INICIAR SESIÓNNamiko’s POV Stone walls pressed in, damp and ancient, sealing me in with nothing but stale air and the echo of my own thoughts. Days had blurred into nights, and the shadows whispered accusations I couldn’t try to even fight. I hadn’t seen a map. I had never touched a locket. But it didn’t matter, no one cared for the truth when it came from the mouth of someone like me. A liar and a threat. The guards came at dusk. “His Majesty has granted your request,” one of them muttered, not looking at me. His nose wrinkled as if my presence offended him. I stood on legs that barely remembered how to work. My wrists throbbed where the shackles had bruised them. My feet dragged as they led me through the stone corridors, up and up until the scent of ash, pine, and storm met me like a blow to the chest. Less than an hour later, I was dragged back through the halls of the palace. Not chained, but not free either. The guards flanked me like I was a weapon ready to detonate. The thro
Namiko’s POV The cell was cold. Not just the kind of cold that settled into your skin, but the kind that buried itself in your bones and made you forget what warmth ever felt like. I sat curled on the stone slab that passed for a bed, tracing circles into the grime with my fingertip, trying to think. Trying to breathe. Days had passed, how many, I didn’t knowhow long it has been since I was thrown into this dungeon for a crime I didn’t commit. I hadn’t seen a map. I’d never touched a locket. But truth, as it already seemed, held no weight here. Not when the court already saw me as the poison to be removed itself. And Caspian, Caspian hadn’t even come to check on me. Not even once. I told myself I didn’t care. That his absence was a blessing. That I didn’t want to look into the eyes of a king who once took me into his arms like I was something sacred, and now believed the worse of me. But it wasn’t true. Because I did care. Because part of me still wanted him to be
Alpha Rowan The teacup rattled in its saucer as I set it down, fingers twitching with tension I hadn’t let myself acknowledge, not out loud. Not yet. But it's there. It is poking at me so intently. The council meeting had ended an hour ago, but the weight of it still clung to me like a wet cloak. Words about territory, patrols, and border tensions… but no one dared mention what really hung in the air. Why hasn’t the Alpha King come? He said he would. Two weeks ago. I had the letter sealed with his own crest. Promising his presence. Promising recognition. A visit from the King was more than a formality, it was a signal, a blessing with means a merging of status. Without it, the talks of joining my pack with my another pack remain just that talk. Ideas, dreams of the hopeful, nothing concrete and definitely nothing, recognized. My jaw locked. My temples pulsed in my head! I can't get my head right to function well. The longer he stayed away, the more unstable everythin
Namiko’s POV They took everything from me when they dragged me into this cell. Not just my freedom. Not just the clothes stained with Caspian’s scent and the faintest hope of something soft blooming between us. No, they took the one thing I was just starting to believe in, that I might finally be safe and even belong somewhere I am accepted. Now, even the shadows feel dangerous. I sit in the cold corner of my cell, back pressed to stone, arms wrapped around my knees like that might somehow hold me together. But I am coming apart, quietly. Bit by bit. I hear footsteps echoing down the corridor. Every time I hear them, I pray it’s not him. Every time, I also pray it is. I must be crazy! He is just like everyone else. I should not feel entitled to the attention he gave me, I don't deserve any of it. When the door opens, and Caspian steps in, my heart splits cleanly down the middle. He looks like a stranger now. Cold, unreadable and sharp around the edges. The way h
Caspian’s POV There are few things I despise more than uncertainty. Uncertainty weakens leaders. It splits judgment like an unhealed wound. In my young age, I was taught to kill doubt before it took root, because once it does, it grows like a parasite. It eats at clarity, at conviction, at trust, at just everything. And now, I am facing the plague. I sat alone in the war chamber, the fire burning low in the hearth. The walls, once silent stone, seemed to press inward, whispering things I didn’t want to hear. My hands were clasped before me, elbows braced on the table, eyes fixed on the silver crest embedded in the wood, a wolf devouring a snake. But who was the wolf now? And who was the snake? Namiko’s voice still echoed in my ears. “I came to you for protection.” “If you think I’m lying, then look into my thoughts…” But I hadn’t. I didn’t look. Because I was afraid of what I might see. Or worse, what I might not. There was no reason to doubt Ariana. She had se
Namiko’s POV I should have known not to hold on to hope. Hope is such a fragile thing. It slips into your chest like a seed, rooting in the cracks left by trauma and cold nights. You want to nurture it, to believe in something better. Even when your hands are still shaking from what happened before. I’d only been in the Alpha King’s pack for a week. Seven days of uneasy peace. Of walking on eggshells, of learning the language of a man who didn’t know how to touch without bruising, but who had whispered one night, “With you, I want to try.” And he had tried, there is not a lie there. He did. Since then, he hadn’t raised his voice, he didn't leave any new scars, Instead, there were quiet moments where he had a hand lingering on my lower back, a softened tone when addressing me, a seat at his right hand during council meetings, even though I should not be there in the first place. He didn't care that he called me “the half-blood,” behind my back. But I smiled. Because I







