Claimed By A Midnight King

Chapter 38

Silas pov

I found Elara in the tower corridor after the great hall dispersed.

She was carrying supplies, her dark hair fell loose around her shoulders. The moment she saw me, she changed directions and pulled me into a small room away from the main corridors.

“That wasent right”, she said immediately. “Greta confessed, but something was wrong . Did you see…”.

“I saw,” I said.

I’d spent years reading people. Reading situations. Reading the unspoken layers beneath surface events. And yes, I’d seen it. “Vespera orchestrated Greta taking the fall. She’s still out there. Still plotting.”

Elara’s hand came up and gripped my tunic.

“The Alpha thinks it’s finished,” she said. “He’s satisfied. He’s claimed Vivian publicly. He believes the conspiracy was small and personal. He won’t be looking for deeper threats.”

“He’ll figure it out,” I said. But even as I said it, I wasn’t certain. Dominic was brilliant as a strategist, but right now he was distracted. His wolf was focused on his mate. On the bond they’d just completed. On the fact that he’d publicly declared what he felt and the pack hadn’t rioted.

His attention was divided.

That was dangerous.

“Come,” I said, taking her hand. “We need to talk. Privately.”

My quarters were in the lower tower, away from the main chambers. Few people knew where they were. Fewer still had been invited inside.

Elara moved through the space like she’d been there a hundred times, though this was only our second private meeting since Silas had made her his mate in the way that mattered through choice and devotion, not through bond. Our commitment was different from Dominic and Vivian’s. Quieter. But no less absolute.

She turned to face me, her hands folded in front of her.

“I’ve been hearing things,” she said. “In the kitchens. From the servants. There are warriors talking about the Sun Clan. About movement near the southern border. About supply lines being established.”

My chest tightened.

“When?” I asked.

“Over the past weeks,” she said. “Nothing coordinated. Nothing obvious. But enough pieces that if you’re listening, you can see the picture forming.”

I moved to my desk and pulled out the maps I’d been maintaining. The ones showing Solari movement. The ones I hadn’t shared with Dominic because I was still gathering intelligence, still trying to understand what Damian was planning.

“There’s more,” Elara said. She came to stand beside me. “One of the kitchen servants, Brenna, she has a sister who works at the border outpost. Her sister sent word that there’s someone negotiating with the merchants there. Someone who speaks with a Sun Clan accent. Someone who’s offering gold for information about our defenses.”

I set down my pen.

“Did Brenna know who this person was?” I asked.

“No,” Elara said. “But she said her sister described the woman as being very confident. Very certain. Like she already knew exactly what she was looking for.”

A woman.

That narrowed it considerably.

“Elara,” I said slowly, “I need you to think very carefully. In the great hall today. Did you see anyone unusual? Anyone who didn’t belong?”

She was quiet for a long moment.

“There was a warrior,” she finally said. “I didn’t recognize him. He had the Solari sigil on his chest. He was standing in the shadows near the back corridor. And after the great hall dispersed, he was waiting for someone. Waiting very patiently.”

I felt the pieces shifting. The ones I’d been collecting separately suddenly forming a picture I didn’t want to see.

“Did you see who he was waiting for?” I asked.

“Vespera,” Elara said. “He was waiting for Vespera.”

The world tilted.

Vespera wasn’t just plotting internally. She was already in communication with the Sun Clan. She was already working with them. Which meant Damian had his hooks in the pack far deeper than I’d realized. Which meant the threat wasn’t coming in the future.

The threat was already here.

“We need to tell the Alpha,” Elara said.

“Not yet,” I said. I pulled her close, needing the grounding of her presence. “Not until we understand what we’re dealing with. Not until we can prove it. If we tell Dominic and we’re wrong, we undermine his authority at a critical moment. If we tell him and he acts too quickly, we might spook whoever is coordinating this from within the pack.”

“So what do we do?” she asked.

“We investigate,” I said. “Quietly. You keep listening in the kitchens. I’ll follow the Solari warrior. I’ll find out who he’s reporting to. And once we have proof. once we understand the full scope of what Damian is planning, then we tell the Alpha.”

Elara pulled back and looked at me.

“You’re scared,” she said. Not a question.

“Yes,” I admitted. “Because this is bigger than Vespera’s jealousy. This is bigger than internal pack politics. This is invasion. And if Damian has already established a foothold inside the Citadel, then we’re running out of time.”

She came back against my chest and I held her.

Outside, the sun was setting. The Citadel was settling into evening routines. Warriors were returning from training. Servants were preparing the evening meal. The pack was living as if the world wasn’t about to break.

As if Damian wasn’t already inside the walls.

As if Vespera wasn’t actively working to help him.

As if this was anything close to over.

I held Elara tighter and tried not to think about all the ways this could go wrong. Tried not to think about what would happen if we couldn’t stop what was coming. Tried not to think about a future where the Solari burned this mountain and took everything we’d built.

She squeezed my hand like she could read my thoughts.

“We’ll stop them,” she said.

I wanted to believe her.