A Gift for the Three Alpha's

Chapter 11: Blood and Breaking

Lyra realized how cruel and ungrateful her words must have sounded to Asher. He had risked everything to protect her, had killed for her, had stood against his own brothers.

"I am sorry," she whispered, reaching toward him. "I did not mean –"

"Do not," he said, his voice cutting through her apology like a blade. "I was a fool. A complete fool for standing up for you against my brothers. For killing that guard in your defense. For believing you were worth saving."

"Asher, please –"

But he was already turning away from her. She could see the anger in every line of his body, the disappointment written across his face.

She did the only thing she could think of. She reached for the fastenings of her dress and let it fall away from her shoulders.

"Do not do that," Asher said without even looking at her.

"Please," she whispered, moving toward him. "Let me show you how grateful I am. Let me –"

He pushed her away so hard she stumbled backward onto the bed.

"No," he said coldly. "From this day forward, I no longer care what happens to you. You want to throw your life away? Fine. Do it. But do not expect me to save you again."

He walked toward the door, and Lyra watched him go, her heart breaking with each step he took away from her.

"Asher, wait –"

But he was already gone. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving her alone in the darkness of her room.

Shame crashed over her like a wave. She had tried to seduce her captor. She had used her body as a weapon when words failed, and had tried to manipulate him the same way she was supposed to manipulate his brothers. And now she had destroyed the one person in this palace who actually cared about her.

Worse, she had given Asher a reason to go back to Kael with the truth. If he told them the real truth about the plant, about what she had been trying to do, they would know. They would understand that she had royal blood.

They would execute her.

But when she thought about Kael's threat, about what he had promised to do to her in the hallway, she felt something else mix with her fear. Excitement. Heat. A terrible, shameful need that made her hate herself even more.

She had to distract herself before she went mad.

Lyra moved to the root she had hidden beneath her mattress and began to work. She crushed it carefully, extracted the liquid into a small clay container, and mixed it with water. The concoction was dark and bitter-smelling, and when she drank it that night, it tasted like poison on her tongue.

Which, technically, it was.

The next morning, she drank it again with shaking hands. The liquid seemed to settle in her stomach like lead, and she could already feel its effects. Her body felt heavy, her movements sluggish. The blood thinning was beginning.

She waited to be summoned, her heart pounding in her chest.

Izzy came with food, her usual cheerful chatter filling the small room. But Lyra was not in the mood to listen. She could not afford to waste energy on conversation. She needed to conserve her strength, needed to prepare herself for what was coming.

"You are quiet today," Izzy observed, setting the tray down. "Are you sick?"

"Just tired," Lyra said.

Izzy's expression shifted. "Elena is angry with you. Really angry. She has been telling the guards that you need to be taught a proper lesson. You should be careful around her."

When Izzy left, Lyra finished her meal slowly, trying to keep the food down despite how weak she felt. The plant was working faster than she had expected.

Then Elena arrived.

She came with a set of guards, her face twisted with cruel anticipation. "Time for your examination," she said, her voice dripping with malice. "Come with us."

Lyra stood on legs that felt like water. She had to move slowly and focus on each step to keep from falling. The weakness was spreading through her body like a disease.

As they walked through the corridors, Lyra's pace began to lag. She was moving too slowly, her body struggling to obey her commands.

Elena kicked her from behind without warning.

Lyra fell hard onto her knees, her palms scraping against the stone. Pain exploded through her legs as the impact opened a wound on her shin. Blood began to seep from the injury, staining her skin red.

"Pathetic," Elena hissed, grabbing her hair and hauling her back to her feet. "Look at you. So weak. So broken. I am going to enjoy training you to be a proper w***e for the Alphas. Maybe I will be the one to finally teach you your place."

Lyra's leg throbbed where Elena had kicked her. The blood was still flowing, and she could smell it in the air. The wound was not deep, but it was noticeable. Visible.

The private examination room was large and sterile. Three chairs had been arranged in a semicircle, and the three princes were already seated when she was brought inside.

Darius sat in the center, his dark eyes cold and calculating. Kael was to his right, his green eyes gleaming with anticipation. And Asher was on the left, his blue eyes fixed on some point on the wall, refusing to look at her.

She felt completely exposed despite being clothed.

She was intimidated by their sheer presence, by the weight of their power.

Guards moved forward and secured her to a bed in the center of the room. They chained her hands and feet, the metal biting into her skin. A gag was placed in her mouth, preventing her from speaking.

She was completely at their mercy.

Kael rose from his seat and began to circle her slowly, like a predator examining prey. His grin was wide and suspicious, his eyes raking over every inch of her body.

Then his nostrils flared.

His expression shifted immediately. The amusement drained from his face, replaced by something darker. He leaned down, inhaling deeply near her leg where the wound was still bleeding.

His entire body went tense.

He straightened and turned to face the guards who had brought her, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

"Which one of you broke my toy?”