CONFRONTATION AT THE GATES

Elaris’s POV

My blood turned cold where I stood in the dark hallway, listening to the sound of Caedmon’s rough voice break into the calm night air.

“Open the gates!”

The order reverberated across the castle grounds.

My hand tightened on the wall.

Several beats of my heart went by before I could make myself move.

It had been weeks since I stopped thinking about the sound of his voice.

Yet now just one phrase had pulled every single memory right out of me.

The ward.

The blood.

The baby I had lost.

His gaze when he had called me a murderer.

And the time when he’d told me to go away.

My wolf growled deep within me.

“No,” I said aloud.

Yet Caedmon was already here.

He was healthy, strong, and perfectly fine – an example of what my sacrifice had done for him, even if he had thanked me for that gift with exile.

Standing at the gates from my position in the hallway, I could see him there.

There wasn’t anything weak in his stance.

No sign of the illness that had previously kept him gasping for breath.

He was exactly as he had been before anything went wrong.

The weight pressed down on my chest.

I’d given him everything.

My power.

My spirit.

My baby.

Almost my life.

And here he was, coming to claim me like nothing had happened.

I understood the truth all too well.

Saving his life hadn’t made me valuable to him.

It just made him remember that he thought he owned me.

Balling my last bit of strength inside myself, I walked out onto the marble balcony overlooking the gates and looked directly down at the man who had broken me.

Caedmon’s eyes flickered to mine.

We locked eyes.

For a second, the whole courtyard faded away.

I was in that room again.

When he had seen me with disdain.

When he had said I’d killed our child.

But I wasn’t broken and lying in his castle.

I was standing.

This time, it was he who was on the outside looking in.

"You have no right to stand at these gates, Caedmon," I shouted down at him, my voice surprisingly calm despite the pounding of my heart.

His face hardened.

"Elaris."

I would not break eye contact with him.

"This is not your territory."

"You are my mate."

"Not here."

His jaw tightened.

"You do not get to decide that."

"I didn’t get to make any decisions when you exiled me."

My voice wavered slightly.

"You did that yourself."

Silence filled the courtyard.

Caedmon gazed at me.

For the first time, there was a flicker of regret in his eyes.

But it disappeared quickly.

Caedmon sneered up at me and declared that, by law, I was still his mate, having secretly come into the Alpha’s palace in order to sell myself to his best friend.

"So this is how you repaid me for exiling you?"

My stomach churned.

"You exiled me."

"You gave me an order."

"You ordered me to leave while I could barely walk."

"And you rushed straight into Averic’s arms."

His voice was rising.

"Did you even wait to leave my territory before throwing yourself at him?"

Heat scorched my cheeks.

"How dare you!"

"You were always good at playing the part of the innocent."

This hurt more than I intended it to.

"I came to Averic's because I have nowhere else to turn."

Caedmon sneered with bitter amusement.

"And now you're living in his palace."

"I am in his protection."

"No," Caedmon said sharply. "You're using him."

My heart hammered in my chest.

"I gave up everything to keep you alive."

"And yet you never asked me to kill our child!"

It was as if I had been hit by a fist.

I froze.

The look on Caedmon's face was cold.

"That was your choice alone."

"And that was your choice alone," I said softly.

Before Caedmon could say anything else, the heavy wooden doors under the balcony burst open and Averic strode into the courtyard, four armed guards following after him.

Everything seemed to shift in an instant.

Averic did not look in my direction first.

His gaze stayed trained on Caedmon.

"Go."

One word.

Silent.

Deadly.

Caedmon turned to face him.

"Averic, this is none of your business."

Averic's eyes narrowed.

"You don't have the right to call her that anymore."

Caedmon snorted.

"You are interfering in something that doesn't concern you."

Averic stepped closer.

"She concerns me."

I froze.

Caedmon saw that.

His eyes hardened.

Averic stalked towards Caedmon with a predatory gait, his alpha aura crackling around him so fiercely that the guards even lowered their heads in submission.

The stone underneath my feet seemed to shake with the pressure of his presence.

Caedmon tensed up.

"You are standing on my territory," Averic stated.

"I came here for what is mine."

Averic stopped several feet away from the gates.

"She is not your property."

Caedmon's eyes narrowed.

"She is my mate."

"And you abandoned her."

Averic's voice didn't betray him.

"You left her bloodied, weak, heartbroken, and homeless."

Caedmon clenched his fists.

"You don't know what happened between us."

"I know enough."

Averic's eyes became cold.

"I know you nearly killed her."

"You threw her out when she was bleeding and on the brink of death," Averic roared. "She is protected by me now. Step one more time on my land, and I will consider it as an act of war."

Caedmon stared at him.

“You’d threaten me over her?”

“I’m just warning you.”

Averic’s Alpha presence strengthened.

“Don’t confuse my patience with weakness.”

Caedmon’s gaze glanced in my direction.

“So you’re taking him?”

I didn’t have an immediate response.

That question came from someone I didn’t even know anymore.

Finally, I responded softly, “I picked somewhere where I can survive.”

Averic met my gaze.

Something in his features relaxed.

Caedmon’s expression contorted with anger.

“You’ll regret your humiliation.”

“No,” Averic answered. “You’ll regret ever coming here.”

Caedmon’s skin lost its color, moving backwards from the iron gates, but his eyes blazed with rage as he promised to take this challenge to the elders and storm off.

“This isn’t finished.”

Averic did not move.

“For tonight, it is.”

Caedmon gestured to the palace.

“The elders will learn about this.”

“Then tell them everything.”

Averic spoke calmly.

“Tell them that you abandoned the woman who risked her life to save yours.”

Caedmon’s features tightened.

But he spun around and left.

I watched until his back disappeared behind the courtyard.

It took me a few more moments to notice the violent shaking of my hands.

My legs wobbled at the release of pressure as I made a hasty descent down the steps to the private garden, struggling to draw breath.

As soon as I got to the garden, I grabbed the ledge of the stone fountain.

I could not breathe.

I had stood up to him.

I had held my ground and told Caedmon to go to hell.

A tear fell from my face.

Then another.

I tried to dry my tears fast.

I couldn’t bear for anyone else to see me crying.

Especially not again.

My body had hit its limit.

My wolf was still weak.

My heart was worn out.

And now the argument had only reopened old wounds I was only just getting over.

I closed my eyes.

“I made it through,” I whispered.

It felt odd to say.

But for the first time ever, I believed it.

Averic came up to me, finding me beside the stone fountain, touching me carefully with a shaking hand to try and wipe a tear from my face.

“You don’t need to pretend everything is okay.”

I turned away.

“I don’t want him to think he still has any control over me.”

“He doesn’t.”

“He used to.”

Averic still had his fingers on my face.

“Not anymore.”

I met his eyes.

“Why did you protect me like that?”

“Because you shouldn’t have had to fight by yourself.”

My breathing hitched.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t showed up.”

“You won’t have to find out.”

He wiped another tear from my face with the tip of his thumb.

“Elaris…”

I paused.

“What?”

Averic was silent for a moment.

His eyes glanced down at my mouth before looking back at mine.

“I meant what I said.”

“What did you mean?”

“I won’t let anyone ever hurt you again.”

My heartbeat quickened.

“I will not ever allow him to touch you again, Elaris,” Averic murmured softly.

I looked up at him and realized just how close he was to me.

His hand was still on my face.

Neither of us made any movements.

But then Averic bent down.

His warm lips touched mine.

At first the kiss was very gentle.

Almost cautious.

Like maybe Averic was giving me one last chance to move away from him.

I didn’t.

My hands clutched at the front of his shirt as the kiss became deeper and more passionate, expressing all that we both could not express in words.

For a single breathless second, everything disappeared.

Caedmon did not exist.

There was no rejection.

There was no missing child.

Just Averic.

Just me.

But then a peculiar weakness overwhelmed me.

My wolf shrank back in alarm.

The garden began to spin around me.

“Averic….”

He hugged me closer.

“What’s wrong?”

I tried to tell him.

Nothing would come out.

Darkness engulfed my vision.

All I felt was Averic holding me in his arms.

“Elaris!”

His voice sounded distant as my body went completely limp in his arms.