Avelina felt a cold, jagged spike of panic pierce through her chest. At that very moment, she wished she had the physical strength to simply reach out and strangle Lyanna until her breath stopped and that irritating, newfound voice was silenced forever.
She realized, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that this sudden courage of Lyanna's was not some fleeting burst of adrenaline caused by a brush with death.
It was something much deeper and more dangerous. It was a fundamental shift in the woman's personality, and it was threatening to dismantle every careful lie Avelina had woven over the years.
Cedric had always been a frustratingly straightforward, block-headed man.
Because they had grown up together in the pack, he never questioned Avelina's physical closeness.
To him, her touches and her constant presence were just the innocent displays of affection from a woman he considered a little sister.
He was blind to the predatory intent behind her smiles. But now, Lyanna had shone a bright, unflattering spotlight on their dynamic.
Even if Cedric didn't fully believe the accusations, he was a man of intense propriety. Now that the idea had been planted, he would be careful.
He would watch his movements and, most devastatingly for Avelina, he would begin to keep a gap between them. Avelina felt a surge of murderous hatred because Lyanna had just rubbished all of her painstaking progress in a single conversation.
True to Avelina's fears, Cedric shifted his weight and stepped away from her. Her hand, which had been resting so comfortably on his shoulder just moments ago, was left hanging in empty air.
She had no choice but to drop it awkwardly to her side, her face burning with a mixture of embarrassment and rage.
Cedric still found the idea of an affair ridiculous, but he was the kind of man who would immediately stop any behavior that his wife deemed inappropriate, simply because that was his duty as an Alpha and a husband.
"You are thinking too much, Lyanna," Cedric said, his voice regaining its usual deep, steady rhythm.
"Avelina is like a sister to me. We grew up side by side. Before I married you, there were many in the pack who suggested I take her as my mate because I had not yet found my fated one. But a promise was made to your father, and since I had agreed to it, I am not a man who breaks his word."
"Besides, I have only ever thought of her in a familial way. It is not surprising that you hear gossip, but as the Luna, it is your job to suppress such talk."
"If you show them your true status, no one will dare say to your face that another is more deserving of your position. I am certain Avelina has no such dark thoughts in her mind, and I certainly do not either. Everything you are worried about is merely a product of your own imagination."
Lyanna felt an almost uncontrollable urge to snicker. She could hardly believe the sheer, unadulterated nonsense pouring out of Cedric's mouth.
To hear him claim that Avelina didn't want to be the Luna was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her entire life, including her previous existence in her past life.
It was so absurd it was almost comical.
However, Lyanna forced her rising anger back down. She realized she had been too rushed. She couldn't expect a man who had known a snake his entire life to see the venom after just one conversation.
Avelina's acting skills were shallow to Lyanna's modern eyes, but the woman had successfully fooled an entire pack of supernatural warriors for years.
Making Avelina pay would require a gradual approach. Lyanna needed to let the healer hang herself with her own schemes, which meant playing the long game.
She needed to calm down and appear reasonable, even if her blood was boiling.
But even as she decided to retreat for a moment, she had no intention of letting Avelina walk away unscathed.
"Fine," Lyanna said, looking up at Cedric with a calm that she didn't entirely feel.
"I will try to believe you. I will accept that you have been loyal and that you truly view Avelina as nothing more than a foster sister. But even if that is true, does it make any sense for a foster sister to step in and mediate a private problem between an Alpha and his Luna?"
"You are the leader of this pack, and I am your wife. She might be a sister to you, but she is certainly not one to me. She doesn't even seem to consider her lowly position when she opens her mouth to lecture me."
"I wasn't even going to mention the fact that she calls me by my name instead of using my title like everyone else, but then she had the audacity to try and teach me how to behave. Is she truly worthy of such a role?"
As Lyanna spoke, she stood with a domineering grace that seemed to fill the room. Her voice was powerful, carrying an authority that even Avelina found frightening.
Avelina felt a cold shiver of suspicion. This Lyanna was different. It was as if her soul had been swapped or something.
Avelina couldn't understand how a coward could jump off a mountain and wake up looking like a conqueror. The feeling that her control over Lyanna was slipping away was making her feel physically ill with irritation.
Cedric, for his part, was struggling to hide his own reaction. He felt a strange, buzzing excitement in his chest.
This domineering presence Lyanna was displaying was exactly what he had always wanted in a mate.
He was thrilled by the change, but he didn't let that thrill cloud his judgment. He began to wonder why she had changed so suddenly, and after a few moments of silent reflection, he came to a conclusion that made perfect sense to him: Lyanna was jealous.
He began to build a complete narrative in his head, connecting the dots in a way that satisfied his ego and his confusion.
He thought back to the beginning of their marriage and how Lyanna had supposedly masked their mate bond.
In his mind, it all made sense now. Lyanna must have heard rumors about his closeness with Avelina before they were even married. She probably assumed they were lovers and, out of a sense of hurt and jealousy, she had decided to hide the bond and keep him at a distance.
Cedric was so convinced by this theory that he even checked in with his wolf, Ash.
The wolf, who was just happy to have finally found its mate, 100 percent agreed with Cedric's assessment.
Cedric felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he considered the suicide attempt. He now believed that Lyanna had tried to take her own life because she felt abandoned and rejected by a husband she thought was in love with another woman.
He looked at Lyanna with eyes full of pity and genuine remorse.
His voice softened significantly when he finally spoke. "I know you're jealous, Lyanna. I understand now. Please, don't be anymore. I truly only treat Avelina as a sister. If you want her to address you with the respect your title deserves, then she will do exactly that. From this day forward, I will never allow her to interfere in our private matters again. I am sorry for making you feel this way."
Lyanna looked at him and felt a physical shiver of discomfort. What is wrong with this man? she wondered.
Jealous? Where did he even get that from? She hadn't expected him to suddenly start looking at her with puppy-dog eyes and begging for forgiveness for a crime she hadn't even fully accused him of.
She realized then that she had no idea how Cedric's mind worked. He had clearly gone mad, or perhaps his wolf was messing with his brain.
But while she was confused by his guilt, she recognized that he had taken a significant step back from Avelina.
For now, that was enough. However, the person who hated the current atmosphere the most was Avelina.
She stood there, watching the man she wanted looking at Lyanna with care and concern, and her world felt like it was tilting on its axis. Cedric was supposed to be hers. She couldn't understand how Lyanna had managed to flip the script so quickly.
Avelina's anger was reaching a boiling point, but she didn't realize that Lyanna wasn't done for the day.
Lyanna turned her head slowly toward the door, where the two maids were still standing, trying to blend into the shadows.
She offered them a fiendish, cold smile that made the blood drain from their faces.
"You two," Lyanna said, her voice smooth and dangerous. "Come to the front of the room. Since everyone is gathered here to discuss my well-being, why don't you tell the Alpha exactly why I almost died on that mountain?"
Avelina felt her heart leap into her throat.
She started to panic, but her fear was nothing compared to that of the two maids.
They stood frozen, their eyes darting toward Avelina in a silent, desperate plea for help. They were trapped, and they knew it.
Lyanna's smile only grew brighter as she looked at Cedric, who was now frowning in confusion at the mention of a specific reason for the accident. She looked back at the maids, her eyes sparkling with mockery.
"Why are you looking at Avelina?" Lyanna asked, her voice filled with a fake, high-pitched innocence. "She can't help you now. And why would you even seek her help? It isn't as if she was the one who ordered you to kill me, right?"
Then, Lyanna performed a perfect, dramatic gasp, pressing her hand to her chest. "Wait! Don't tell me she was the one behind it all! Avelina, I would never believe such a thing of a 'sister,' but looking at their faces now... did you really do it?"