CHAPTER 2

Veldana POV

"Fifteen minutes please." His eyes darted all over the place in a panic

"Thank you." I put the torch in the holder and walked down the path that led to deeper darkness. I couldn't face him so I thought less light would build my confidence a bit more. My palms were already getting sweaty. 

"They shouldn't have let you come," I had not reached the cell when his voice echoed through the silent walls cutting through my heart like a blade. 

"Go!" It echoed again and I felt a hand squeeze my heart.

I had gone through a lot to earn a favour from Derek, the guard, to have an audience with Maurice but even without hearing a word from me, Maurice already condemned me. 

It was a risk I was taking. If my father found out that I was visiting Maurice, he would punish me severely, he already warned me against it. Two weeks of lobbying and trying to call favors with each guard every night was what it took for me to be standing there.

I had gone as far as influencing the list to get Derek on duty one of the days.

After a little convincing, Derek had finally given me Fifteen minutes since I once covered a mistake that would have cost him his job yet after all my efforts I was being sent away but I couldn't be upset I did worse wrong to him.

I wasn't the one locked in a dungeon for a crime I didn't commit, my name wasn't stained and I wasn't tagged a Beta killer—he had to deal with all of that for the next 3 years with a stigma for life and it was all my fault. 

"I'm sorry." I croaked. I had betrayed my mate in the worst way possible. I swore to protect him but I had been the one to execute unjust judgment against him. My knees buckled slightly at his silence. 

"Maurice, I had no other—" my hands trembled, already wet with sweat.

"I said Go!" His voice boomed again, bouncing off the walls of the narrow space making me jump a bit.

"Please, at least hear me out. I love you and respect our bond but..." I trailed off ashamed.

I couldn't even voice out my betrayal. 

"Everything said before the word ‘but’ is bullshit and you know this. Just go." His voice was softer, I heard the crack in it, he was breaking from inside out, I was meant to be his strength but I was the hammer that struck him.

I heard the clattering of chains and stiff grunts as he worked his way to the entrance of his cell. I was the sole reason he was bound and confined.

"Maurice—ouch." I moved closer and reached out a hand to him but the bars of the cell burned me.

Silver. They had kept him confined in such close proximity with silver, it was worse than I imagined. I felt adrenaline wash over me, pain and anger all at once. The least my father would have done is preserve Maurice not treat him like a criminal when he was innocent. 

Father didn't know that truth. 

"I promise, I'll get you out of here. I put you in this, I'll fix it, please believe me." Tears pricked the back of my eyes, my promise felt empty but I was determined to give it a shot.

I would go to my father in private and open up to him. Yes, that was going to be the best way out.

Dana, my wolf sulked at the back of my mind, she couldn’t bear to see our mate suffer, couldn't bear the thought that I was the cause of his suffering. She hated me for it. I knew she did.

"Tsk," he scoffed.

"Why did you come here?" I saw his eyes, they were...cold. Not the eyes that once looked at me with warmth and admiration—they were the eyes of a stranger. 

"To ask for your forgiveness. I was under a lot of pressure if I didn't—"

"So you thought to trade my freedom for three years. How thoughtful of you mate." 

"No! Don't put it like that. If I didn't do it, you and I wouldn't have been together anymore." The tears rolled down my cheek.

"I doubt that's important to you because we still aren't." I blinked twice, not quite certain I heard him clearly. 

"It's Over Veldana, go to your father and brother." He didn’t scream but the ice in his voice sounded like it came from his soul. I felt my skin break out in goosebumps 

He took out something from his pocket, I had to squint to see it, when recognition hit me, he was already ripping it apart—it was the memory book I gave him.

"Maurice, what are you doing?" I leaned on the bars and the burn from the silver repelled me again. "Stop it please," with every page he shredded, my heart broke into similar pieces but he cared less. Cold and silent he completed his task and sprayed the pieces on me.

"There, now our history is as nonexistent as our future. Now go." I scurried on the floor trying to pick the pieces hoping I could fix my relationship with my mate but it didn't come to fruition, the torch I left suddenly shone brighter. 

"You need to go now," It was Derek.

"But I still have time," 

"No you don't, just please come with me." Derek pulled me away and Maurice simply watched without a word. What could he say? I already did the most by testifying falsely against him.

I had come to explain to him the truth of what transpired, to tell him I was carrying his child but his heart was already stone cold towards me and I couldn't achieve any of that. 

I pressed a hand over my stomach as Derek led me away, pain surging through my entire body. I needed to protect my child—our child till Maurice earned his freedom or I found a way to restore it to him.

"You now go against my instructions don't you?" Before the voice could register in my brain, a hand connected with my face.

Slap!

"Father I—"

"Take her away and lock him up."

The guards dragged me away to my room and locked me in. Hot tears streamed down my face staining my cheeks followed by a violent quake in my body.

The more I tried to stay calm, the more I sobbed, the weight in my chest getting heavier followed by a sharp pain in my stomach. 

"Somebody help me!" I banged on my door repeatedly but no one came to my aid, the room spun, my head was light. I felt all the energy in me drain and before I could dial any number on my phone, I felt warm liquid trickle down my thighs. I wrapped my arms around myself in a bid to protect my child but...

The darkness was stronger. It consumed me. I laid helpless in a pool of my own blood—or my child's.