Chapter 10

SELENE POV

This was never how it was supposed to go. I had planned everything down to the smallest detail. Every outcome was meant to bend in my favor. For years, I had positioned myself carefully beside the Draven triplets, not as a threat, not as an outsider, but as. someone they trusted and they needed. Someone they would one day choose to stand by their side.

With me at their side, the kingdom would have been unstoppable. The Devon triplets ruling with strength and fear, and me by their side, guiding, influencing, controlling. A witch as their bride is the best decision they would have ever made. Power didn’t need to sit on the throne to rule if I’m with them, but Hannah decided to spoil my plan. When I saw her during the ritual, I knew she was going to be trouble. I hoped she wouldn’t have succeeded, but she ended up being the chosen one.

Seeing her at the dining table, I knew she was going to be a threat to my plan. But she’s getting worse with every minute she spends here.

All it took was less than a week. Less than a week, and the triplets were already adjusting their behavior around her, thinking about her, even when they pretended not to.

I noticed it in the way Kael’s gaze lingered longer than necessary. In the way Lucien listened instead of dismissing. In the way Riven watched her like she was something unfamiliar he wanted to understand.

That had never happened before.Not with anyone, not even me. I had spent years making myself indispensable. Healing wounds. Fixing problems. Standing beside them when others bowed or cowered. Putting them first, I even became their witch and their ally. I helped them create potions, and also helped with their wars. And now a fragile human girl had disrupted the balance without even trying.

When she refused to come out of her room, I watched from a distance. I expected them to break her, to make her regret every surviving the ritual.

But instead, they watched and waited for her. They even sent that clumsy little thing called Tiana to give her food. Although they threatened her with her mother, but they didn’t force the door open. They gave her the opportunity to open the door. Those are not the aphasI knew and grew up with. Their actions already told me everything I needed to know.

She mattered to them, and they weren’t going to let her go.

The night she finally came downstairs, I felt her conflicted energy before I even sighted her. I stood at the entrance of the dining hall and saw her sitting there. She looked so thin, tired and weak. It was extremely obvious she hadn’t eaten for days.

Jealousy flared throughout my body. I tried controlling it but sitting with her on the same table didn’t sit right with me. She was my competition and my enemy. I can’t seat on the same table with my enemy. She shouldn’t have been there, that seat was never meant for her. She could have just starved to death, but she just had to have a stubborn spirit. I couldn’t stay. If I had, I might have lost control. Might have said something I couldn’t take back or even killed her with my powers. I couldn’t let the triplets see what I refused to show anyone. They couldn’t see my bad side. They always knew me as the sweet witch friend they’ve had since we were teenagers.

Because for the first time in years, i felt fear and uncertainty. The truth was simple, even if it angered me to admit it.

As long as Hannah stayed in the palace, my position was at risk. She didn’t need power. She doesn’t even know how her presence alone was enough to shift things and pull the triplets attention away from me.

I had sacrificed too much to be replaced by a human girl with trembling hands and stubborn pride. If Hannah stayed close to the triplets, she would grow bolder. Stronger. More confident. And with time, they would stop seeing her as a tool and start seeing her as something else. I couldn’t let that happen. They’re mine and mine alone.

If the triplets don’t take her away, I’ll have no choice than to remove her completely from the face of the earth.