Chapter 5: The Wrong Altar

“The phrase ‘how could it get any worse?’ had clearly never met Rivera Dacian.”—Sh.

Rivera.

My breath still hitched from his presence even though he’d left seconds ago.

This was the man I was supposed to call my husband. Sleep beside and have children for.

Hadn’t the moon goddess punished me enough?

Swallowing, I made my way back into the house. Except for the two guards by the gate, the place was cleared out.

It didn’t help that I didn’t know my way around and couldn’t ask for directions, at least, not without earning a suspicious glare.

I wandered for another thirty minutes, every hallway starting to look the same. The silence was oppressive, and thick enough to make my own breathing sound too loud.

Finally, an older woman appeared from a side corridor, head bowed so low I could barely see her eyes.

“Follow me.”

I did. She led me to the top floor, where there was only one master room..

She didn’t enter, just stopped at the door, nodded once, and left.

The room was expansive and beautiful, just as I expected, though it carried a scent I couldn’t quite place. Nevertheless, I threw myself onto the bed.

“What the fuck, Rhea? Where did you run off to? I can’t marry this man!”

I shut my eyes, praying this was one of those music-induced dreams. But all I saw was Nicklai’s smug smile as he held that blonde devil.

My chest tightened. The tear I’d been holding slipped free. I was foolish to think we’d actually had something. Even more foolish to think I could survive in this place.

The sheets were soft, but they felt like chains. And when I finally closed my eyes, I cried myself to sleep.

~••~

9:00AM

Nonna and Mama had arrived the next day, they’d brought all my things, a fake smile planted on their faces as they reached my side.

“How are you doing dear?” My mom asked.

I couldn’t meet either of their eyes and respond with an identical fake smile.

“Darling, where’s your husband?” This time Nonna spoke.

Was she for real?

“No way, you’ve already gotten sold on that idea after less than 24 hours of me even knowing this man.” I chuckled, but not out of amusement. It was hollow, even to me.

Mama opened her mouth, but Nonna cut her off sharply. “Your sister is still missing, young lady. That alone already puts the Direwolves in distress. Would you at least leave this childishness?”

“Childishness?” I scoffed. “How about letting Mama speak for once instead of acting all high and mighty?”

The moment those words slipped out. The reaction was immediate, her hands struck my cheek hot and hard. It throbbed and stung all at once.

“Mostra un po’ di rispetto, ragazza! (Show some respect, child!) There is nothing we can do but accept this! Is it because we chose to ignore the fact that you’d been sneaking around with that younger Morozov.”

My eyes widened. I looked at her and then my mom who looked at me with her soft green eyes. Mom was always a woman of little words but the look on her face told me they weren't bluffing.

“You knew?”

“Of course, we aren’t stupid Rivera.”

Mom stepped forward, taking my hand in hers. “My dear, we are doing this for your own good. Understand?”

“You-you sold me off mama.” I whispered a cry.

“We went against your father’s orders. We did what we could. Keep quiet. Don’t make it harder than it already is.”

Mama’s hand brushed mine lightly, almost pleading. “We’ve done what we could, mi niña. That’s all anyone can do. It’s not fair… I know it’s not—but fighting it won’t change what’s been set in motion.”

My vision blurred with tears I refused to shed. “Not fair?” I whispered. “You just… handed me over. Like I was… some… some object to be traded.”

Her gaze softened, but it didn’t lessen the weight of the truth. “Rivera, you have to understand. People like us… we don’t get soft. We don’t get love. We don’t get—” Her voice caught. “We don’t get the life we dream about.”

I staggered back a step, heat blazing across my face. “So that’s it? That’s all there is? I have to bend to this? Sleep in the bed of my enemy?”

Nonna knelt beside me, hand brushing my hair back gently, the only softness in the cold reality. “We did what we could. Nothing more. Sometimes survival is the only victory.”

“And you… you just let it happen?”

Mama’s hand rested on my shoulder, firm but brief. “We wish it could be different. But you’ve been born into the first rank. Into this… coarse, cruel world. The Frostfang and Direwolves are not like other wolf packs; it's why alliances are needed.”

I took another step back. We both knew that wasn’t the reason papa took the alliance but I wasn’t going to ask further.

I swallowed hard, forcing my voice steady. “So… what exactly did you guys come here for?”

The words came out cold, sharper than I intended, but I couldn’t stop them. I still couldn’t wrap my head around how they believed this was good for me. How saying I wasn’t supposed to get the life I dreamed about somehow made sense to them.

Mama’s eyes flicked to Nonna, a silent exchange passing between them before she looked back at me.

“Your father and well as your soon-to-be husband has concluded that the wedding date be moved up to avoid the same thing that happened with Rhea repeating itself dear.”

“What?! Moved up? I am not going to freaking run off! Where would I go? Sure, I’d jump at the chance if I could, but it’d just be pointless now.”

“It’s concluded. You’d be getting married tomorrow.”