Chapter 17
Lyra’s words cut to the bone. Valdrin could only bow his head, trembling with the weight of truths he couldn’t deny.
Winter’s mother stormed into the tense scene. “Have you lost your mind, hurting my daughter
again?” Her gaze caught the shrouded form beside the ritual wagon, but she merely wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I thought you worthy of Winter. Such disappointment you’ve become.”
“Worthy?” Lyra’s laugh crackled with bitterness. “How fitting–stealing the elder daughter’s mate for the younger. Your maternal love knows no bounds.”
“You’re Ravenna’s frie
nd,” Winter’s mother snapped. “This doesn’t concern you. Let that coward stay gone if she has any pride left.”
Fury blazed in Lyra’s eyes as she turned to Valdrin. “You’ve hidden this well, haven’t you?”
Winter appeared then, clutching her mother’s sleeve with practiced fragility. “Mother, please… I feel
faint.”
But Lyra blocked their retreat. “Eager to hide from the truth, Winter?”
“I don’t understand-” Winter’s face went pale.
“Then let me be clear,” Lyra’s voice trembled. “Whose heart beats in your chest right now?”
“A kind donor’s, of course,” her mother answered without hesitation.
“How convenient,” Lyra’s bitter laugh echoed. “Winter waited so long for a heart, yet one appeared the moment Ravenna entered the healing den. Strange timing, wouldn’t you say?”
“Lies!” Winter’s mother recoiled. “However much I disliked Ravenna=”
“Ask your Alpha,” Lyra’s tears fell. “Ask him the truth.”
Before anyone could stop her, Lyra yanked back the ceremonial shroud. Their father’s arrival came too late – their mother’s scream shattered the morning as she collapsed before the evidence of their betrayal.
“Look well,” Lyra’s voice cut through their mother’s broken sobs. “Winter lives because you ‘sacrificed your other daughter.”
The truth proved too much. With a final, devastating cry, their mother slipped into darkness.
The Alpha’s Substitute Lum á 1
