"We will continue this for at least a month," Lord Zephyron said, watching her flex her fingers. "I will be with you through every session until it becomes second nature."
"Thank you, Lord Zephyron," Roxanne said, bowing her head slightly before turning and walking out of the training centre.
At The Bloodmoon Residence
The room was warm and quiet, the kind of stillness that belongs only to late evenings when the palace has finally exhaled.
Fiona lay tucked into Vangelis's arm, her bump resting comfortably between them.
"Tomorrow is the annual gathering for pregnant wolves at the park," Vangelis said, his voice low and easy. "Would you like to go?"
"We will make new friends," Fiona said, her voice light and warm. "And our little Luna will have her very first baby companions before she even arrives."
She giggled softly and Vangelis smiled at the sound of it.
Then his expression shifted into something quieter and more serious.
"Fiona." He said her name the way people say things they have been carrying for a long time. "You are the most important person in my life. And I will protect you with everything I have for as long as I live." He paused. "But I need you to hear me. Do not hurt me. Do not break my trust. If that ever happened I do not know if I could look at you the same way again."
Fiona went still beside him.
"I know this marriage did not begin by choice," he continued. "We both came into it with our own lives, our own feelings. You may have had someone before me. Someone you cared for deeply. And for the sake of our kingdoms you walked away from that." His voice was gentle but certain. "I know that cost you something. But I need all of you now. Your attention. Your love. Everything."
He pulled her slightly closer.
"This is our chance to build something real. Something our daughter will never have to suffer the consequences of."
The silence that followed was not peaceful.
Fiona felt the warmth of the room close in around her. A cold sweat moved across her skin and before she could stop it the tears came, slow and quiet.
"I am sorry, Vangelis," she whispered.
He looked down at her gently. "For what? You have not wronged me."
She opened her mouth.
"You are my good sweet girl," he said softly before she could find the words.
"I am sorry," she said again, her voice smaller this time. "I am trapped. I cannot find my way out of it."
Vangelis looked at her for a long moment, something searching moving behind his eyes.
"I do not fully understand what you mean," he said finally. "But it is past midnight. Rest now."
He drew her closer and held her and said nothing more.
Fiona closed her eyes.
But sleep did not come for a long time.
"Alpha, would this outfit suit her?" the maid asked, holding up the dress for his approval.
Phoenix glanced at it briefly. "The plain white one. I do not want her drawing attention."
From across the room Hazel turned her head toward his voice.
"Where am I being taken?" she asked, something careful beneath the question.
"Bloodmoon," he said.
The word landed and she felt it everywhere.
"Are you handing me over for punishment?" Her voice remained steady even as everything inside her was not. "Is that what this is?"
Phoenix moved toward the door. "When we arrive you will choose. Beheading, poisoning or drowning. Whichever is easiest for you."
He walked out.
The room went very quiet.
Hazel sat with it, her hands finding her stomach instinctively, pressing gently against the swell of it.
"He no longer needs me," she thought. "The child was my only protection and now even that is gone. Is today the last day I have?"
She sat with that thought longer than she meant to.
Then the maids dressed her.
A white lace gown that fell around her bump, soft and unhurried. Gloves fitted carefully over both hands. And finally a long translucent veil, white and weightless, placed over her face and falling to her chest.
She looked like something between a bride and a ghost.
"Korran," Phoenix said, turning to him before leaving. "Go and collect Hazel and prepare the state coach convoy. I will join you shortly."
Korran straightened. "Alpha, the Gamma could handle this if you—"
Phoenix looked at him.
"Are you giving instructions or am I?"
"Apologies Alpha." Korran bowed his head. "I will go immediately."
He made his way to Hazel's room and pushed the door open carefully.
"I am here to escort you downstairs," he said, his voice quieter than usual. "The convoy to Redlunar is being prepared."
Hazel rose immediately, her hands smoothing down the front of her gown.
"Do I look presentable?" she asked.
Korran blinked. Of all the things he had expected her to say in this moment that was not among them.
"Yes," he said carefully. "The dress is quite becoming."
She nodded to herself, adjusting her veil with gloved fingers.
"Good," she murmured. "One should look their best on their final day."
Korran said nothing.
But something in his chest moved and refused to settle.
"May I carry you?" Korran asked.
"Yes," Hazel said. "Let us get this over with."
He lifted her carefully and they moved through the corridor in silence.
Halfway in State Coach Hazel reached up and pulled the veil from her face, letting it fall somewhere behind them.
"You need to wear that," Korran said.
"There is no one here but you," she said simply. "And you have already seen far worse than my face." She kept her chin lifted, her unseeing eyes forward. "The scars. The discolouration. The disfigurement. I am not ashamed of any of it."
Korran said nothing.
"When I reach the execution stage I will take it off there too," she continued, her voice steady and unhurried. "I want everyone to see me clearly. I want them to know that I faced it without hiding." A pause.