Marked by Gold and Ruin

(ELARA’S POV)

The anniversary feast was a masterclass in humiliation—my humiliation.

The torchlights illuminating the Ironridge Hall were blinding. Roasted venison, honeyed bread, and several pitchers of wine were arranged on long wooden tables.

Everything looked perfectly regal.

One could hear the sound of laughter echoing from the walls as mischievous children chased one another between benches, while the warriors exchanged stories.

Everyone looked happy.

Everyone but me.

I stood near the serving tables, trying to balance a heavy tray against my aching arms.

Three days.

That was how long I had spent preparing tonight’s feast.

Three days overseeing the kitchens, tasting sauces, directing servants, and waking up way before dawn to make sure every tradition was observed properly.

All that work had left burns on my fingers— burns that still stung whenever I touched metal. But none of it seemed to matter to anyone.

A servant took the tray from me, snapping me out of my thoughts without so much as a “thank you”, and hurried past me.

She walked straight to Farina Whiteclaw.

“Careful,” another servant warned with a smile as she set the platter before Farina. “She’s the Alphas’ favorite.”

I lowered my gaze as the women around Farina laughed.

Technically, I was Luna.

But in reality? In reality I was little more than a servant and a little less than decoration.

Farina Whiteclaw sat beside the alpha— my husband— Darius as though she belonged there. Her silver dress shimmered beneath the torchlight.

Every time she smiled, the warriors smiled back. Every time she laughed, the room seemed to brighten in an instant.

That was far from the case for me. Maybe it was because I was nothing—an orphan with no family, no known origins—yet somehow, I had become Luna through a soulbond with the Alpha.

Maybe it was because I was too scared to speak to my Alpha—or anyone, really—while Farina wasn’t.

Farina Whiteclaw was confident where I was timid, graceful where I was clumsy. And naturally, she was loved by the entire pack.

Even Darius himself smiled with her, more than he did with anyone else. More than he’d ever done with me.

My chest tightened as I thought of the last five years.

Five years of the soulbond. Five years of marriage— of sleeping beside a man who never truly looked at me.

A small burn beneath the collar of my dress made me jerk my head up.

Instinctively, I touched the soul-mark on my collarbone. For a second, my fingertips felt warm.

Then there was the gold— the faintest flash of gold.

I froze. Then it vanished, like it had never appeared at all.

For the past few weeks, something about the mark had been… odd.

There were moments when it seemed warmer than usual. And sometimes when I slept, my dreams were filled with golden light. Other times, it was whispers that disappeared the moment I woke.

Every time I tried to convince myself I imagined it. And tonight would be no different.

“Elara!”

The sound of my name made me look up.

My heart immediately stumbled when I realized it was Darius who had called me.

He was standing only a few feet away— tall, broad-shouldered and domineering. Beautiful in an intimidating way. Darius Ironridge was everything an Alpha should be.

For one foolish moment, hope fluttered inside me.

Maybe he remembered!

Five years ago today, the Goddess had bound our souls together. Today was the anniversary of our soulbond— though I dared not remind him.

Maybe he wanted to speak to me.

Maybe—

“The council requested more wine.”

The hope died in my chest instantly.

“Oh.” Was all I managed to say. I bit my lip, trying not to appear disappointed.

Darius’ expression remained unreadable. Not cruel, not kind, just distant. Always distant.

“I’ll bring it immediately,” I said.

He nodded once, then turned away before I finished speaking.

Darius didn’t turn toward me— of course not.

He turned toward Farina. As always.

I watched him lean down to hear something she was whispering in his ear.

The movement was gentle and intimate. On more than a few occasions, I had overheard servants gossiping about how good the alpha and Farina looked together. They hadn’t known I was within earshot— or perhaps they did, and just didn’t care.

A moment later, Darius laughed. It was a happy sound, but it hurt me more than any insult.

Because in five years, I couldn’t remember him ever laughing like that with me.

Farina glanced up, and our eyes met briefly. Her smile never changed, but something about the way she always looked at me sent a feeling of unease crawling up my spine.

An hour later, the feast was in full swing. I found an empty seat at the far end of the main table.

Not beside Darius as the Luna traditionally should.

Not beside the council.

Not even beside the pack’s senior families.

No, I sat at the very end, like an afterthought.

While I stared down at my untouched food, Darius sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Farina. I watched them speak intimately, with one of her hands resting lightly on his thigh. Nobody seemed to find that strange.

I swallowed hard.

“Darius,” I called softly.

He didn’t hear me at first. Or perhaps he pretended not to.

The second attempt came out even weaker, and I hated myself for it.

“Darius.” I whispered, trying to stop my voice from cracking as it always did whenever I tried speaking to him.

“It’s our fifth year. I thought we could…” I trailed, my courage deserting me.

What was I even going to say?

Maybe we could sit and eat together? Maybe we could speak to each other?

Perhaps just for today, he could show me even a quarter of the warmth he always showed Farina. That was all I had ever wanted.

But I knew, just as much as everyone else, that I could never have it.

“You thought wrong,” Darius snapped, the warmth expression he wore while speaking to Farina, vanishing immediately he spoke to me.

Suddenly, he slammed a stack of high-resolution photos onto the table.

They slid across, stopping right in front of my plate. I looked down at them, confused.

The photos showed a woman in the arms of the Alpha of the Blackfang Pack— the Ironridges’ blood enemies.

Her hair was dark, her frame slender, and her face—- her face looked exactly like mine!

My heart stopped.

In one shot, the lady who looked just like me was leaning close to the Blackfang Alpha, whispering something in his ear.

A map lay open between them, showing the Ironridge border patrol routes. That map in the enemy’s hands meant chaos.

“The Goddess made a mistake making us soulmates,” Darius spat, glaring at me with cold blue eyes, “And Farina has spent the last month proving your treachery!”

Farina stepped forward, her eyes brimming with “tears” that didn’t quite match the look of triumph on her face.

“Oh, Elara… how could you?” She cried. “I didn’t want to believe my own eyes when I followed you to the Gray ruins three nights ago.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but before the words could even form, Farina pulled out another stack of photos and spread them across the table for the entire Council to see.

“I saw her, Darius! I saw her wrapped in the arms of the Blackfang Alpha!” Farina stated, voice easily carrying through the room. “She was laughing… whispering our patrol routes into his ear.”

“That’s not true!” I cried, feeling a lump forming in my throat.

For a fraction of a second, Darius’ gaze faltered, like it always did when he thought something didn’t quite fit.

Then Farina spoke again, and whatever doubts he was having vanished instantly.

She lowered her gaze and dropped her voice like her next words pained her to even say out loud. “She even gave him a vial of your blood for their dark rituals.”

My breath hitched in my throat. I had never seen Darius bleed— not once. Not while growing up, not in the five years we were bonded.

Darius Ironridge had always been distant and untouchable.

“I’ve never even met a Blackfang!” I cried, looking to the Council members seated around us for support.

“Elder Hagar!” I called for the man who had been the closest thing I’d ever had to a father figure. “You know me. I’ve tended your gardens since I was a child! I have treated your grandchildren’s wounds! You have to believe me!”

A gasp escaped my throat as Elder Hagar spat on the floor near my feet.

“I know a parasite when I see one. You’ve fed off this pack’s kindness for twenty years as a child, and five years as our Luna while plotting our demise!” My eyes widened in shock as he spoke.

“You’re a disgrace to the mark you bear. You are a disgrace to me!”

My shoulders dropped… and my heart dropped even lower.

Elder Hagar was the only person I had expected support from— he had known me longer and better than anyone— yet even he deserted me.

And that’s how I knew I had no chance of being vindicated.

“She’s barren, and now she’s a whore,” a beta added, his voice dripping with disgust. “The Goddess gave us a traitor orphan for a Luna. No wonder the pack is struggling.”

Darius rose abruptly, his chair screeching against the stone.

I put my head down without even realizing when I did it.

Darius looked at me with a mix of agonizing betrayal and cold fury. He truly believed I had sold him out.

Farina’s poison had been dripping into his ear for years, slow and steady, and tonight, the cup was full.

“Five years I tried to tolerate your silence,” he growled. “Your barrenness. Your slowness. I always thought you were just weak. I didn’t realize you were venomous.”

“Darius, please—“ A violent sob escaped my throat. I fell to my knees, reaching for his ankles.

“Please search my soul.” I knew I must have sounded pathetic to him, because his face remained expressionless. “You’re an Alpha— My Alpha! You can feel the truth!”

“I feel nothing from you!” Darius roared, kicking my hand away. The movement was so violent, I tumbled backward and fell against the ground.

If Darius had noticed he had hurt me, he didn’t show it.

“Not even a little spark! Never have and never will.” He continued. “Because you gave that spark to the Blackfang, didn’t you?”

Farina leaned in, whispering just loud enough for the Council to hear. “That’s why she’s ‘infertile’ with you, Darius. Maybe she’s saving her womb for him.”

That was the final straw.

Darius stared at me like I was vermin— disgusting and useless. He let out a primal howl of rage, taking everyone aback.

The silence that followed his roar was deadly— terrifyingly so.

When he spoke again, his voice echoed through the gathering.

“I, Darius Ironridge, find the soul-bond between us corrupted and void!”

I felt my stomach churn.

Darius didn’t just want a rejection— he wanted a public execution of my dignity.

He didn’t wait for a ritual blade, instead he shifted his fingers partially, and his claws erupted from them like black daggers.

He stepped over me, looking down at me as if I were a rabid animal that needed to be put down.

“No, Darius! The backlash will kill you!” I screamed, panic exploding through me.

“I’d rather die than be tied to a Blackfang’s leftovers,” Darius hissed.

With one brutal downward strike, he buried his claws into the silver mark on my collarbone.

He didn’t just slash it— he tore it out.

Suddenly, a blinding, golden shockwave exploded outward.

Darius was hurled back by the shockwave, his body smashing into the stone pillars of the hall.

The hall shook violently. Screams echoed, glass crashed. The Council members were knocked from their seats, and the feast immediately scattered into the dirt.

I lay in the center of the destruction several minutes after the explosion, gasping for breath, my throat a ruin of blood and golden light.

The pain was so intense my wolf retreated into the darkest corners of my mind, whimpering.

“Darius!” Farina shrieked, recovering quickly and rushing towards Darius, who was coughing up blood, his chest scorched by the golden fire.

Darius struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on Farina. He took one look at the golden blood on his hands, and I saw a flicker of confusion on his face.

But I was just as confused— soul bonds didn’t bleed gold.

“She tried to blow up the hall!” Farina cried out to the Council. “She used a suicide spell! She tried to take the Alpha with her. Confess, Elara!”

I raised my head to look at Farina.“I will not confess to something I didn’t do.”

“Exile her!” Elder Hagar shouted, clutching his walking staff. “Death is too good for her! Throw her to the wastelands!”

Darius looked at me then. I couldn’t tell if it was his cold glare that made me shiver so violently, or if it was just sheer fear.

For a long moment, everyone remained silent, watching him. Watching us.

Then Darius finally spoke. “If you are within ten miles of my border by sunrise, I will shift and tear your heart out myself.”

Then he turned to the guards, who straightened immediately his gaze landed on them. “Throw this trash to the wolves.”

The guards did as they were told, but they didn’t just lead me out.

They dragged me out of the gathering by my hair, my body bouncing off the stone steps of the manor I had called home.

By the time they tossed me into the mud outside the gates, my body had already gone numb.

Finally, the iron bars slammed shut with a finality that broke whatever was left of my heart.

I lay on the ground, freezing in the rain with my hand pressed to the jagged, burning scar on my neck.

The mark wasn’t silver anymore. It was a deep shade of purple, rimmed with a gold that had refused to die.

The Ironridge pack had discarded me just like they’d discovered me— with nothing. No food, no proper clothes for the weather, no friends. And most importantly, no mate.

No Darius.

But in truth, I had never really had him— not fully. A part of him had always belonged to Farina.

“I gave you everything,” I whispered into the mud, my voice cracking violently. “And you gave me this.”

A wail of pain tore out of me before I could stop it. I collapsed against the ground, feeling the last of my strength disappear.

I waited for the emptiness— the silence they said came after a bond was severed. The echo of one’s lonely soul, no longer joined with another.

Pain came first.

Not the sharp, tearing kind I had felt in the hall, but something deeper. This pain spread from the ruined mark on my neck, threading through my veins like fire.

The ruined mark pulsed even harder then. It wasn’t fading. It wasn’t dying.

“What… am I?” I whispered, before body finally gave out.

And the darkness embraced me more gently than anyone ever had.