تسجيل الدخولAndrew's POV The moment Ethan walked out of the hall with Bella, I just stood there. I could not move. My entire body felt frozen, like the blood had stopped flowing through my veins. My legs were locked. My arms hung at my sides. My eyes stayed fixed on the doors that had just closed behind them. The wood was splintered where Ethan had pushed them open. I could see the cracks in the frame, the specific way the hinges had groaned under the force of his hands. The sound of it was still echoing in my ears. Ethan was alive. That single thought kept repeating in my head. Over and over. Like a drumbeat I could not stop. It pounded against the inside of my skull, relentless and punishing. Impossible. I had planned everything. The rogues. The poison. The attack. The King was supposed to die. I had watched the arrow hit him. I had seen him fall. I had received reports that the poison was spreading. I had been so sure. So certain. I had already started planning what came next. Blackthron
Bella's POV The doors opened again. I heard them before I saw them. The creak of the hinges, the specific sound of wood moving against stone. The footsteps that followed were hesitant, uneven, the footsteps of someone who was being dragged toward something they did not want to face. Two royal guards marched the healer into the hall. I felt my breath catch in my throat. It was Cora. The same Cora from the charity event. She was trembling. Her face was pale, her eyes wide, her hands clasped in front of her so tightly that her knuckles were white. Her gaze darted around the hall, taking in the elders, the council, the servants, the guards. Taking in Andrew. Taking in Hailey. Taking in me. And then she saw Ethan. I watched her face change. The specific way her expression shifted from fear to something else. Something that looked almost like resignation. Her shoulders dropped slightly. Her eyes fell to the floor. She knew who he was. She knew what he could do. She knew she had bee
Ethan's POV I walked toward her. My footsteps echoed through the hall, sharp against the stone floor. The sound of them was the only thing I could hear. The elders. The council. The servants. The guards. All of them faded into the background. There was only her. She was still on her knees. Her dress was dirty, the fabric torn at the hem. Her hair was tangled, falling across her face in dark strands that stuck to the dried blood on her lip. Her lip was split, swollen and cracked, a thin line of dried blood running down her chin. Her cheek was bruised, the skin red and already darkening, the shape of a handprint visible against her pale skin. I could see the individual fingers, the specific way the bruise was forming in the exact shape of someone's hand. I stopped in front of her. I reached down and took her hand. Her fingers were cold against mine, the bell pressing into my palm. I pulled her to her feet. She rose slowly, unsteadily, her legs shaking beneath her. I kept my hand
Ethan's POV The maps were spread across the table in my private study, their edges weighed down by glass paperweights and a silver dagger I had not bothered to move. I had been standing over them for the better part of an hour, tracing the border of Blackthron with my finger, following the route Andrew's patrols had taken. The parchment was old and worn, the ink faded in some places, the lines of the territory marked with the precision of someone who had spent hours studying them. Alexander had sent the materials himself. Detailed reports. Maps marked with the specific locations of the attacks. Witness statements from his scouts. The evidence was damning and it was all pointing in one direction. Andrew had been moving against Blackthron for months. Small attacks at first. Probing. Testing. And now the assassination attempt on me. I studied the maps and let the information settle into the shape of what I already knew. Andrew had tried to kill me. Andrew had tried to take Blackthron
Bella's POV The dungeon was cold. I sat with my back against the damp stone wall and my knees pulled up to my chest and my hands wrapped around my legs. The chill of the floor seeped through the thin fabric of my dress, settling into my bones, making me shiver despite myself. I could feel the cold spreading through my body, slow and relentless, the specific way it made my fingers stiff and my toes numb. The cell was small. Rusted bars. A narrow window high up that let in a sliver of gray light. I could see the dust motes floating in that sliver of light, drifting slowly, aimlessly. The air smelled like mold and rot and something else, something older, something that had been sitting in this place for a long time. I could taste it at the back of my throat, damp and stale. I pressed my hand to my face. My lip was still swollen, the skin split and tender where Andrew's slap had caught me. I could feel the heat of it, the specific way the flesh was puffy and tight. I could taste the d
Andrew's POV I carried Hailey through the packhouse doors with her body limp in my arms and her sobs muffled against my chest. The sound of it carried through the entrance hall, reaching every servant, every guard, every pair of eyes that was watching. I made sure they were watching. I made sure they could see the blood on her dress, the way her hand was pressed against her stomach, the way her face was twisted in pain. Let them see. Let them whisper. Let them spread the news through the pack like fire through dry grass. The Luna had attacked the Alpha's pregnant mate. The Luna had killed the heir. By the time the sun set, every wolf in Blood Moon pack would know what Bella had done. I moved through the packhouse with Hailey in my arms and my face twisted into something that looked like grief. The performance came easily. I had been performing for years, playing the patient Alpha, the devoted mate, the reasonable leader. The rage was real, though. The cold fury that sat in my che
The relief that moved through me when it became clear the King wasn't going to do anything about the stumbling incident was significant enough that I had to actively stop it from showing on my face.I smoothed my dress, lifted my chin, and walked back to the dining table with Andrew like nothing ha
I sat in the carriage and watched through the window as the two of them finally pulled themselves away from the door. Andrew's hand on her back, she was leaning into him, both of them completely unbothered by the fact that I existed.I rolled my eyes so hard it nearly hurt. What was I thinking, cha
“Julie!” I called out.She appeared in the doorway within seconds, which told me she'd been hovering just outside it this whole time.“Did you hear all of that?” I asked. Her expression answered for her.“Right.” I pushed the blanket off and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Then you know we
Bella's POV“Julie, have you had the maids prepare everything I asked for?”“Yes Luna,” she answered from somewhere behind me.I was already halfway down the stairs, one hand trailing the banister, grinning to myself. Andrew had been gone three days on patrol and I'd spent the better part of this m







