A Gift for the Three Alpha's

Chapter 8: Poison and Purpose

"What happens to the breeders who do not cooperate?" Lyra asked quietly. "The ones who try to run away or refuse to obey?"

Izzy's bright expression faded. She looked down at her hands, picking at a loose thread on her dress.

"They are kept in the dungeons," she said softly. "In cells so small you cannot stand or lie down completely. They stay there until they break. Some of them break in days. Some take weeks. But they all break eventually."

"And if they still refuse?"

"Then they are executed," Izzy said flatly. "Made examples of. The Alphas believe in discipline above all else."

Lyra felt something hard settle in her chest. "I would prefer death."

Izzy's head snapped up, and she stared at Lyra with wide eyes. There was something fierce in Lyra's expression, something that made Izzy take a small step backward.

"You mean that," Izzy whispered. "You actually mean that."

"I do."

Izzy sank onto the bed, suddenly looking much older than her years. "I used to feel that way too," she said quietly. "When I first came here. I thought death would be better than living like this."

"What changed?" Lyra asked, sitting beside her.

"I realized I was the only one left," Izzy said, her voice thick with tears. "My parents were slaves, you see. They were brought here years before I was born. They worked in the kitchens and the gardens, and somehow, despite everything, they fell in love. They had me in secret, hiding me in the servant quarters, trying to keep me safe."

Izzy's hands were shaking now.

"When I was three years old, they made one final attempt. They were going to smuggle me out to a relative who lived far away. Somewhere safe. Somewhere I could have a real life." She paused, her breathing becoming ragged. "But they were caught. The guards cut them down right in front of me. I watched them die, piece by piece, and I could not do anything to stop it."

Lyra felt her heart break. Without thinking, she moved toward Izzy and pulled her into her arms. Both girls wept together, their tears mixing as the weight of their losses crashed down on them.

When Izzy finally left to finish her chores, Lyra remained sitting on the bed, her mind clearer than it had been in days.

She touched the silver pendant hidden beneath her dress and renewed her vow. She would kill all three of them. Darius, Kael, Asher. She would take back what they had stolen from her people. She would avenge her parents, and she would avenge Izzy's parents too.

She reached beneath the mattress and pulled out the dagger she had managed to smuggle into the palace. It was small, easily concealed, but the blade was sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone.

Her hands were steady as she pricked her finger and used her own blood as ink. On a scrap of fabric she had torn from one of her dresses, she wrote down everything she remembered from the battle plans she had seen in Darius's room. The target packs. The supply routes. The attack dates. Every detail burned itself into the fabric like a map of death.

But there was one problem that kept her awake at night.

The physician's examination.

If they tested her blood in front of witnesses, if they saw it ignite with the fire of her royal bloodline, there would be no escape. She would die just like the other three girls with royal blood.

She needed a way to hide what she was.

Lyra paced her small room, her mind working through possibilities. Could she dilute her blood somehow? Could she use someone else's blood instead of her own? Could she—

A sound from outside her window caught her attention. She moved to the barred opening and looked down.

Kael was in the courtyard below, overseeing the training of the guards. He moved with predatory grace, calling out orders, demonstrating fighting techniques with brutal efficiency. His copper hair caught the sunlight, and even from a distance, she could see the raw power in his movements.

Then he looked up.

Their eyes met across the distance, and for a moment, neither of them moved. Lyra could feel the weight of his gaze, the intensity of his attention focused entirely on her. Heat flooded her cheeks, and her body responded to him despite her hatred.

She wanted to stare back, wanted to let him see the fury burning in her heart. But instead, she forced herself to look away, to lower her gaze meekly like the broken Omega she was supposed to be.

It took every ounce of willpower she possessed.

When she looked back down a few seconds later, Kael was gone from the courtyard.

Panic shot through her. He was coming. She knew it the way an animal knows when a predator is near. He was coming to her room, thinking she had been flirting with him, thinking she wanted his attention.

She ran to her door and locked it, her hands shaking so badly she could barely turn the key. Then she rushed back to the window, pressing her face against the bars as she tried to spot him approaching the palace.

But instead of seeing Kael, her eyes caught on something else.

Growing wild along the base of the palace walls was a plant she recognized immediately. Its leaves were dark green and deeply lobed, growing in dense clusters. The white flowers at the top were small and delicate.