"Perenna, what nonsense are you spouting?!"
I struggled to break free, and the wound below tore open again. Blood soaked through the bedsheets in an instant.
Hadeon panicked at the sight. He gathered me into his arms, clumsy and desperate. "Perenna, stop moving. Please."
I pried his hands off me and glared straight at him. "Hadeon, you've been lying to me for years. Was it worth it?"
"Hundreds of lives. And my two pups. Don't you lose sleep at night?"
Hadeon's hand hung frozen in midair, trembling beyond his control.
"You know about all of it?"
When I said nothing, he rushed to explain. "Perenna, I had no choice. Wolves in the Hollowmere Pack saw you with the Alpha Heir. If the pregnancy got out, it would have torn the court apart."
I let out a bitter laugh. "Was it really about the court? Or were you afraid your precious Cressida would lose her power?"
Hadeon's brow creased. Whatever guilt had been in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold displeasure. "That was all my decision. Cressida had nothing to do with it. Leave her out of this."
Even now, he was still shielding Cressida. The last thread of hope in me snapped. Somewhere beneath my ribs, my wolf went utterly still, as though the creature had simply stopped breathing.
"Then what about my pups? The first one, fine, I'll blame myself for grieving too hard to protect it. But the second?"
Hadeon saw that I had ripped away the final veil, and he stopped pretending. "Yes. I had someone take care of it."
His scent had changed. The black walnut bark and iron I had once pressed my face into were still there, but that sweet, wrong undertone had risen to the surface, thick as rot. I could taste it on the back of my tongue.
"I wasn't ready to be a father."
"Even now, you're still lying to me..."
"Perenna, stop this. Whatever I've done, I owe you. I've sworn an oath. I'll make it up to you. I'll give you a life of wealth and luxury, secure in your place as my mate for the rest of your days!"
I didn't want to hear another hollow promise. "Hadeon, I don't want any of it. I'll give up everything. Just grant me the Bond Severance and set yourself free."
"If you're worried I'll expose the massacre, you can have my life too."
"All I'm asking is that you save Rowan!"
I thought the weight of hundreds of dead pack wolves on his conscience would be enough to buy one life. I still underestimated how shameless he was.
"Perenna, stop. I can't help you this time."
"Cressida's been through a trauma. She's always been sensitive and stubborn. If Rowan doesn't die, Cressida won't be able to sleep."
And then I finally understood. In Hadeon's heart, the lives of ordinary wolves weren't worth as much as one good night's rest for Cressida Thornwood.
I shoved him away and dragged my broken body across the floor toward the courtyard. The mating mark on my neck throbbed with each movement, a dull sick pulse that no longer felt like connection but like a wound that refused to close. I collapsed at Cressida's feet, clutching the hem of her gown. "My lady, please spare Rowan. It was all my fault."
Cressida looked down at me with a satisfied smirk. The scent of crushed foxglove and honeyed amber rolled off her, so sweet it made my stomach turn.
"Your fault how?"
"I'm lowborn. I should never have troubled the Alpha King's healer."
"I should never have displeased you, my lady."
"Enough. The sight of you covered in blood is revolting."
Cressida kicked me away in disgust and turned to Hadeon. "Hadeon, I'm tired. Walk me back?"
Hadeon looked at me sprawled on the ground. He hesitated for a moment. But in the end, he chose Cressida.
I reached for Rowan beside me, her breath barely there, and called after him one last time. "My lord, could you at least send for Soren Ashwick?"
Hadeon opened his mouth to give the order, but Cressida cut him off. "No one calls for any healer. I've already spared her life. Whether she survives is her own fate."
Hadeon looked back at me, something unreadable churning behind his eyes. Then he clenched his jaw and walked away.
Everything I had held together shattered in that moment. My wolf collapsed inside me, not howling, not whimpering, just a silence so total it felt like the creature had been scraped out of my chest and there was nothing left where it had been. I screamed at his retreating back, "Hadeon Ravencrest, I want a Bond Severance!"
Cressida had just reached the doorway. She laughed out loud and nudged Hadeon playfully. "She says she wants a Bond Severance. Aren't you going to go coax her?"
Hadeon glared at me, visibly annoyed.
No need to coax her. She's just throwing a tantrum. She'd never survive outside this den.
Besides, she's carried pups twice and she's a second-bonded mate. Who else would want her but me?
He was right. Leaving the Ravencrest Den might very well be a death sentence.
But staying was a fate worse than death.
I forced myself up through the pain, set the Moon-Sealed Bond Severance papers on the table, and found a rickety old cart meant for hauling firewood. I loaded Rowan onto it and walked out of the Ravencrest Den.
This time, I was finally free.
