Chapter 451\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
A 75\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
Five years ago, Scarlett was the star of the Moonfeast Ceremony. The pack\u2019s golden girl. The treasured little princess of the Ebonclaw bloodline. And I? I was the dirty secret they locked away-the trueborn daughter cast out in favor of a wolf with prettier lies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, five years later, the tides had turned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlett\u2019s wrists were bound in wolfsilver cuffs, her face pale and streaked with mascara as the enforcers dragged her out of the banquet hall. Her screams rang in my ears like a long-awaited melody.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beside her was Ronan Duskcliff, his usually proud jaw clenched shut by the stifling humiliation. The sock they\u2019d gagged him with had been ripped out by one of the officers. As they passed, he shot me a look of stunned betrayal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRiley,\u201d he growled, his voice raw with disbelief. \u201cHow could you turn into this? I\u2019m so disappointed in you. Don\u2019t expect my forgiveness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forgiveness?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blinked slowly at him, my pulse as steady as stone. I had survived five years in the Iron Cells while he played Alpha\u2019s golden heir and pretended my blood meant nothing. He watched me fall, and now he thought his forgiveness was a gift I should crave?\u00a0<\/p>\n
What kind of delusion was that?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRonan,\u201d I said, my voice low and cold, like the snow-tipped peaks of Winterhowl, \u201chas anyone ever told you that you\u2019re like a dying moonflower?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I reached out and casually wiped my finger across the crimson wine that had bled onto the banquet tablecloth. The color reminded me of blood spilled unjustly. My blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStill dressed in petals of nobility, trying so hard to shine. But at your core? You\u2019ve already rotted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He flinched. Good,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Five years had turned me into something harder. Sharper. Stronger. While he remained a coward hiding behind the comfort of lies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned\u00a0<\/p>\n
away men like him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
from him, uninterested in hearing another word. I\u2019d wasted too many breaths on\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:16 Fri, Jan 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 451\u00a0<\/p>\n
76\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glance at Lucien-Lucien Duskgrave, the Alpha Regent of Stormridge, now standing silently by my side. The tailored lines of his suit hugged his broad frame like armor. His presence was a blade sheathed in velvet, cold and elegant. Ronan\u2019s gaze lingered on the way Lucien\u2019s hand lightly brushed my lower back, protective, possessive, unapologetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jealousy darkened Ronan\u2019s face. I saw it-the fury that he\u2019d lost something he thought was his, though he never truly claimed me, never truly saw me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he wasn\u2019t part of my world anymore. He never had been.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The enforcers dragged him and Scarlett away, their protests falling on deaf ears. No one in the banquet hall dared stop it. Not after what Lucien had revealed. Not after what they had done to\u00a0<\/p>\n
And just like that, the air in the room shifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tension melted. Conversations cautiously resumed. Heads turned in my direction-not with pity, but with reverence. Awe. The women stared at me like I was the heroine of some ancient legend; the men gave Lucien wary, respectful nods. They\u2019d all seen what power looked like-and what it protected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soon, the gifts began flowing again, brought forward in ornate boxes lined with velvet and wolfhair silk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pack Matriarch, Lucien\u2019s grandmother, sat regally at the head of the banquet, smiling as she accepted each present with soft words and knowing eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then it was my turn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a breath, but it caught in my throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every step I took toward her felt like I was carrying the weight of those five years in the Iron Cells with me. Not just shame, but something more dangerous. Guilt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I finally stood before her, I bowed my head. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Matriarch,\u201d I whispered. \u201cIt\u2019s my fault. I wasn\u2019t able to protect the moonthread embroidery Lucien commissioned for your Lunar Jubilee.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The painting wasn\u2019t just a gift. It had been mine. I\u2019d spent countless nights crafting it by hand- each moon-thread stitch woven with pain and hope. My own tears had soaked into that cloth\u00a0<\/p>\n
more than once.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Scarlett had destroyed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not by accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:16 Fri, Jan 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 451\u00a0<\/p>\n
But because she knew it mattered to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
76\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the short time I\u2019d been in the Duskgrave estate, the Matriarch had treated me not as an outsider, but like family. She\u2019d ordered the healers to tend my leg, sent rare root tonics to help repair the damage wrought by prison chains. She\u2019d ensured warm meals reached my quarters, made by her own chef. She never looked at me like I was broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She called me beautiful, even when the mirror showed me scars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She called me kind, even when my soul burned with rage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said Lucien was lucky to have found me-when I\u2019d been told all my life that I was cursed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I swallowed, lips trembling. \u201cI failed you. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Matriarch stood slowly and came to me, her hands soft as she clasped mine. \u201cNo, child,\u201d she said. \u201cYou did nothing wrong. The ones who wronged you are the ones who should feel shame. The gift may be gone-but your heart was in every stitch. I felt it. And that is enough for\u00a0<\/p>\n
me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. My chest clenched painfully. She was too kind. Far too kind to someone like me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But before I could compose myself, Lucien\u2019s voice cut through the hall like a blade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was your mistake.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Matriarch\u2019s head snapped toward him, eyes wide with shock. I could almost hear her internal gasp-he\u2019s so blunt, doesn\u2019t he see how crushed she looks?\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Lucien didn\u2019t flinch. His eyes were on me, unreadable but intense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1.0K\u00a0<\/p>\n
B\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Midnight Letters by Daniel Crowe 451 Chapter 451\u00a0 Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0 A 75\u00a0 Finished\u00a0 Five years ago, Scarlett was the star […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pack-princess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}