MARKED FOR PRETEND - Chapter 1: Chapter 1
You are reading MARKED FOR PRETEND, Chapter 1: Chapter 1. Read more chapters of MARKED FOR PRETEND.
A Whisper Before the Beginning
They weren’t supposed to take her.
The rules were clear: only girls born within the inner territories. Only those who passed the purity rites. Only those the moon had whispered over.
But they took her anyway.
Not because of who she was. But because of who her mother had been.
The Council called it a gesture of respect.
The High Seer called it balance.
The wolves called it madness.
The Alphas didn’t call it anything at all.
They simply watched as the witch’s daughter was brought in silk and silence, and waited for the storm she would bring with her.
*CHELSEA*
The gown scratched my skin like it knew I didn’t belong here.It didn’t matter that it shimmered in candlelight, or that it had been sewn by the palace’s best tailors. The fabric clung like a lie and everyone could see through it.
The moment I stepped into the hall, the air changed.
Whispers followed me like a scent.
“That’s her?”
“I thought the witch’s line ended.”
“She’s not from here. She’s not even—”
I kept my chin up. Barely.
My heels echoed on polished stone as the guards led me forward, their faces blank, but their silence loud. One of them didn’t even bother to hide the way his nose wrinkled. Like I smelled wrong. Like I was already marked just not the way they wanted.
I wanted to speak. To ask what the hell I was doing here. But deep down, I knew the answer.
They were honoring a promise.
One last favor to a woman they feared and respected in equal measure. My mother. The witch who’d once saved this territory from bloodshed. The same one they burned the moment her usefulness ran dry.
They didn’t want me here.
The Council had tried to exclude me. Said I hadn’t been raised in their territory. That I wasn’t bonded to their traditions, their rites, their moon-blessed ways.
But a promise was a promise. And witches don’t forget debts.
So they sent for me.
Dragged me from the far edge of the wildlands, dressed me in silver and silence, and threw me into a room full of daughters who had been trained for this moment since birth.
They’d braided their hair like the moon’s rings. Painted their faces in pearl dust and power. Smiled at each other with teeth sharp enough to slice.
I stood out like an omen.
“Why is she here?” one girl whispered, loud enough to be heard.
“Is that even a real gown?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t break. But I felt every glance like a scratch against my skin.
The Matrons announced the rules, their voices echoing off the marble walls. Seven Alphas were in attendance this year. One from each outer territory. One from the North the feared one, the unpredictable one. The one they said only showed up when something important was fated to happen.
They said the bond would reveal itself. That a true mate couldn’t be hidden.
I hoped I was invisible.
Because if fate had anything planned for me, I wanted no part in it.
They weren’t supposed to take her.
The rules were clear: only girls born within the inner territories. Only those who passed the purity rites. Only those the moon had whispered over.
But they took her anyway.
Not because of who she was. But because of who her mother had been.
The Council called it a gesture of respect.
The High Seer called it balance.
The wolves called it madness.
The Alphas didn’t call it anything at all.
They simply watched as the witch’s daughter was brought in silk and silence, and waited for the storm she would bring with her.
*CHELSEA*
The gown scratched my skin like it knew I didn’t belong here.It didn’t matter that it shimmered in candlelight, or that it had been sewn by the palace’s best tailors. The fabric clung like a lie and everyone could see through it.
The moment I stepped into the hall, the air changed.
Whispers followed me like a scent.
“That’s her?”
“I thought the witch’s line ended.”
“She’s not from here. She’s not even—”
I kept my chin up. Barely.
My heels echoed on polished stone as the guards led me forward, their faces blank, but their silence loud. One of them didn’t even bother to hide the way his nose wrinkled. Like I smelled wrong. Like I was already marked just not the way they wanted.
I wanted to speak. To ask what the hell I was doing here. But deep down, I knew the answer.
They were honoring a promise.
One last favor to a woman they feared and respected in equal measure. My mother. The witch who’d once saved this territory from bloodshed. The same one they burned the moment her usefulness ran dry.
They didn’t want me here.
The Council had tried to exclude me. Said I hadn’t been raised in their territory. That I wasn’t bonded to their traditions, their rites, their moon-blessed ways.
But a promise was a promise. And witches don’t forget debts.
So they sent for me.
Dragged me from the far edge of the wildlands, dressed me in silver and silence, and threw me into a room full of daughters who had been trained for this moment since birth.
They’d braided their hair like the moon’s rings. Painted their faces in pearl dust and power. Smiled at each other with teeth sharp enough to slice.
I stood out like an omen.
“Why is she here?” one girl whispered, loud enough to be heard.
“Is that even a real gown?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t break. But I felt every glance like a scratch against my skin.
The Matrons announced the rules, their voices echoing off the marble walls. Seven Alphas were in attendance this year. One from each outer territory. One from the North the feared one, the unpredictable one. The one they said only showed up when something important was fated to happen.
They said the bond would reveal itself. That a true mate couldn’t be hidden.
I hoped I was invisible.
Because if fate had anything planned for me, I wanted no part in it.
End of MARKED FOR PRETEND Chapter 1. Continue reading Chapter 2 or return to MARKED FOR PRETEND book page.