LOGINZELDA'S POVAfter the pool incident, everyone seemed extra nice to me, the snobby maids included, and even the old women who used to whisper when I passed.Mia and I were deep in an afternoon gist when a knock cut us off mid-sentence.“The Alpha sends this,” the servant said, smiling as I opened the door. She held out a bouquet and a shopping bag.“Thanks,” I said, and closed the door behind me.“What is it this time?” Mia asked, giggling.I rolled my eyes. “Just flowers and...” My voice trailed off as I set the flowers down and dug through the bag. Silk and lace spilled over my fingers, cool and impossibly soft.“Whoa!” Mia said, pulling out one swimsuit after another and holding them up to the light. “This is beautiful.”I wanted to stay unbothered, but the fabric shimmered under my touch, and I couldn't deny it.“Zeeeeee, what's going on?” Mia pinched my arm.I swatted her hand away, laughing despite myself. “Nothing.”“He built you a pool. He's been dropping gifts here and there,
Author's POVNews of the pool spread through the pack faster than fire through dry brush, and not everyone was pleased. A pool. Bearing Zee's name.Leah least of all.She stormed to Vance's quarters at first light, still in the same clothes she'd slept in, hair unbrushed, hands balled so tight at her sides that her nails bit crescents into her palms. She hadn't even stopped to shower. She just walked.The door swung open before she could knock, as if it had been waiting for her. But it wasn't Vance standing there. It was Zelda."Come back one more time, Zee." Vance's voice drifted out from somewhere inside, low and warm.Zelda was smiling when she turned, but the smile died the moment she saw Leah's face, the whites of her eyes gone red, her jaw tight enough to crack. Still, Zelda said nothing. She only stepped aside and walked past, not sparing Leah so much as a glance.Something in Leah's chest cracked open. She shoved past the doorway and into the room."What the hell is going on h
Zelda's POV"No, no, no, nooooo," I screamed at the top of my lungs, the sight in front of me refusing to leave my eyes. The servant's body hung lifeless, swaying slightly. My vision blurred, the world tilted, and then everything went black.When I opened my eyes again, I was in the hospital, lying flat with Vance sitting beside me.“Stay still, Zee.” He said, easing me back down before I could sit up."Did she make it?" I asked, tears rolling down my cheeks before I could stop them. The look on his face answered before his mouth did. She was dead, and I was the reason."She left this behind." He reached into his pocket and placed a folded sheet of paper in my hands.I opened it slowly, my heart already breaking before I read a single word. Line by line, I made it through, until I couldn't anymore. The tears came fast after that, and I let them.Vance pulled me into his arms and held me until the shaking stopped."Someone killed her." That was the first thing I managed to say once I c
Author's POV"I want access to the purple prison." Zelda's voice came out breathless, her head still resting on Vance's shoulder, her chest rising and falling against him.Vance stilled. Whatever he'd braced himself for, it wasn't this. "You want to do what?" He tilted his head down to catch her eyes."The servant that framed me. I heard she's locked up in there.""That place isn't for women, Zee." His jaw tightened. "And why do you even want to see her?"Zelda sighed and pushed herself up on one elbow, meeting his gaze with as much conviction as she could fake. "I'm no ordinary woman. And second, it would do me good to look her in the eye. She caused me a lot of pain."He studied her for a long moment before he finally nodded. "Fine. But you're not going alone.""Mia's coming with me.""Good. Now." He slid back under the duvet, pulling her with him, a low laugh rumbling in his chest. "Let's see how much more convincing you can be before I decide."By morning she had her token, a smal
ZELDA's POVWhat was funny?I looked over at Leah. She was smiling, slow and satisfied, the kind of smile that made my stomach drop before my brain even caught up. She even winked at me.I snatched the diary out of Vance's hand so fast the pages fluttered, and for one heartbeat I felt triumphant. Then I looked down and the ground seemed to tilt under me. Same leather cover. Same worn gold clasp. But the pages staring back at me weren't the ones I remembered, the ones packed with secrets I'd have burned Leah alive for. These pages held caricature sketches, badly drawn stick figures with round bellies, lists of baby names circled and crossed out, doodles of how "Zelda" would look at nine months pregnant, cartoonishly huge and waddling.I flipped through it like a woman possessed, my fingers tearing at the corners, searching for even one page, one line, one word of what I'd actually seen that night. Nothing. Every eye was on me now, and I could feel the weight of every single one pressi
Zelda's POVI don't know how long I stayed under that bed, curled up like a coward in the dark, but I know I woke to brightness and the sound of footsteps crossing the floor above me.I had spent the whole night down there, dust in my nose and fear gripping my chest, terrified that someone would notice I was gone. I waited until the footsteps stopped, until the room went cold and silent again, before I dared to move. When I finally crawled out, stiff and shaking, I was still clutching the small diary that had sent a jolt of ice through my blood.I had managed to read through a few pages before my eyes gave out from the strain. Every page was filled with names, some underlined in red ink with the word *death* scrawled beside them. But what stopped my heart cold was my own name, written in bold red letters, marked DEATH in capitals. Was she actually planning to kill me?I didn't have the luxury of sitting with that thought. I crept out of my hiding place on legs that felt like wet rope,







