Chapter 6: The Gilded Cage

Aria’s POV

The heavy iron doors of the Great Hall slammed shut behind us. The loud sound echoed, cutting off the eyes of the pack, but not their hatred. The silence that followed was worse. It pressed down on me, thick and angry. Darius held my chains tight. His grip was hard, painful. He did not look at me. He did not speak. He just pulled me forward.

My boots dragged across the stone floor. The sound felt like a funeral bell in my ears.

“You can’t hide me forever, Blackthorn!” I shouted. My throat burned from all the screaming. “Your pack saw everything. They saw you fall. They saw you bleed like a human!”

His body went stiff, but he did not stop. He pulled me toward a narrow stone staircase that twisted upward. Up and up we went. My chest hurt. My legs shook. Small windows passed us as we climbed. Outside, the sun was sinking, painting the stone walls red, like blood.

At the top, we stopped. A huge oak door stood before us. Two guards watched me with cold eyes, like I was dirt under their boots. Darius ignored them. He pushed the door open and dragged me inside.

I braced myself for a dungeon. I expected darkness, chains, filth. Instead, my feet sank into a soft white fur rug. I froze.

The room was huge and round. The ceiling was high. The bed was massive, covered in thick furs and soft cloth. The fire burned warmly in the hearth. Silk cloth hung on the walls. Everything was rich. Everything was beautiful.

And that made it worse.

Darius finally turned to face me. He removed the chain from my wrists, but he left the collar around my neck. He stepped back, looking tired, broken, like he was barely standing.

“This is your room now,” he said quietly.

“This is a cage,” I snapped, rubbing my sore wrists. “Just because it’s pretty doesn’t mean I’m free.”

“It keeps you alive,” he said.

He turned toward the door. His steps were slow. Uneven. He looked like a man falling apart.

“Food will be brought,” he said. “Do not try the windows. The fall will kill you.”

“I’d rather die than stay here with you,” I hissed.

He stopped at the door. For just one moment, I saw his face crack. I saw pain. I saw fear. I saw a man who was drowning.

“Sleep, Aria,” he whispered.

The door slammed shut. A heavy lock clicked into place.

I stood there, listening to the fire. My heart beat too fast. I wasn’t going to sleep. I wasn’t going to wait for him to come back and touch me.

I moved.

I ignored the bed. Ignored the fruit on the table. I searched the room. I opened drawers. I looked under cloths. I hoped for something sharp. A knife. Scissors. Anything.

There was nothing.

Then I saw the table. A plate of meat sat there. Beside it was a heavy silver spoon.

It wasn’t a knife. But it was metal.

I knelt by the fireplace and pressed the spoon against the rough stone. I rubbed it hard. The sound scraped through the quiet room. I worked until my fingers hurt. Until my hands shook. The silver wore away, showing hard metal beneath.

Slowly, the handle became sharp.

When it was done, I hid it in my waistband.

Then I checked the windows. Cold air slapped my face. Far below, sharp rocks waited. There was no climbing down. No escape that way.

I turned back to the room.

There had to be another way. Powerful men always kept secret paths. I pulled at the wall cloths. I pushed furniture. I kicked the floor.

Then I felt cold air near my ankles.

A wardrobe stood in the corner. Heavy. Dark. I pushed it with all my strength. It groaned. It moved.

Behind it was a small door.

My heart jumped. A servant’s passage.

I reached for the latch.

Voices stopped me.

They came from the other side of the main door.

“The elders are angry,” a guard said. “He’s getting weaker. An Alpha who can’t stand is useless.”

“He is still our King,” Rowan said, but his voice shook.

“He’s broken,” the guard spat. “And that girl is why. The pack believes she’s poisoning him.”

Silence followed.

“If he doesn’t shift by the half-moon,” Rowan said quietly, “we’ll end it. If he can’t kill her, we will. One blade. Clean. Then we fix him.”

Their footsteps faded.

My hands shook.

They didn’t see me as a mate. Or even a prisoner.

I was something to erase.

Anger burned inside me. I turned back to the wardrobe, ready to leave, but as I stepped back, my foot hit something wrong.

A loose floorboard.

I knelt and pried it open with my sharpened spoon.

Inside was dried blood.

A large wolf paw print stained the wood.

My stomach turned.

Words were carved beside it. Deep. Wild. Like someone had scratched them in fear.

“He is not the first.

The bond is a lie.

The moon is red.

He is coming.”

The room felt smaller. The beauty felt fake. Like a lie meant to hide death.

Then a loud crash hit the door.

“Aria…”

It was Darius.

His voice was weak. Broken.

I held my weapon tight. The wardrobe was still moved. The floor was open. The blood stared back at me.

If he came in, he would see everything.

I understood then.

This room wasn’t just a cage.

It was hell.

And it had just begun.