Chapter 13 – Compensation
MARCIA’S PERSPECTIVE
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“You must clear my name, Marcia. Speak up against the rumours and fix the damage. In fact, you should bring healers to treat my mother yourself. That would make up for all the trouble you have caused.”
Everyone in the kingdom knew, from the smallest of packs, to the largest.
News of our divorce had spread like wildfire, and the flames only grew when Kael and Eunice’s wedding turned into a pathetic disaster.
The fallout was brutal.
Kael’s name was dragged through the mud, and Silverlake’s reputation—once respected—had become a joke. Whispers of Eunice’s behavior, her warriors, and Kael’s embarrassment filled every corner of the kingdom.
To make it worse, Kael’s mother was dying.
Without the wealth of the Xendale estate, they couldn’t afford the sacred medicinal herbs her condition required. Healers who had once been allies of my family refused to aid her—not out of cruelty, but principle. They remembered who’d protected them when everyone else had turned their backs. They remembered
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Chapter 13 – Compensation.
how Silverlake repaid that kindness.
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So of course, Kael came crawling. And still, he had the audacity to demand compensation. As if I did not know how desperate he was. As if I lived under a rock.
I arched a brow, tilting my head slightly. “Does Eunice know you’re here?” I asked simply.
He stiffened.
Silence.
My lips curled into a smirk. “No? What, afraid she’ll throw another tiara at you? Slap you across the face again?”
“Marcia–”
“You’re unbelievable.” I folded my arms. “First you left me. Then you married a woman who destroyed everything I built. Now you want me to play a nursemaid?”
“I’m trying to fix things!” he snapped. “This pack is suffering. My mother could die–”
“That’s not my problem anymore.”
“You still care,” he said, searching my face. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be this angry. This… bitter. If you regret leaving, you can always return. I will welcome you with open arms, Marcia.”
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I laughed, low and sharp. “Don’t confuse anger with regret, Kael. I don’t want you. I want you gone. From my territory, from my doorstep, from my life.”
His jaw clenched. “You never change.”
“And you never grow,” I shot back. “Always searching for a woman to clean up your mess—your mother, me, now Eunice. You rely on us and then pretend you were the saviour all along.”
His face darkened, eyes turning black. “Eunice and I will be on the battlefield again soon. We’ll win glory. When that happens, Silverlake will rise. And you—you’ll still be here, hiding in your little manor with no military merit to your name.”
My face hardened. “You think I need a medal to restore my clan?”
He didn’t answer.
I stepped forward, closing the space between us. “Tell your bride she better keep looking over her shoulder. Because when I rise—and I will—I won’t need a tiara, an alpha, or your approval to destroy her.”
Kael turned to leave. “If you ever come to your senses, Marcia—Silverlake will always be your home.”
“No, Kael,” I said. “It never was.”
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Chapter 13 – Compensation.
He didn’t look back.
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Long after his footsteps faded, I remained in the garden, my thoughts spinning with fury.
No one saw it. The real cause of the downfall of Moonshadow.
The rot didn’t start with me—it started the moment Eunice Hale joined the war.
She took the credit. She broke the accords. And she left my family to burn.
I had begged the King for justice. I’d exposed the truth, even forged a letter, and still nothing had come of it. He called it resentment. Accused me of bitterness.
But I wouldn’t wait anymore. I wouldn’t hope for someone else
to care.
I’d fight.
I’d go to the battlefield and carve out my truth in blood and fire. I’d earn military merit, not for glory or praise—but to prove I belonged. To prove I could rise again. The Xendale line, and Moonshadow could rise again.
And to make sure Eunice Hale paid the price she’d escaped for
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far too long.
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The moon had risen high when I turned back towards the manor. Clara was still awake, drowsy–eyed and yawning in the corner of the hallway.
“Prepare my horse,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “My lady, at this hour–”
“Do it quietly,” I said. “And tell no one. Not until I’m gone.”
“Yes, Lady Marcia.”
She disappeared down the corridor, slippers silent against the floor.
I stood at the window, watching the road ahead disappear into the woods. Dravic’s army was stationed just beyond the forest. He’d sent word of their movements a week ago. I remembered every coordinate. Every detail.
If the king wouldn’t let me speak, I’d let my sword do the
talking.
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