Chapter Seventy-nine

Chapter Seventy-nine
Chapter 79

Edgar’s POV

When dawn broke, I left Lia sleeping. She had curled against me as though her very presence could keep the world at bay, and in a way, it had. For nights, her steady heartbeat and warmth had anchored me through storms I hadn’t thought I’d survive. Leaving her side was never easy, but this morning felt different. This morning, I needed to do something alone.

The temple grove stood at the edge of Duskwood, beyond the line where trees grew so thick their branches knitted like a woven ceiling. Few dared to tread there at dawn. The air itself felt heavier, filled with the whispers of the goddess. Every step I took along the moss-soft path was deliberate, every crunch of fallen leaves beneath my boots a quiet offering.

When the clearing opened before me, I stopped to steady myself.

The altar rose from the earth, carved of pale stone that glimmered faintly where the sunlight pierced through the canopy. Wildflowers clustered at its base, fresh, as though the goddess herself commanded them to bloom eternally.

For a long moment, I just stood there, staring. Memories flooded in unbidden: my near-collapse in the council chamber, Lia risking her life to taste the poisoned wine, the endless nights of fighting weakness that clawed at my veins. And yet, here I was. Alive.

Alive, when I had been meant to die.

I lowered myself onto one knee before the altar, every movement deliberate.

“Moon Goddess,” I murmured, my voice low but steady. “I should not be here. By all accounts, I should have been swallowed by the earth already, my name reduced to whispers of failure. And yet you kept me standing. Perhaps not strong, but standing nonetheless. For that, I give you my thanks.”

My fingers brushed the cold stone, reverent.

“For Lia. For the child I do not yet deserve. For the chance to fight, even if it’s my last fight.”

The breeze stirred, cool and soft, threading through the grove like a sigh. The air seemed to listen.

And then

“Touching.”

The voice slid from the shadows, smooth and sharp, as if mocking the sanctity of the moment. My entire body stiffened, instincts firing as my hand moved to my side. Weakness be damned, I would never be caught unguarded.

From between the trees, he emerged. Connor.

His figure was a shadow carved against the light, tall, broad-shouldered, his presence both familiar and alien. His eyes caught mine with that same infuriating gleam, a mixture of disdain and something deeper, something far more complicated.

“Of all the places to find you,” he said, stepping closer, “I didn’t expect it would be here. Kneeling. Praying.”

I rose slowly to my feet, careful not to let the tremor in my legs show. My jaw clenched.

“And I didn’t expect a snake to crawl into sacred ground,” I answered. “But here you are.”

His mouth curved into a humorless smile.

“A snake, is it? You wound me, brother.”

The word hit like a blade to the ribs. My throat tightened, but I forced steel into my voice.

“You have no right to call me that.”

“Don’t I?” He tilted his head, studying me. “Blood is blood, Edgar. You can’t cut it away, no matter how sharp you think your claws are.”

I stepped forward, closing some of the distance between us. The grove seemed to hum with tension, the goddess herself bearing witness to the confrontation.

“You lost the right to that word when you chose betrayal. When you chose shadows over pack, poison over honor.”

Connor’s smile faltered, though only for a moment. Then his expression hardened.

“Honor? Do you even know what that word means? You, the blessed Alpha, the son who inherited everything while I rotted in obscurity?” His voice dropped, sharp as broken glass. “Tell me, did your precious honor ever think of me? Did your perfect pack ever wonder about the bastard left to fend for himself?”

The words struck deep, but I refused to show it. My fists curled, nails biting into my palms.

“You think suffering justifies what you’ve done? You think being born from shadows gives you the right to destroy everything?”

“I think it gives me the right to claim what was denied me,” Connor snapped. His eyes burned, the same fire I saw in my own reflection, but twisted, warped. “You don’t deserve the goddess’s favor. You never did. Yet here you are, thanking her, as if you earned survival. While I”

He broke off, his chest heaving with the weight of words unspoken. For a moment, silence stretched between us, thick as fog.

I drew in a slow breath, fighting the urge to let fury blind me.

“You don’t understand,” I said at last, quieter. “The goddess’s favor isn’t something you steal, Connor. It isn’t something you poison your way into. It’s given to those who bear the weight, no matter how heavy.”

Connor laughed then, a harsh, bitter sound that didn’t belong in this grove.

“Weight? You talk as if you’ve carried burdens I couldn’t imagine. But I know what it means to starve. To bleed with no one to staunch it. To be treated as less than dirt because of choices neither of us made. You think you’ve known suffering, Edgar? You haven’t touched the edge of mine.”

His words were venom, but beneath them I heard something else. A fracture. A wound too deep for time to mend.

And for the first time, standing before him, I didn’t see just the enemy. I saw the brother I never knew, twisted by a life of bitterness, by a fate neither of us had chosen.

But pity was dangerous.

I straightened, shoulders squaring.

“You chose your path, Connor. You chose to side with Brie, to poison, to plot. You can paint it however you want, but choice is still choice. And when the time comes, I’ll do what I must to protect what’s mine.”

His gaze sharpened, his jaw tight.

“You think you can kill me?”

“If that’s what the goddess demands,” I said, my voice firm.

For a heartbeat, we stared at each other, two sides of the same coin, locked in a battle older than either of us.

At last, Connor stepped back, retreating into shadow. His expression was unreadable, though his eyes still burned.

“Enjoy your prayers, Alpha,” he said softly, almost a whisper. “Because soon, they won’t be enough.”

And with that, he was gone, swallowed by the trees, leaving only silence in his wake.

I stood rooted to the ground, my chest heaving, the echo of his words gnawing at me.

The altar loomed before me once more, flowers swaying in the breeze as though mocking my turmoil.

I turned back to the stone, pressing my palm flat against it. My voice was low, hoarse.

“Moon Goddess, if it’s truly your will, then give me the strength. To protect Lia. To protect the child. To protect the pack. And if it means standing against him”

I closed my eyes, the image of Connor’s burning gaze still seared into my mind.

“Then grant me the will to see it through.”