The Crown’s Chosen Mate

After a century of war, the three races finally reached a fragile peace.

The human kingdom, the vampire noble houses, and the wolf clans signed the Covenant of Three Realms.

The Royal Court would stand above the races, and only a mixed-blood royal heir would rule all three realms.

When my turn came,I chose Owen, Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack.

Our marriage ceremony took place on the Night of the Full Moon Oath.

Owen’s foster sister, Nora, fled the Bloodmoon territory after the rite. She crossed beyond the pack’s borders and ran straight into a hunter’s silver trap laid in the forest.

The silver tore through her wolf spirit. She died there before anyone could reach her.

When Owen arrived, he did not rage.

He simply carried her body back to the pack lands and performed the ancient wolf burial rites with his own hands.

After that night, he continued to play the role of the perfect mate.

But the night I gave birth to our hybrid child, he drove a blade through my throat, his eyes filled with hatred.

His voice was filled with cold hatred.

“If your bloodline weren’t the only one capable of producing a ruler for the three realms, I would never have married you.”

“Nora would never have fled the pack lands. She would never have died in a hunter’s trap. My first child would still be alive.”

Pain swallowed everything.

When I opened my eyes again.

I had returned to the day the king ordered me to choose between the vampire houses and the wolf clans.

Two portraits lay on the table before me.

On the right was Owen Blackwood. In the painting, the Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack wore the same bold, unrestrained smile that had once captivated half the court.

Now it only made my skin turn cold.

For a moment, the phantom memory returned with brutal clarity.

I forced my gaze away from the portrait and lifted my hand.

“Your Majesty,” I said calmly, pointing to the other painting, “I choose Lord Sebastian.”

King Aldric frowned slightly. “Selena, you are certain you do not wish to choose Owen?”

He studied me carefully. Everyone in the royal court knew how close Owen and I had once been.

But the truth of my rebirth was too strange to explain.

I simply lowered my head and answered with quiet certainty.

“Father, I will not regret this.”

The king watched me for another moment before nodding.

He rolled up Sebastian’s portrait and handed it to the chamberlain.

“I will summon the High Cleric and prepare the covenant between the Crown and the Vampire Dominion.”

The High Cleric was one of the rare few born of both bloodlines, half vampire and half werewolf. Every marriage between the three races had to be recorded by him in the Royal Covenant Archives and sealed through a formal rite.

I bowed to the king and withdrew from the throne hall.

Outside the palace gates, my lady’s maid Ivy hurried