Candace

The bath was steaming hot, the water soaking into my skin, easing all the tension and pain from the day. Steam danced around my shoulders, loosening knots I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying all day.

I sighed and leaned forward as Bree, my new maid worked soap through my hair. No matter how many times I told her I could bathe myself, she’d just shaken her head and whispered that she’d get into trouble. So I’d let her.

My quarters were huge and luxurious.

The bathroom alone was larger than the pig sty I had spent the last three years sleeping in.

Glass walls overlooked the bedroom beyond, revealing a sitting area decorated in cream and gold, a fireplace burning softly near the velvet couches, and a television mounted neatly against the far wall.

Something twisted painfully beneath my ribs at the sight. Mom and I used to curl together on the couch during rainy evenings watching those ridiculous soap operas while Stephen stood in the doorway complaining that we were rotting our brains.

I pushed the hurting memory down while another reared its ugly head. Deidre had actually swallowed poison to frame me. She must have known I’d throw her gift away; she’d planned on it. The realization sat like a stone in my stomach.

Bree’s hands suddenly paused against my back. A tiny sharp breath slipped out of her.

I glanced over my shoulder to see her palm pressed tightly over her mouth now while her wide watery eyes darted helplessly between the scars covering my back and my face.

My throat tightened painfully. Even now, after all these years, I still hated people seeing the burns, the faded cuts, the crooked scars from shattered glass and hot irons and silver whips.

I forced the smallest smile I could manage.

"They don’t hurt anymore," I whispered.

It was a lie. I didn’t hurt physically but some wounds never stopped hurting completely.

Bree blinked rapidly and nodded before continuing again, much gentler this time. Her fingers skimmed carefully across my skin like she feared pressing too hard would tear my skin apart.

She’s sweet, Star grumbled softly inside my head. My wolf had been sulking ever since our mates abandoned us at the reception to fawn over their precious Deidre.

Good for you.

Bree helped me carefully out of the bathtub before wrapping a thick towel around me. The soft fabric nearly made me groan aloud. I had forgotten what luxury felt like.

I strode into the room and changed into a silk nightdress she had brought when a sharp knock rapped on the door .She hurried toward the door immediately before pulling it open slightly.

The second she saw who stood outside, she dropped into a deep curtsy and pulled the door wider. Luna Ashley stepped into the room and every ounce of warmth left my body instantly.

I had not stood alone in a room with her in three years. The last time her voice had been directed at me personally, I had been kneeling beside River’s body while blood covered my hands.

I could still hear her screaming.

Why, Candy? Why?

Bree curtsied once more before quietly slipping from the room and shutting the door softly behind her.

Silence stretched heavily between us.

Luna Ashley remained near the doorway for several seconds without moving.

She was as beautiful as I remembered her blonde hair curled and pinned up, but she’d grown thinner. Dark shadows pooled beneath her eyes like bruises.

My hands twisted nervously together in front of me. I could survive Aunt Elena’s cruelty, I could survive Uncle Nathan’s hatred and even could survive Deidre’s manipulation and the triplets’ rejection but Luna Ashley had never been cruel to me.

And somehow that hurt worse than all the rest.

"I want to be happy." Her voice floated softly through the silence, soft as snowfall.

"I want to be happy with the Moon Goddess’s choice." Her dark eyes slowly traveled over me before tears glimmered faintly along her lashes.

"I want to believe the goddess had a reason for bonding you to my sons." Her lips trembled faintly. "You, who caused us so much pain."

"Luna Ash-"

"You tore us apart."

"What you did broke every single one of us, Candy." Her voice cracked softly. "I still do not understand what my innocent boy ever did to deserve dying like that."

Tears burned instantly behind my eyes. She closed her eyes briefly while pressing trembling fingers against her mouth.

"Three years," she whispered. "Three years I have spent waking every morning asking the same question."

"You and my boys were inseparable. You and River..." Her voice broke completely around his name. "River adored you."

My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe.

"He would have walked through fire for you." Tears finally slipped down her cheeks now. "I cannot understand why you would murder him."

Tears pushed hot behind my eyes. I wanted to drop to my knees. I wanted to grab her hands and beg her to believe me. I wanted to take the grief from her shoulders and ease her pain.

No mother should ever bury her child.

"Every morning I wake up and think, may-maybe today it will make sense." Her hands drifted up and closed around her own throat, as if trying to hold something in.

"Today I’ll understand why the girl who used to fall asleep in my armchair waiting for the boys to come home from training, who braided flowers into my hair just to make me laugh—why would she—" She stopped as a single tear slipped down her cheek.

"You keep saying you didn’t do it."

"I didn’t," I choked out, taking a step closer, my voice breaking. "I didn’t... I swear. I would never hurt River. I... I don’t know what happened that night, I can’t remember what happened that night-"

"Then find out." Her hands closed around my arm, dark eyes bored into mine, desperation clinging to each of them. And goddess, the grief inside her eyes nearly broke me in half.

"Find out what happened to my son. Find out why my baby had to die. Because if I go the rest of my life without an answer, Candy-"

"If I don’t ever get an answer for why River died, how could I... How could I go on living?"

My own tears poured down and I couldn’t stop them.

"I will," I sobbed, "I will find out. I promise you."

Luna Ashley pulled away. She stepped back, dabbed at her face with a folded napkin, and cleared her throat with the practiced efficiency of a Luna who’d had spent three years putting up a strong public image.

"Sandra?!"

The door opened and her personal maid entered carrying three familiar boxes. She set them on the floor at my feet, curtsied, and withdrew outside.

I crouched immediately beside it with trembling hands before lifting the first latch, a strangled gasp escaping me.

My things, my diary, my phone, my pearl-handled mirror Dad gave me on my thirteenth birthday, my books, my notes. It was filled with memories.

My entire chest tightened painfully as I lifted the flower journal Ryker used to help me fill.

Pressed flowers rested carefully between pages beside dates and tiny memories scribbled in messy handwriting.

Then my fingers brushed against a pink envelope. Ragnor’s handwriting covered the front. I swallowed hard. Inside were all the tiny notes he used to leave me during training sessions and family dinners.

You look pretty today.

I missed you.

Meet me behind the greenhouse later.

My throat closed completely. There was also the unfinished puzzle Reign and I had been building together before everything fell apart. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

All of it had been confiscated the night River died.

All of it.

"I may never treat you the same way I treat my sons," Luna Ashley said quietly behind me.

"Not while River’s blood still stands between us."

I lowered my head slowly.

"But I know what my best friend would have wanted me to do."

Mom, she had not forgotten Mom. Fresh tears spilled down my face. With that she turned around, heading for the door.

"Luna Ashley,"

"Lady Ashley." She paused without turning to face me. "You’ll be crowned Luna at my sons’ coronation. You may as well start now."

"Lady Ashley." I rose to my feet, holding a palm over my chest. "I swear in my life I will find out what happened to River."

"I truly hope you do."

The door shut softly behind her. I collapsed onto my knees beside the box immediately afterward, clutching it tightly against my chest while sobs tore violently through me.

Bree returned sometime later and simply stood by the wall, waiting for me to finish sobbing.

After eventually placing my things carefully inside the closet, I sat before the vanity brushing slowly through my damp hair and pulling it into a bun, ready for to retire for night when Bree spoke up.

"You should leave it down, my lady," Bree whispered timidly.

I glanced toward her through the mirror.

"What?"

Her cheeks flushed bright red instantly.

"You’re expected in the Alpha quarters tonight." She lowered her gaze quickly. "For your wedding night."

Wedding night.

Ice-cold dream twisted in my gut. The triplets barely tolerated looking at me. I genuinely assumed they would spend the entire night with Deidre instead.

What exactly was I supposed to expect? They had told me they would show me hell and frankly I didn’t want to find out.

But I didn’t have a choice, did I?

"Fine," I whispered, rising to my feet. "Let’s just get this over with."

Bree opened the door and escorted me to their quarters but on getting there they weren’t there. Of course they’d gone to watch over their precious Deidre and had forgotten entirely about their bride.

I swallowed down the sting of it, turned around slowly back to my own quarters. I had told Bree to retire for the night too. But the second I pushed open my bedroom door, my entire body froze. My breath snagged violently in my throat.

All three Pendragon brothers were all sprawled on my bed and they were all naked.

Completely naked like some kind of sinful fever dream.

Powerful tattooed bodies stretched carelessly on their bronze taut skin against the black silk sheets. A blush crept up my cheeks. And the worst part? My traitorous body remembered them instantly, their scents hit me hard all at once.

Mint and oud. Dark amber and coffee.Citrus and warm wood.

Star practically whimpered inside me.

Mates.

"There she is," Reign drawled lazily from the center of the bed.

A wicked smirk curled slowly across his mouth while his hazel eyes dragged over me openly.

"The woman of the hour. We brought the party to you, sweetheart," Reign added in a mocking tone.

Ryker lounged against my pillows turning his signet ring slowly around his finger while his mismatched eyes burned into me from beneath lowered lashes.

But Ragnor did not move at all, he sat at the foot of the bed watching me silently. His eyes traveled slowly down my body, my wet hair and my thin silk nightdress. His jaw tightened once before his expression flattened again.

Then finally, in that cold commanding Alpha voice of his, he said, "Strip."