---- Chapter 6 No.6 Elara POV: The next day, | was scrubbing floors in the kitchen when Lyra found me. She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed, her warrior's leathers immaculate. My own clothes were stained and patched, my hands raw from the harsh soap. "You should be ashamed," she said, her voice dripping with disgust. "Parading your misery around the pack, embarrassing our family. Stay out of sight. And for the Goddess's sake, do not do anything else to upset Seraphina." | didn't look up from my work. | just kept scrubbing, the thythmic motion a small comfort in my chaotic world. As she turned to leave, her voice softened almost imperceptibly. "Does... does your leg still hurt?" The question hung in the air between us. It was the first hint of concern she had shown me since my return. But it was too little, too late. The chasm between us was too wide to be bridged by a single, hesitant question. | didn't answer her. | remembered her tenth birthday. | had spent six months gathering rare moonpetal herbs, trading them for a beautifully carved hunting knife she had admired. When | gave it to her, she had wrinkled her nose, said the handle was the wrong ---- color, and casually gifted it to Seraphina an hour later. That was the day | knew the sister | had once loved was gone forever. After my work was done, Kaelen was waiting for me at the forest edge. With a soft murmur in the Old Tongue, he raised his hands to the sky. All around us, the air began to glow. Thousands of tiny lights, fireflies summoned by his Alpha magic, rose from the grass, dancing and swirling in the twilight. They gathered above us, forming glowing words against the darkening sky: KAELEN, ETERNAL MATE, ELARA. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice thick with emotion as he stepped closer. "What | said on the link last night... it was cruel. | was angry. | know you're hurting." He reached out, gently taking my hand. "| love you, Elara. You are my mate. It's just... | truly believe she saved me. This debt of honor, it's something | must repay. But it doesn't change what you are to me." Before | could pull my hand away, a shadow detached itself from the trees. It was Seraphina. "Oh, there you are!" she chirped, her voice a jarring note in the magical silence. "| was just coming to find you, sister. To thank you for your generosity. It means the world to me that you've given us your blessing." The fireflies flickered and died. The magic was broken. The walk back to the village was tense. Seraphina clung to ---- Kaelen's arm, chattering incessantly. She then turned her attention to me. "You must be struggling, Elara," she said, her tone dripping with false pity. "It must be so hard to make ends meet with just kitchen work." She opened her purse and pulled out a large, glowing energy crystal, a stone worth a small fortune. "Here, take this. It's the least | can do." It was a blatant act of charity, a power play designed to humiliate me in front of Kaelen. | stopped walking. "| don't need your charity, Seraphina," | said, my voice level. "And you know as well as | do that the only reason I'm struggling is because our parents have always favored you." The mask of sweetness shattered. Her eyes filled with tears, her lower lip trembling. "How can you say that?" she whimpered, turning to Kaelen. "| was only trying to help." Kaelen's face hardened. He looked at me, his eyes flashing with the authority of the Alpha. "Apologize to her," he growled, his voice low and dangerous. It wasn't a request. It was the Alpha's Command. A wave of supernatural force washed over me, pressing down on my will, demanding obedience. My body wanted to bow, my mouth wanted to form the words of apology. 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