Chapter 7

Seraphina’s POV

His lips crashed against mine, and the entire world outside the bedroom simply vanished.

Soren’s kiss was not gentle, but it was filled with a desperate, heavy hunger. He kissed me like a starving man who had finally found water. 

His large, warm hands held my cheeks firmly, tilting my head to deepen the kiss. I could taste the mint on his breath and feel the raw, untamed heat of his Alpha aura wrapping around my body.

As his tongue pushed past my lips, my mind began to spin. A thousand questions rushed through my head.

*What exactly happened between the real Evelyn and Soren?*

Orion had given me all of Evelyn’s memories. He told me the names of her parents, the color of her wedding dress, and the songs she liked to sing. 

But Orion never told me the emotional truth. He never told me why the great Alpha was drowning in so much guilt.

 Soren was treating me like a precious piece of glass, constantly apologizing for his past mistakes. 

What did he do to the late Luna that made him hate himself so much? Did he abuse her? Did he break her heart?

But before my assassin mind could analyze the situation any further, my human body completely betrayed me.

Soren’s hands slid down from my cheeks, wrapping tightly around my waist, pulling my body flush against his hard chest. 

A sudden, violent spark shot down my spine. A hot thrill rushed straight down my thighs.

I gasped softly against his lips.

Before I even realized what was happening, I was completely dripping wet. My core melted, soaking my inner thighs with a deep, intense desire I had never felt in my entire life.

I was entirely shocked. My eyes fluttered shut.

I was Seraphina. I was a trained killer. I had shared a bed with the cruel Rogue King, Orion, many times. I had used my body as a weapon to seduce and destroy. 

But Orion had never made me feel like this. No man had ever made me so wet with just a single kiss. The feeling was so powerful and overwhelming that all my dark thoughts simply melted away.

I could not stop myself. I wrapped my arms around Soren’s thick neck, pulling myself closer to his heat.

 I opened my mouth wider and kissed him back with the same wild, hungry desperation. I let out a soft, breathy moan.

Soren groaned deeply in his chest. His hands gripped my hips, his thumbs pressing into my soft skin through the thin fabric of my nightgown. 

We were completely lost in each other, drowning in the heavy tension and the sweet taste of the kiss.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. 

The sharp, sudden sound hitting door made us both jump.

Soren and I pulled away from each other instantly, gasping for air. My chest was heaving up and down, and my skin felt like it was on fire.

 I looked up at Soren. His handsome face was completely flushed, his gray eyes dark with pure, unfiltered lust. His lips were swollen from my kisses.

"Who is it?" Soren growled, his voice thick with annoyance and heavy frustration.

"It is Lucas, Alpha," a deep, gritty voice called from the other side of the door.

Soren let out a long, heavy sigh. He ran a hand through his messy dark hair, trying to calm his breathing. "Come in."

The door opened slowly. Lucas, the Beta of the Obsidian Claw Pack, stepped into the room. He was tall, broad, and carried a sharp energy. 

He bowed his head respectfully to Soren, but his dark eyes quickly darted to me, taking in my flushed face and messy hair.

"What is so important that it could not wait, Lucas?" Soren asked sharply, clearly irritated that our intimate moment was ruined.

Lucas did not answer out loud. Instead, he took a few quick steps closer to the Alpha. He leaned in and whispered something directly into Soren’s ear.

I strained my ears to listen, trying to use my enhanced wolf hearing, but Lucas spoke too quietly. Whatever he said, it was serious. Soren’s facial expression changed instantly.

 The romantic warmth vanished from his gray eyes, replaced by the cold, calculating look of a king preparing for a threat.

Soren nodded once. He turned to look at me, giving me a quick, apologetic smile.

"I am sorry, my love," Soren said gently. "There is a pack matter I must attend to immediately. I will see you later tonight. Get some rest."

Before I could even reply, Soren turned around and hurried out of the bedroom, his long strides eating up the distance to the door.

Lucas trailed behind him. But just as the Beta reached the doorway, he stopped. Lucas did not follow his Alpha immediately. 

Instead, he slowly turned his head and looked right back at me. His dark, sharp eyes locked onto mine. He stared at me with deep, intense suspicion. His gaze did not hold any respect for his Luna. 

He looked at me like a predator inspecting a very strange, very dangerous piece of meat. He narrowed his eyes, studying my face, my posture, and the way I breathed.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

Then, without saying a single word, Lucas gave me a slow, mocking bow. He turned around and walked out, pulling the door shut behind him.

I stood alone in the quiet bedroom, my brows furrowed in deep confusion. My heart hammered against my ribs, and the wetness between my legs felt cold now.

Why did the Beta always stare at me like that?

A terrifying thought crossed my mind. *Does he know? Did he figure out I am not Evelyn?*

I quickly shook my head, pacing across the room. No. That was completely impossible. The sorcerer’s magic was flawless. 

Even Soren, her own husband, believed I was his wife. There was absolutely no way a Beta could see through the ancient illusion. 

Lucas was probably just an overly protective guard dog, naturally suspicious of everything. I told myself to calm down and focus on the mission.

Later in the evening, the palace grew quiet. The sun had set, casting long, dark shadows across my royal bedroom.

 I was sitting at the vanity table, brushing my long silver hair, when I heard faint voices coming from the hallway outside my door.

My assassin instincts instantly woke up. I stopped brushing my hair and listened closely.

It was the pack maids. They were supposed to be cleaning the corridor, but they were gossiping. And they were talking about me.

"Did you see the way the Alpha looked at her today?" the first maid whispered. Her voice was full of envy. "He bought her so many expensive dresses.

 The King seems to be completely in love with his wife now."

"Oh, please," the second maid replied. Her voice was sharp, bitter, and full of total disrespect. "Do not be foolish. He is only acting like that because she just came back from the dead. It is just the excitement of the moment. Very soon, he will get tired of her all over again."

"You think so?" the first maid asked.

"I know so," the second maid scoffed loudly. "Why would a great, powerful Alpha want to stay with a weak, pathetic Luna like Evelyn? She cannot even give birth! She is barren! A Luna who cannot give the pack an heir is completely useless. Just wait. He will push her aside for a real woman soon enough."

Rage boiled inside my chest. Hot, violent assassin rage.

In the Rogue Kingdom, if a servant dared to speak about Orion's women like this, their tongues would be cut out immediately. 

I dropped my hairbrush onto the table with a loud clatter. I was not going to sit inside my room and let these low-level maids insult me. I was Seraphina. I commanded fear.

I marched across the bedroom, grabbed the golden door handle, and ripped the door open.

I stepped out into the hallway, standing tall and proud. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the two young maids holding their feather dusters.

"I can hear everything you are saying," I said coldly. My voice was a dangerous, icy whisper.

I expected them to drop their dusters. I expected them to fall to their knees, shaking in terror, begging the Luna for forgiveness and mercy.

To my absolute shock, they did not flinch.

The two maids did not look scared at all. They just stopped dusting and looked at me. Then, they slowly turned their heads and looked at each other.

And they laughed.

It was not a nervous laugh. It was a cruel, mocking giggle right to my face.

"We know you heard us, your Highness," the second maid said. She gave me a fake, lazy bow that lacked any real respect. 

She looked me right in the eye, a nasty smirk playing on her lips. "We have always said these things. We said it to your face for two years before you ran away into the woods. So why are you acting like you have never heard it before?"

My breath hitched in my throat. I stood frozen in the doorway.

"You did not care back then," the first maid added, rolling her eyes. "You just used to cry and run away. So do not pretend to be strong now just because the Alpha bought you a few pretty dresses."

The two maids giggled again, picked up their cleaning buckets, and walked down the hallway without even asking for permission to leave.

I stood in the empty corridor, completely paralyzed by what just happened. The disrespect was so raw, so open, and so normal to them.

Suddenly, all the puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind. Soren’s deep guilt. The empty pages of her diary.

 The maids' fearless cruelty. Evelyn was not a Queen.

The late Luna was just a title. To the Alpha, she was an unwanted burden. 

To the servants, she was a joke. She was a barren, weak, unloved woman who was bullied and humiliated by every single person in this palace. 

She never had any power. She was never treated like a Luna.

A dark, dangerous fire ignited deep in my soul. I slowly stepped back into my bedroom and closed the door.

Evelyn might have been a weak, crying victim who let her servants walk all over her. But I was not Evelyn. I am Seraphina Umbra.

If they thought I was going to lower my head and cry in the shadows, they were making a deadly mistake. It was time to teach this pack what a real Queen looked like.