The Hidden Luna Queen 2

"I'm not sure if that's meant to be a compliment," she replied snarkily, to which I gave her a playful shrug. "Teasing aside, I really can't wait for you to officially become my sister. It'll be so nice to talk to you without all the secrecy."

"As far as I'm concerned," I murmured, "we are sisters."

Before she could respond, the group of girls and servants helping her managed to catch up with her, prompting her to follow them, though the way her eyes lit up was impossible to miss.

"Well, Queen Leonora was right. You were a natural."

Startled, I whirled around to see Isabelle, sitting a short distance away and sipping at a glass of wine.

Instantly, I tensed up. "Hello, Isabelle."

Isabelle hummed, getting to her feet and sauntering lazily in my direction. "It must be nice to have the queen's favor on your side... to know that you can just cheat your way to the top of the pack, while some of us-" she enunciated with a pointed glare, "worked through blood, sweat, and tears to get to where we are now."

"Her Majesty was kind enough to "

"Kindness is not something to be proud of," she spat, cutting me off. "All the nice attention might make you feel special now, but soon enough, you'll realize you're just a pity project for her and the princess."

I swallowed. I had to remind myself that was not true. They'd done too much for me-and with me-for it all to be a mere sympathy game.

"This... this is not about pity," I weakly countered. "And... e-even if that's what they felt for me, I don't want that. I just want a family of my own. Something real. You must have seen how my parents and sister treated me way back when, haven't you?"

"It's interesting," Isabelle said with a sneer, "how you could've married into literally any other pack in the entire kingdom and yet... you chose mine."If you are not reading this novel on Jobni b.com, some sentences are incomplete. She waved her hand, gesturing towards the unsuspecting Queen Leonora, who busied herself with a few of the lingering guests.

Huh...

I had faintly recalled what Isabelle had said to me during my first trip to the palace, when she'd sabotaged my dress in the bathroom: "I will not share the palace with the likes of you."

Did she... see me as a threat?

Was she... jealous?

I blinked. "Do you think I wanted any of this?"

"Whether you wanted this or not is irrelevant. Either way, you are still here... in my home," she said with a distasteful curl of her lip, marring her otherwise pretty face, "and yet, you are still very much the raggedy girl in the corner, no matter how drastically you want to change yourself. It's appalling to see what they're willing to settle for."

That stung. But it was no worse than the things Sarah used to say to me every damn day of my life.

It was no different than the things I didn't already think of myself.

But Xaden didn't think of me like that... and that was what pushed me to fight for myself.

"I know," I dared to retort, facing her dead on. "I know I'm nothing like you. I never wished to become a Luna Princess, or to have a baby long before I was ready to, or to have a family that despised me so truly... so deeply that they decided that my only purpose in this life was to do their bidding."

I swallowed, trying to compose myself again.

"I... I don't know why I'm here. I never wanted to be. But I'm here because, by some grace of the goddess, Xaden found me... and he wants me. Is it so wrong for me to want to hold on to that? I mean... you of all people should relate. You're mated into the family, just like I'm supposed to be soon."

"Don't you dare lump me in with you. You're nothing like me, and you will never be what I am."

"We're both daughters of alpha ministers," I pointed out. "If you can learn how to be a luna princess, so can I."

A short, contemptuous laugh burst from Isabelle's lips. "An ant can never become a swan, no matter how hard it might try."

I lifted my chin. "I'm not an ant. I'm just as much a wolf as you are," I said, despite the cold chill that surged through my body as I remembered yesterday's chat with Xaden. "And what matters is I'm willing to work for it."

"Do you honestly think it's as simple as that?" she questioned. "It is not like any woman can just transform overnight. It requires a certain refinement and many, many years of study and training."

"I... I can do it," I said, though it was every bit for myself as it was for her. "I can, and I will."

Even ants are capable of great things, regardless of their insignificance.

Her face reddened, and she opened her mouth to retort something-

-SMACK!

Startled, I jerked my head in the direction the sound came from. Out of the corner of my eye, even Isabelle whirled around, equally bewildered.

The next few moments moved in what felt like slow motion.

In an instant, my eyes locked on the very familiar-and daunting-figure of the Alpha King, himself, standing at the end of an open corridor where everyone in the courtyard could see him. But he was not alone. He towered over someone else as they fell to the floor, with his hand still flung out from the motion of striking them.

I could not see the person's face, but I didn't need to.

Had it not been for the last few weeks, I never would have been able to guess that the victim of the Alpha King's wrath--was his own son, Eric.