Chapter 2: Evil Among Us

Samantha POV

I woke to warmth.

Not the damp heat of the dungeon. Not the cold loneliness of the small room I had been given after Father died. This warmth was steady and gentle, like sunlight filtering through morning mist.

I stirred slowly, still half asleep, and felt fingers brushing softly along my cheek. The touch was careful, almost hesitant, as if I were something fragile.

My eyes opened.

Maddox Emberclaw was watching me.

He lay beside me on the massive bed, propped on one elbow, his dark hair falling over his forehead. Morning light slipped through the heavy curtains and traced the sharp lines of his face. His eyes were no longer wild gold like last night. Now they were warm, the color of honey in sunlight.

He was smiling. A small, quiet smile that made him look younger. Almost peaceful.

I realized his hand was still on my face, his thumb resting just below my cheekbone, and I had not moved away.

“Still shocked by your beauty, Samantha,” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep. “I keep expecting you to disappear when I open my eyes.”

Heat rushed to my face. “You are staring,” I whispered.

“I am,” he said without embarrassment. His thumb moved slightly against my skin. “I have spent years waking up not knowing if I would be a man or a monster. Do you know what it feels like to open your eyes and see something beautiful instead of blood?”

My throat tightened. I did not know what to say to that.

He seemed to sense it. His hand slowly fell away, giving me space, but I felt the loss of his touch immediately. The mate bond pulsed quietly between us, warm and alive.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

He went still for a moment, as if listening to his own body. “Better than I have in years,” he said quietly. “The rage is quiet. The pressure in my head is gone. When I woke up, it was silent for the first time in a very long time.” His eyes returned to mine, and there was something vulnerable in them. “Your scent pushes the curse back. You give me room to breathe.”

Something warm spread through my chest. “I am glad.”

He reached toward me again, slower this time, as if asking permission. He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and tucked it gently behind my ear.

“I want to know you,” he said softly. “What you love. What you fear. What makes you smile when no one is looking. The Moon Goddess sent you to me after years of silence. I will not waste the time she has given us.”

The Moon Goddess. I had spent years believing she had abandoned me. And now this cursed king was looking at me as if I were a miracle.

“She has a strange sense of humor,” I said quietly.

He laughed, a low, warm sound that seemed to surprise both of us. “That she does.”

He leaned closer and kissed me.

The kiss was soft at first, gentle, as if he was afraid I would disappear. When I did not pull away, he deepened it slightly, slow and warm and careful. The mate bond surged between us, and for a moment I forgot everything else. The dungeon. The humiliation. The years of loneliness.

When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine. “I want to spend time with you,” he murmured. “But I have been absent from my kingdom for too long. The curse has kept me locked away while everything fell apart. I need to fix what I have allowed to break.”

I nodded, even though part of me wanted him to stay.

He took my hand under the covers and squeezed gently. “Rest today. Explore the castle. Let the servants take care of you. You have been treated as less than you are for too long. Here, you will want for nothing.” His thumb traced slow circles on my hand. “I want you safe, Samantha. That is my first order as your king and your mate.”

My mate.

The words settled deep inside my chest.

He kissed my forehead, then got out of bed. I watched as his posture changed, his shoulders straightening, his expression hardening slightly. The gentle man from the bed disappeared, replaced by a king.

At the door, he turned back to look at me, still tangled in his sheets.

“I will return,” he said. “Soon.”

Then he left.

---

The castle felt different in the daylight.

Servants bowed when I passed. Guards nodded respectfully. No one looked at me with pity or contempt. It was so unfamiliar that I did not know how to behave.

The omega girl assigned to help me, Tori, could barely contain her excitement as she brushed my hair.

“You should have seen him this morning,” she said quickly. “Walking through the halls like he used to before the curse. Giving orders. Asking about the harvest, the borders, the trade routes. Lord Ranulf nearly dropped his papers when the King asked to see the ledgers.”

She met my eyes in the mirror. “He has not been lucid like this in years. Not really. The curse usually lets him be himself for a few hours, then it drags him back into the madness.” She swallowed. “None of the soothers ever helped like you did. Most of them did not even survive the first night.”

“The curse,” I said quietly.

She nodded and continued braiding my hair. “The whole castle is talking about you. The guards said they saw him stop in the middle of a rage when you spoke. They said he looked at you like you were the only thing in the world.”

I looked down at my hands. Chosen. Mate. Soother. Words I did not fully understand yet, but they were changing my life faster than I could think.

“You think he will stay well?” I asked.

Tori’s hands paused. “I pray every night that he will,” she said softly. “We all do.”

She finished the braid and smiled. “And I hope you do not die during the first mating.”

I blinked.

She blinked back. “The last one did,” she added helpfully.

I did not know what to say to that.

Before I could respond, someone knocked on the door. The man who entered was tall and severe, with grey eyes and silver at his temples. He carried authority like a weapon. Ranulf. The King’s uncle. The regent.

His gaze swept over me with cold assessment. “Samantha,” he said. “The King requires your presence.”

I stood immediately. “He sent for me?”

“He is waiting,” Ranulf said. “Alone.”

Something in Tori’s expression made my stomach tighten as I followed him out into the corridor.

We walked through the castle, but not toward the throne room or the study.

We went down.

Past the kitchens. Past the storage rooms. Into the older part of the castle where the walls were bare stone and the air was damp.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

Ranulf did not answer. The corridor narrowed. The air smelled like rust and old water.

I stopped walking. “The King is not waiting for us, is he?”

Ranulf turned slowly. His face was calm, but his eyes were cold.

“You are a complication,” he said. “The soothers were always temporary. Disposable. But you… He called you mate. And this morning, for the first time in three years, he was fully lucid. Asking questions. Taking control.”

I took a step back. “You cannot do this,” I said. “He will know.”

“The bond is new,” Ranulf replied calmly. “Weak. It can be broken.”

My blood ran cold.

“You are an obstacle,” he continued. “The King does not need a mate. He needs control. And I have controlled this kingdom for three years. I will not lose that control to a wolfless girl.”

The guards behind me grabbed my arms before I could run. Ranulf opened a heavy iron door and shoved me inside.

I hit the stone floor hard. By the time I stood up, the door was already closing. “No!” I slammed my hands against the iron. “He will find out! He will look for me!”

Ranulf’s face appeared behind the small barred window. “The King will forget you,” he said calmly. “The curse will see to that. In a few days, the madness will return and he will not remember why he felt clear this morning. He will not remember your face. Or your name.”

The door slammed shut, the lock turned. I screamed and pounded on the door until my hands hurt and my voice broke, but no one came.