Chapter six - poison and promises
659 Words
The days blurred together in a haze of pain.
Aria’s wrists were raw, the skin around the shackles blistered and oozing. The wolfsbane soaked into her blood, leaving her lightheaded, weak, her wolf curled deep inside her like a shadow on the brink of fading.
But she was alive.
Because every few nights, when the guards grew careless, Lucien appeared. He never stayed long—just long enough to press another bitter herb into her palm, to whisper words that cut through the dungeon’s silence.
Stay alive. I’ll get you out.
Sometimes, he smuggled her a strip of bandage, or water clean enough to rinse the burns. Small mercies, but they meant everything.
Aria clung to them. To him.
But mercy had no place when the Alpha King returned.
The dungeon doors slammed open, and Kael strode in with the force of a storm. His warriors followed, carrying torches that flared against the stone walls. Shadows danced across his sharp features, his expression grim and unyielding.
Aria forced herself to sit upright, even as her body screamed for rest. She would not meet him broken.
His gaze swept over her, lingering on the wounds across her arms, the hollows beneath her eyes. For a heartbeat just one something flickered there. Something dangerously close to guilt.
Then it was gone.
“Still breathing,” he said coldly. “Stubborn for an Omega.”
Aria’s lips curved into a bitter smile. “Disappointed?”
One of the guards snarled, stepping forward as if to strike her, but Kael lifted a hand. The man froze instantly. The Alpha King’s authority was absolute.
Kael stepped closer to the bars, his aura pressing against her until the air grew heavy. “Do you know why you’re still alive?” he asked softly.
Her voice rasped, but her eyes never wavered. “Because you don’t want to admit the bond was real.”
His jaw tightened. For a moment, silence burned between them, thick and suffocating. Then he leaned down, his face so close she could feel his breath against her skin.
“I keep you alive,” he murmured, “because I want to see how long your defiance lasts. I want to watch it break.”
Aria swallowed hard, her pulse racing, but she whispered back, steady and sharp: “Then you’ll be waiting forever.”
His eyes flared anger, yes, but beneath it, something raw and unspoken. He straightened abruptly, turning away, as if her words had struck deeper than he intended.
“Double the wolfsbane,” he ordered the guards. “Let’s see if her tongue still works after that.”
They came at dusk, shoving the poison into her wounds until her body convulsed, fire tearing through her veins. She bit down on her screams, her nails digging into her palms, refusing to give them the sound of her pain.
When the guards left, she collapsed against the wall, trembling, drenched in sweat.
Moments later, a shadow moved at the edge of the torchlight.
Lucien.
He crouched quickly, eyes burning as he studied her. “What did they do?”
“Wolfsbane,” she whispered, her voice barely there. “Too much.”
He swore under his breath, pulling a pouch from his cloak. He pressed leaves into her hand, steadying her shaking fingers. “Chew. Now.”
She obeyed, tears pricking her eyes as the bitterness filled her mouth. Slowly, the fire in her veins dulled to embers.
Her breath shuddered out. “Why… why are you helping me?”
Lucien’s jaw clenched. “Because I can’t stand by while they destroy what’s mine.”
Her chest tightened. “I’m not yours.”
“Not yet.” His eyes locked on hers, fierce and unwavering. “But you will be.”
The words stole her breath.
For the first time, Aria didn’t know which was more dangerous her chains, or the feelings she had no strength left to deny.
- Writer
