My heart started racing so fast that it felt like it was about to jump out of my chest.
Maybe they would just tell Xaden that I was not the legitimate daughter but an impostor and leave him to kill me.
But Luna Maria reached out to me.
When her hand first went over my head, I flinched.
But then she caressed my messy curls and said, "My daughter, we love you. No matter what happens, we will find a way to save you."
I was shocked.
Why was she saying this?
Then she pulled me into an embrace, and I could perceive her perfume and her feminine warmth.
Then she let me go.
"Are we not allowed to have time with our daughter before you take her away?" Luna Maria asked. "After what you did to my son,"
Then, it dawned on me that she was pretending.
They were all pretending.
They couldn't let him know that they had been abusive to me.
"Your daughter hasn't seen anything yet." He promised.
I swallowed.
I wasn't just leaving the pack I had known my entire life, but the only home I had known to go to somewhere I had never been.
"Let's go!" He snapped at me.
I jumped, and then I was freed from Luna Maria's false embrace, and I went to him.
I almost bit my fingertips in anxiety, but then I remembered what Luna Maria had told me.
I quickly stopped.
He frowned at me and led me out of the room.
I managed to maintain his stride, but my entire body burned.
He went on faster, and I followed him like a puppy while my inner thighs burned and an overwhelming headache came over me.
"Don't keep him waiting!" Luna hissed behind my ear in a whisper as she pushed. Me forward.
I managed to rush ahead, but my thighs burned.
What I didn't know was that there was a trail of blood following me from under my dress.
Luna Maria saw it but didn't bother to tell me.
Eventually, we went to where the horses were, and a carriage was waiting.
I stood, tired.
Then Xaden turned to my father.
"I left a goodbye gift, " he said, nodding at the castle walls.
I looked up and saw the heads of all the high-ranking male wolves staked on wood.
I felt sick.
"I leave my men under the command of this pack." He said. "This is now my property. I'll see you in the next new moon to finish what I started."
With that, he turned towards the horses.
I was looking back.
I hadn't seen Urma; I couldn't leave without telling her goodbye.
"What are you looking for?" He asked me.
I paused and looked down at my feet. "A friend. I need to see her before I leave."
"Was that a command?" he asked me.
I shrank in fear and shook my head.
"No. Your majesty." I quickly bowed. "Please let me know if I can see my friend before I leave. If you will let me."
I felt his gaze over my head.
"You will do no such thing." He shocked me.
"Let's go," he said.
And with that, he pushed me upward towards where the horses were.
I turned to the carriage to get in.
But two guards stood in front of the door.
I was confused.
"You didn't think I'd let your filthy body ride in my carriage, did you?" He asked me.
No, he couldn't. I prayed he didn't do what I thought he was about to.
"You're walking the journey." He said.
But I heard his country was thousands of miles away.
How could I walk all the way?
Especially in my state.
Mainly because I could hardly even walk.
He got into the carriage himself and slammed the door shut.
"Walk," he told me.