Chapter 23 – Truth
MARCIA’S PERSPECTIVE
I didn’t blink when she said it.
18 min left
“Kael and Marcia are no longer married,” Eunice announced, trying to sound casual, harmless. But the venom in her voice did not miss me. “He rejected—I mean, divorced her some time back. It’s not like she has a wolf that they would even need a real rejection. He really tried to be with her, for a full year. But sometimes, fate has other plans. We met in the battlefield, fell in love, and I now bear his mark on my neck.” She clung to his arm with an air of triumph, as if he wasn’t her mate, but another medal she’d won in battle.
Her words hung in the air like heavy smoke, toxic and clogging, begging to be reacted to.
But I refused her the satisfaction.
She wanted to see me crumble. She thought I still cared.
Poor her.
I stepped forward calmly, my voice steady. “That’s true. We’re divorced.”
I didn’t owe her anything. Not even admission of her claims.
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Chapter 23 – Truth
(18 min left
But I didn’t want my people to question it. I didn’t want them to sit discussing and questioning my private life instead of the war looming over us.
A few people stirred, some surprised, others whispering. The news of my rejection wasn’t a secret. But these were soldiers who spent most of their time on the field. Not all gossip reached them in time.
I didn’t flinch at the chatter. I only stood taller, keeping my chin
- up.
The gazes of my father’s comrades turned to me. They’d all attended my wedding, given me their blessings. The news probably shocked them the most.
Across from me, Eunice blinked once, caught off guard by how easily I admitted it. No denial. No dramatics. Just facts.
For a brief moment, she faltered. Then she smiled again. Sharper this time.
“I understand,” she said sweetly, voice laced with poison. “Of course you’d want to play it off like it was your decision. You never did like losing.”
I watched her, waiting for her to go on. Her attempts to play down my victory were laughable at this point.
“You must’ve been so jealous,” she added, stepping slightly
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Chapter 23 – Truth
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forward, her fingers tightening possessively around Kael’s arm. “When Kael and I fell in love. It must’ve been so humiliating for you. Watching him finally find happiness. Real happiness. Which he never got from you. You tried so hard to be an irreplaceable, perfect little housewife. But you never had a wolf, Marcia. No matter what you did, Kael would always miss something. You fooled him into a loveless marriage with property and titles. How long could he have tolerated it?”
Beside her, Kael’s expression remained unreadable. He didn’t look like he appreciated what she was doing. But he wasn’t stopping her either.
The ghost of a smile played upon my lips. She didn’t even realise she was insulting her own mate while trying to degrade me.
Eunice tilted her head. “It makes sense now. All that coldness. All that pride. It wasn’t strength, was it? It was heartbreak. Bitterness. You begged the King for a divorce out of spite. Didn’t you?”
Captain Rohen—my father’s old friend—stepped closer, his frown deepening.
“You begged him,” Eunice continued, voice louder now, like she was performing for a crowd. “Because you couldn’t stand to see us together. You couldn’t stand that Kael chose me. It must have stung so bad. Burned you on the inside.”
“That’s enough,” Captain Rohen snapped.
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Chapter 23 Truth
But she ignored him.
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“It’s always been about your pride. You act like a hero, but really, you’ve just been hiding behind your last name. You think you’re something just because your father and brothers were legends? You think that gives you the right to look down on everyone else?”
A wave of heat now rose in my chest, but I didn’t let it show.
Dravic tensed beside me. But I discreetly brushed my hand against his.
Eunice wanted a reaction. I wasn’t going to let him give her one.
Captain Rohen’s jaw clenched. He turned to Kael. “You’re going to let her speak like that?”
As expected, Kael didn’t answer.
Another of my father’s comrades stepped forward. “You were meant to protect her. Not–”
“You don’t know what she’s like,” Eunice interrupted, flustered now. “Don’t be fooled by her silence and her displays of grandeur. She’s always looked down upon people like us. She used her name to suppress others, to rise without earning it. She’s just a relic clinging to her family’s memory–”
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Chapter 23 Truth
CC 17 min left
“Stop talking, little girl,” Rohen growled. “You weren’t there when Thane Xendale led us through the southern front. Or when Ryke held the line at Moonpass. Or when Arthur–”
“I know exactly where they are now,” Eunice snapped.
The camp went still.
I could feel it.
The shift in the air. The way everyone suddenly held their breath.
www
Eunice smiled bitterly. “You act like she carries their glory, but what did they get? What did Marcia or her mother get? They’re gone now. All of them.”
I froze.
Captain Rohen snarled, grabbing Kael by the collar. “How could you?” he demanded. “How could you do this to her? How can you stand here while this girl tarnishes Marcia’s name? How will you face her mother now? You made promises, Kael Lightwood. Took vows. How will you meet her gaze now?”
Eunice cackled, regaining his attention.
“Did you not hear what I said? Does the news never reach your old ears?”
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–
Captain Rohen frowned.
He didn’t know.
He didn’t know about my mother.
Eunice was about to break his heart all over again.
But it had to happen. He had to find out eventually.
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“Her family did not just die in battle, with honour and dignity,” she said. “Moonshadow was slaughtered months ago. Her home was raided while she was playing Kael’s housewife, bathed in luxury. Her mother died screaming, whilst she was too busy caring for a household that wasn’t even hers.”
My throat burned, but I swallowed it down.
“Enough!” Kael said now, finally finding his voice.
But Eunice didn’t stop. It was clear she had no respect for him either.
“They were massacred. The great Xendale line, wiped out like vermin. And she still walks around like a war princess.”
The silence that followed was cold and brutal.
No one spoke.
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Chapter 23 – Truth
No one moved.
(+) 17 min left
Captain Rohen stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time.
Kael stood stiffly, jaw tight, his fists clenched at his sides.
And I just stood there.
Still. Steady.
Because this wasn’t new. Not for me..
She had only said out loud what I had lived every day since that night.
My family was gone. All of them.
My father. My brothers. My mother.
I couldn’t change it.
And Eunice had thrown it out like a weapon. A thing to humiliate me with.
I didn’t let her see me flinch. I didn’t cry, I didn’t break.
I just stared at her.
Let her words settle like ash over everything.
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Chapter 23 – Truth
(**) 17 min left
Let them speak for who she really was.
Captain Rohen finally glanced at me. “Marcia, dear,” he whispered, his voice gentle like he was afraid to hurt me. “Is… is this true?”
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