia blankly. "What do you mean?"

She didn't answer. She only looked at me with a trace of pity in her eyes. Then, she grabbed a corner of a tapestry and ripped it down.

The entire wall behind it was covered with pictures of Ryder and Vera—watching the northern lights at the Northern Frostland, bathing in hidden spirit springs in the southern territories, chasing moon shadows in the Ancient Forest…

"They've been together for three years." Talia's voice sounded behind me, full of mockery. "Last year, on your birthday, Ryder wasn't away on some secret mission. Zane and I weren't on a honeymoon, either."

She pointed to the largest picture at the center of the wall. It showed Ryder and Vera standing hand in hand before the Moon Goddess, completing their mating ceremony.

Talia continued, "We all went to Star Forest to attend their mating ceremony. We witnessed their happiness. As for the ceremony you had with Ryder, it was fake from the start. It was never blessed. And that accident when you fell and got hurt? It was approved by Ryder too.

"If we'd told you who Vera really was, you would've never devoted yourself to treating her. What choice did we have except to keep it from you?"

I stared at Talia as though she were a stranger. I couldn't believe those words were coming from her.

12 years ago, beneath the statue of the Moon Goddess, we'd linked pinkies and sworn to be best friends for life.

Not long ago, at her mating ceremony with Zane, she'd placed a laurel wreath of blessings on my head as her only bridesmaid, wishing me a lifetime of happiness. She even warned Ryder to take good care of me.

Yet now, she stood there, helping others take everything from me and telling me that I was the one who was never blessed.

At last, my tears fell, dripping on the floor one by one. I tried wiping them away, but more kept coming. I couldn't even describe what I was feeling. I just felt breathless.

I had given them my whole heart, and they trampled it over and over until it shattered into pieces, never to be whole again.

"In that case…" I looked at Ryder and Vera as they entered the room, forcing down the sob lodged in my throat. "You two can be together. I'll give you my blessing. Besides, the ceremony you gave me was fake, so we don't even have to dissolve our bond."

I lifted my tear-filled eyes and forced a smile.

"Thea, what the hell are you talking about?" Ryder frowned, displeasure written all over his face.

But I simply reached around my neck and removed the necklace he'd given me during our ceremony. Then, I placed it in Vera's palm. "I wish your family of three an eternal soul bond. May you never be separated."

Talia and Zane stared at me in shock. Ryder parted his lips as though he wanted to say something.

But I didn't want to hear another word. I walked past them, down the stairs, and out into the night.