98 Chapter 98 Shattered Truth
Without protest, both of them lowered themselves into the leather armchairs, their movements heavy with decades of hidden shame.’They watched me expectantly while oppressive silence filled the space between us. My knees began to shake from the shock, forcing me to sink into the chair opposite them. “Keep talking,” I commanded.
“Stay back,” I gasped, stumbling backward until my spine hit the bookshelf. “Don’t you dare touch me. Not after what you just confessed.”
“That’s exactly why we had no choice,” my father added, his voice strained with years of buried guilt. “We had to collaborate with Roxanne’s birth mother. We switched you both the moment you were born. It was the only way to guarantee your survival.”
His refusal ignited fresh frustration within me, but I could read the unshakeable resolve in his expression. I despised being excluded from the truth, yet I swallowed my protests, knowing I needed to hear the rest of their confession.
My father’s throat worked as he swallowed hard, unable to meet my eyes. “Seraphina, please. Take a seat.”
Shield me? The hypocrisy burned through my chest like acid. My already fractured heart splintered into smaller pieces.
“It would have been merciful,” my father said, his voice raw with old pain, “if your mother had lost you naturally. But you were too developed, and attempting something like that would have killed her as well.” He closed his eyes, battling whatever memory tormented him.
He shook his head with stubborn finality. “That knowledge will never be yours to bear. It’s far too dangerous. Some secrets are better left buried.”
“This can’t be happening” I breathed, my voice barely audible above the thundering of my heart. “Tell me this is some sick game you’re playing.” My hands trembled at my sides. “Because if you think this is amusing, you’re wrong. Dead wrong.”
My mother moved toward me, her fingers reaching out with desperate gentleness. The sight of her approaching hand made my skin crawl with betrayal.
I stared at them through blurred vision, too stunned to respond
react.
“We were shattered,” my mother whispered through broken sobs. “No parent should
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98 Chapter 98 Shattered Truth
my existence.
My attention zeroed in on his phrasing. “We?” I interrupted, leaning forward as my pulse hammered against my ribs. “Who exactly is ‘we’?”
My childhood had already been poisoned by lies about my paternity, but now I had to face the devastating truth that my own parents had never wanted me at all.
“The royal oracle,” my father continued, “brought us a warning. She prophesied a devastating war approaching. A conflict that would consume everything in its path, claiming countless innocent lives. But from this destruction, a white wolf Luna would emerge. Born with the power to end the bloodshed and restore peace.” His voice grew heavy with dread. “However, to fulfill this destiny, she would have to sacrifice her life.”
My father lifted his gaze to mine, and I saw a haunted grief there that chilled me to the bone. “Right before your birth, Seraphina,” he began, each word seeming to cost him, “we were forced to participate in something terrible. Something that will haunt us until we die.”
“We understood,” my father concluded, his voice breaking completely, “that staying with us would trigger your transformation into your true form. But we had to protect you and keep you alive. So we made the hardest decision of our lives. To switch you at birth. The day you entered this world.”
“Absolutely not,” I snapped, finding strength in my mounting fury. “I’ll remain standing while you explain why my entire life has been built on deception.”
“Seraphina, listen to us,” my mother pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You believe we despise you, but that’s never been true. Every choice we made, every sacrifice, was to shield you from harm.”
A white wolf Luna. Death. The words hung between us like a death sentence. My mind struggled to absorb their meaning.
“We demanded to know the identity of this prophesied wolf,” my father went on, emotion thickening his voice. “Who would bear this burden? The seer agreed to reveal the truth privately.” He squeezed my mother’s trembling fingers. “She told us the white wolf Luna would be you, Seraphina, Our precious daughter.”
The implication was clear: they had wished I was never born, that I had simply disappeared.
“So we searched for alternatives. We studied everything we could find about white
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