Jennifer’s Pov
The first thing I felt was pain.
A dull ache throbbed at the back of my head. I tried to lift my hand to rub it but I couldn’t move. My wrists were tied to the arms of a heavy wooden chair.
My eyes flew open.
“Dad?” My voice cracked. “Dad, is anyone there?”
Nothing.
“Hello? Brian? Is anyone here?”
Silence pressed back at me. I pulled at the ropes, twisting my wrists, trying to slip free. They only bit deeper into my skin. My hair fell into my face, wild and tangled, and I shook it back so I could see.
I stared up at a ceiling I didn’t know. Dark wooden beams. Silver patterns carved into them. Thick velvet curtains hung over the windows. This room was too fancy to be anywhere in Solara.
Where was I? Why couldn’t I remember anything past last night?
Then the sound of a key turning in the lock made me freeze.
A young maid stepped in carrying a silver tray. She stopped when she saw I was awake, a little surprised.
“Where am I?” My words came out too fast, tripping over each other. “Why am I tied up? What is going on? Please, someone has to tell me something.”
“You’re in Moonridge Castle,” she said. “In Lunaris.”
My whole body went numb. “That’s not possible. That’s not… I don’t understand. Why would I be in Lunaris? I’ve never even left Solara in my life.”
She didn’t answer. She just set the tray down and wouldn’t look at me.
Moonridge Castle. I knew that name. Everyone knew that name.
My thoughts scattered in a hundred directions at once, none of them making sense. I tried to remember anything, anything at all, from the night before. There was a carriage. There was Brian’s voice. Then nothing.
“Please,” I said, my voice shaking now. “I need you to untie me. I need to go home. My family will be looking for me.”
The maid still said nothing.
“Do you understand me?” My chest was heaving. “Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. I don’t belong here.”
Two guards walked in next.
“Lady Sophia,” one said. “His Majesty’s attendants will arrive shortly. Prepare yourself.”
The name hit me like cold water.
“Sophia?” I stared at him. “Why would you call me that? I’m not Sophia. My name is Jennifer.”
Neither of them even looked at me.
“Did you hear what I said?” My voice cracked upward, panic climbing fast now. “I said I’m not Sophia! There has been a mistake! You have the wrong girl!”
They said nothing. They just started untying my wrists like I hadn’t spoken at all.
That was when it started coming together in my head, piece by piece, and I hated every piece of it. Sophia. My own twin. The selection had been for her. Not me.
“Wait.” My breath caught. “Wait, please, listen to me. I was switched. Someone switched us. This is supposed to be my sister, not me. Please, you have to believe me, I was replaced!”
More attendants filed in and started working on me without a word, like I was a doll being dressed for someone else’s shelf.
“Please.” I could hear how desperate I sounded and I didn’t care anymore. “Please, somebody has to listen. I’m not who you think I am. Check again. Ask someone. Anyone. This is a mistake, I swear to you, this is a mistake.”
Nobody answered.
They untied my wrists only to hold them still while they worked. They bathed me in warm scented water while I sat frozen, my mind still screaming that none of this was real. They brushed the tangles out of my hair until it fell smooth, and dressed me in a crimson gown lined with silver thread. A silver circlet was placed on my head like I was something to be shown off.
I felt sick through all of it.
“Please,” I whispered one more time, quieter now because my voice had nothing left to give. “Can someone just tell me what’s happening to me?”
I already knew. I think I had known since the moment I heard the name Moonridge. I was just begging the world to prove me wrong.
No one answered.
When they finished, they led me to a large ceremonial hall. Other girls stood there already, dressed the same way, fear written on every face. I searched each one for Sophia’s face and didn’t find it, and that told me everything I already feared.
She did this. My father did this. And Brian, who promised me a wedding, must have known too.
The High Priestess of Lunaris stood in front of us, her voice sharp and cold.
“Listen carefully. When the Alpha enters, no one looks at his face. Heads stay down. No one speaks unless he speaks to you first. If you disobey, you will be killed where you stand. Do you understand?”
We nodded fast. Nobody dared say a word. Everyone in that hall knew what Alpha Christian was capable of.
One by one the girls were called to stand before the sacred stone.
Some of them broke down right there.
“I don’t want this,” one girl sobbed, dropping to her knees. “Please, let me go home.”
Another one was shaking so hard she could barely stand. “I have a family in Solara. Please.”
Their cries filled the hall. No one moved to help them. My own hands were shaking now too, and I pressed them together to keep still.
Then they called me forward.
I stepped up and kept my eyes down, staring at the floor the way we were told. My heart was pounding so hard I thought everyone in the hall could hear it.
The sacred stone lit up with a sudden white light.
A gasp went through the hall.
“The eighth bride has been chosen,” the High Priestess announced.
The room went dead silent.
Then I heard footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. Coming straight toward me.
I kept my head bowed, my whole body rigid.
A gloved hand touched my chin and tilted it up, gently but firm enough that I couldn’t have pulled away if I tried.
That was when I saw him.
Alpha Christian.
Long dark hair. The darkest gray eyes I had ever seen in my life. His face was carved sharp and cold, and just looking at him made my stomach knot itself tight. He looked like something that shouldn’t be looked at directly. He looked like a god deciding whether to be merciful.
He studied my face for a long moment, and I felt like he was reading every lie in the room off my skin.
“Your name,” he said, quietly.
My mouth had gone dry. “Jennifer.”
An elder rushed forward, panic in his voice. “Your Majesty, this is Sophia. Jennifer is already married.”
“I’m not married.” The words came out before I could stop them, shaking but clear. “I am Jennifer. I’m not supposed to be here.”
Christian didn’t move. He just looked at me, and looked, and looked, like he was waiting for me to break and take it back.
I felt my pulse everywhere at once. What if this made him angry. What if the truth was the one thing he couldn’t forgive.
But I couldn’t make myself say the other name. I couldn’t make myself be her.
“So you’re Jennifer,” he said finally, low, like he was still deciding whether to believe it.
“Yes.” My voice barely held.
He didn’t answer right away. He just kept studying me, his thumb still resting against my chin, and the silence stretched so long I thought I might have made a terrible mistake.
Then he let go of my chin and turned to face the hall.
“From now on, she will be addressed as Jennifer. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” they answered together.
He turned and walked away without another word.
I stood there, my chin still warm where his fingers had been, my whole body shaking now that no one was holding me still.
I had just been chosen as the eighth bride of the Wolf King. The man who had already claimed the lives of seven brides before me.