CHAPTER FIVE

Eli’s POV

I didn’t remember leaving the party.

One moment, I was standing in a large hall that felt so bright, too loud- people clapping, voices overlapping, eyes on me in a way that made my skin crawl.

The next, I was outside.

Cold air hit my face brutally, sharp enough to cut through the noise in my head but it didn’t bring clarity. If anything it made the silence worse.

My chest felt so tight like something inside of me had been squeezed and refused to release.

“Sera Voss”, I muttered silently.

The name replayed in my head over and over again refusing to settle into something that is understandable.

There is no way that woman standing there is the princess of the Voss palace, the heir and also the fiancée of the continental alpha.

I dragged my hand down my face exhaling slowly.

“Eli”, Mira’s voice came behind me and I didn’t even turn to look at her.

“Eli”, she repeated, closer this time. “Why aren’t you reacting?”

I let out a short, humorless breath as I glanced back at her.

“Reacting to what?” I asked. “To fact that my-“, I stopped myself, my jaw tightened. “The fact that she’s standing in the room like she owns it?” my voice sounded so aggressive.

Mira studied me, her reaction unreadable in the dim light outside the venue.

“You’re shaken”, she said simply.

“No, I’m not. I’m thinking”, I corrected.

“About her”

That word landed heavier than it should have.

Mira stepped closer, her heels clicking softly against the ground.

“You’re not the only one that saw what happened there”, she said while holding eyes with me. “Everybody did”.

“Good”, I muttered. “Then I’m not losing my mind”

Because that was what I felt like. Like reality shifted when I wasn’t looking, and now I was the only one standing in the wrong version of it.

“It is a lie”, I said suddenly, the thought snapping into place. “The whole announcement- there’s no way-“

“Lied about what?”, Mira cut in abruptly. “Her name? Her status? The fact that she’s engaged to the most powerful Alpha in the continent?” Her voice was very loud now.

I frowned,” That’s not what I mean”

“Then explain it”

I opened my mouth and closed it again. Because I couldn’t explain clearly in a way that made sense without sounding like a fool.

“She’s not-“, I exhaled sharply. “She’s not supposed to be there”

Mira tilted her head slightly, “But she is”.

I turned away from her and walked back into the hall filled with people clapping and beaming with smiles.

I looked around and I saw Sera walking hand in hand with her supposed fiancée. My thoughts kept circling back to her.

The way she spoke.

The way she stood.

The way she didn’t look at me the way she used to.

That thought irritated me more than anything else.

The memory of that night resurfaced uninvited.

Sera was standing in the kitchen, her voice steady and she left the kitchen without pleading and hesitation. Just clear exit.

“Eli”, Mira said quietly beside me. “We have to restrategise. Sera is now the fiancée of the continental Alpha-“she paused and looked at me.

“We should do something to spoil her reputation. Remember we have a deal to finalize with the Alpha”

I looked at her like I was unsure of what to say.

“We shouldn’t do that”, I muttered silently, like I was tired of everything going on here.

“Oh,” Mira laughed. “We should and we will” Mira said and picked a glass of wine from one of the passing waiters with a smile plastered on her face.

“She left that night without arguments”, she said suddenly lowering the wine glass from her lips. “What if she left because she knew something you didn’t?”

The question lingered in the air, uncomfortable, unfinished.

“What are you implying”, I asked.

Mira didn’t reply me immediately.

“What if”, she said finally, “she left because she was already pregnant?”

The words hit me like a physical blow and I froze.

For a moment, everything went still.

The noise of the people behind us.

The distant movement of the people and even the wind seemed to fade.

‘…. No”, I said, but my voice sounded distant, like I was unsure of what I am about to say.

“She would have said something”, I added quickly. “She wouldn’t just-“

The silence that followed was louder than anything else. Because now, my memory was working against me.

Replaying every interaction.

Every argument.

Every moment I had dismissed her.

Every time I had made her feel small.

Every time she had asked me to see her and I hasn’t.

My stomach twisted.

“No”, I said again, shaking my head slightly with a firm voice. “That’s not possible”

Mira stepped closer.

“Eli”, she said carefully, “When exactly did she leave?”

I didn’t reply immediately because I remembered that part clearly.

The night she left

The argument

Her voice raising for the first time.

“Right after our anniversary”, I finally replied.

“And how long as things been off between you two before that?”

I looked at her like I was getting annoyed with her questions but the truth was unavoidable.

Long before that night, there were moments where she looked like she wanted to say something but she didn’t

“How long?” Mila pressed again

“A while”, I admitted.

Mira nodded once.

“That’s it”, she smiled.

The words were simple but they carried too much weight.

My thoughts began to shift again trying to make sense of something that suddenly didn’t feel as straightforward as it had before.

My chest tightened painfully.

“No,” I said again. “That doesn’t make sense”.

But even as I said it, doubt crept in because there was one thing I couldn’t ignore anymore.

The children.

The two boys that had been hanging around her since the beginning of the event.

They were around six years old.

And for the first time since that night- a thought formed in my mind that I couldn’t push away.

One that made my pulse quicken.

One that I hadn’t considered before.

“….. They could be mine”.

 The words left my mouth before I could stop them.