The Serpent I chose

I opened my eyes to Aria’s laughter cutting through the haze.

‘Wait! What happened? Wasn’t I dying due to the mate bonds being broken? Why am I alive?’

“Lucinda! I asked you a question?” Duke Evander Winterfang spoke.

“Yes?” I managed a weak response. A haze still surrounded my eyes. It felt like I was waking from a dream.

He sighed, clearly, as though my silence had inconvenienced him.

“I said, ” Are you ok with the heirs going to the ball with Aria?” Evander asked.

“Yes.” I replied. I had no idea what he was talking about but as it was about Aria and the heirs, I automatically agreed, like always.

“I don’t feel well. I’ll retire to my room.”

Without waiting for his response, I pushed back my chair and rose to my feet. The room tilted violently, and I grabbed the edge of the table until the dizziness passed.

I slowly walked out of the dining room. The haze slowly lifted and I realised.

The ball.

I knew this day.

Im back

‘Three years! it’s been three years since this day.’ A dark smile spread across my face.

I walked to my room and stopped in front of the mirror.

The face staring back at me was unmistakably younger, skin smoother, eyes brighter.

The woman looking back was still not bogged down by the stress and pain given to me by the heirs and my very own sister, Aria.

In a world where bloodlines reign supreme. I was a special existence.

I, Lucinda Valewolf, the eldest daughter of Kael Valewolf was the only wolf in recorded history who had never manifested her wolf.

My family died in an accident leaving behind me and my sister, Aria. Duke Winterfang, an old friend of my father’s, took us under his wing. He vowed that he would raise us till we get married.

Back then, I had believed his kindness was genuine.

Perhaps it had been. Once.

Most young wolves manifested the powers and were able to shift when they reached 14 years of age. Aria manifested when she was 14 years old as well. A beautiful silver wolf with deep blue eyes that twinkled like stars.

And then there was me.

Twenty-eight years old, and still without a wolf.

I turned to my wardrobe. For years, I had dressed in dull greys and drab browns, choosing clothes that would draw as little attention as possible. Today, I reached for the green silk dress instead.

Why did I wear grey? Maybe it was insecurity or a plea to gain pity. I’m still not sure

I had formed a fated bonds with the three sons of the Duke Winterfang: Callum, Elias, and Kaelen.

When the bond was first discovered, Duke Winterfang had been delighted. His dear friend’s daughter was fated to his sons. It had seemed like a blessing, a promise that our families would remain connected for generations.

But as the years passed and I failed to manifest, his enthusiasm faded.

Wolves undertook the bond ceremony as soon as the fated bond was established. But all I got was 10 long years of wait, for them to acknowledge me, to accept me.

For ten years, I had made excuses for their indifference.

I looked at my reflection and scoffed at myself. I smoothed the green silk dress over my hips and wore the emerald earrings. I received the earrings as a gift from the Duke Winterfang when I was 14, his last gift to me.

Everyone said that I had not manifested as I was cursed, they even blamed me for my parents death but I never paid attention to them. I had naively hoped that I could be happy with one of the heirs.

What did rumours matter when I had a fated bond?

I shook my head, ‘I was so foolish. I didn’t realise in my previous life how much they despised me.’

They hated the fact that I had not manifested. This was a sign of weakness, especially for the heirs of the Winterfang Duchy. I cherished the fated bond but for them, it was a tool, something that can be broken any time.

I stared at my reflection and placed a hand on my chest. I can still feel the pain of the bond breaking.

In my previous life, I had completed the bond ceremony with all three brothers. For one foolish night, I had believed that my years of waiting had finally come to an end.

The very next day, they broke it.

Cruelly, without a care in the world, all because Aria cried.

The three heirs loved my sister.

My sister had always been their weakness. They worshipped her, and her wishes were practically law. If making her happy meant destroying me, they wouldn’t think twice.

And they hadn’t.

Breaking a bond after the ceremony gives backlash to both parties involved. The three brothers had severed the bonds unilaterally, all at the same time.

They had suffered injuries, but they had survived. My heart didn’t. It shattered from the inside and I succumbed to death, choking on my own blood under this very roof.

I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and said to no one ‘Never again! They did all that because they wanted my sister, Aria.’

‘I will give her to them’.

But first, there was someone I needed to see.

Lucien.

Aria’s betrothed—and the serpent-clan noble guest whom the Winterfang household had treated like an inconvenient obligation.

***

I walked towards the servants quarters.

Lucien was betrothed to Aria, bound by an ancient treaty signed by my ancestors. Generations ago, one of Lucien’s ancestors had saved my ancestor, and in return, my ancestor had sworn to grant Lucien’s clan whatever they requested.

No one had imagined that, after so many years, they would ask for a daughter.

With me already fated to the heirs, Aria was the only option. She had been betrothed to Lucien for over a year, yet the marriage ceremony had never taken place.

Among wolves, a fated mate was considered the ideal partner. But when no fated bond existed, people often married across clans to strengthen alliances or fulfil their obligations.

The reason the marriage ceremony was delayed was simple: she despised Lucien, and hated the fact that he was a snake. For her, he was a serpent, only worth being her slave/servant and she treated him as such.

I smiled wryly, ‘Had Duke Winterfang been delaying Aria and Lucien’s wedding because he hoped one of his sons would eventually marry Aria instead?’

How many things had I failed to see because I had been too busy pining for the wrong people?

I stood in front of Lucien’s quarters. It was the largest room in the servants’ wing, but that did little to disguise the insult. A guest from an allied clan, A noble, one whose ancestors had once saved my family—had been lodged among the servants. His rank was questionable. No one knew what his true rank was but he was a Noble for sure.

Yet Lucien had never complained.

I knocked on the door and said softly, “Lucien, are you there?”

“Lady Lucinda.” He inclined his head with impeccable politeness. “What a pleasure. How may I help you?”

Classic Lucien. A gentleman

Even in my previous life, he was the same polite, charming and breathtakingly beautiful.

He was wearing a plain black shirt and leather pants. Inky black hair reaching his waist, broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist and black swirly patterns on his left arm disappearing beneath his sleeve and reappearing at the collar of his shirt. But it was his eyes that drew my attention.

Molten gold, with narrow, serpentine pupils.

Most wolves found them disgusting. I had always found them mysterious.

I stepped in and looked at the room.

Sparse was an understatement. A bed stood against one wall, accompanied by a plain table and a single chair. He only had two books kept on the table. There were no luxuries, no trinkets of status. This was no room for someone of his standing.

“I don’t believe you came here to admire my decorating choices,.” he teased.

I turned towards him “No. I came here with a proposition.”

“Really?” He leaned against the wall, a charming smile playing on his lips. ” That word is rarely used in this house without a hidden cost but let’s hear it.”

I took a breath.

“I want you to form a blood pact with me.”

His smile vanished. The air in the room seemed to grow heavier. He studied me without blinking, his serpentine pupils narrowing as though he were trying to uncover the real meaning behind my words.

He approached me, closing the distance and said, “Do you realise what you are asking for, Lady Lucinda?

His voice was quiet now, “Blood pact is not something you can break when it becomes inconvenient. It binds the souls. As time passes, we will begin to feel what the other feels— happiness, fear, pain.′

He paused, “Wherever I go, a part of me will remain with you. And a part of you will remain with me. Even death will not separate you from me and me from you.”

For a brief moment, his gaze drifted to the door then back at me. He was thinking of Aria, the girl who has spent an entire year belittling him, mocking him, treating him like a servant wearing noble clothes.

“Yes. I understand and I choose you” I responded confidently.

He came closer, close enough that I could feel a faint, cool aura radiating from him. His hand lifted, his fingers hovering near my chin as though he had the sudden urge to touch me but he never did. He just dropped his hand.

He asked softly “You choose me? The serpent whom your family treats as a curiosity at best and nuisance at worst. The man betrothed to your sister whose name is used as a punchline in wolf packs?”

He looked at my lips and his eyes met mine again.

He then smirked, “You choose me over the three heirs of the Winterfang duchy? A mere noble of the serpent clan, whose true rank you know nothing about? My station is beneath yours.”

“Yes”, This time, my answer came without hesitation.

He leaned back slightly, the molten gold eyes searching for something. His gaze was so intense that I almost turned away. It felt as though he could see straight into my soul.

But I held his stare.

And smiled.

He stayed silent for a long time. The black markings on his body seemed to pulse faintly in the dim light of the room. I kept my eyes fixed on him. His serpentine pupils narrowed into thin, sharp slits.

Then, unexpectedly, he laughed. “Ok.”

That was it?

I had prepared myself for questions, arguments, perhaps even outright rejection. I hadn’t expected him to agree so easily.

Lucien smirked, “Did you think I have felt anything towards your sister, other than an obligation to honour a treaty?”

He bent down to my ear , his voice dropping to a whisper. , “I have endured her cruelty because it was my duty. My family wanted this and I merely agreed to fulfil my duty . The treaty states that a serpent of my bloodline must be bound to your bloodline.”

His lips curved. “It doesn’t specify who.”

I stared at him.

For the first time, I wondered whether I had underestimated him.

He brought his lips close to mine, still not touching. The black serpent markings faintly beneath his open collar. “You are proposing to rewrite the fate that has been set in motion for months. To take the place of the one who has already been promised, that too your own sister’s. To defy the wolves who believe they own every bond formed under this roof. ”

A slow dark smile spread across his face. The first genuine expressions I’ve seen.

My breath hitched as I looked at that devastating smile and those eyes, burning with sudden, sharp intelligence that had nothing to do with diplomacy and everything to do with the chaos I was inviting.

“It’s messy!” he smiled almost appreciatively while licking his lips, as if the word tasted like something he had denied for far too long.

His hands came up, settling on my waist with a possessive weight, firm and unhesitating, as the careful distance he had maintained between us finally disappeared. The guest who had tolerated a year of humiliation was gone. In his place stood something far more dangerous.

“I have spent the last year playing the part of an obedient serpent,” he said.

His hands tightened slightly on my waist pulling me flush against him until there was no space left. The height difference forced me to look up.

“And now?” I whispered.

“Now” He looked at my neck and bent, his lips gently touching mine, “We make them regret”

He didn’t kiss me. Instead he leaned in until his forehead rested against mine, his eyes closed for a single heartbeat. When he opened again, the golden slits were wider and unmistakably primal.

“If we do this, Lucinda, there is no turning back.”

His voice had lost its teasing warmth.

“The wolves will not see it as a change of heart. They’ll see it as defiance and I will not be the only one who burns”

His thumb traced a slow, deliberate circle against my hip.

Even through the thin fabric of my dress, the touch sent a small, unwelcome spark of awareness through me.

I had come here looking for an ally.

I was beginning to suspect I had found something much more dangerous.

“So? Do you still want to continue?”

The story continues tomorrow with Chapter 2! This is my first story. Feel free to comment your thoughts below—I read every single one!