Alyssa's POVMy father sat at his desk, his head held up by his hands underneath his chin. He was looking at me, scanning me as he tried to sift through his mind for what he really wanted to say. But I didn’t baulk as he surveyed me. I kept my head high, waiting for what I knew was coming.“You always seem to be causing trouble for me, my dear daughter.” He started, expecting me to lower my head in shame or utter my apologies.I didn’t.“I don’t cause anything.” That was all I said. Because it was true. I couldn’t think of a single time when something I did or was accused of was because of someone else, and I was tired of accepting blame.“Oh, really? So you didn’t practically cause a riot at the king’s birthday? You got arrested, Alyssa, both princes and two Alphas were prepared to protect you, and even then, you were still found guilty!” He raised his voice, but I didn’t so much as flinch away from him.“I did what I had to do, father. If I hadn’t escaped the Red Maple Camp, someone
Alyssa’s POVI followed my father in silence towards his study. I could feel the weight of his judgment bearing down on me, and it took everything within me not to tremble. Was he going to send me away himself? Tell me I was no longer his daughter? He’d sent me to the Red Maple Camp after all.I felt a wave of nostalgia flood through me as I followed that familiar path. These were the corridors in which I would play as a child or run away from punishment if I’d done something wrong. This was the way to the kitchen where my mother would help the cooks and make me my favourite foods. I had so many good memories in these halls, and now my final ones would be in anticipation of a scolding from my father before the crown banished me.Though it had been five years since I lived comfortably here, even though I wanted my freedom after I proved my innocence, this was still my home, and it wasn’t my choice to leave. I felt like I’d never had a choice in anything after father married Vivian.Jus
Alyssa's POVWhen I first arrived at the palace, I was terrified. It was just after the incident with Taylor that I felt like it was a lifetime ago. I was immediately thrust into a trial and then a fight in The Colosseum, and it felt like everything was going wrong. But now that I was leaving in this state, I longed for the first time I’d come to the palace.I felt even more terrified than when I first arrived. At least then I had a home I could return to, even if it was filled with vipers ready to strike at me. Now I had nothing. It felt like I was leaving with less than I had come with, and I’d arrived there not long after my time in the Red Maple Camp.With a few belongings and Kai at my side, we headed towards the Ice Heart Pack.That was going to be the hardest part of all of it. Maybe I didn’t have the strongest, healthiest relationship with my father, but he was all I had left. Caleb had only just started to see me as family rather than a monster to be hated. I was sure Vivian
Alyssa's POVKai had asked me to stay still and safe in his room whilst he went to deal with something, and the servants fetched my things from where I’d been staying as a palace maid. But after five minutes, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay there until Kai returned. There was too much on my mind to be patient and obedient.My thoughts went back to Alexander. It was like a switch had been turned off on his heart, and everything around him was useless and meaningless. Even when he rejected me, he hadn’t looked at me so coldly.There was something. I knew that to be a fact, I didn’t know what could’ve happened to make him change so much.Had someone threatened him? Had he made a deal? I was sure I was going to spend the rest of my life rotting in the dungeon or being killed, since they couldn’t trust me to return to the Red Maple Camp, but banishment? That certainly hadn’t been an option that occurred to me.Did Alexander really do something? Was that why he had to be so cold and uncar
Kai's POVI wasn’t done with my brother, not by a long shot. As Alyssa and I were ushered away from Alex, I instructed her to wait in my room while a servant went to gather her belongings from the servants’ quarters. There was no way in hell that I was going to let her go with nothing. I bet my father thought he was being merciful by decreeing that she could go home for final goodbyes, but I knew it was just going to be the salt in the wound.Alyssa had just gotten back to her family and had started to reconnect with them (specifically her father and brother), and now she was being taken away from them again.I let my anger consume me. Alex had told me that he was finally going to stand up to his mother, to fight for what was right and what he truly wanted, but he caved in so easily.Did he even try to fight?I felt a growl rise in my throat and allowed Carter to be released from my body. He stood next to me, golden and alert, waiting for my instructions. Without a word, I walked to
Alexander's POVHow I wished I could’ve held her. Not in a romantic way, not anymore. I didn’t deserve that right, and I’d come to terms with the fact that she was falling in love with my brother.No. I just wanted to give her some comfort, to tell her that she would be okay and that nothing bad would happen to her.But that would’ve been a lie. If I wanted that for her, if I really thought that was something real, I couldn’t be a part of it. I had to stay away and look at her with cold and dead eyes as if she’d meant nothing to me and never would. As if all those months together, carefully crafting and rebuilding whatever fragile relationship we’d had, were for nothing.Kai said something as the two of them passed by me, but I couldn’t hear anything or feel anything. My body was in a numb void, and I didn’t see myself getting out of it any time soon.They were gone.And I was alone.Aside from the guards around me, but they didn’t count. Not really. They didn’t know me like Alyssa d