Chapter 5: The 100-Day Sentence

~Freya~

“Welcome home, Alpha.”

Ruzi’s father’s voice carried softly across the vaulted foyer. His sharp eyes shifted straight to me.

Beside him, Ruzi’s stepmother stepped forward. Her silk gown rustled against the polished floor. A polite, calculated smile stretched across her face, but her eyes stayed cold as winter ice.

“Oh… so he finally brought home a chosen mate. After all these years.”

My breath caught in my throat. Every eye in the massive room was fixed on me. The weight of their stares pressed hard on my shoulders. I bowed my head slightly and forced myself to step into Riya’s graceful shoes.

“G-Good evening, sir. Good evening, ma’am,” I stammered, keeping my voice soft and polite.

“Welcome, daughter,” Ruzi’s father replied. There was a rare note of satisfaction in his heavy tone. “We are pleased that Ruzi has finally chosen a bride to stand beside him.”

“Thank you, sir,” I whispered. My fingers twisted into the fabric of my dress.

Behind them, Zabi still hadn’t moved. He remained leaned against the marble pillar, his dark eyes slowly tracing the line of my collarbone down to my waist with a calm, hungry intensity that made my skin crawl. He didn’t say a word, but the predatory smirk on his lips said everything.

“I will show her to our room,” Ruzi cut in suddenly. His deep voice sliced through the heavy atmosphere like a blade.

My head snapped up.

Our?

The word rang in my head with a sudden, terrifying echo.

Without waiting for his parents to answer—or for me to gather my thoughts—Ruzi turned and started up the sweeping grand staircase. I had no choice but to follow his tall, imposing shadow. My heels clicked awkwardly against the stone steps as I tried to ignore the heavy weight of his brother’s gaze burning into my back the entire way up.

He led me down a long, dimly lit corridor lined with dark wood and ancient portraits, then pushed open a pair of massive double doors.

I stepped inside and froze.

The room was breathtaking. A high vaulted ceiling held a delicate crystal chandelier. A massive canopy bed draped in rich navy velvet dominated the center. A roaring fireplace cast warm shadows over pristine marble floors and wall-to-wall glass windows that looked out over the moonlit territory below.

“This will be our room from now on,” Ruzi said neutrally. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and tossed it onto a leather armchair. “Pack meetings and morning briefings start early tomorrow. Get used to the schedule.”

I stood near the entrance, swallowing the sudden lump in my throat. I cleared my voice and forced the question out before my courage failed.

“Um… about the… the mating ceremony,” I began. My hands trembled at my sides. “When… when are you going to mark me?”

I needed that mark. I needed his teeth in my neck so I could get the sacred blood that would save Riya’s life. The sooner he bit me, the sooner I could take a vial of his blood and escape this golden cage.

Ruzi stopped mid-movement. He turned around slowly. His golden-amber eyes locked onto mine with an unreadable, piercing intensity that pinned me in place.

“That brings us to something you need to understand,” he said. His voice dropped lower, absolute. “Because of the purity of my royal blood, a strict law was placed on me by the High Elders and the Moon Goddess from the day I was born.”

He took a slow step toward me. His tall frame loomed over mine, radiating a heavy, intoxicating warmth that sent a shiver down my spine.

“We can share a bed, Riya. I can touch you, kiss you, lay with you, and give you everything a husband gives a wife,” Ruzi murmured. His voice carried a dark, thrilling promise as he reached out and lightly brushed his thumb along the edge of my jaw. My breath caught at the sudden electric spark where his skin touched mine. “But I will not mark you. My teeth will not break the skin of your neck, and I will not bind our blood officially until you have stayed by my side for exactly one hundred days.”

My heart stopped. The room seemed to tilt under my feet.

One hundred days?!

“One hundred days…” I gasped. The touch of his fingers sent wild fire across my skin even as cold terror flooded my chest. “Why?”

“Because my sacred blood flows only through the mark, and it is a weapon,” Ruzi answered coldly. His thumb lingered against my neck, feeling the rapid, frantic pulse hammering beneath my skin. “Many females would sell their souls just to get a single drop of it. One hundred days of closeness is more than enough time to test your loyalty—to see if you are truly dedicated to me, or if you are only a snake seeking my blood.”

My throat locked completely. He could touch me, hold me, throw me into a whirlwind of passion, but the one thing I desperately needed—his mark, his blood—was locked away for three whole months. Riya didn’t have one hundred days. She was dying now. How was I supposed to survive sharing a bed with my true fated mate without giving away my identity or losing my mind, while my sister slowly died at home?

“You should get changed,” Ruzi added softly. He pulled his hand back and walked toward his study.

With shaking hands, I stepped into the private dressing room and pulled out my small clutch bag. I needed to hide the dark magic vial before Ruzi saw it. But the moment I unzipped the bag and pulled out the glass bottle, the breath was ripped from my lungs.

The vial was completely empty.

“No… no, no, no,” I choked out. Cold horror flooded my veins.

If I didn’t use it on Ruzi… how is it empty?

Then the memory hit me like a physical blow.

In the ballroom I had partially opened the vial right before the mate bond struck and the bottle slipped back into my pocket. Later, in the foyer, when Zabi locked those hungry eyes on me, I had gripped the clutch so hard in panic that the pressure forced the already open stopper free. The magic had spilled out while I was staring straight into his eyes.

Oh my God.

Fuck.

I hadn’t bound the Alpha. I had accidentally cast the black magic spell on his dangerous, unpredictable half-brother.

I pressed a shaking hand over my mouth. The empty glass vial slipped from my frozen fingers and landed quietly on the plush rug. What have I done?

Click.

The sharp, deliberate sound of a door lock turning made my entire spine go rigid.

My head snapped up.

Standing in the doorway of the dressing room, blocking the only exit to the main suite, was Zabi.

A dark, dangerous smirk spread across his face. His pitch-black eyes fixed on me with a heavy, unnatural obsession that practically vibrated through the air.

My heart pounded against my chest. Instinct kicked in. Before Zabi could step closer, I subtly nudged the tiny glass vial backward with my shoe, sliding it under the heavy silk train of my floor-length gown.

Zabi took a slow step into the dressing room, closing the distance between us towering over me. The strange, unnatural heat radiating off him felt suffocating. He then tracked my shaking shoulders.

“Why do you look so guilty on your very first day here?” Zabi purred, his voice low and dangerous as his hand reached for my cheek.

“ZABI!”

Ruzi’s roaring voice shattered through the suite like thunder, freezing Zabi mid-movement.

Frustration flashed through Zabi’s eyes. His fingers stopped inches from my face as Ruzi’s heavy, angry footsteps stormed through the main room, heading straight for the dressing room door.