Kyllian looked back once.
Then he ran into the woods.
Lyra stood frozen, watching until the trees swallowed him.
Her father always did this when he needed to think clearly.
It basically meant this wasn’t something his family could help him with.
“Come, Lyra. There is nothing you can do about this.” Mabel said.
“One more reason for Erin to hate me, right?” Lyra mused.
Mabel glanced at her daughter and chuckled softly.
“Your sister doesn’t hate you.”
Lyra raised a brow.
“She is at war with herself right now. That’s all. Come on.”
Lyra looked once more toward the woods where her father had disappeared.
Then she followed her mother.
*****
The next couple of days were not easier.
They were, in fact, a complete fucking headache.
Erin refused to come out of her room.
The door remained locked.
Carys was not allowed in.
Kyllian was furious.
Still, the real issue was no longer only what happened at the soldiers’ reception party.
The council had gotten wind of it.
They agreed that a match between Lyra and Garrick would be good for the kingdom.
He was beloved by the army.
Newly appointed Commander.
Alpha of the Silverhowl Pack.
A symbol of strength after war.
Lyra was the future Alpha Queen.
Together, they said, the pair would steady the people and reassure the military.
Then they went further.
They called for Erin’s royal status to be withdrawn if she refused to cement the relationship with Blood City through her mating with Magnus.
They claimed Erin’s behaviour had disgraced the crown.
They also suggested that with the events of the past few days, Erin posed a threat to Princess Lyra’s future reign.
Kyllian wished they knew what they were asking of him.
He wished he could stand before them and say the truth so loudly it shook the capital: that Erin was not some spare princess.
She was not a mistake, not a wolf-less embarrassment.
She was their goddess.
The Moon Goddess lived inside her bones.
The very power they worshipped lived in the daughter they dared to discuss like damaged property.
Including him.
The Alpha King.
If Erin ever awakened fully to what she carried, the entire kingdom would kneel before her.
Because their wolves would know.
And that was exactly why he could not tell them.
To protect her, he couldn’t.
So he swallowed the truth.
After a week, Kyllian had had enough.
He stopped outside Erin’s door.
For over a week, he had been patient.
Enough.
He slammed his fist against the door.
“Erin!”
No answer.
He hit it again, harder.
“Open this door.” His wolf rose beneath his skin.
“Erin, open this door or it is coming down!!!”
Still nothing.
Fine.
He took a couple of steps back, already calculating the angle.
One kick near the lock.
He lifted his leg.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Kyllian was ready to unleash a week’s worth of fury.
Erin stood there.
Hair loose and tangled.
Eyes swollen from crying too long and sleeping too little.
He was about to begin yelling at her when she stepped toward him, and wrapped her arms around him.
His anger evaporated the moment he held her.
It vanished like smoke, leaving Kyllian standing in the doorway with his daughter clinging to him as if breating itself had finally become too heavy for her bones.
He felt her begin to sob before he heard it.
All he could do was hold her.
“It’s okay…” he murmured, one hand cradling the back of her head.
“It’s okay, love. You’re okay. I will take care of everything.”
Erin cried harder.
There was a particular cruelty in hearing his daughter break quietly in his arms.
She shook her head against his chest.
She pulled back then.
Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot, her lips trembling.
“Erin…”
“No.” She wiped her cheek.
“I did this. Tell me what to do, Father.” She had not called him that softly in a long time.
Most days it was Father with irritation, Father with sarcasm.
This was different.
Kyllian wondered if she had even stopped crying at all.
“I…” He blew air out of his mouth and looked past her into the room.
Shit.
There was no royal handbook for this.
“You need to take some time away from the kingdom,” he said then continued before she could argue.
“Let everything settle. When you come back, we can make plans. Right now, the people are saying things I do not even want to hear. They are speaking out of fear and ignorance.”
“Where do I go?” Erin asked, her voice low.
“This is my home.”
Kyllian cupped her face with one hand.
“I know only one place where you will be safe, Erin.”
She did not need him to say it.
“Blood City.”
“But you said Magnus took a trip to grieve.”
Kyllian almost laughed.
A trip.
Yeah, right.
“I got word of his return…He is still in recovery…”
Erin blinked.
“What the hell kind of trip does he have to recover from?”
Kyllian smiled.
“There are so many things you do not understand.”
“You always use that when you are hiding something.”
Kyllian brushed his thumb beneath her eye.
“You will be safe in Blood City.”
Erin looked away.
Safe.
She may be safe in Blood City, but she was absolutely certain Magnus would not want the bond between them to remain.
Not after everything.
Not after she had chosen Garrick with such confidence, defended him with such blindness, and stood before Magnus asking for freedom.
Shame warmed her skin again.
She wiped her face again and nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Blood City, then.
She decided now was not the time to inform her father that she had ruined things with Blood City also.
There were limits to how much disappointment a man should have to swallow.