Seraphina's POV
I was nearly hysterical.
But the tender, doting father from earlier was gone. In his place stood a cold, unfeeling man, his expression like stone, his scent gone all wrong, scorched cedar and cold iron now soured by that faint rot beneath, as he deliberately rocked the dangling carriage that held our pup high above the ground.
"I'll give you ten seconds," he said flatly. "And I'll shake it harder each time I count."
True to his word, he increased the force.
I stared at my daughter, her sobs breaking into hiccups, my nails digging deep into my palms until I felt the burn of skin splitting, my own wolf clawing at the inside of my chest with no way out. He showed us no mercy, none at all. My chest ached so violently I thought I might faint.
Seeing her tiny body tremble, her cries nearly turning into convulsions, my tears finally spilled over.
"Roderick, I truly don't know! I have no idea where Calla is! Please, just bring our daughter down, she can't take this anymore!"
My plea didn't move him in the slightest. He simply kept counting, voice as cold as the silver that burns.
"Eight."
Just earlier, back at the estate, he had pressed his forehead to mine and apologized for the fright on the high run, his scent warm then, almost the mate I remembered.
And now, because of Calla, he had become the executioner, his Alpha aura pressing down on me like a cold weight, personally threatening his own.
I broke into a scream. "Roderick! Go check! Look at the watcher-crystals! I didn't take Calla! Please, let Wrenna go! She's your pup too! She's about to collapse! I'm begging you, please!"
I even dropped to my knees in the dirt, my throat closing over the howl that wanted to tear loose.
But he didn't so much as glance at me. The cold, relentless countdown continued.
I couldn't take it anymore. I scrambled toward the suspended carriage, trying to climb up to her.
He watched me with icy detachment, the gold in his eyes flat and dead.
Just as the countdown neared its end, my fingers brushed the edge of Wrenna's carriage. My heart leapt. I reached out without a thought for my own safety, desperate to pull her free.
But in the next instant, Roderick yanked me back onto the deck of the storm-hawk, and, with a sharp crack, he slapped me hard across the face.
"Are you insane? Climbing that high, what if you fell?"
For a brief moment, his eyes betrayed a flicker of worry, his wolf surfacing against his will.
But I could no longer believe in him.
Gripping his sleeve, I choked out, "I'm begging you, Roderick. Do whatever you want to me. Blame me for taking Calla if you must. Just let her go, I'll take Wrenna's place in that carriage if that's what you want."
He gripped my sleeve tightly, the words tearing out of him in a roar that shook the deck. "For the sake of that bastard cub you whelped with Caspian, you'd even throw away your life? Then why did you mate me?!"
With that, he shoved me toward one of his pack warriors.
"I won't let that bastard live. You'd better tell me where Calla is, or else, I'll make that bastard pay with her life!"
I thrashed against their hold, tears streaming freely, my wolf snarling and lunging beneath my skin with nowhere to go.
"I really don't know! After we came down from the high run, we went straight back to the estate! I never had the chance to take Calla! Wrenna's your daughter, Roderick! You can run a bloodline trace if you don't believe me! But please, let her go now!"
I wailed, throwing my dignity into the dirt for him to trample.
And still… he refused to believe me.
