CHAPTER SEVEN - The Bargain

CHAPTER SEVEN

LIORA’S POV

The moment Darren spoke my name, everything I had been holding back crashed through me like a dam breaking.

Relief, fear, grief, and a desperate hope I didn’t want to feel, all surged forward at once, threatening to drown me.

I rushed toward him, needing the comfort of someone who had always protected me, someone who had always seen me as more than worthless.

But I stopped short, suddenly aware of the water still dripping from my soaked dress, the grime from the dungeon coating my skin. I was filthy, unfit to even stand near him.

I dropped into a clumsy curtsy instead, my wet hair falling forward to hide my face.

“My lord,” I managed to whisper.

“To hell with that,” Darren said roughly, and then his arms were around me, pulling me against his chest despite my protests. “How have you been, Liora? Are you hurt?”

That simple question, spoken with such genuine concern, shattered what little composure I had left.

I broke.

Sobs tore from my throat, as everything poured out of me. “It was horrible. The dungeon was so dark and cold, and the other prisoners, they told me about people who died there, who went mad. They laughed at me when I said I was innocent. The guards threw water at me and called me names, and I thought I was going to die there, Darren. I thought….”

My words dissolved into incoherent blubbering as I clutched at his fine jacket, not caring anymore that I was ruining it.

Darren’s hand came up to stroke my hair, his touch gentle. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The head guard cleared his throat loudly from the doorway.

Darren’s entire demeanor shifted in an instant. His arms dropped from around me, and when he spoke, his voice was cold and commanding. “Make sure no one sees us. I don’t care what you have to do. No witnesses. Am I understood?”

“Yes, my lord,” the head guard said stiffly, then disappeared, closing the door behind him with a firm click.

The sudden change in Darren’s tone, that authoritative edge, made me step back quickly.

Reality crashed back down. This wasn’t just my childhood friend but the Alpha heir, the future leader of our pack, and I was just a condemned prisoner covered in dungeon filth.

I stumbled backward, putting proper distance between us, and caught the disgusted glare the head guard had shot me before leaving.

My cheeks burned with shame. Of course he was disgusted. I was nothing but a wolfless omega accused of murder, and I had just sobbed all over him like I had any right to his comfort.

“Liora,” Darren said softly, when I looked up, he was moving toward me again. “Don’t do that. Don’t retreat from me.”

“I shouldn’t have…” I started, but he took my hand gently, leading me to a chair.

“Sit. Please.” When I hesitated, he added, “You’re shaking. Sit before you fall down.”

I sank into the chair, my legs feeling relief. I hadn’t realized how weak they had become after three days of barely eating in the dungeon.

Darren pulled another chair close and sat across from me, his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward. “Tell me everything. What happened? How did you end up arrested for Lord Cassius’s murder?”

I drew in a shaky breath, trying to organize the chaos of the past few days into something coherent. “It was Anna. She ordered me to serve Lord Cassius directly in his private study. I’d never done that before… I was never permitted to. But she threatened me.”

“Threatened you how?”

“She saw me the night you rescued me from Julian. When I came back inside late, she was waiting. She said she’d tell everyone I was sneaking around with men, having affairs. She’d get me cast out or worse if I didn’t do what she wanted.”

Darren’s jaw clenched, but he nodded for me to continue.

“So I served him. The tray was already prepared when she gave it to me, the food, the tea, and everything. I poured his tea, he ate, and then he dismissed me. Nothing happened. I thought… I thought I was safe.” My voice cracked. “But then there was screaming. He was dead. Had been Poisoned. And everyone blamed me because I was the one who served him.”

“Did you see Anna prepare the tray?”

I shook my head. “It was already done. She just handed it to me and told me not to keep him waiting. I was so scared of her exposing me that I didn’t think or question….” The tears came again, hot. “I walked right into her trap.”

“And you tried to tell them it was Anna?”

“Lady Becca slapped me and Julian said I was trying to blame others for my crimes. No one would listen. No one ever listens to someone like me.” I looked down at my hands, twisted together in my lap. “They sentenced me to death immediately. Five days in the dungeon, and then execution.”

The silence stretched between us. When I finally found the courage to look up, Darren was watching me keenly.

“I believe you,” he said quietly.

Those words hit me harder than any blow could have. My breath caught in my throat. “You… you do?”

“Of course I do. I know you, Liora. You couldn’t hurt anyone, let alone poison a man in cold blood.” His hand reached out, covering both of mine. “I know you’re innocent.”

The relief I felt was so intense. Someone actually believed me. After all of this, after being thrown in a dungeon and sentenced to die, someone actually believed me.

Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks, but these were different. These came from a place of gratitude so profound I didn’t have words for it.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for believing me.”

Darren pulled me forward into another embrace, and this time I didn’t resist. I let myself sink into the safety of his arms, let myself pretend for just a moment that everything would be okay.

“I’m going to get you out of this,” he murmured against my hair. “I can free you, Liora.”

I pulled back slightly, searching his face. “How? The sentence has already been passed. How can you possibly….”

“The fertility tests came back,” he said, and something flickered in his eyes. “The results were… not what we hoped for.”

I slowly understood. “Elora…”

“Cannot conceive.” He said it flatly, without emotion. “Which means, according to tradition and the demands of the council, I need to take a surrogate. Someone to bear the heir.”

I still didn’t understand what this had to do with freeing me. Surely he wasn’t suggesting….

Darren took both my hands in his, his grip firm and warm. His green eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that made my breath hitch.

“I can save you from death, Liora,” he said, each word was clear. “But you have to be my surrogate. You have to bear a child for me.”

The room seemed to tilt. I stared at him, my mind struggling to process what he was saying.