In an instant, cold sweat soaked through my back.
The old injury from the ravine flared violently. The leg that had once been shattered throbbed with each heartbeat, pain spreading like fire through bone and muscle. I could no longer stand among the crowd and had no choice but to ask for a place to rest.
What they gave me was a narrow storage room carved into stone, dark and unheated, used only for tools and discarded supplies.
The moment I stepped inside, there was a sharp click behind me.
The door locked.
“Gerald has always loved me,” Tessa’s voice rang out from beyond the door, bright with malice. “You miserable woman who chased him shamelessly. Thirty years as his mate meant nothing. He never loved you.”
I slid down against the cold wall, breath coming shallow.
“You saw it yourself tonight,” she continued. “I stood at his side, where a true mate belongs. This silk mantle I wore was chosen by your daughter. That moonstone timepiece was given by your son. They adore me.”
Pain tore through my leg, stealing my strength. I pounded weakly against the door, my voice breaking.
“Take him. Take them all. I do not care. Just let me leave. I need a healer. Please.”
Her laughter was soft and cruel.
“Do not delude yourself. I will not let you crawl out and ruin this night. Stay here and remember your place.”
Something was hung on the outside handle. A ward sigil. Then her footsteps faded down the corridor, each step light and unhurried.
I collapsed onto the stone floor.
My hands shook as I reached for my rune-stone.
Dead.
“No one hears you,” I whispered hoarsely.
I struck the door until my fists burned raw, shouting until my throat tore, but the chamber was buried too deep, the night too still.
In the end, the pain swallowed me whole.
Darkness followed.
When the feast ended two hours later, Gerald finally noticed my absence. His expression tightened in irritation.
“Where did she go?” he asked. “I told her to stay where she was.”
Tessa held his arm, her voice gentle with false concern.
“Did she leave because you called me your mate? If I had known she would misunderstand, I would have explained.”
Gerald scoffed.
“Tonight was filled with elders and leaders. In her state, she would only have disgraced me. Tessa, I am glad you were there. You saved my standing.”
“She is always overly dramatic,” he added. “Let her sulk. We are going home.”
Tessa glanced once toward the storage chamber, satisfaction flickering across her face.
And I remained locked inside, forgotten.
Not one member of that family remembered me.
At dawn, when Henry was to be taken to his lessons, my son finally thought of me.
“Why has she not arrived?” he snapped. “Does she know the time?”
When my rune-stone did not answer, he did not try again. He simply waved it away and told the nanny to take Henry instead.
I was discovered later by a groundskeeper.
After my rune-stone was recharged, there were no messages from Gerald. No questions. No concern.
Instead, a glowing announcement filled the screen.
[The Alpha Mortimer’s long unseen mate is revealed to be a master sculptor. A perfect union of power and artistry.]
I stared at it for a long moment, then smiled bitterly.
The rune-stone rang again.
For an instant, I thought it might be Gerald.
But it was Edmund.
The moment I answered, his voice came through, tight with restrained fury.
“Victoria. I called you all night. What happened? Where are you? Are you safe now?”
