Roderic
The words hung in the air between us, and for a moment, nobody moved.
Caelan stood frozen by the door.
I stood over her, my hand still gripping her arm from where I’d yanked her to her feet.
Then she collapsed again, her legs buckling, and she crumpled to the floor at my feet, sobbing so hard her entire body convulsed.
“They took me,” she gasped between sobs.
“The night before the wedding, I was in my quarters when Lord Aven’s men came. They dragged me to a room in the palace. Lord Aven was there, along with other Lords. He told me that I would be replacing Princess Esmira. That I would take her place and marry the Alpha king.”
She looked up at me, her face swollen and red, tears and snot streaming down her chin.
“I begged them. I told them I was just a maid, that I didn’t know anything about being a princess, but he didn’t care.” Her voice broke into a high, thin wail.
“He said if I refused, I would be killed.”
“Why?” I asked, turning to stare at her crumbled form.
“Why would Aven need to replace Esmira?”
“I don’t know,” she wept.
“He wouldn’t tell me. He just said the wedding had to happen and I was the one who would make it happen.”
“And Esmira? Where is she?”
“I don’t know!” Another wail tore out of her.
“I swear by the goddess, I don’t know. He never told me what happened to her. He only told me what I had to become.”
“My family,” she choked, thumping at her chest.
“He killed them. All of them. My mother, my sisters, my uncle, my aunt, everyone who loves me…” Her voice broke.
“He lined them up and made me watch, and then he told me that if I ever told anyone the truth, I’d be next.”
My wolf surged with anger within me, and I took a step back.
“I’ve been wanting to tell you since yesterday,” she continued, weeping.
“At the ceremony, I tried to call out to you, but you left, and this morning, I tried again, but you told me never to speak to you.”
I stared at her.
My mind was racing, trying to sort the pieces, trying to find the lie because this had to be a lie.
It had to be another Sorvane game.
But then I remembered our wedding day yesterday.
The way she’d tried to smile through her tears when I’d torn her apart in front of the lords.
She’d wanted to tell me something, but I’d cut her off.
Even when she tried to go after me and tripped on her gown, I’d scoffed and walked away.
That wasn’t the behaviour of a princess who’d schemed to steal an Alpha King.
That was the behaviour of someone who was terrified and had no idea what she was doing.
I shook my head, trying to expel the thought.
I couldn’t afford sympathy right now.
This could still be a trap.
I had to be careful.
Caelan stepped forward and knelt beside her.
“What’s your name? Your real name.”
She wiped her face with the back of her hand, her breath still hitching.
“Enora Hale.”
“Are you from this Kingdom?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“I am from Dunmere, a village at the edge of Valdren.”
“Seven days. I was hired as a temporary maid for the Royal wedding preparations.” She looked between us, her eyes raw and pleading.
“I’m nobody but a commoner. I was a butcher’s handmaiden who came here to earn money for my family.”
“If you had no wolf, I would have known,” I insisted.
“Are you truly a commoner?”
“Yes, your majesty,” she nodded, sniffing.
“Lord Aven gave me herbs that dulled the senses of your wolf whenever you’re around me, hence your inability to notice that I had no wolf.”
That would explain my wolf’s strange reaction to her presence.
I studied her face.
The truth was, I didn’t know exactly what the real Esmira looked like.
I’d met her once, at a masquerade ball in Ceranthia, and the evening had been dark, and I’d spent the entire time refusing to look at her.
Lord Aven had used that against me and replaced my supposed bride.
Caelan dropped to the ground beside her again and tried to console her, placing a hand carefully on her shoulder.
“You need to stop crying,” he said gently.
“If the servants outside this door hear you wailing like. This will raise questions, and we don’t need that right now.”
She nodded and pressed both hands over her mouth, trying to muffle the sobs.
Her shoulders still shook, but the sound dimmed to a strangled, suffocated keening that was somehow worse than screaming.
Caelan looked up at me.
His grey eyes were unreadable, but I could see the muscle in his jaw working the way it did when he was in deep thought.
I turned and walked to the window.
I needed distance from her tears to think.
If this were true and my gut, against every instinct of self-preservation, told me it was, then the implications were staggering.
First, Princess Esmira was missing.
Whether she was dead, imprisoned, or hidden away somewhere, Lord Aven had removed her from the equation and installed a commoner in her place.
Why?
What had Esmira done?
Or what had she known that made Aven desperate enough to replace her hours before the royal wedding?
Or … could this be a ploy from Aven to torture me and make me bend more to his rule?
Second, if Ceranthia Kingdom discovered that their princess had been swapped for a common girl with no wolf and no Bloodright, Alpha King Eldric would not send diplomats.
He would send armies.
War would consume both kingdoms within a month.
Third, and this was the thought that made my pulse quicken.
If a man of Lord Aven’s position was caught orchestrating a deception of this magnitude, plus the evidence, the Beast Council would be forced to act.
Conspiracy against the crown.
Fraud against a sovereign ally.
The punishment would extend to his entire house.
Every chain the Sorvanes had wrapped around my throne could be shattered in a single tribunal.
But I couldn’t move too quickly.
If I exposed this now without concrete evidence beyond the confession of a commoner, without knowing where the real Esmira was and what had happened to her, it could backfire.
And if the girl was telling the truth, if she was really an innocent maid caught in Lord Aven’s machinery, then exposing her meant sentencing her to death.
Ceranthia would demand blood for the deception, and hers would be the first they’d take.
I couldn’t do that.
Whatever she was — pawn, tool, or trap — she didn’t deserve to die for Lord Aven’s sins.
I crossed the room to where she was.
“Listen to me, Es—Enora, if everything you told me is true, then we must move with caution. For now, you will continue your roles as the Luna Queen, okay?”
Then I turned to Caelan.
“Take her back to her chambers. Make sure no one sees her face and tell her attendants she’s resting and not to be disturbed.”
“And then?”
“Join me at the assembly. We’ll talk after.”
Caelan nodded.
He helped the girl —Enora — to her feet and guided her toward the door.
She looked back at me once, her eyes red and swollen, and something in her expression made my wolf stir again.
That same whimper from earlier as though it recognised something about her that my mind refused to acknowledge.
I looked away.
***
The assembly hall was already full when I arrived.
Lords from both kingdoms stood as I entered.
Lord Aven sat in his usual position — to the right of the throne, one seat below, his silver hair immaculate, his pale eyes tracking my every step.
I met his gaze briefly as I sat.
He inclined his head, but I looked away.
My Beta, Lord Harwick — a man who had secretly turned to my side six months ago but still played the loyal Sorvane servant in public — rose and called the assembly to order.
“Your Majesty, the first matter concerns a formal complaint from the Eastern Kingdom of Aethermere. They have rejected the proposed amendments to the Valdren-Aethermere trade accord and are requesting a full renegotiation of tariff terms, citing unfavourable conditions imposed during the last summit.”
The hall murmured, but I paid no mind to them.
I was watching Lord Aven.
I could see a flash of irritation flit through his gaze.
The Eastern Kingdom’s defiance was not part of his plan.
Caelan’s quiet work was bearing fruit.
“Table it for next session,” I said.
“We’ll review the original terms and respond formally.”
Lord Aven’s eyes narrowed a fraction, but he said nothing.
I tried to focus on the next item — a border dispute between two minor lords — but my mind kept drifting.
Lysara’s words kept echoing in my mind: Something about a disturbance in the library—raised voices.
If Enora’s story was true, Lysara had heard fragments of its aftermath from the Sanctum.
Had she known what those sounds meant?
Had she been curious, or had her questions been something else entirely?
And the scent.
Lord Aven had dressed a commoner maid in Lysara’s wolf scent and put her in my bed.
If the woman had truly been Esmira — a Bloodright princess with her own wolf — he wouldn’t have needed the deception.
A Bloodright wolf would have responded to another Bloodright wolf’s scent on instinct, but he hadn’t trusted that.
He had used Lysara’s scent instead, which meant he had known from the start that the woman in my bed carried no wolf at all.
Suddenly, the doors to the assembly hall burst open.
Every head in the room turned.
The guards at the entrance scrambled to attention, and a herald stepped forward, his face pale, and announced in a voice that carried to every corner of the hall:
“His Majesty, Alpha King Eldric of House Eldarion, Sovereign of Ceranthia.”
The hall erupted into whispers.
Lords exchanged glances.
Lord Aven straightened in his chair, his expression shifting into something I couldn’t read.
And I sat on my throne, my hands gripping the armrests, every calculation I had just made crumbling to dust, because the father of the missing princess had just walked into my palace.
Shit.