Aysel's POV Luna Evelyn's gaze snapped up. For a moment, I almost pitied her-almost. The look in her eyes said it all: she'd finally realized that what burned in mine wasn't sorrow. It was hatred. There was no warmth left between us, no lingering bond of blood. Only the cold, tense hostility between wolves who no longer recognized each other as kin. Celestine stepped forward, her voice dripping with false concern as she steadied the trembling Luna. "Mother," she said sweetly, "is little sister being so cruel tonight because she wants to cut ties with the Moonvale Pack?" Luna Evelyn's claws flexed against her gown. She looked panicked. She couldn't lose this last thread that still bound me to her. That old bracelet-the one she'd kept hidden-was her last weapon to make me stay. But it was too late for that. I had come prepared. The guests began murmuring. Wolves with sharp hearing and sharper tongues. "What's going on?" one whispered. "Did the Luna forget her daughter's gift?" "Impossible. Moonvale is wealthy enough to bury its mistakes in gold." Another voice, sly and knowing, cut in, "We all know their relationship is strained. They said this was for the younger daughter's engagement, but look who's stealing the night." The Luna's face hardened. "Aysel's gift is ready. I'll fetch it myself." I could smell her fear. She was thinking about that jade bracelet again-the one meant to atone for Celestine's humiliation. Planning to replace it, maybe. Hide it. Smash it. Anything but hand it over to me. Before she could move, Magnus's low growl rolled across the clearing like thunder. "No need," he said, his tone soft yet edged with Alpha command. "Luna Evelyn's gift has already arrived." The crowd parted as Jackson appeared, guiding the old butler forward. The poor man reeked of confusion and restraint-he'd clearly been held somewhere, waiting for this very moment. He clutched a small box, unaware of the trap closing around his masters. Every step he took echoed in the silent night. He didn't even realize what was happening. "Miss Aysel," he said with a polite bow, offering me the box. "Your mother asked me to deliver this gift to you." I caught Magnus's faint smirk from the corner of my eye. Perfect. The Moonvale elders went pale. They understood then-this had been planned from the beginning. They'd trusted their butler, thinking the bracelet was safe with him, that it stayed within their reach. But Magnus had outplayed them, cutting the chain from the inside. Now, in front of the entire gathering, there was no escape. No denial. "No!" Luna Evelyn's voice cracked as she stepped forward. "He brought the wrong box. That's not the one I meant to give-" Too late. I flipped open the lid. The jade glimmered beneath the moonlight-faintly green, imperfect, but painfully familiar. I raised my chin. "No mistake," I said clearly, letting my voice carry. "This bracelet belonged to my grandmother. She asked that Luna Evelyn pass it to me when I came of age. It's the gift she and I agreed upon long ago." A ripple of understanding swept through the crowd. Ah. A relic of bloodline, not wealth. An heirloom. That explained its humble value-but not the insult of withholding it.Still, their gazes lingered on me. I'd said Luna Evelyn-but not my mother. A deliberate wound. And they felt it. The murmurs turned sharp. "She call her Luna Evelyn," someone whispered. Another responded, "Then Moonvale's Luna might not be her mother much longer." Luna Evelyn's face fell, the fight bleeding from her eyes. I could see the truth dawning in her like poison-she couldn't take it back now. Not here. Not in front of the entire council of packs. If it had been any other bracelet, she might have lied, claimed it was a mistake. But this... this had been her promise. And I had forced her to keep it. For the first time in seventeen years, I felt the chains between us snap-not with grief, but with freedom.