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Chapter 3 – The Crime I Would Not Confess
تاريخ النشر:
2026-08-10 17:41:02Rhea’s POV
Dagan placed a guard on each side of the carriage after I refused Monica’s banquet. When we slowed near Frostwater Bridge, I pushed past one guard and climbed over the rail.
“Rhea, get down,” Dagan ordered.
“I would rather face the river than kneel to Monica,” I told him. Then I let go.
The current pulled me under. I had no strength left to fight it. Dagan had feared deep water since childhood, but he jumped after me and dragged me onto the bank.
He coughed until his face turned pale. While the guards wrapped me in a cloak, the wet cloth beneath it tore across my shoulder. Dark collar scars and the damaged edge of my wolf mark became visible.
“What happened to you?” Dagan asked. “Black Hollow happened,” I replied.
His gaze remained on the scars, but the false reports had already given him an answer he preferred. “Merek will examine them. If you made those marks yourself, this performance ends tonight.”
The guards carried me into the birthday banquet. Monica sat beneath silver lanterns wearing a dress purchased with Mara’s compensation money. Grandmother sat beside her, alive and watching the entrance.
Grandmother rose when she saw me. “Rhea?” she called. She crossed the hall and pulled the cloak away from my face. “They told me you chose to study at Mooncrest Academy. Where have you been?”
My fathers exchanged quick looks. They had hidden Black Hollow from her because she would never have allowed them to send me there without a hearing.
“It was a private reform programme,” Dagan answered before I could speak. “Rhea needed discipline after the awakening incident.”
Grandmother saw the scars around my throat. “A school did this?” she demanded.
Merek stepped between us. “The reports said Rhea refused treatment and harmed herself. I will examine her after the banquet.”
Grandmother did not look convinced. She took my hand and found the old chain marks around my wrist. “You should be in bed, not standing before guests.”
Monica approached us with tears already gathering. “I asked them not to bring her if she was unwell,” she said. “I never wanted my birthday to cause more pain.”
Dagan guided me towards the high table. “This is not only about a birthday,” he announced. “The clan has remained divided since Monica’s awakening. Rhea will admit that she placed rage-root in the ceremonial herbs, apologise to Monica and the injured cubs, and end the matter tonight.”
Grandmother faced him. “You never proved she touched the rage-root.”
“It was found in her basket, and her scent covered the den,” Soren replied. “A public apology will restore stability.”
“Stability built on a false confession is another lie,” Grandmother said. Monica lowered her eyes. “I only want to feel that I truly belong here,” she claimed. “If Rhea apologises and accepts me as First Daughter, I will forgive everything.”
Her words revealed the real demand. This was not enough for Monica unless I surrendered my place in front of the entire clan.
“You framed me because you were afraid they might choose me again,” I told her.
Monica began crying, and my fathers immediately surrounded her. Calder glanced towards the guests, more concerned about Redfang’s reputation than the truth.
“Kneel and confess,” Calder warned. “We will discuss your other accusations privately.”
Dagan pressed one hand onto my shoulder, trying to force me down. Grandmother ordered him to release me, but he insisted the clan needed peace.
I remained standing. “Then your peace will have to wait,” I said. “I will not confess to poisoning Monica because I did not do it.”
أحدث فصل
My Four Fathers Begged Me to Return Chapter 12 – The Room Without Moonlight
Rhea’s POVMonica poured Merek’s medicine into the fire. The flames turned black before dying. “That was for pain,” I said. “Pain will keep you awake,” Monica replied. “I need you to understand everything before you disappear.”She pressed her palm against the wall. Dark lines crossed the windows and ceiling, forming a ward that blocked moonlight. Kiro pushed against my beast core, but the room forced her back.“Vesta built this room for wolves who asked too many questions,” Monica explained. “Your mother never entered it, but Nola did. She lasted four days before she told us where Mara kept her records.”I moved towards the door, and two women stepped from behind the curtains. Their servant dresses hid leather armour and short blades. Both carried the mark of the Ash Claw, a group of fighters outlawed after the border war.“The women outside are not servants,” I said. “Some are,” Monica replied. “The rest are soldiers who remember what Redfang took from Vesta’s family.”Vesta had not
My Four Fathers Begged Me to Return Chapter 11 – The House of Smiling Knives
Rhea’s POVOnce the truth became impossible to deny, my fathers began fighting over how to repair me. None asked whether I wanted their help.Merek wanted to take me to the healing residence. Calder wanted to build a room where no silver or dark magic could enter. Soren offered to arrest the Black Hollow guards, while Dagan promised to tear down the prison stone by stone.“Burning the building will not restore Kiro’s shift path,” I said. “It will only destroy the records that prove what you signed.”Dagan argued that revenge would help me heal. I told him revenge performed by the men who had delivered me to the prison was only another way for them to control the truth.Monica stood near the window, forgotten for once. When the four men began shouting at one another, she quietly suggested another plan.“Rhea can stay at my mother’s old estate,” Monica said. “Only women work there, and no Redfang guard will enter unless she invites him.”The fathers fell silent. Vesta’s estate stood bey
My Four Fathers Begged Me to Return Chapter 10 – What Black Hollow Took
Rhea’s POVGrandmother remained near my bed while the argument continued. Soren moved in front of the door. “You can barely stand,” he said. “Leaving now would be foolish.”“Then move before I fall on you,” I replied. My legs were weak, but I refused to sit and discuss another prison. Dagan pointed at the bed. “Enough,” he ordered. “We paid Black Hollow to care for you. Stop claiming we abandoned you there.”I laughed, though it hurt my healing chest. “You sent money?” I asked. “Only Monica’s payments reached the guards.”Soren frowned at Monica before looking at me. “I approved supervised work in the surface stores,” he admitted. “You were supposed to sort supplies, clean offices, and attend control lessons.”“I never saw the surface stores,” I told him. “The guards took me underground before sunset on my first day.”Soren insisted that every report had described me as healthy. Merek admitted that the academy healers claimed I refused food, scratched my own mark, and complained of pa
My Four Fathers Begged Me to Return Chapter 9 – Another Kind of Prison
Rhea’s POV“Nola kept records,” I replied. “She also kept Mara’s letters. Every one carried the Redfang seal showing that your guards received it.”Calder turned towards Dagan. “You told me Mara stopped writing after we offered her a home here,” he said.“That was what Vesta told us,” Dagan answered. “We had no reason to doubt our mate.”His answer proved more than he meant it to. They had trusted Vesta without facing the woman who had once fed and protected them. Dagan blamed clan duties. Calder blamed the forge. Soren blamed the border war. Merek insisted Mara had rejected his medicine. Their excuses kept them in Vesta’s stronghold while Mara sold her blankets to buy fever herbs.Nola had told me why they found it so easy to believe the worst of her. Soon after Vesta joined them, several Redfang warriors lost control after taking medicine from the clan store. The jars contained silverrot, a powder that caused pain and madness in werewolves. Vesta’s guards found Mara’s herb seal be
My Four Fathers Begged Me to Return Chapter 8 – The Money They Stole
Rhea’s POVMonica lifted the fruit basket and turned towards the door. “I understand,” she said tearfully. “If my presence destroys this family, I will leave Redfang.”Dagan stopped her at once. Calder promised she would surrender nothing, and Soren accused me of using old pain to punish her.“Sit down, Monica,” Grandmother ordered. “Running away whenever a question is asked will not clear your name.”“Nothing she owns was purchased with your money,” I said. The room became quiet. I pointed to Monica’s silver dress. “That came from Mara’s compensation fund.”Dagan’s expression changed. “That account belongs to Redfang.”“The Northern Council created it to repay the supplies Mara provided during the war. Her child was the sole beneficiary.”My fathers had controlled the fund because I was a baby. Monica’s room, awakening feast, jewellery, birthday parade, and Black Hollow payments had all been taken from it.Nola showed me the records during my second winter underground. She had entere
My Four Fathers Begged Me to Return Chapter 7 – The Apology They Demanded
Rhea’s POVThe blade missed my heart, but I remained unconscious for five days. Merek used Redfang’s last vial of Dawnheart Essence to keep my beast core open.When I woke, Kiro lay curled beside Mara’s silver wolf inside my mind. She lifted her head but could not speak. “The medicine saved her,” Merek explained. “Your connection is weaker, but she is alive.”“Why use something so valuable on me?”“Because I am your father.”“You remembered after handing my damaged core to an interrogator?”Merek looked away. Grandmother sat near the window, where she had remained through most of my five-day coma. Dagan, Calder, and Soren entered with Monica. She carried a fruit basket and wore sleeves over the cuts she had made. “I came to apologise,” Monica said. “I never believed the rite would hurt you so badly.”Dagan announced that Monica would remain confined for one month, lose her training privileges, and have her allowance examined. His anger had been real when the stable servant exposed her
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