6

Sarah’s POV

The heavy silk curtains in my private bedchamber swayed gently in the evening breeze, but nothing in the quiet room could calm the storm raging inside my chest. I paced back and forth across the polished hardwood floor, the heels of my shoes clicking against the ground in a fast, nervous rhythm. Up and down I went, crossing from the carved wooden wardrobe to the tall glass window, unable to sit still for even a single second.

My mind was a tangled knot of fury, fear, and sheer disbelief. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to banish the horrific image from my head, but it refused to leave: Jade. That wretched, worthless girl was still walking freely. She was still breathing. She was still alive.

How could I have let this happen? My chest heaved as I sucked in a sharp, bitter breath. We had been so close. The plan had been absolute perfection. The entire pack had believed the lie, my husband had signed her death warrant without a second thought, and the execution guards had dragged her deep into the dark woods where no one would ever hear her scream. She was supposed to be a mangled corpse lying in the dirt, rotting away under the shadow of the trees.

Instead, through some cruel twist of fate, she had ended up right back in our hands—and now, she had been packaged up in fine silk and shipped off to the Lycan King’s palace.

A sharp knock shattered the heavy silence of the room. Before I could even call out, the grand double doors swung open, and my daughter stepped inside. Her breath came in short, hurried puffs, her eyes darting around the room as if she feared someone might have followed her up the grand staircase.

"You summoned me, Mother?" Angela asked, adjusting the sleeves of her dress as she closed the heavy doors behind her. "The servant said it was urgent."

The second the door clicked shut, a dam broke inside me. A blinding wave of rage exploded behind my eyes. I crossed the distance between us in three frantic strides, raised my right hand, and brought my palm crashing straight across her cheek.

SLAP!

The sharp crack echoed off the tall stone walls like a gunshot. Angela’s head snapped to the side, her golden hair flying across her face. She stumbled backward, gasping in shock as her hand instantly flew up to cup her burning skin. A bright red handprint was already blossoming across her pale cheek, her dark eyes wide with utter betrayal and disbelief.

"You incompetent fool!" I hissed, leaning down until my face was inches from hers, my voice dropping into a dangerous, lethal whisper so the guards outside wouldn't hear. "The order was crystal clear! I told you to make sure she was dead! I gave you one single task—to ensure that girl never drew another breath on this earth!"

Angela’s lip trembled, but she quickly pressed her back against the wooden door, trying to regain her composure. Tears of shock welled in her eyes, yet her jaw set in a defensive line as she looked up at me.

"I received the call directly from the head of the execution team, Mother!" Angela argued, her voice cracking under the weight of her frustration. "They said it was Alpha Vincenzo’s direct command! They said he ordered her brought back to the palace in one piece! You were standing right beside him when the reports came in—I honestly thought you had a change of heart! I thought you wanted her back!"

"A change of heart?" I let out a harsh, cruel laugh that sounded entirely hollow. I turned away, gripping the edge of my vanity table so tightly my knuckles turned white. "Are you insane? You know I can never let your father find out how desperately I want that bastard child dead! I have spent years playing the sweet, loving stepmother in front of him! I was relying on you to carry out the final blow! Do you have any idea how many months we spent meticulously planning every detail of this frame-job?"

I spun back around to face her, my chest rising and falling in sharp, jagged breaths. "Every single piece of the puzzle was laid out perfectly! The fake fire, the lies about the stairs, the poisoned witnesses—everything! It took months to set the trap, and you let her slip right through your fingers the moment a guard questioned an order!"

Angela swallowed hard, her hand slowly sliding down from her reddened cheek. She took a tentative step forward, her eyes searching my face as she tried to calm the waters.

"Okay... okay, I made a mistake," Angela murmured, her voice laced with cautious optimism. "But... at least you did something right when they brought her back, didn't you, Mother? I saw the sorcerers entering the hidden chamber. I know you wouldn't just dress her up in velvet and let her walk away to the Viper King without a fight."

A dark, heavy weight settled in my stomach at the mention of the sorcerers. I let out a long, exhausted sigh, running my trembling fingers through my hair as I turned back toward the tall glass window. The sun was beginning to dip below the distant treeline, painting the sky in violent shades of crimson and deep purple.

"Yes," I admitted, my voice barely louder than a whisper. "I ordered the dark witch to weave a lethal poison into the spell they used to hide her mate mark."

Angela’s eyes lit up with instant relief. A slow, cruel smile began to curve her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Then why are you pacing around like a trapped animal, Mum? If you put poison into the mark-binding spell, then the problem is already solved! She should be collapsing dead onto the floor of the Lycan palace as we speak!"

"It isn't that simple, you foolish girl!" I snapped, turning my head to glare at her over my shoulder. My eyes narrowed into cold slits. "I didn't use the instant-death potion! Do you think I'm stupid? If she dropped dead the exact second she stepped out of our carriage, Alpha Lucien would have suspected dark magic immediately! He would have marched his entire army straight back to our territory and burned our pack to the ground for handing him a poisoned gift!"

Angela blinked, her confident smile faltering slightly. "Then... what kind of poison did the witch use?"

"A creeping blood-rot," I explained softly, tracing a finger along the cold glass of the window pane. "The spell the witch wove into her skin is designed to eat away at her lifeforce slowly, invisibly, from the inside out. The witch swore to me that in less than ninety days, Jade’s heart will simply stop beating. To the rest of the world, it will look like her body naturally gave out under the stress of losing her wolf."

I slammed my hand against the windowsill, making the glass rattle in its frame. "But ninety days is a eternity! I cannot afford to let Jade live for another three months! Ninety days is far too long for that girl to be breathing!"

Angela walked over to my side, stepping up to the window and looking out over the dark forest below. She shrugged her shoulders lightly, her tone entirely unbothered by my terror.

"Then let the Lycan King handle it before the ninety days are up," Angela reasoned, a wicked glint returning to her dark eyes. "Didn't Father say Alpha Lucien is a bloodthirsty monster? Everyone across the five territories knows the Viper Alpha kills for pure entertainment! He took her as a sacrificial commodity, Mum. He’s going to break her, torture her, and throw her corpse to the dogs long before the witch's poison even gets a chance to finish the job."

I turned my head slowly to look at my daughter, my expression stone-cold and dead serious.

"This is not a joke, Angela!" I growled, my voice trembling with raw desperation. "Look at me! This is an absolute nightmare! What if that girl finds a way to break the spell? What if her Royal Lycan bloodline wakes up and burns the poison out of her system? What if the Alpha doesn't kill her before the ninety days run out? What if he looks at her and sees something he isn't supposed to see?"

I took a sharp step toward her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her slightly. "If that mark-binding spell shatters, her wolf will awaken completely. And the moment her wolf awakens, her mother's bloodline memories will flood into her mind! She will remember the night I put a blade through her mother's heart! She will remember every single thing I did to steal the Luna position! If Alpha Lucien discovers the truth—or if your father finds out I murdered his first mate—I am completely done for! We are done for!"

Angela stared at me in silence for a long moment, the reality of my words finally sinking into her mind. The color slowly drained from her face, but she didn't panic. Instead, her dark gaze hardened, a cold, calculated smirk twisting her lips.

"Then we don't sit here and wait around for ninety days," Angela whispered, her voice dripping with pure malice. "If the Lycan King doesn't kill her fast enough, then we will simply find our own way to finish her off before then... won't we?"

I stared at my daughter for a beat, watching the ruthless ambition shining in her eyes—the exact same ambition that drove me to murder Jade’s mother all those years ago.

A slow, dark smile gradually spread across my face. The heavy knot of panic in my chest began to loosen, replaced by a cold, burning resolve.

I turned back to the window, staring out into the vast, pitch-black night toward the distant, jagged mountains where the Lycan Citadel stood. The moonlight caught the reflection of my face in the glass—a vision of pure, unadulterated evil.

"Hmm..." I purred softly under my breath, my fingers curling into tight, claw-like fists at my sides. "Jade Scott... you really thought you escaped your fate, didn't you, my sweet little stepdaughter?"

A low, cruel laugh bubbled up from the depths of my throat as I stared into the dark abyss of the night.

"You think you're safe inside the Viper King's fortress," I whispered to the empty air, my eyes gleaming with lethal promise. "Enjoy your little reprieve while it lasts, darling. Because I worked far too hard to build this life, and very soon... I will get back every single thing that is rightfully mine."