Novels by Gold Zee

Seren's POVThe house didn't go back to normal after Ashgrove left. It just went quiet in a different way. The kind of quiet that comes after someone shows you exactly how easily they could burn your whole life down, then walks out smiling about it.I spent the first two days of the thirty pretending I wasn't counting them.Caelum buried himself in paperwork I wasn't allowed to see. His jaw stayed tight every time he passed me, like he was holding something back with his teeth. Rysen tried harder to act normal. He dragged me into the training yard, tried to teach me to throw a knife properly, laughed too loud at things that weren't that funny. I let him. Watching him try to carry the fear off my shoulders was easier than carrying it myself.It was working. For two whole days, it was actually working.Then Della knocked on my door with a letter in her hand, and her face told me it was bad before she said a single word."It came by courier," she said, not quite meeting my eyes. "Address

Seren's POVSunlight. Warmth. Someone's arm heavy across my waist and someone else's fingers loose around mine, like even asleep he hadn't trusted his hand to let go.For one whole minute, I let myself have it. The quiet. The thread under my skin humming low and content instead of screaming. I lay there memorizing it, because some part of me, the part that had spent nineteen years being told I was broken already knew a morning like this one didn't come free.I was right.The pounding on the door ripped through the room and Caelum was up before I'd even processed what the sound was. Rysen came up half a second later, knife already in his hand, some animal reflex faster than his own waking brain."Alpha." A guard, voice cracking. "Council delegation. Already past the gate."Caelum went so still it scared me more than his shouting would have. "That's not possible. No one requested a visit.""They didn't request one, sir." A breath. "The wards flagged an unregistered shift signature two n

Seren’s POVThey came to my room together that night, and I already knew, the moment I heard both sets of footsteps stop outside my door, that whatever this was between us had stopped being an arrangement."You don't have to let us in," Caelum said through the wood, and I could hear how much the words cost him, how carefully he'd chosen to leave the choice with me even now.I opened the door myself.Rysen's hand found my jaw first, tilting my face up, and he searched my eyes for something before he kissed me slow and deliberate, like he had all the time in the world despite the way his hands shook slightly against my skin. There was none of his usual teasing in it, none of the easy charm he wore like armor. Just his mouth on mine, patient and certain. Caelum's palm settled against the small of my back a heartbeat later, and I felt the low rumble of his chest against my shoulder blades, patient in a way that undid me faster than urgency ever could have."Tell us to stop and we stop," C

Seren’s POVTwelve days into my stay, something inside me finally gave.It happened in the hallway outside the laundry room, of all places. A young maid named Della had brought fresh linens to my door, and I’d followed her a few steps to ask where the library was, a small, stupid attempt to find something to do with the hours that stretched endlessly in that house. She turned to answer me, and the moment her eyes met mine, the pulse under my ribs that had gone quiet since the night I left Davan’s flat woke up screaming. I was confused about what It was, what was happening to me there.It didn’t feel like a heartbeat this time. It felt like something clawing its way up my spine, and I doubled over, gripping the wall, a sound tearing out of my throat that didn’t belong to any human voice I owned.“Seren?” Della’s voice climbed into panic. “Seren, your eyes—”I didn’t hear the rest. Heat ripped through my bones so fast I thought I was dying, my vision splitting into something too sharp,

Seren’s povI didn’t move, i couldn’t. I sat frozen in the middle of the bed, blanket bunched up in my fists, watching the shadow under the door pacing outside, one foot then the other. Whoever was there, breathed slow and patient. Like he had all night. “I know you’re awake,” Rysen said, quiet enough it barely made it through the wood.My shoulders dropped an inch. Not fear, then. Or not just fear.“I’m not going to knock.” A pause. “Caelum thinks I shouldn’t even be out here. Says it isn’t the time.” Something that might’ve been a laugh. “He’s usually right.”I slid off the mattress, crossed the cold floor barefoot, stopped an arm’s length from the door. Close enough to hear him breathing. Far enough the wood still separated us.“Then why are you here?”“Because I didn’t want you lying awake thinking today made you look weak.” A shift, like he’d leaned his shoulder against the frame. “It didn’t. Watching you take him apart without raising your voice that scared me a little. And I

Seren’s POV“Alphas, we can settle the eastern border lines right now, provided we confirm the terms of the collateral first,” Davan said, his voice ringing across the long mahogany table.He leaned forward, adjusting the cuffs of his carefully ironed tunic. He sat directly across from me, but his eyes were fixed entirely on the two men flanking my sides. He didn't look at me once. He was talking over my head, using that same patronizing tone he always used whenever he wanted to handle pack business while keeping me in the dark.“The unranked female is already in your possession, as agreed,” Davan continued, waving a hand casually in my direction. “So there is no reason to delay the signature on the timber routes. We can close this chapter today.”Caelum didn't say a single word. He sat perfectly still to my left, his large hands resting flat on the table, his dark eyes fixed entirely on Davan's throat. To my right, Rysen leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed, his face an unreada