CHAPTER 3 — THE ALPHA WHO REMEMBERED MY DEATH

Darius Veyne didn’t look at me the way you look at a stranger. He looked at me like he was seeing a ghost.

The doors shut behind him with a thud. Everyone went quiet. Even the servants seemed to feel something was off.

He stood a few steps away, head-to-toe in black, with silver clasps at his throat that caught the chandelier light. He looked just as I remembered—too tall, too still, too dangerous.

Three years ago, I hated him. And three years from now, I’d died thinking he had something to do with it.

Now he just stared at me, as if he’d seen the dead come back to life.

His eyes ran over me—face, hair, hands. They stopped at my throat. His jaw tightened.

“Alpha Darius,” my father said, his tone polite but cautious.

Darius didn’t answer right away. He just kept looking at me.

I forced myself to speak, to break the tension. “Have we met before?”

His expression flickered—something sharp, maybe pain. It vanished behind that cold mask he always wore.

“No.”

Too quick. I almost laughed out loud. “No?”

His eyes went hard. “No.”

I took a step toward him. “Then why are you looking at me like that?”

The silence in the room grew heavier.

Lucian shifted beside me. “Seren—”

I cut him off. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Lucian shut his mouth, clearly annoyed. Darius almost glanced his way, then fixed on me again. Whatever look he gave Lucian, it wasn’t just dislike. It was personal—like he already knew everything that mattered.

My pulse quickened. “Alpha Darius,” I said, keeping my tone even, “if you have something to say to me, say it.”

His fingers curled at his side. Then he looked at my father. “I need to speak with Lady Seren. Alone.”

My father frowned. “Alone?”

“Yes.”

Lucian stepped up right away. “That’s not necessary.”

Darius turned to him, voice cold. “I wasn’t asking you.”

Suddenly, the room felt colder.

Lucian’s glare sharpened. I should’ve been scared. Instead, some reckless part of me almost wanted to smile. Darius had always made powerful men nervous without even raising his voice. That hadn’t changed.

My father looked between us, weighing the room. Finally, he nodded. “Ten minutes.”

Darius headed for the doors. “Come.”

I followed. Not because I trusted him, but because I wanted answers.

He led me down a narrow hallway overlooking the gardens. The second the door closed behind us, I stopped.

“Start talking.”

Darius kept moving. “Not here.”

“Why?”

He gave me a look. “Because walls have ears.”

I trailed him into a small study at the end of the corridor. He closed the door. Locked it.

My stomach twisted. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure no one interrupts us.”

“Or making sure I can’t leave?”

He met my eyes. For once, his calm cracked. I thought I saw fear—real fear. It vanished like it had never been there.

He stepped away from the door. “You shouldn’t be alive.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

I stared. “What?”

Darius just looked at me for a long, heavy moment. Then he said, quietly, “I watched you die.”

My heart froze.

“What did you say?”

His face had gone pale. “I watched you die.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“You asked why I looked at you like I’d seen a ghost,” he said, voice so low I barely heard it. “I wasn’t looking at a ghost.”

He stepped closer. “I was looking at a woman I watched die.”

My hands trembled. “When?”

He didn’t answer.

“When, Darius?”

He closed his eyes, just for a second. “Three years from now.”

The room spun. I grabbed the desk behind me. “No.”

“Yes.”

“That’s not possible.”

“I know.”

“You’re lying.”

“I wish I were,” he said, and his voice broke on the last word.

It scared me more than anything else. He sounded like a man haunted by memories he didn’t want—not one telling a lie.

I watched him. “Tell me.”

He hesitated. “Seren—”

“Tell me.”

His jaw clenched. “You were accused of treason.”

A chill ran through me. “Treason?”

“They said you betrayed the crown. Produced evidence—letters, witnesses, records.”

My grip on the desk tightened. “But I didn’t.”

“I know.”

“So why did everyone believe them?”

“I don’t know.”

That answer hurt. “You watched me die, but you don’t know why?”

“I don’t remember everything.”

“What do you mean?”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “My memories aren’t complete.”

“Since when?”

“Since I woke up.”

I froze. “Woke up?”

Darius nodded. “The same day you did.”

My breath caught. “You remember waking up?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“In my chambers.”

“And you remembered the future?”

“Parts of it.”

He looked at me, tired. “Sometimes I remember things that haven’t happened. Sometimes I remember things I can’t prove happened at all.”

A chill went down my spine. “What do you remember about my execution?”

His eyes changed. He was somewhere else—three years from now, watching me die.

“You stood on a platform.” His voice grew distant. “Hundreds of people in the square.”

My throat tightened.

“There was snow.”

I stopped breathing. I remembered the snow. Cold under my feet, burning my skin, filling the silence before the blade.

“You wore white,” Darius went on.

My eyes stung.

“You kept searching the crowd.”

He swallowed. “Like you were looking for someone.”

Lucian. I remembered searching for him—begging, hoping he’d do something. But he never did.

“You looked at him.” Darius’s voice broke. “He looked away.”

I stared at Darius. “How do you know that?”

“Because I was there.”

My legs weakened. He took a step, closing the gap. “I saw everything. I saw them drag you up. Read the charges. The crowd turning on you.” He paused. “And I saw the moment you realized nobody was coming.”

I wiped a tear away before it even fell. “Did you try to help me?”

He said nothing.

“Did you?”

His silence said it all.

Anger flared up inside me. “Then why didn’t you?”

His jaw worked. “I tried.”

“No.”

“I tried, Seren.”

“Then why was I executed?”

“I don’t know.”

“You were the Wolf King.”

His eyes flashed. “I know what I was.”

“You had an army.”

“I know.”

“You could’ve stopped them.”

His voice shattered the air—“I tried!”

Silence. Darius stood there, shattered. For the first time, he didn’t look dangerous. Just tired and full of hurt.

Quieter now, he said, “I tried.”

I looked at him and saw it—he wasn’t scared of my questions. He was terrified of what he remembered.

Darius shook his head. “There are pieces missing.”

“What pieces?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then remember.”

“I’ve tried.”

“Try harder.”

His face twisted, like the words hurt to say. “I remember ordering someone to move you.”

My heart stalled. “Move me where?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I remember giving the order. I remember men riding through the snow. Shouting. Blood.”

His breathing picked up, uneven. “And then…”

He stopped.

“What?”

He looked at me. “I remember your body.”

The words barely made it out.

“I was holding you.”

A sob stuck in my chest. “You were dead,” he said.

Darius’s eyes shone. “I know.”

“You were holding me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

A crack ran through his expression. Just for a heartbeat. Then the mask snapped back in place.

“I don’t know.”

Too many pieces didn’t fit—the execution, the charges, the missing memories, Darius, everything.

“If you remember my death…” I stepped close. It felt impossible. “Why did you come here today?”

He watched me for a long moment. Then his eyes flicked to my lips before meeting mine again.

“To see if I was wrong.”

“About what?”

“That you were really dead.”

My heart beat so fast I thought it might burst. “And now?”

He stepped closer. So close I could feel his warmth, even with all that distance between us.

His voice dropped, just for me. “Now I know the impossible happened.”

I swallowed. “What?”

His gaze held mine. “You’re alive.”

We stayed like that—a breath, a lifetime.

Then Darius reached for the door. I grabbed his wrist.

He froze.

“If you knew I was going to die…” I was shaking, but I held on. “…why didn’t you save me?”

His eyes found mine. There was so much pain—too much. I nearly regretted asking.

Almost.

Darius turned his hand under mine, wrapping his fingers gently—so gentle it nearly hurt.

“I tried to save you, Seren.”

He leaned in close, his whisper changing everything I thought I knew about my own death.

“I tried to save you.”