Chapter 38

Naomi

I was confined to my room, with Tobin and Ataz standing guard on either side of the door. Their silence was suffocating, but their disdain for wolves and rogues echoed through the stone walls, their harsh words stinging like barbed wire. I tried my best to ignore them, focusing instead on the delicate threads of the gossamer white gown they had given me to wear for the ritual. The fabric clung to my skin like a second layer, revealing every curve and dip of my body. It was almost transparent in its sheerness, but they insisted I wear it as if it held some significance. Perhaps it was meant to showcase my purity before the gods, or perhaps it was simply another form of humiliation. Either way, I felt exposed and vulnerable as I waited for the ceremony to begin.

I sat on my bed, fingers nervously tracing the intricate patterns of the quilt beneath me. The stars twinkled outside my window, their brilliance amplified by the dark night sky. The moon, nearly at its peak, cast a silvery