CRESSIDA'S POV
The sun rose in Stormhaven and for the first time in years, there was no unease in the air.
I stood on the balcony watching numbly as the horns blew through the village, the sound of joy and triumph echoing as the pack members trooped out of their homes, laughing and crying, grateful to have been given a miracle.
The enemy pack withdrew its troops as soon as they received the decree from the scroll. They knew that attacking the home of the bride of the Black King would bring death to their pack.
Even if the bride wasn't destined to live.
As I watched my pack people celebrate, all I could feel was nausea. I was raised to lead the pack, to protect them, so why didn't I feel like a hero?
"Cressida?" Alicia walked into my room's balcony and placed a hand on my shoulder. "What are you doing here? The other maids were looking for you during breakfast."
I stared ahead numbly, unsure of how to communicate that food wasn't really my priority when I was going to die in a matter of days.
"Are you okay?" she took my hand in hers, her brown eyes warm with concern.
"Curses. Why am I asking that? Of course you aren't okay. No one in your place will be," she said softly, tears filling her eyes.
I couldn't stand this.The pity in her eyes, knowing that she couldn't even beg me to refuse the marriage because it would put herself at stake. It would put everyone at stake.
"I don't want breakfast, I want to be left alone today," I said coldly, removing my hand from hers.
Alicia lowered her head in understanding. "I am sorry but Lady Dimitri has sent for you to meet her in the Royal Court."
"Tell her I'm not coming," I replied with a sigh.
"She intends to announce your sacrifice to the people."
"And parade me like what? Some kind of martyr?" I shot back angrily.
Alicia stepped closer, placing her hand on my shoulder. "I know this is difficult but you need to come out, talk to the people so that they can understand how much you have given to protect them."
I sighed angrily, shoving Alicia's hand off my shoulder as I walked out of the balcony and right into the belly of the beast.
****
Lady Dimitri and the elders brought me to the Pack Square.
I stood on the podium between Edmund and his mother, staring down at the gathered people solemnly.
Stormhaven had come back to life.
Banners had been hung on stone pillars, with decorations lining the streets, even the children squealed happily blowing on their toy horns.
After years of living in fear, with the debt's presence hanging over our heads like an executioner's blade, we could finally breathe properly.
"Dear people of Stormhaven," Lady Dimitri started and the people cheered happily.
"For generations, our home has stood strong. Yet in recent days, we found ourselves standing at the edge of annihilation, under the trap of a debt we could not repay with an enemy prepared to raze our lands and enslave our people in exchange."
"But the Luna Goddess did not abandon us and now, for the first time in years, our pack's future is certain. We can stand boldly among other packs as an unconquered pack…"
More cheers erupted.
"But all of these would not be possible without one person," Lady Dimitri said, turning slowly to me with a bright smile.
I felt sick.
"When the pack was at the brink of destruction, your princess did not hide in her room or even ask the guards to help her escape, she stood in Royal Court with me and the Elders until she made a plan," Lady Dimitri continued.
I watched her with narrowed eyes.
Why was she doing this?
What did she have to gain by exalting me before the pack as its hero?
"The pack was saved yesterday because Princess Cressida made the ultimate sacrifice," she said and the people turned to themselves beginning to murmur.
"Princess Cressida—" she broke off like she was about to cry, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "Your princess chose to offer herself as tribute to the Lycan Empire by marrying King Alessio of the Silver Fang Pack."
A collective gasp tore through the square.
From excited and spirited, I watched the people's faces soften into confusion and horror as they realised what that meant.
I was being sent to die for them.
Everyone knew that no bride survived King Alessio's bond. That women were sent to his throne and never returned. That the Lycan King was not merely powerful, but monstrous—an ancient force whispered about in warnings and prayers.
Lady Dimitri let the silence stretch.
"In doing so," she went on, "she has paid our debt in full. The enemy pack has withdrawn its forces. Stormhaven remains sovereign. Our people are free."
"She has chosen death so that you may live," Lady Dimitri declared, her voice seeming to reverberate through the air.
"She has chosen sacrifice over safety. Duty over life. And because of her, your children will sleep in their beds tonight. Your homes will stand and your bloodlines will endure."
People started to cry.
Some fell to their knees bowing to me repeatedly, whispering prayers.
But no one looked me in the eye.
I wanted to throw up.
As people's cries grew louder, something inside of me seemed to snap into place.
Lady Dimitri's big speech had moved everybody. She had convinced everyone that I was some kind of martyr.
A savior.
Yet it didn't feel like mercy, it felt like strategy
Lady Dimitri didn't want me remembered as a victim.
She wanted me remembered as a legend.
A princess who loved her people so much she decided to die for them. A martyr whose death will conveniently leave the throne vacant, so that she would continue ruling as the matriarch and then after her son was crowned heir, he could take over the throne without any resistance.
She had planned this from the very start.
She used this as an opportunity to get rid of my father and me.
I held back a laugh. It was such a cruel joke.
When I was gone—when the Lycan Empire swallowed me whole—there would be no heir to challenge Edmund. No daughter of the Alpha left to rally behind. Only a story. A noble sacrifice.
My sacrifice.
Lady Dimitri stepped closer to me, her smile radiant to the crowd—and venomous to me alone.
She leaned in, her lips barely moving.
"Smile," she whispered. "Let them remember you as their savior."
My throat burned.
I wanted to scream. To tell them everything. To tear the truth from her throat and cast it into the square for all to see.
But I looked at the people below—the mothers clutching their children, the warriors standing taller because they believed they had been spared.
And I understood.
I had no choice.
Slowly, mechanically, I lifted my chin.
And I bowed.
The crowd went wild.
They chanted my name.
Cressida. Cressida. Cressida.
Each syllable felt like a nail sealing my coffin.
****
By the time we left the square, the sun had begun to set, shadows loomed over the palace ominously as I walked through its halls.
Preparations had already been made to send me off to the Lycan Empire by dawn tomorrow.
Servants were already in my chambers, packing my gowns and jewelry into trunks, arranging various ceremonial garments like I would get to wear them.
All I wanted to do was to run to my father's chambers, hold him in my arms and cry. But somehow I knew that Lady Dimitri would never let me see him again, if he hadn't already passed away.
I watched the servants bow and leave after they were done, staring into the distance numbly.
I had grown up in this room, I had been bred in this palace, raised into becoming the next leader of this pack, now I was sacrificing my life for people I would never get to rule.
All those plans I made, all the laws I wanted to change were pointless now. Tears burned my eyes again.
The sound of my door opening made me quickly wipe my eyes.
Alicia stepped in, her eyes red from crying.
"I have made a decision," her voice was breaking like she was struggling not to cry again.
"Alicia, I really would like to be left alone toni—"
"I am coming with you to Silverfang," She announced calmly, making me go silent.
"What?!" I shook my head. "You—you can't do that."
"Why not, I have been your personal maid since you were a child. You are like a sister to me so how can I just stay here and let them take you away?!" she screamed at me, more tears rolling down her eyes.
"Alicia, there is no point. I am going to die anyway so just stay here and continue your life with your family," I replied, walking up to her.
"I don't want to, Cressida!" She yelled angrily. "I am not going to let you walk this path alone, I choose you!"
Her words made me stop in my tracks.
Alicia stepped forward, pulling me into a tight hug.
"When you go to Silverfang, at least you will not be alone, I will stay by your side till the end," She whispered softly.
My heart broke and for the first time, I allowed myself to cry in her arms.
We slept on the same bed, with Alicia holding me in her sleep. I stayed awake, my eyes open in the darkness, realizing that when the day broke, I would be shipped off to Silverfang, where my life would be taken from me.
And Lady Dimitri would finally have everything she wanted.