The beast stirred inside her heart.

The darkness within her soul, awoken by the curse of Lycaon, grew hungry for human flesh. Her sense of smell, already stronger than most, became overwhelming. Her staff suddenly smelled appetizing, delightfully so.

That was the pernicious thing about the werewolf curse; under its influence, even the most terrible crimes turned into abominable pleasures. While the human side could hold on to sanity during most nights, the beast fully took over during the full moon. The wolf was no friend of man: to it, everyone outside the pack was either a prey or an enemy.

Even you won’t be safe, Caenis, Julia thought as her lover chained her. The basement of her keep was dark and damp, with only the torches in the entrance corridor providing a measure of light. Caenis’ lantern burnt at the handmaiden’s side, but she would take it away soon. So few will be safe from my hunger.

Julia could recognize Kairos under the curse’s influence, either because he had fathered her children or thanks to his Skills. She also identified Aurelia as part of her pack, a venerable wolf older than her to whom she owed respect. Julia’s mother-in-law had already chained herself in a corner of the room, patiently waiting for the moment when the full moon would rise and trigger the transformation. Her wolf-pelts formed an improvised bed beneath her.

As for Julia’s children upstairs… their mother had never dared to test out if she would react to them or not.

She was afraid of the answer.

“They will be safe,” Caenis reassured Julia, her blue eyes two stars in the darkness.

“Is my worry so obvious?” Julia asked with a despairing sigh. Her clothes were piled up in a corner so she wouldn’t tear them off during the transformation, her naked skin touching the cold hard stone. “I hate it.”

Ever since that fateful night, the curse had ruled over Julia’s life. It destroyed all her prospects in Lyce, convinced her brother to ship her to a foreign land, and forced her to chain herself up during the full moon so she wouldn’t assault people. Julia had made the most of her situation, yes; she wouldn’t trade Kairos, Rhea, or Aurelius for all of Lyce’s wealth. But she hated feeling robbed of control over her life.

Julia hated to feel weak.

“Caenis?” Julia asked her lover. “What have you seen tonight? What did your visions show you?”

“My visions have been obscured since Orgonos blessed you and your family, milady.”

“Is that all you saw? Darkness?”

Caenis inhaled, her fingers trembling as she tightened her mistress’ chain. Only then did Julia notice her lover’s disheveled hair and the paleness of her skin. Caenis had foreseen something terrible and didn’t want to frighten her.

Julia grabbed her lover’s arm, startling her. “Caenis,” she said. “What have you seen?”

“A red mist covering our futures,” her handmaiden admitted with a sorrowful gaze. “Like when you visited Travia.”

Romulus.

Doubt seized Julia’s heart. Even the sphinx would be no match for the vicious [Demigod] if the plan failed. “Triple the guard around Aurelius,” she ordered Caenis. “I don’t care if we have to put all of our army between Romulus and my son. He cannot reach him.”

“No one will access your son, milady,” Caenis tried to meekly reassure her.

Instead, Julia’s nails sank into her flesh. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she hissed at Caenis. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Milady, you’re hurting—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Julia cut her off with an angry scowl, her nails turning sharp as claws and causing Caenis to wince in pain. “You knew Romulus might come for my son, so why—”

“Julia, enough.” Aurelia’s calm, iron voice snapped Julia out of her fury. “Leave the poor girl alone. She’s terrified.”

Julia’s heart skipped a beat as the smell of blood filled her nose. She glanced down at Caenis’ arm, seeing the red drop falling off her skin. “I…” Julia recoiled, her nails stained with her lover’s blood. “I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Caenis replied as she covered her wounded arm with her robes’ sleeves. “I didn’t want to startle you, milady.”

“It’s the curse,” Julia apologized, her heart full of guilt. “Even you, I…”

“I know.” Caenis sighed in despair. “I know.”

It hurts her, Julia realized. To know I can recognize Kairos, but not her. To be forced to watch me from outside this cell instead of sharing my bed. “Caenis…”

“I just wish it could all end one day,” her lover confessed. “I would gladly trade my curse to lift your own.”

“Your curse?” Julia frowned. “Your foresight is no curse, Caenis.”

Her handmaiden’s face turned blank and lifeless. “Is that so? I only see what the System will let me, and more often than not I cannot change the outcome I predict. What good is the gift of prophecy if I can only watch or follow the script? I’m a slave to Fate.”

“You are no slave,” Julia insisted as she held her handmaiden’s hand. “No more. I granted you your freedom, and not even the gods will take it away.”

“Thank you, milady, but…” Caenis didn’t look convinced.

“What is on your mind?” Julia asked while her heartbeat grew strong. The sun was falling outside, feeding the beast.

Caenis hesitated a moment, before her tongue untied. “When your son was born, all of my fears were realized. I prayed you would have a girl.”

So did I, Julia thought grimly.

“But… as I cared for Aurelius and his sister, I felt a warmth I never experienced before. I wondered how it would feel to have children of my own. I wondered how it would have felt, if your children had been mine instead of Kairos.” Caenis chuckled mirthlessly. “Alas, nature made the two of us women.”

“We could have children.”

“I do not want a surrogate father, Julia. I want you.”

Julia almost opened her mouth to reveal the truth, but kept her mouth shut. Nobody must know, Aglaonice warned her. No one but us. “You could always join Kairos and I in bed,” Julia asked with a chuckle, trying to hide her discomfort behind a joke. “He would do the deed, but I would be the one pleasuring you.”

Caenis blushed a little. “I… no,” she said. “I don’t think that would work.”

“Maybe not,” Julia admitted, though she had entertained the thought. “But as far as I’m concerned, Rhea and Aurelius will be raised to consider you a second mother. You are family, Caenis.”

Her lover looked at her in surprise, her blank expression slowly fading as tears formed in her eyes.

“Caenis?” Julia asked, her enhanced senses smelling the salt in the tears.

“I’m…” Caenis slowly wiped away her tears. “I would love it, Julia.”

An awkward silence settled, which Julia broke with a small, furtive kiss on Caenis’ lips. Her lover didn’t move an inch. She tastes of fear, Julia realized to her horror. She’s afraid Romulus will come for me.

“You should go, child,” Aurelia warned Caenis. “My hunger grows stronger.”

“Yes.” Caenis rose up, taking her lantern while giving Julia one last sorrowful gaze. “I… I’ll stay outside for a while, as usual.”

Julia sat on the cold hard ground, the chainlinks rubbing against each other with a screeching noise. Caenis moved to the basement’s barred door, opening it.

“Caenis,” Julia called.

Her lover froze, a hand on the doorknob.

“Thank you for staying at my side,” Julia whispered. “And for everything else.”

Caenis didn’t move for a few seconds, before wordlessly giving her mistress a smile. She slowly closed the door behind her, casting Julia and Aurelia in the darkness.

A minute later, the curse took them over.

Red fur grew over Julia’s skin, warming her up. Her nails turned into claws, her teeth into fangs. Her beautiful body ached as it took on a bestial shape. Her sight grew sharper, while her inner beast roared inside her heart.

But Julia’s mind remained clear.

[Arcadian Brew +] activated. You can suppress the [Werewolf] transformation at will, but you will suffer from the [Poisoned] Status ailment until dawn or the potion’s effect wears off.

A sickness spread through her veins, the inhuman strength summoned by the werewolf curse shackled by Kairos’ potion. The beast inside her was drugged into sleep, alive but weakened.

After having enhanced his [Poison Brewer] Skill to its fourth rank, Kairos had been able to craft truly powerful potions. When Julia had asked him if he had anything that could suppress the werewolf curse, he answered with a negative. He couldn’t craft a potion capable of curing a god’s curse… but he had something that could mitigate it.

I want to vomit, Julia thought as she struggled to adapt. Her belly burnt as her body fought against itself. Ugh… it’s worse than I expected.

Oblivious to her mistress’ agony, Caenis waited behind the barred door with her lantern in hand. Julia breathed heavily as she suppressed the pain, recoiling in the darkness. Eventually, her handmaiden left with her lantern, Julia hearing her walk up the stairs while her smell vanished.

Please make it stop… Julia pleaded inwardly as she struggled against her nausea. Her wolf form’s enhanced vitality mitigated the poison’s side-effects, but didn’t fully suppress them. Her mother-in-law, now a magnificent silver wolf, seemed to take it better. Moments like this… make me wonder if I should have chosen to become a [Fighter]...

Julia closed her eyes and attempted to return to human form like she could do during normal nights. The pain grew even more atrocious as the venom suppressed the curse, shrank her nails, and caused her fur to recede.

Though Julia became a human again, her naked skin itched uncontrollably and her blood boiled in her veins. She had hoped that the potion could be an acceptable substitute for a cure to her lycanthropy, but this hope quickly perished. “I…” Julia’s teeth gritted uncontrollably. “It’s awful…”

“It is,” she heard Aurelia whisper at her side, as her mother-in-law regained her human shape. “I don’t think I can get used to it.”

Even the oblivious savagery of the beast was preferable.

But today was a special occasion, and Julia’s children needed her.

“It is almost time,” Algaonice’s voice magically echoed in the cell. “Open the box, dear, and take the secret passage.”

Julia looked at her pile of clothes. Pushing her red robe aside, she uncovered a small chest no larger than a fist. Since savage werewolves lacked the intelligence to make use of them, it was meant to contain the chains’ spare key in case of an emergency where no one would come to free them at dawn.

But when she opened the box, Julia found something else alongside the keys. A splendid necklace with eye-shaped gemstones colored after the rainbow. They shone even in the darkness of the cell, gazing at the Queen of Histria as if it was alive.

The [Necklace of Harmonia]?

Why did Aglaonice put it in the box with the keys? What use would it serve, unless…

No, Julia thought as a chilling cold coursed through her spine. A terrible doubt seized her heart. No, it’s impossible. It doesn’t add up. It can’t be…

But why else? Why else?

“What next?” Julia whispered as she examined the necklace.

Aglaonice’s voice echoed once more. “Follow your nose, darling, and see for yourself.”

I’m not sure I will believe it even if I witness it with my own eyes, Julia thought as she grabbed the keys, tossed one to Aurelia, and unchained herself. The sphinx had to be mistaken. If she is pranking me, I will strangle her myself.

The beast inside her echoed her anger, waiting for an opportunity to break its bindings. Julia calmed herself, resolving not to feed the curse lest it regain its full strength.

“Take this,” Aurelia offered her daughter-in-law a short sword she had hidden beneath her pelts once both women had freed and clothed themselves.

“Don’t you have a weapon too?” Julia asked as she seized the pommel. The blade appeared so light in her hand, though her trembling fingers made it hard to hold it.

“I won’t need one,” Aurelia replied before pressing three stones in the nearest wall. A subtle clicking sound resounded as the bricks magically moved to reveal a hidden tunnel. “Did the sphinx predict where it would happen?”

“No.” Only that the mole would try to murder her son on the full moon. “I am in the dark as well.”

“I pray your faith is not mistaken then.”

The two women walked inside the secret tunnel, with only the sound of their footsteps for company. The path was wide enough to let multiple people through, and didn’t connect to any other secret passage. Few even knew about its existence.

I will never thank Thales enough for designing these exits, Julia thought. The automaton architect and Dispater’s builders had done a wonderful job with it. Though I hoped never to make use of them.

Her enhanced senses picked up the sound of waves crashing against rocks as they reached the end of the tunnel. Aurelia pressed another switch hidden in the stone, opening a path to the outside. The dry, paved path of the tunnel was swiftly replaced with damp and wet rocks. The cliffs of Histria loomed over the sea, its lighthouse calling ships home.

Julia covered her arms as a cold wind blew on the stony shore. The Necklace of Harmonia felt so heavy in her pocket, the weight of its evil bearing down on her. It demanded that Julia put it on, to fully accept its power and the curse that went with it.

Or maybe the smell of treachery had awoken its evil spirit.

“I smell them,” Aurelia whispered with an angry scowl.

Julia raised her head and inhaled the wind. She noticed two scents, so close that they were intertwined. One was her ‘son.’

The other…

Julia’s fingers tightened on her sword as she glanced at the cliff. Though it was night, the full moon above cast a ray of light on a discreet hole in the steep wall of chalky stone.

Another passageway was open: more specifically, the one meant to evacuate the royal family directly from their bedchambers. Only one person besides Julia’s kin had free access to it, because…

Because she was considered family. Because she was trusted.

Julia shook as the flame of rage and betrayal burnt her doubts away. The beast inside her had woken up, demanding the blood of the traitor; and the human half wept in despair.

“I am sorry,” Aurelia whispered as she put a warm hand on Julia’s shoulder. “You couldn’t know.”

Yes, she could have.

The signs had been before Julia’s eyes all along. She had just blinded herself.

“She has to be possessed,” Julia whispered, though she was deluding herself. A body-snatcher would have been discovered. Her mages checked her staff regularly for signs of mind-control or shapeshifting. “She better be.”

Under terrible circumstances, a small boat would have awaited near this hidden cove to transport the royal family away. But tonight, only the raging waves battered the shore. A hooded figure faced the sea, her robes floating with the wind while she held a sleeping child in her hands.

She hadn’t noticed Julia and Aurelia approaching.

She couldn’t foresee it.

“Caenis,” Julia called, the howling wind echoing her cold rage. “Turn around.”

Her treacherous handmaiden tensed up.

“Turn around,” Julia repeated, struggling not to throw the sword like a dagger in the back. She couldn’t afford to take the risk with her child’s life on the line. “Now.”

The hooded figure hesitated, before slowly proceeding. Her sandals hit the wet stones as she faced Julia, her beautiful, pained face clearly visible. A child slept soundly against her chest, wrapped up in clothes.

It’s her eyes, Julia thought as she recognized Caenis’ gaze. She had lost herself in them so many times, she could recognize them anywhere. Her heart cried out, the fire in her veins cooled down by the crushing weight of disappointment.

“I wondered why I wanted to devour you in wolf form. I could recognize Kairos and Aurelia as part of my pack too, though we didn’t share the same blood. But not you. Not you.” Water filled Julia’s eyes. “My human half lied to herself, but the beast knew better.”

Aurelia didn’t cry, but her cold eyes looked at the child Caenis held. The stones were so wet from the waves that a wrong move might cause the dancer and her hostage to fall into the sea. “Give my grandson back if you want to live,” the matriarch of the Marius family ordered coldly with a hand extended. “Approach carefully.”

Caenis didn’t make a move. She bit her lower lip, holding the child tightly.

“How long?” Julia asked, her voice breaking. “From the start?”

Caenis had the grace to look down. “They got me a long time ago.”

From the start.

All along, from the very first kiss to this moment…

“It wasn’t the System who sent you these visions,” Julia realized as her fondest memories turned twisted and bleak. “Which god gave you your foresight, Caenis?”

Only the crashing waves answered.

“Return my grandson, traitor,” Aurelia threatened, her teeth turning into fangs. “Or I will smash your head against the stone. My patience is wearing thin.”

This time, Caenis looked up. “He will die if you try,” she said, her gaze as hollow as Julia’s heart. “He will die all the same.”

“You won’t outlive him,” Aurelia replied coldly.

“You think I expected to live through this?” Caenis shook her head. “It was meant to be. I saw myself holding this child at this very spot.”

“Fuck your visions!” Julia snarled, the wind drying her tears. “Why? Was it all a lie from the beginning?!”

“Julia—”

“Don’t you dare call me by my first name while you’re holding my son hostage, you treacherous whore.” Julia took a step forward, but stopped as Caenis nearly stumbled on the wet stones. “Why?”

Aurelia snorted. “To get back at Lyce.”

“Lyce…” Caenis sneered in bitterness for the first time since Julia knew her. “They would have executed me if Julia hadn’t convinced Sertorius to commute my sentence. Even then, they turned me into a slave.”

“You broke your oath as a vestal,” Aurelia replied without sympathy.

“I slept with one person out of love,” Caenis whispered. “The Senex’s members cheat on their spouses all the time and are forgiven, but when we women do it, it’s a crime that warrants death.”

“Every traitor has their sob story.”

Caenis glared at Aurelia. “Did being born a werewolf warrant exile?”

Aurelia recoiled as if slapped.

“You are not a wolf,” Caenis hissed. “You’re an abandoned dog crying to be taken back. So much that you sold your own son to that murderous bastard Sertorius. You defend a nation built on slavery, misogyny, and oppression, that exiled you because you were born wrong. You disgust me. Even this bloody, pointless war only happens because Mithridates is rightfully afraid of seeing his country conquered.”

“Did that warrant selling out our homeland to Lycaon?” Julia glanced at her ‘son’ while Aurelia remained eerily silent. “Did you hate this place so much that you wanted it gone, and my children along with it?”

Caenis’ wrath turned to shame. “I didn’t help the Beast Cult to strike back against the Lycean Republic. The thought helped, but… Lycaon is far, far worse.”

“Then why?” Julia asked, at her wits’ ends. Give me a reason to forgive you, she thought desperately. An explanation, an excuse, something, anything. “Why? Answer me!”

Caenis’ blue eyes narrowed.

“For you,” she whispered, so low her words could barely be heard over the wind. “I did it for you.”

Julia flinched as the truth became obvious to her. “I’m the hostage,” she realized.

“Why do you think the curse awoke in your blood, Julia? You, who always recklessly ventured where you shouldn’t? They couldn’t get to your brother, so they wanted to make sure he would have no heir.” Caenis shook her head. “The wolves would have murdered you long ago if not for me.”

“I don’t need a protector. I don’t need you watching over my shoulder and stabbing me in the back.” Julia gritted her teeth in rage. “What did you do, Caenis? You failed to kill my brother, but the cult let you live after your failures, so you still fulfilled a mission of some kind. What did you do?”

“What I had to do. They offered to let you live. To lift the curse if…”

“If you killed my brother and then my son?”

“I… it was never meant to go this way.” Caenis looked at the child in her bosom with a guilty look. “Your brother was too well-protected, too paranoid. Always using food-tasters, bodyguards, and magical protections. Even ratting out his location to Travian pirates only played in his favor. I did what I could to prevent him from getting an heir, but I… I couldn’t do the same to you. As a woman and a friend, I… I couldn’t betray you this way…”

“You have betrayed me enough for a lifetime,” Julia replied coldly, causing Caenis to avoid her gaze. “For the sake of the love we once shared… give me back my son now.”

“As long as he and your brother live, they will never leave you alone!” Caenis shouted back in defiance. The air grew colder, the wind howling louder and louder. “Would you trade your life for his?”

“Yes,” Julia replied as she took a step on the stones. Aurelia gave her a wary gaze, while Caenis stood firm. “And I know you can’t bring yourself to make this sick trade either.”

“Julia, stop,” Caenis recoiled, her sandal almost slipping. “If you take one more step…”

“You had plenty of opportunities to kill my son. You could have smothered him in the crib, or gutted him while Kairos and I left him in your care. But you couldn’t do it, because you are no monster.” From Caenis’ expression, Julia knew she had guessed right. “You can’t do it.”

“Julia,” Aurelia whispered behind her. “Julia, back down. Something is—”

Julia ignored her mother-in-law, her eyes focused on her treacherous companion. “You would rather let the sea do the deed,” she accused Caenis. “If you love me, truly love me… then give him back.”

Caenis clenched her jaw, tears in her eyes. “Julia, it’s too late.”

“Your heart is weak.”

A dark voice droned in Julia’s head, and her brain burnt far worse than the poison in her veins. A vile spirit forced its way into her spirit, while Aurelia echoed her screams. Her hands held her head as a shadow rose from the sea, the spiritual projection of a legionary warrior appearing behind the terrified Caenis. Only flames burnt inside his funeral mask.

You have been [Dominated] by Romulus’ [King of the Wild Hunt] Legendary Skill.

“The poison in your veins may disguise your true nature, woman, but you cannot lie to yourself. All children of the beast are sworn to my will.”

Romulus’ dark spirit turned to the terrified Caenis, while Julia was too powerless to stop him.

“Do your duty, slave of the wolf-god,” said the Legate of Lycaon, his voice echoing with the wind. “Throw the heir into the sea.”