The corridor was silent. Heavy. Thick with something that felt older than dust and darker than rage.Alaric stood at the far end, eyes fixed on the two steel doors in front of him. His fists were clenched at his sides, his jaw locked tight. No servants were allowed in this part of the palace. No guards lingered here unless summoned. This wing belonged to no one but him now. A forgotten arm of the castle, hollowed out by silence and filled with fury.Behind those doors— betrayal.He stepped toward the first.With a click, the lock unlatched. The hinges groaned. The door opened slowly.Amora.She sat upright on the lone chair in the center of the cell. Despite the plain cement walls and the iron cuffs that had bruised her wrists, she managed a look of arrogant grace. Her dress had wrinkled. Her hair had begun to unravel. But her smile held steady."You look better than I expected," she said. As if they were still nobles sharing morning tea.Alaric didn’t blink.He shut the door behind h
(Third Person Limited – Kael’s POV)The car slowed to a stop.Kael didn’t lift his head. His world was still a soft blur of aching silence, like glass fogged with breath. But even in the haze, he felt Alaric’s scent shift—warrior tense, protector firm.“Aaron,” came the low voice from the driver’s seat. “Take him to his chamber. I’ll deal with the filth.”There was no protest.Aaron simply adjusted Kael in his arms, careful not to jostle the stitches behind his ear. “I’ve got you,” he whispered, voice like silk across cracked porcelain.Kael didn’t respond, but his fingers tightened slightly in the prince’s shirt.Alaric opened the car door with a slam, then circled to the back. The trunk popped with a click, and the screech that followed as Casian was dragged out was not quiet. Kael’s heartbeat stuttered. He didn’t want to hear that man’s voice again. Not yet. Maybe not ever.Aaron noticed.His arms tucked tighter around him as they passed through the palace gates.“You’re safe,” he
(Third Person Limited – Alaric’s POV)The door burst open with the force of a storm.Alaric didn’t pause. Not to scan the room, not to catch his breath. He charged through the rotting lobby of the abandoned building, his eyes wild, his heart a brutal, thudding drum inside his chest.Kael. Kael. Kael.The name was a scream in his head. A pulse in his veins.Aaron was right behind him, silent and swift. Their footfalls echoed off the cracked tiles and moldy walls. Alaric didn’t need to ask where to go.He could feel him.Every inch of his soul was dragging him forward.Then—A figure turned the corner ahead of them.Amora.She froze, but Aaron didn’t. He grabbed her before she could blink, twisting her arms roughly behind her back and yanking her close to his chest. She cried out, struggling, but his grip only tightened.“Don’t say a word,” Aaron growled into her ear, his voice stripped of all affection. “You’re going to lead us to him, and if you so much as breathe the wrong way—Alaric
The West Side of Veridia, speeding towards east — (Alaric's POV)The tires screeched as the sleek black car tore through the empty highway, city lights blurring into ribbons of color. The roads weren’t built for this kind of speed. Not even royal escorts moved like this—but Alaric wasn’t driving for protocol.He was driving for his mate.His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, jaw locked so tight it ached. His foot slammed harder on the gas with each passing second. They were covering ground like hell was chasing them, and maybe it was.“Faster and we’ll take off,” Aaron said from the passenger seat, voice strained, one hand braced against the dash. “I said east—not airborne.”“You know exactly where they took him,” Alaric growled. “So direct. Me.”Aaron exhaled, fighting the tremble in his voice. “Turn left at the next fork. Then right at the old fire tower.”Alaric glanced at him. “How the hell do you know Veridia this well? You’re not even from here.”Aaron shrugged, trying
(Alaric’s POV)I stared at him. Still angry. Still on edge. But the hate between us had shifted. Now we were two men standing in the wreckage of a shared love—for the same boy.“I will,” I said, turning toward the door. “And if he’s not back before the moon rises tomorrow…”I looked over my shoulder, fury blazing behind my eyes.“I’ll burn this kingdom from the inside out.”I didn’t wait for a response. I turned, steps thunderous toward the exit.But behind me, a bitter, hollow laugh slipped through the thick tension.“Just when I hoped I’d see the imperfections in you,” Aaron said, voice strained, wounded. “Any sign at all that you weren’t worthy of him. That you didn’t deserve him.”I froze.Aaron wasn’t smiling. He stood there with red eyes, bruises darkening his cheekbones, and a grief he hadn’t earned pressing down on his shoulders like guilt. His voice cracked on the next line.“But the one-sided love never wins… does it?” he whispered. “It can’t beat the mutual.”Something twis
( Alaric’s POV)The numbers on the parchment blurred before my eyes.My office in the eastern wing of the chamber was silent save for the scratching of my quill, but my mind hadn’t been present for the last twenty minutes. I signed the same paper twice and read the same sentence five times.Because something was wrong.Deep in my bones, something clawed. My wolf was restless—pacing inside me. My mate.Kael.I exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand across my face. "He’s with his mother," I muttered to myself, trying to shove the dread back down. "Just a conversation. That’s all."But it had been over an hour.Kael said he’d be back soon. And he always came back soon.I shook my head and forced myself to refocus. These treaties wouldn’t write themselves, and the kingdom wouldn’t wait because I was emotionally constipated.Still—my hand trembled when I reached for the next document.And then I heard it.Silence.That cursed, pressing kind of silence that doesn't belong in a palace. Not in my ch