Phoebe’s POV
The aning behind her words hit like a sledgehamr, and I felt my world tilt beneath my feet.
These bastards didn’t let the won stay in the oga quarters. Instead, they dumped them near the forest to survive on their own after using them. After taking what they wanted and forcing pleasure from these won’s broken bodies.
Once they’d satisfied their sick desires and the won fell pregnant, they tossed them aside like garbage.
Perry had warned about this—how the Valerium Kingdom valued sons over daughters like so twisted tradition.
Now I understood why Jude and the others lived here, pushed to the pack house’s outer edges. They had daughters. Cast out with their girls while forced to surrender their sons to warriors for training.
Only younger girls lived in the oga quarters. Their daughters would join them at twelve, and the sick cycle would repeat.
Perry had explained this to , but knowing sothing and witnessing it firsthand were two different hells. My chest tightened with rage and heartbreak. They deserved so much better than this nightmare.
But the damage was done, and I couldn’t change the past.
"Where is she?" I asked Jude about her daughter. Around us sprawled at least a hundred makeshift huts that barely qualified as shelter. Scraps of wood and forest debris cobbled together into sothing resembling hos.
Rain season would flood this place, but that wasn’t my biggest worry right now.
"Here, she’s inside..." Jude mumbled, sha coloring her voice as she gestured toward her hut.
Other won with their daughters—always daughters—ducked into their shelters when I arrived, though curious eyes peeked through cracks and tiny windows carved into wooden walls.
I ignored their stares, but Samuel ntioned stationing more warriors around the area for protection.
I hated the idea, but he insisted, terrified sothing might happen to .
Finally, I gave in with conditions—they’d stay hidden from these people. Guards could patrol the outer pack but not invade this small village the won had built.
Samuel had no choice but to accept my terms.
"You don’t need to do this," Patricia said as I pulled back the fabric serving as a door. "She’ll be fine."
"It’s okay. I won’t interfere, just want to check on her and see what I can do," I replied gently, stepping inside.
Jude and Patricia exchanged worried glances while Rylie stayed silent—the quietest of the three.
Inside the hut, a bitter sll assaulted my senses, coming from a little girl sleeping on a bed made from sewn-together clothing scraps.
She looked so frail and thin. At six years old, she appeared closer to four.
Carefully, I approached and sat on the dirt floor, making Jude and Patricia visibly uncomfortable. Rylie had retreated to her own hut while Samuel followed inside.
"How long has she had this fever?" I touched her burning forehead. The little girl whimpered in her sleep, clearly suffering. The sll remained a mystery, but she was definitely burning up.
"She’s been like this for a week," Jude answered.
"What have you given her? Any dragon seed?" I asked, curious about the dosage while trying to rember sothing important from my ti with Marcela that might help.
"I’ve used dragon seed for two days now. Here’s what’s left, my queen." Jude handed over the remaining powder. "I mixed a teaspoon of dried dragon seed with water, three tis daily."
I took the dried powder and inhaled. Strong aroma, but sothing felt wrong.
"Did you mix it with anything else?" The scent was off—pure dragon seed didn’t sll like this.
"Yes... for the fever, I added green moss," Jude said weakly. "I heard it reduces fever."
Without access to healers, these people used whatever they could scavenge.
"Green moss?" I frowned, unfamiliar with that plant. "Can I see it?"
Jude retrieved sothing from a small drawer and handed it over.
My heart sank. Their "green moss" was actually triangle leaves from the Mya kingdom.
Triangle leaves were dangerous for children, especially mixed with dragon seed—it would only worsen the little girl’s condition.
"Oh no..." I pulled back the blanket wrapped around her makeshift bed, finally locating the source of that awful sll.
Her feet had turned blue.
"You can’t mix dragon seed and triangle leaves!" Alarm shot through my voice before I could control it.
Jude and Patricia trembled visibly. Tears gathered in Jude’s eyes. "What? Why? I thought... I thought..." She pressed her hand to her chest.
"This green moss is triangle leaves from my kingdom..." I explained in detail why the combination was deadly. "It creates internal damage, and look—her feet are starting to decay."
Seeing her daughter’s blue feet, Jude collapsed into sobs. "I didn’t an to hurt her... I didn’t... I thought it would help her fever..."
I couldn’t bla her. She lacked dical knowledge. It had taken years of dedicated study with Marcela to understand these things.
"What do I do now?" Jude cried harder while Patricia held her.
"I need a few things," I said.
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