"You're just too strong for your own good. I've told you a hundred times—I can help you. With resources, with pack connections, with anything you need." Her voice trembled with admiration. "But you insist on doing everything yourself." She shook her head slowly. "You're nothing like those pampered Alpha heirs who've had territory and tribute handed to them since birth..."
The Howl-Net chatter exploded across the scrying mirrors:
【Can the former intended mate seriously not tell the female lead is throwing shade at him?! Just forfeit the rite already and give first standing back to our precious male lead!】
【The female lead only offered tribute for this whole Moon-ink rite so she could sit on the adjudicator council—all for the male lead's sake!】
【Doesn't matter how much he lies. Once they pull the scrying mirror records, his "pure moonlight" image is going straight into the gutter!】
【The male lead comes from such a struggling pack and has to hunt his way through the Academy. He's been through so much hardship!】
I stared at Darian.
At the moonstone-encrusted claw-ring on his finger, worth at least a hundred thousand in pack currency. The shadow-silk coat draped across his shoulders, easily eighty thousand. The drake-leather boots on his feet, another six thousand at minimum.
My brow furrowed.
Struggling pack?
Hunting his way through the Academy?
Were we talking about the same wolf?
He was dressed more like old bloodline nobility than I was—and I was the actual Alpha Heir here.
Anyone who'd ever worked with Moon-ink knew how easy it was to get the sacred pigments everywhere. That's why most rune-scribes wore cheap, stain-resistant pelts to work in.
But Darian...
I watched the comments continue to gush over his "admirable dedication" and "humble circumstances."
I had no words.
Before I could even respond, tears began streaming down Darian's face.
"I know you're some wealthy Alpha Heir who doesn't care about tribute prizes this small," he choked out. "But for me, this rite standing represents an entire cycle's worth of Academy fees. I need this tribute. I can't survive without it."
His eyes were red-rimmed, glistening with moisture. Then, without warning, he dropped to his knees before me.
Thud.
The sound echoed through the council hall like a death knell.