Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Lyra’s POV

For the longest time, I didn't want to move, not because I couldn't, but because I didn't want to. No matter how many requests or commands my brain sent to the rest of my body, it just didn't budge, and I wouldn't say I blamed my nervous system. If we were to swap places, and my owner was instructing me to willingly have something to do with Xavier of blackwater, then best believe I was going to shut down immediately, without thinking of the consequences.

My mind echoed with the guards last words, and no matter how many times it replayed, I refused to make sense of it.

“Forgive the intrusion, Alpha, Luna…” the guard's voice was distant in my memory, but I stoll neard him pretty clearly.“But a raven has arrived. It’s marked with the rogue king's seal.”

A message. Xavier had a message, not just for me, but for Xander as well. I had no idea which was worse. The fact that I was still in his mind, or the fact that he had somehow included his stepbrother in it as well.

“Are you sure?” Someone's gruff voice was all it took to pull me out of my thoughts. It was Xander no doubt, and from his voice you could tell that if he had the choice to burn whatever bird Xavier had sent his message through, he would have done it by now. “who the hell sends messages that way? We're in the modern age.”

“I'm sure, Alpha.” The guard bowed, his lips trembling, and I couldn't help but feel like he was more afraid of not delivering the message, than whatever tantrum Xander was throwing. “I…”

Xander pushes past him before he could get any more words out. His gait showed he was mad, but deep down, I knew he was going to be in a worse condition by the time he'd read whatever Xavier had for him. I counted to fifty, and after inhaling and exhaling for the umpteenth time, I finally summoned courage to go after Xander. I met him in the foyer, his lips quivering with a letter in hand.

Did Xavier send just one letter for the both of us?

Fate must have heard my inner question, because my eyes darted to the table just next to Xander. The letter was sealed in dark crimson wax, and marked with a crest I didn't recognize. It was a black wolf's head, snarling and surrounded with thorns that dug deep to the extent you'd think it was choking the poor animal.

That was blackwater's crest.

A shiver ran down my spine, but I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. Apparently, the guard had set the letters on the table before coming to get us and that's when I realized both of them were addressed .

One to Xander Blackwater, Alpha of Redmoon, and the other, in finer script, to Lyra Finn, Luna.

I reached for mine, while Xander clutched to his like the world was going to fall apart of he dared to let go. He must have caught me staring or thought of something crazy, because he tore his open first, and almost immediately, something slipped out. It was a thin, silken strand of hair, pale gold and unmistakably Emily’s, and myy stomach dropped in an instant.

“Bastard,” Xander snarled under his breath, but he kept reading.

I watched his expression shift. First came rage, and then something colder, helplessness. He crushed the paper in his hand, but the letter still fluttered to the ground.

I picked it up before he could stop me,but he didn't seem to mind.

“You always liked her hair, didn’t you? Let’s see how much is left once you start listening.” I read out loud, and with each word that my eyes skimmed over, I couldn't help but read them in Xavier's voice. That same voice that set my skin ablaze the moment he whispered sweet nothings into my ear. “Seat at parliament, or I keep clipping. Regards, The rightful heir.”

“Fucking bastard!” Disgust bloomed in my chest, but before I could comment on Xander's outburst, my gaze fell back to the letter in my own hand.

It was thinner, and for some strange reason, I just knew there wouldn't a threat inside.No locks of hair either,but that didn't stop my fingers from trembling all the same.

I broke the seal

“Darling Lyra, You never said goodbye. You left behind more than just a scent I can’t forget.” I didn't know why I decided to red it out loud, but Xander boiling beside me made it slightly more worth it. “Since fate has thrown us together again, I’d rather we not waste time with middlemen. Come to Blackwater. One night. No chains. No tricks. Just… truth, and maybe, we'd finally agree to a negotiation. You know the way, and I’ll be waiting. X”

I swallowed hard. My hands trembled, though I wasn’t sure if it was fear, or something else entirely.

“Let me guess,” Xander said, voice tight and filled with hate. “His twisted attempt at a love letter?”

For the next couple of seconds, I didn't say anything. What could I say? There was no way in the world I could agree to Xander's claims. Right now, I wasn't even sure if he'd heard me, or he was just fuming based on the content of his own letter.

My eyes darted to his hand, and for a second, I caught sight of him clutching into Emily's hair like that was the only thing that mattered to him.

“Are you going to stand there and read it all day?” he snapped. “What does it say?”

He hadn't heard it.

“It’s nothing.” I mouthed, almost too believable for me as week.

“Do you think I'm a fool?” He scoffed, already pacing. “Don’t try to insult me.”

“Then stop questioning everything I do like you own me.” I hissed. “maybe if you had learnt to mind the business that pays you, you wouldn't be bothered with a letter that was sent, to me.”

“I should’ve known he’d try something,” he muttered, more to himself than to me. “Fucking theatrical.”

He wasn’t talking about me anymore. He was already somewhere else, in that dungeon, seeing Emily tied up, her hair falling in uneven clumps. His pride was bleeding out fast, and he couldn't stop it.

And still, he didn’t press me about the letter again.

Typical.

Xander’s ego couldn’t take being second to any man, even one he claimed to loathe. Especially not his brother. Especially not me choosing to keep something from him.

Without another word, he stormed out of the room, the doors slamming shut behind him hard enough to rattle the glass on the windows.

I was alone again.

Just me, and the note tucked inside my sleeve like a heartbeat I wasn’t supposed to have.

What was I going to do now?