no man’s lie

Amara Eldwood

“Close the doors! Close the goddamn doors!” A man’s enraged voice thundered through the hall and it took several beats for me to realize it was Caius’ tortured voice I heard.

What the hell was happening? He’d been with me only a moment ago, hadn't he?

What could have happened to make one of the four so distraught?

The loud creaking of the huge iron doors as they banged shut only feet behind me seemed to bounce off the pillars and echo around the room.

“Excuse me? Is the Princess okay?” I tried, hedging into a strong of fancily dressed women who paused their frenzied murmuring before turning up their noses at me in disdain.

“What happened here?” 

I’d bated my way through the crowd, almost at the front lines now when the next group a so turned away from me.

I was a social pariah after the failed party, that much was clear.

Or it was the sour-sweet wine that made my clothes stick to my body as if thick with sap.

“Assholes,” I sniffed, the painful ball in my throat hardening like nails when more shuffling sounds echoed from the light darkness where the four must have been standing. 

Murmurs buzzed in the crowd, before a man’s guttural scream rent through the air like a war horn.

Caius! I would recognize his raspy voice anywhere!

“Who did this? Which one of you fuckers did this?” Caius bellowed, and for a second, I wondered why the Alpha was silent.

Until I saw him.

Neither of them wore masks anymore, but the dead look on Dante’s angular face gutted me the most, despite how much I loathed him.

His full dark hair was ruffled, like he had been running his fingers through it the entire night.

His sharp blue eyes were hidden by the shadows as he stared down at the princess, before the uniformed guards shifted, blocking my view of his striking form.

“Your Highness! A witness has stepped forward—” one of the guards announced and confusion knotted my brow.

A witness? So soon?

The crowd buzzed with fresh murmurs and my jaw damned near hit the tiles when Mabel stepped forward.

She had put makeup on, what little good it did her.

The red blush was too high on her square-shaped face, and the lipstick she used looked eerily similar to the nude matte I had on earlier in the night.

Her dress was the plain white uniform the other servants wore, but she had managed to pin a rose to her name plate, her attempt at sprucing it up.

“The glass, Your Highness…the princess had been holding it just before she fell,” She muttered, leaning down to snap up a shrapnel of the wine flute when I felt my scalp start to tingle.

I watched Dante’s scowl deepen when he snatched it from her, taking a sniff of the remnants and exchanging unreadable looks with the three.

Wasn't that the glass one of the servants handed me?

The memory of the night whirled noisily in my brain but the servant’s face remained elusive, sticking to the shadows in the corner of my mind.

No…it, it couldn't be. Surely, this must all be some giant misunderstanding!

There was no way a glass i’d drunk from could have killed the princess so brutally!

“Who was holding this glass? Do any of you remember?” 

Her voice had become several notes higher, almost jarring given the situation.

You could have lit a match with the tension buzzing through the air as the wolves exchanged mortified looks.

“Please goddess, please let this be a mistake,” I breathed shakily, my stomach twisting and turning until I was sure I had a few hundred knots in my intestines.

“The shadow! She’d had a fight with the princess before offering the glass to her! I’d seen everything!” One of the bug-eyed wolves exclaimed suddenly and a wide smile played across the maid’s twig-thin lips.

Her eyes looked wild, blood-thirsty…like she had suddenly hit the mark after missing for ages!

And what the hell did she mean a fight? I’d gotten a talking to from the Alpha! For fucks sake, the woman snatched the glass from my hands! 

How was I to know it had been poisoned?

I could see Mabel’s smug face when I rose on my tiptoes, but my eyes widened when I saw what remained of Princess Triel’s beautiful body.

“No…no, this is awful—” I gasped through the spaces in my gritted teeth as a wave of goosebumps spread up and down my back.

If any of the Alpha’s believed Mabel’s farce then I was as good as a walking corpse.

Triel’s head poked through the spaces in the guard’s feet as Caius rose and the guards drew a white sheet over the princess's body.

Dried up. She looked like she had been burned from the inside out.

What the hell was happening? 

Why on earth was Mabel doing this? 

Framing me the way she was! 

Didn't she understand I could be executed for her false claims?

My mind went blank when the weight of realization suddenly dawned on me.

She was trying to have me killed off!

“That’s it then. The Shadow killed her. The princess is dead because of that backstabbing…gold digging wench!” another wolf piped up and the air drained from my lungs.

Me. They were talking about me!

I racked my brain for something…anything that would prove I didn't kill anyone, but the wine made everything feel slow...numbed.

“Are you certain of this? You will swear on these accusations?” Dante’s hiss echoed and yet, my tongue stayed stuck to the roof of my mouth, too frightened to make a sound.

Hadn't he seen what happened? 

Was he too carried away by my unwanted presence to have noticed even that?

“Yes, Your Highness. I swear it on my life.” The woman answered reverently, bowing to the dark-haired wolf with a gold crown glinting on his head.

“Where is she?” Caius boomed, the hard edge in his voice even worse than Dante’s furious chides.

My heart sputtered in my chest and I took a reflexive step backwards.

How far could I run in The Darkness?

The whispers were lesser with what little sunlight we had coming up…but the fog would drive me mad still, weakened as I was.

I could be running in circles for nights on end and I wouldn't know it.

“No…no, Mara, you’ve got to get out of here—” I muttered inwardly, catching the crowd of wolves glancing around and ducking my head to avoid detection.

My fingers felt colder than ever before and my jaw trembled with fear as I slunk back into the shadows, just before running into a soft chest.

“Miss Eldwood?” Amenie’s soft rattle almost startled a scream from my lips and I whirled to face her with wide pleading eyes.

“P-Please, Amenie…” 

“You killed her didn't you? It’s the only reason you're running away!” She gasped, a hurt expression flashing across her eyes before her face hardened like it had been carved out of stone.

“No! You don't understand! I would never…could never hurt anyone!” I forced myself t heave, but the maid had stopped listening, only glaring at me with cold, unseeing eyes.

Gone was the soft impressionable dove with limp blond hair and doe eyes, and in her place, a cold, calculating soldier had been born.

The muscles in her arms popped and strained, ripping through the plain white cotton uniform she’s been wearing as she half-shifted into her dirty brown wolf.

“Your Highness! Over here!” 

Her shrill screech made me throw my body forward, shouldering my way through the crowd and leaving a trail of curses and shaking fists behind me.

“Eldwood? Where is she?” Dante barked, and my body curved in on itself reflexively when I realized they were searching for me.

“Shit, shit…shit!” I cursed, trying to slink back into the darkness when the crowd parted in a circle around me, their beady eyes hard with accusation as they muttered between themselves.

“Shadow! Show yourself!” Caius’ enraged bellow seemed to melt the very pillars holding the banquet hall together.

My stomach sank down to my feet as the ground moved beneath me, making my knees buckle until they hit the tiles painfully.

”Unnggh!” 

Blood sputtered out of my lips before I clutched a hand against my chest, my eyes widening in horror at the sheer power the Infinity Beta commanded.

“You…you dare betray us, after we opened our arms to welcome you into the fortress—” 

Caius’ reverberating baritone was several octaves deeper when the crowd forked to reveal his towering form.

Betray him? 

“P-please… I can explain—” I heaved, but only a pained gurgle echoed as pain stabbed into my heart from all sides.

His slick blond hair had become ruffled, falling around his unblinking eyes and yet, unable to shield me from his murderous glare.

I’d thought we had some sort of understanding…he’d been the nicest to me out of all the four, and somehow, i’d managed to make an enemy of him on night four.

Wh-What…Surely he couldn't believe I had anything to do with the princess’ death?

My mouth opened and closed wordlessly and the air whooshed around my face as he zapped through the crowd.

“Caius!” Dante’s animalistic warning sent shivers down my spine, but it was too late.

The blond man charged at me with everything he had, long jagged fangs extending dangerously from the corners of his lips as he raised his giant sword high above my head.

This was it.

This was how I would die.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he brought the sword down on my head just seconds before I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

The metallic clang of silver striking silver made my teeth rattle in my mouth just before Laziel’s rich tobacco coffee scent washed over me.

“Enough. Brother.” Laziel spat, meeting the Beta’s smoldering gaze above my head before the darkness that had been tugging at the edge of my vision closed in.

The Alpha’s stern face appeared beside Ronan’s as they stepped into the clearing, the tension rolling off their bodies in waves.

I was falling before I knew it, the spine-chilling whispers licking at my ears as the pressure of their presence reduced me to a blubbering mess.

My view of their faces blurred in and out of focus before Laziel put his hard body between the both of us, his silver sword bouncing off the overhead light.

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed before the stampede of guards surrounding me filled my ears.

“You will step out of the way so I can execute the traitor, Laziel, or so help me goddess you will die along with her.” Caius heaved, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths before those sharp gray eyes flickered past the lithe wolf to narrow on my face with rage.

“I didn't do it— please, I’m being set up—” I cried, sreaming in pain when the guards yanked me up on my knees with such force that it felt like my arms were being torn from their sockets.

“Step aside, Laziel. A betrayal like this is punished with execution.” Ronan’s tepid voice was neutral, as though the events tonight were only a boring blur and my life wasn't at stake.

These monsters were supposed to be my second-chance mates?

If I had known the Moon goddess would make me so unlucky in love, then I would have committed myself to the local nunnery ages ago!

I whipped my head back and forth as panic cut through my chest like a tornado, but the guards’ grip on my arms was ironclad.

The four Alpha's were divided…but it was Dante’s vote that would tie my fate.

“You base your execution on a single witness’ testimony?” Laziel’s echoing rasp made my hope bubble in my chest.

He was defending me… after our scene in the garden, I couldn't believe he was defending me!

“You want to die tonight, Laz, then say hello to your people in hell.” Caius bellowed, closing the distance between them faster than I could blink.