Page 54

“I’ll be brief, then.” She walked closer, stopping just short of the desk. “I heard something this morning. From one of the maids.”

I kept my gaze on the papers in front of me.

“She said you marked her. The stray. Lexa.”

Her voice wrapped around the name like a curse. I looked up. Finally. Tanya’s smile was tight, brittle around the edges.

“Tell me it isn’t true,” she said. Her voice was calm, but I heard the strain beneath it. “Tell me you didn’t give her what you’ve never given anyone else.”

I leaned back in my chair, arms crossing over my chest as I stared at her, unblinking. And I said nothing. Because silence, in that moment, was louder than any answer. Tanya’s eyes narrowed. The smile she wore cracked, just slightly, and something colder glinted behind it.

“You’re not going to say anything?” she asked, voice lower now, more controlled. “After everything I’ve done for you. Afterall the years I’ve served this pack. Servedyou.”

The air between us had already shifted, thick and tense, vibrating with the kind of power that came just before violence. She stepped closer, too bold, too sure of her place in a room that no longer belonged to her.

“I honored you. I answered every time you called. I was obedient. Loyal. I’ve bled for your name, and I laid down for your pleasure. And now I’m replaced by amuttwho carves up her own body just to silence the wolf in her?” She sneered. “That’swhoyou mark?”

I rose from my chair. Slow. Deliberate. And when I looked at her, I let her see it. The Alpha. The fury. The thing she’d never tamed and never truly touched.

“Careful, Tanya.”

But she didn’t stop. The bitterness was already pouring from her like acid.

“Oh, don’t worry, Alpha,” she said with a vicious little smile. “I knowexactlywhat Lexa’s been doing. This keep has walls, and those walls have ears. And when the rest of your pack finds out that their Alpha marked a wolf who uses dark magic to butcher her own nature—”

My power flared before I could think.

I was across the room in an instant, hand around her throat, not squeezing, but close. Close enough to make the blood drain from her face. Close enough to silence whatever venom she thought she could spit.

“If her name passes your lips again, Tanya,” I said, voice low and shaking with barely leashed violence, “I’ll drag you into the courtyard and break every bone in your body, one by one, until you scream so loud the gods cover their ears.”

Her eyes widened, mouth parting in disbelief. She had pushed too far, and now she saw it.

“I am not a man who forgets loyalty,” I continued, softernow. “But don’t mistake my patience for mercy. You are not Luna. You never were. And you will not start a war in my halls with your jealous mouth.”

I let go of her slowly, like I was releasing something rotted. She stumbled back, catching herself against the table. That venomous glint in her eyes dulled for a moment, and she shifted, softened her posture, adjusted her tone like a woman sliding into a new mask.

“I’m only trying to help you see clearly,” she said, her voice quiet now, silk over glass. “You’re not yourself, Andros. Maybe you should consider… that she’s done something to narrow your vision.” Her eyes flicked to the floor, then back to me with false concern. “She’s skilled, isn’t she? With dark magic. Who’s to say the bond wasn’t twisted into something it shouldn’t be?”

I watched her, silent for a beat, then took a slow step closer, not threatening this time, just enough to make sure she didn’t mistake me for a fool.

“She doesn’t wield dark magic,” I said, flatly. “She paid for it. A witch carved those runes into her back. Lexa doesn’t even know how to hold a blade properly, let alone cast a curse.”

Tanya’s lips parted like she might say more, but I raised a hand, and the words died in her throat.

“I’ve entertained enough of your jealousy for one lifetime,” I said, voice cold and final. “Don’t come here again. Not unless it’s a matter of pack urgency.”

I stepped around her, back to my desk, and poured myself a glass of wine, slow and deliberate.

“And one more thing,” I added without looking at her. “The next time you see me, or her, you will bow your head in submission and walk the other fucking way.”

Tanya said nothing. I didn’t need her to. The door opened behind her, and this time, she walked through it without another word. I listened to her footsteps fade down the hall, my jaw tight,the taste of fury still bitter in my mouth.

I worked until the late hours of the night, trying to avoid everyone. The fire in my study had long burned to embers. The ink on my fingers was dry, the maps and ledgers I’d pored over nothing but smudged lines and meaningless numbers.

The corridor was quiet, lit only by the soft orange flicker of wall sconces. The hour was late and I was bone-deep tired. The kind of tired that sleep couldn’t fix.

I stepped into the hall intending to make my way to the guest room at the far end. My chambers… our chambers… were stilloccupiedby her. And tonight, I couldn’t trust myself to go near that door. Not when the memory of her still echoed in my mind with every breath I took.