Kaelen’s POV

I unfolded the parchment in the silent nursery.

Her handwriting was steady. Every letter clean, every line perfectly spaced. She’d taken her time with this. She hadn’t written it in a rush of emotion or a moment of weakness. She’d sat down, chosen her words, and written them with the same careful precision she brought to everything.

That made it worse.

My dearest Kaelen,

By the time you read this, I will already be gone. Please—I beg you—do not come looking for me.

My fingers tightened on the edges of the parchment. Alex surged forward, a roar building in my chest that I swallowed back down because Lyra was sleeping and Valerius was somewhere behind me and I couldn’t—I couldn’t—

I kept reading.

I know you will want to. I know you’ll think this is a mistake. But I need you to understand that I have thought about this for a long time, and I am certain. This is not a decision I made lightly.

I am no longer a wolf, Kaelen. The woman you chose—the woman the Moon Goddess bound to you—she doesn’t exist anymore. What’s left is a mortal. A fragile, ordinary mortal who cannot shift, cannot fight, cannot protect herself or the people she loves. I am not your Luna. I am not a queen. I am nothing but a liability wearing a crown that no longer fits.

A low sound escaped my throat. Something between a growl and a sob. I pressed my knuckles against my mouth to muffle it.

Last night at the party, I stepped away from the hall to check on the children. I passed a corridor where several members of the imperial court were gathered. They did not see me. But I heard them clearly.

They called our children "filthy half-breeds." They said Valerius and Lyra’s bloodline had been "permanently tainted" by a mother who was no longer even wolf. They said our son would never command true loyalty because the empire would always see him as the child of a broken mortal. They said these things about our babies, Kaelen. Our babies.

"They are wrong!"

The words ripped out of me in a fierce, furious roar before I could stop them. My voice vibrated with a fury so deep it made my vision blur as I snarled into the silent room. "They are wrong!"

"Daddy?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

I spun around. My five-year-old son, Valerius, stood in the nursery doorway, his dark gold eyes wide and terrified by my outburst.

"Why are you saying bad words?" he asked, his little voice trembling.

The barely human snarl that had torn through my teeth had terrified him. I forced myself to take a ragged breath, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

"I’m sorry, buddy," I choked out, unable to comfort him properly as my gaze was violently pulled back down to the letter in my hands.

I refuse to be your weakness. I refuse to be the crack in your armor that your enemies exploit. And I refuse—absolutely refuse—to be the reason our children grow up as targets of scorn and ridicule. They deserve better. You deserve better.

There is one mercy in all of this. We never completed the mate bond. You never marked me. The connection between us, as deep as it feels, was never made permanent. And that means you are free, Kaelen. Truly free. You can find a proper Luna. A wolf. An Alpha-born woman who can stand beside you the way an empress should. Someone who strengthens your legacy instead of diminishing it.

Free.

She thought I wanted to be free.

She thought the absence of a mark on her neck meant I wasn’t hers entirely, irreversibly, down to the marrow of my bones.

I wanted to put my fist through the wall. I wanted to tear the palace apart stone by stone until I found whoever had called my children those words and rip the tongue from their throat.

But the letter wasn’t done. And neither was my punishment.

I have left portraits and letters for Valerius and Lyra in the wardrobe. Small things. Paintings I did of us together. Notes for them to read when they’re older. I want them to know I loved them. I want them to know that leaving was the hardest thing I have ever done, and that it was because I loved them—not in spite of it.

Tell Valerius that Mommy is proud of him. Tell Lyra about the song I used to sing to her. The one about the winter stars. She always stopped crying when I hummed it.

A tear hit the parchment. Then another. I watched them soak into the surface, blurring her perfect letters, and I couldn’t even wipe my face because both hands were locked around the edges of this paper like if I held it tightly enough she’d somehow still be here.

Please don’t hate me for this. Please don’t let the children hate me either. I know what I’m doing looks like abandonment. Maybe it is. Maybe I am too broken to see the difference anymore. But in my heart, Kaelen, I believe this is the only way I can still protect you.

You are the strongest man I have ever known. You will be an extraordinary father. And someday, when the children are grown and the empire is secure, maybe you’ll understand why I had to go.

All my love, always,

Elara

The letter slid from my fingers.

I watched it drift downward, light as a fallen leaf, and land on the nursery floor at my feet. My knees buckled. I went down hard—both knees hitting stone—and the impact sent a jolt up my spine that I barely registered.

Lyra stirred in her crib. A soft whimper. She shifted, turned her head, and settled again. Her silver hair fanned across the pillow like a halo.

I stared at the parchment on the floor. At her signature. At the tear stains—mine—that had warped her careful letters into something unreadable.

A small hand tugged at my sleeve.

I hadn’t even heard his footsteps. The world had narrowed to the parchment on the floor and the crushing silence where my mate’s presence used to live.

"Daddy?" Valerius’s voice seemed to come from far away. "Where’s Mommy? When is she coming home?"

"I don’t know, baby," I whispered, my voice completely shattered. "I don’t know."