My Alpha Sacrificed Me, Claimed by His Crown Prince Brother

ELARA'S POV:

I slipped out from beneath the ivory bed curtains without making a sound. My bare feet met the cold marble floor, but the rage inside me had burned away every trace of fear, leaving only icy purpose.

My first target was Willa.

My handmaiden stood near the service door with her back to me, listening to Gideon and Seraphina's shameless sounds with a pinched expression. She had not been shocked enough to stop them. She had simply been keeping watch while they betrayed me in my own bridal chamber.

A silver fruit tray sat untouched on the side table beside the drugged wine they had given me. I reached for the small carving knife lying among the sliced pears. In my past life, I would have trembled at the weight of it. Now, it settled into my palm as naturally as if it had always belonged there.

I moved behind Willa.

Perhaps she sensed the shift in the air. Her head began to turn. It was too late.

I clamped one hand over her mouth and drew the blade across her throat in one swift, merciless motion. Her eyes flew wide. A thin, wet gasp died beneath my palm as I lowered her silently to the floor.

One traitor down.

Gideon's formal wedding coat lay discarded beside the wardrobe. I wiped the blade on Willa's skirt, crossed the room, and slid the fruit knife into the inside pocket of his coat. By the time the guards searched this room, Willa would be remembered as the loyal maid who had died trying to protect me—not as the traitor who had helped drug me.

The sound was swallowed by Seraphina's breathless cries from the far side of the room. Perfect.

Another maid crouched in the shadowed dressing alcove. Tessa, Seraphina's girl. Her face had gone bloodless as she stared at Willa's body. She had seen everything.

I stalked towards her. "You have two choices," I whispered, my voice cold enough to freeze blood. "You can join her"—I nodded at Willa's body—"or you can do exactly as I say."

Tessa trembled violently, tears streaming down her face. She nodded, unable to speak.

"Good. Listen carefully." I caught her by the wrist and pulled her toward the narrow servants' passage behind the dressing alcove. "Take the hidden corridor to the east guard station. Ring the royal emergency bell and ask for the captain of the Crown Prince's guard."

Tessa stared at me, confused and terrified. "But... Lady Seraphina..."

"Tell them Prince Gideon is alone with Lady Seraphina in his bride's chamber, and that it concerns the Crown Prince's promised consort," I said. "Say Lady Elara requests Prince Alistair's presence immediately. Do not warn Gideon. Do not warn my father. Do not speak to anyone except a royal guard."

Her eyes widened. She finally understood what I was doing. If Alistair arrived and found Seraphina in Gideon's arms, the betrothal would be destroyed before the Moon Rite could bind them.

"If you betray me," I added quietly, "I will tell Prince Alistair that you helped Seraphina sneak into this room. You know what happens to servants who aid in dishonoring the Crown Prince."

Tessa's face crumpled. She nodded again, more frantically this time.

I shoved her into the passage. "Go. Now."

As Tessa scrambled away, I turned back to the bridal chamber. Gideon and Seraphina were still too consumed by each other to notice that their witnesses were gone. I needed the truth to look undeniable when Alistair arrived.

I tore the sleeve of my wedding gown, smudged dirt from Willa's fallen body across my cheeks, and splashed the remaining drugged wine down the front of my bodice. Then I loosened my hair and dragged myself back toward the entrance, arranging my body on the floor as if I had collapsed trying to escape.

The noises from the wardrobe finally stopped. A few moments later, Seraphina emerged first, hurriedly tugging her bodice back into place. Gideon followed, his shirt half unbuttoned, a dark red scratch visible above his collar.

"We should leave before she wakes," Seraphina muttered, smoothing her hair with trembling fingers.

Gideon glanced toward the bed. "She won't wake until morning."

Then he saw me on the floor. His expression tightened.

"What is this?" he demanded. "Elara?"

Before either of them could reach me, the door to the bridal chamber swung open.

Standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the corridor's torches, was a tall, lean figure flanked by two royal guards.

Even weakened by illness, Prince Alistair Vanderbilt was devastatingly handsome. His black hair fell over a pale, sharply sculpted face, making the severe line of his cheekbones and the cool gray of his eyes seem even more striking. He looked almost too elegant to be real, dressed in a black embroidered coat that hung loosely from his narrow frame.

One hand rested on a black cane, his fingers bloodless around its silver wolf-head handle. His body carried the unmistakable fragility of a man who had spent too long fighting death, yet his gaze was cold, steady, and utterly royal.

Pale and sickly, yes.

But very much alive.

Gideon and Seraphina froze. The color drained from their faces.

Alistair's gray eyes, cool and intelligent, swept across the chamber. They took in Gideon's disordered clothes, Seraphina's flushed skin and torn bodice, Willa's body near the dressing alcove, and finally me.

For a split second, something fierce struck through me. It was like lightning beneath my skin. A wolf I had never known existed lifted its head inside me and howled one possessive word. Mine.

The Moon Goddess had not merely returned my life. She had brought me to my true Mate.

I pushed the shock aside and played my part. I let out a choked sob, then crawled toward him. "Your Highness," I cried. "Thank the Goddess you're here. Gideon drugged me. When Willa realized what he had done, she tried to help me escape through the servants' passage. He caught her."

My gaze fell to Willa's body, and I let my voice break. "He took the knife from the fruit tray and cut her down. She died trying to protect me."

Alistair's gaze sharpened. He looked toward Gideon's discarded coat. "Search it."

One of the guards reached into the inner pocket and drew out the bloodied fruit knife. Gideon's face changed. Seraphina gave a strangled gasp.

"You killed her too?" Alistair asked quietly. The coldness in his voice was far more frightening than a shout.

"I didn't—" Gideon began, but Alistair's expression stopped him.

"I woke up and found him with my sister," I continued, my tears falling freely now.

Alistair's gaze remained fixed on me, unreadable. He stepped into the room, the tip of his cane striking sharply against the marble.

"Gideon," his voice was quiet, but it cut through the chamber like a razor. "Why is my promised consort half-dressed in your wife's bedchamber?"

Gideon opened his mouth, but no words came out.

I answered before he could invent a lie. My voice shook with just enough fear to sound real. "I am Elara Thorne, Your Highness. The Moon Goddess... she recognized us. I felt it."

I held my breath.

Prince Alistair looked from my terrified face to Seraphina's guilty one. A long, silent moment passed. Then his eyes darkened, and a low growl rumbled in his chest.

"I felt it too," he said.

He extended a hand to me. "Come here, Elara."

His fingers closed around mine, warm and certain. "The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. If she chose you, then you are mine."