Chapter three
1293 Words
Aurora could barely hear the massive front door close behind her as the servants. Her gaze remained fixated on the pretty little girl standing on the marble staircase. Lyla. Her daughter.
She looked so much bigger than the tiny Aurora she had birthed and held for only a few seconds before the prison guards ripped her away from her arms. Lyla wore a cream coloured dress embroidered with tiny silver moons, her dark curls bouncing over her shoulders as she leaned over the banister with innocent curiosity.
Those silver eyes…
Aurora's own eyes. The realization squeezed her heart until she could barely breathe. For a moment, she wanted to run upstairs, throw her arms around Lyla, and tell her everything.
I'm your mother… I've missed every day of your life….. I've never stopped loving you.
Instead, she stood still, because she was no longer free to act on her heart. Not here. Not in Kael Blackthorn's house.
Lyla gave her a warm smile. “Welcome home.”
Home.
The word was deeper than any insult that came from the crowd she had just escaped. This wasn't home. It was another cage, just a fancier one. Rather than the hellhole she just got out of. She thought it herself.
“I've never seen you before,” Lyla said, tilting her head.
Aurora swallowed hard. “No… I suppose you haven't.” Her voice cracked.
Before another word could be exchanged, Valeria Blackthorne stepped gracefully between them.
“Lyla, sweetheart, dinner will be ready soon.”
The little girl nodded obediently. “Okay, Grandma.”
She gave Auroraone a more curious stare before disappearing into the hallway upstairs. Aurora watched her until she vanished completely.
“You'll see her again,” Kael said from behind her, noticing the display of affection and how she stared at the little girl until she disappeared.
Aurora turned immediately, facing him.
“Don't pretend like you're doing me a favour”
“I'm not.” his tone remained flat and unreadable. “I'm reminding you why you're here.”
The warmth she had briefly felt while looking at Lyla instantly disappeared. Of course. Everything came with conditions. Everything had a price.
Valeria clasped her hand elegantly. “I've prepared a room for you.”
Aurora glanced at her. “I'm surprised you prepared anything at all.”
“I believe in hospitality,” Valeria said with her smile that never reached her eyes.
“No you don't, you only believe in appearances.” Aurora cut her off immediately.
“I see that prison didn't break you at all.” Valeria fired back.
“She’ll learn.” Kael immediately cut in with a flat tone.
“I survived prison… I'll survive this house,” Aurora said with a tone that left no room for question.
“Follow me.” Kael continued.
Aurora hesitated for a split second and then followed him upstairs.
The mansion was breathtaking. Wide hallways stretched endlessly beneath vaulted ceilings painted with scenes of ancient wolf legends. Crystal chandeliers scattered golden light across polished wooden floors. Expensive paintings lined the walls, each portraying generations of powerful Blackthorn Alphas.
Every portrait seemed to watch her. To judge her.
She noticed there wasn't a portrait of a single omega, not one.
Kael stopped outside a pair of double doors.
“This is your room.”
“My room?” Aurora frowned.
“You won't be staying in my room,” Kael replied so quickly that she almost laughed.
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Annoyance maybe. “Good.” He said to her.
He opened the doors.
The room was enormous. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked miles of forest glowing beneath the late afternoon sun. Soft cream curtains swayed gently in the breeze coming through a cracked window. A king-sized bed sat at the centre of the room, surrounded by elegant furniture carved from dark walnut,
It was larger than the prison yard where she’d survived seven years. Aurora stepped inside. She just stared at it in disbelief.
“You don’t like it?” He asked.
“I don’t understand it.” She looked back at Kael.
“What don’t you understand?”
She laughed quietly. “It’s too nice.” She walked through the room and paused at the window. There were endless pine trees lined along the horizon.
“Why marry me?”
Kael remained silent. She continued. “You hate me.”
“Yes.”
“You think I murdered your best friend.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve spent seven years making sure everyone believed I deserve prison.”
His jaw tightened. “Yes.”
Aurora finally turned away from the window and faced him. “Then why not leave me there?”
For the first time since they met outside prison, Kael hesitated. His grey eyes lingered on hers longer than usual.
“Because prison was too easy.” He finally broke the silence. “I wanted you where I could see you.” He said looking right through her eyes. “ I want you waking up every morning remembering what you took from me.”
These words sent a chill through Aurora. She felt as though he’d struck her.
His eyes darkened. “I wanted your punishment to begin where the prison sentence ended.”
Aurora immediately broke the contact. It hurt. Not because she believed him, but because a small part of her understood his hatred.
“I didn’t kill Ronan.” She whispered the words more to herself than to him.
“So you keep saying.” Kaels expression hardened again.
A knock interrupted them.
A young maid entered the room, carrying folded clothes. She shouldn’t be older than twenty.
She immediately saw Aurora, and sudden fear flashed through her face. She lowered her head.
“Alpha….”
Kael nodded once. “Leave them.”
The maid hurried towards the wardrobe. As she passed Aurora, a tiny folded piece of paper slipped from beneath the stack of clothes. It landed silently on the carpet.
Neither Karl nor the maid seemed to have noticed, but Aurora did.
She didn’t immediately pick it up but waited until the maid was gone.
“Dinner is in an hour,” Kael said, and remained standing at the door.
“I’m not hungry…. lost my appetite.” She responded.
“It isn’t a request but an order.” He turned to leave.
Aurora quickly bent down to pick up the piece of folded paper on the carpet. She quickly unfolded the paper. It was only a single writing with no name. Her pulse quickened.
“Don’t trust Alpha Kael.”
The words on the piece of paper stated. Aurora frowned. She unfolded the piece of paper completely. Another line appeared beneath it.
“The man who killed Ronan sleeps under this roof.”
Her head slammed against her ribs. The deep realization hit her to the point she stumbled at it. She was on the same roof as the devil. She went through the message again and again, and instantly went cold.
Someone inside this mansion knew the truth and had risked everything to warn her.
A sudden gust of wind blew violently through the window. Aurora hurriedly looked out the window. She felt she had seen a shadow watching her, but the figure was gone. But somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled. Long. Low. Almost….. like. a warning.
Aurora slowly folded the paper and hid it in her sleeves. Her investigation had just begun. She had entered the mansion believing it belonged to the man who hated her.
Because someone inside this house feared the truth even more than they had feared Kael. And she was going to find out.
- Writer
