My Luna Mother Ruined Me For Her Favorite—So I Chose The Rogue King Chapter 06
At the guard’s words, my mother’s brow drew tight.
“Blackwood has its own pack healers. Its own apothecary.” Her voice sharpened as she turned on the guard. “Why would Evelyn owe money to some outside clinic?”
The guard lowered his head, voice barely above a whisper.
“Nora went into town a few days ago to pick up medicine from an independent healer, on Miss Evelyn’s behalf. The clinic says the bill was never settled.”
My mother had already been burning over Celeste’s Luna approval being pulled.
Now she’d caught what she thought was a mistake of mine—and her expression turned colder still.
“Ridiculous. What doesn’t the pack house have? She had to sneak off to some outside clinic and rack up a debt? Isn’t Blackwood humiliated enough already?”
Her eyes cut to me, thick with barely restrained blame.
“Evelyn. How much further are you going to take this?”
I couldn’t hear the voice beneath her voice anymore.
But in that moment, I could almost guess what she was thinking.
She’d finally caught a chance—a chance to let my father and Rowan see with their own eyes how difficult, how unruly, how unfit I was to ever be the Luna of a Council pack.
She drew herself up in the full authority of the Blackwood Luna.
“Send her in.”
Soon, an older female healer was led into the courtyard.
My mother’s voice was cold. “What exactly is wrong with Evelyn? Be clear.”
The healer glanced at me. Then at the stiff, rigid line of my back. Finally, she spoke.
“She has extensive lash wounds across her back. Silver damage is hard to heal to begin with—but the wounds were then treated with a salve laced with wolfsbane and silver ash. They’ve been rotting ever since. The young woman with her came in the middle of the night begging for medicine and promised the bill would be settled within days.”
Rowan’s eyes went arctic. My father’s head snapped toward my mother.
“A silver whip?”
Her face went bone-white, but she held her ground.
“Yes. I used it. She talked back to me. Defied me. She’s been going after Celeste for weeks. I am her mother. What is wrong with disciplining my own daughter?”
My father stared at her, his voice dropping to something terrible.
“You used the whip meant for rogues and traitors—on your own blood daughter?”
Her lips lost their color.
She turned toward Celeste.
“I sent you to her with a healing salve. How did it become wolfsbane and silver ash?”
Celeste paled at once, lowering her head, her eyes reddening on cue.
“I don’t know… maybe Evelyn was still angry with me and didn’t use what I brought her.”
“You’re lying!”
Nora burst forward, eyes red, and dropped to her knees before my father.
“Alpha, please—stand up for Miss Evelyn. What Celeste sent that night was never a healing salve. It was wolfsbane, mixed with silver ash. Miss Evelyn knew no one would believe her. She was afraid the Luna would accuse her of bullying Celeste again. That’s why she forbade me from speaking.”
Her voice shook, but she didn’t stop.
“She was in agony all night. Her fever burned so high she lost her mind to it. The wounds bled and festered. The pack healers had been called to Celeste. The apothecary refused to give us silver-burn medicine. I had no other choice. I went into town and begged for it on credit.”
Nora lifted her head. The tears wouldn’t stop.
“Miss Evelyn has done nothing but suffer in this pack house.”
When that last line landed, the entire courtyard fell dead silent.
Rowan turned to my mother, slowly.
“She is your daughter. Beaten with a silver whip. Poisoned with wolfsbane. Forced to beg medicine from strangers on credit.”
“And you still ask her why she wants to leave?”
My father closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was no warmth left in them at all.
“From this moment on, every healer, every apothecary, every attendant, every guard in Blackwood is to be questioned. Anyone who blocked her medicine. Anyone who took her belongings. Anyone who ever did Celeste’s bidding. Not a single one is to be spared.”
He turned to Rowan.
“I will give Evelyn justice.”
Rowan’s voice was ice. “I don’t want justice.”
His eyes went back to me.
“I want her alive—out of this place.”
My father was silent for a beat. Then he nodded.
“Then let your healer treat her wounds first.”
A female rogue stepped forward from behind Rowan without a word.
Celeste was shaking so hard she could barely stand. She reached for my mother’s sleeve.
“Mother…”
My mother turned. For a long second, she just looked at her—as if seeing her for the first time.
Before Celeste’s fingers could close, my mother’s hand cracked across her face.
It was the strike of a wolf—full force.
Celeste slammed into the corridor pillar and crumpled to the ground. Blood beaded at the corner of her mouth. She looked up in disbelief, tears still clinging to her lashes.
For the first time, my mother felt no ache for her.
There was only murder in her eyes.
“You dared to poison her with wolfsbane.”
Celeste covered her face and didn’t dare speak another word.