4. The Alpha King

Seraphina gave her one last careful look, then walked back toward the tall windows.

Nora let out a slow breath. At least that part was over.

But the king was still looking at her.

She told herself it meant nothing. Adrian watched everyone. That was half of what made him so scary.

So she kept her promise and stayed as far away from Seraphina as she could. She walked over to a pillar near the drinks table, and a servant handed her a glass of water. She took it, but she didn’t drink.

His golden eyes followed her to the pillar.

They followed her when she turned around, too. She could feel them on her back.

Strange.

In the book, Adrian barely looked at Elena unless she forced him to. And from what Tessa said, Elena had forced him a lot. But now Nora was doing nothing at all, and he was still staring at her like she was a puzzle he wanted to figure out.

She had spent her whole job asking what a character wanted. She had no idea what this man wanted from her, and that bothered her more than it should.

In this court, the king’s attention was like money. Everyone could see who had it and who didn’t. Elena had spent years trying to get it.

And Nora, who wanted none of it, somehow had more than anyone.

Then something at the back of the hall made her look away. A servant was rushing toward the musicians with a folded note. One of them had raised his bow, waiting for a signal from the man leading them.

Nora’s heart started racing.

Did Tessa get to the head servant? Did the message arrive in time? Or were they about to play Elena’s stupid song?

Across the hall, Seraphina was watching the servant too. Then she looked back at Nora.

Waiting.

Nora stayed exactly where she was.

The servant reached the man leading the musicians and handed him the note. The music kept playing the same soft song, and Nora couldn’t tell if that meant the message had arrived or the real one was still on its way.

When she looked back at the raised platform, it was empty.

The whole room slowly went quiet, starting near the steps. Adrian walked down in his black and gold, and the nobles got out of his way before he even asked.

He stopped right in front of her, so close she could feel the power coming off him. He was an Alpha, and in this kingdom, nobody liked to look an Alpha in the eyes for long. Even Elena’s body wanted to look away.

Nora forced herself not to.

She bowed her head. “Your Majesty.”

“Lady Elena.” He looked at her plain dress, her folded hands, and how far she was standing from him. “I heard you planned to wear red.”

So the whole court had told him.

“I changed my mind.”

“You’ve changed a lot tonight.” His eyes didn’t leave her face. “I watched you talk to Lady Seraphina. She didn’t walk away crying. That’s new.”

“Maybe because I didn’t make her cry.”

“Or maybe you’re not finished.”

His voice was calm, but he didn’t believe a word she said.

“Then I’ll let you enjoy your evening, Your Majesty.”

Nora lowered her head and stepped back.

“I didn’t say you could leave.”

She stopped.

Adrian hadn’t raised his voice. He didn’t need to.

Nora had promised Seraphina she would keep her distance, but she never expected the king to get in the way of that promise. If she walked away now, she would be insulting the most powerful man in the kingdom in front of the whole court, and the Ashfords couldn’t afford to make the king their enemy.

So she turned back around.

“Since you walked into this hall,” Adrian said, “you haven’t looked at me even once. You didn’t send a servant with a message. You didn’t ‘accidentally’ run into me by the doors. I remember several occasions when you went out of your way to make sure I noticed you.”

Nora swallowed.

She had no idea what he was talking about. The book never cared enough about Elena’s attempts to get Adrian’s attention to actually write them down.

“I wasn’t aware I was trying to win your attention, Your Majesty.”

Adrian raised an eyebrow.

A few nobles glanced at each other.

Nora wondered if Elena had ever spoken to him like this before. From what she remembered about the book, the real Elena would have complimented his looks, brought up every time they had met before, and found some excuse to stand a little closer to him.

Nora didn’t want any of that.

“I can’t speak for what I might have done before,” she said. “But I’m not planning on bothering you tonight.”

His eyes narrowed.

“So this is your new way of getting my attention? Ignoring me?”

Nora almost laughed.

Not because it was funny, but because she had never met a man so sure that the whole world revolved around him.

In his mind, everything Elena did was just another way to get his attention. Even staying quiet.

But she kept that to herself.

“I haven’t made any decisions about you, Your Majesty.”

“Then explain why you’ve changed. I have a kingdom to run, Lady Elena. I don’t have time for your new games.”

Duty.

The first excuse on his list. Nora bit her tongue.

She couldn’t tell him the truth. There was no way to explain that she had woken up inside a book, or that she knew how his story ended, or that the man standing in front of her would make the choices that led to the death of the woman he claimed to love.

So she gave him the simplest answer she had.

"I have other things to worry about."

"Such as?"

"My family."

Something changed in his expression. It was small, but Nora saw it.

“The Ashfords have been unusually quiet lately,” he said. “I figured you had finally learned your place.”

Nora clenched her jaw.

Learned her place?

She barely even knew what her place was, but the way he said it told her everything. Whatever happened to Elena’s family, the court had already decided they deserved it.

She knew the smart answer was Yes, Your Majesty, then bow low and leave without another word.

But she also knew how Elena’s story ended. The real Elena never asked the right questions. All she ever did was make noise, and that never saved anyone.

In a manuscript, blaming someone without any proof was a plot hole.

In a kingdom, it was a trap.

“Can I ask you something, Your Majesty?”

“You can ask.”

“Why has no one ever looked into what happened to my family?”

The hall went silent immediately.

It was so quiet, Nora could hear someone set their glass down across the hall.

Adrian looked at her closely.

“What makes you think no one has?”

“Because everyone talks like it’s already been settled.”

“And you think your family was treated unfairly.”

“I think blaming someone isn’t the same as having proof.”

His jaw tightened. Nora couldn’t tell if she had hit a nerve or just made him angry.

Maybe both.

“That’s an interesting thing to worry about,” he said, “coming from a woman who has spent every day making a fool of herself since Lady Seraphina got here.”

His words hurt more than Nora expected.

There it was again. Elena’s past, standing in her way every time she tried to make herself heard.

She could wear a simple dress, stop being mean to Seraphina, and stop chasing the king. But none of that would change what people remembered about Elena Ashford.

“I can’t change what I did in the past,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean every accusation against my family should just be accepted without question.”

Adrian just watched her without saying a word.

For the first time since he walked over to her, he seemed less interested in her appearance and more interested in what she was saying.

Nora wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

She had wanted people to stop paying attention to her. Instead, she had just given the king a reason to look closer at her.

Then Adrian stepped closer and lowered his voice, so the nobles watching would have to lean in to hear him.

“You’re acting very different from the woman I remember.”

Nora kept her face calm. “I doubt that’s a big disappointment for you.”

“That depends on why.” His golden eyes stayed on her face. “And your father had his fair hearing. He was given every chance to defend himself.”

Nora remembered that part of the book. It was only a few lines long, but even back then, it had bothered her.

She couldn’t hold in her anger any longer.

“In a closed room?” she said. “With nobody allowed to speak for him, and the decision already made before he even walked in?”

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

Adrian froze.

The curious look on his face had turned into something much more dangerous. Not anger, but interest.

The hearing had been held behind closed doors, with only the council present. Nora only knew about it because of the book. Elena had no way of knowing any of that.

“Your father was strictly warned not to talk about it,” Adrian said quietly. “To anyone. Not even his own daughter.”

Nora’s heart started pounding.

“Tell me something, Lady Elena.”

She waited.

“How do you know so much about the Ashford investigation?”