Chapter 31
732 Words
Dominic’s POV
The lower levels were cold and quiet.
I’d been down here for hours, trying to do anything that would distract me from the bond and the way it was screaming at me to go back upstairs.
Vivian loved me.
That was the only thought I could hold onto. That was the only thing that mattered.
Everything else the guilt, the investigation, the pack’s opinions none of it mattered anymore because she loved me.
I was so lost in that thought that I almost didn’t hear Silas coming.
“Freya broke the memory suppression,” he said without preamble. He was breathing hard like he’d been running. “Talia’s memories are back. Fractured, but coherent.”
I straightened. “What did she say?”
“Someone gave her the potion,” Silas said. “Someone who knew her. Someone she trusted. They told her to poison the water. Told her the girl deserved punishment for being Solari.”
“Who?” I asked.
“She doesn’t remember the face clearly,” Silas said. “The memory magic was thorough. But she remembers other things. A room in the upper tower. Healing supplies. The smell of iron and herbs. A voice that gave orders while she was under the spell.”
“A voice?” I pressed.
“Female,” Silas said. “Commanding. Someone accustomed to being obeyed.”
My chest tightened.
“And she remembers a sigil,” Silas continued. He pulled out a piece of parchment. On it was drawn a symbol. A crescent moon with shadow work threaded through it. “Does this mean anything to you?”
I went very still.
That sigil.
I’d seen it before. On a ring. Worn by someone in the tower. Someone who moved through the Citadel with the confidence of someone who belonged there. Someone who had the authority to command servants.
Someone I’d known for years.
“Where is Talia now?” I asked.
“In a holding room,” Silas said. “Freya is watching her. But she’s becoming agitated. The memory magic is fading, and with it, the compulsion. She’s starting to understand what she did.”
“Keep her safe,” I said. “And keep this quiet. No one else knows?”
“Just Freya,” Silas said. “And now you.”
“Then it stays that way,” I said. “Until I know for certain.”
But even as I said it, I knew.
The sigil. The voice. The access to supplies and magic and the tower itself.
There was only one person it could be .
And the thought of it made something inside me go cold.
I walked back toward the main tower without knowing exactly where I was going.
My feet took me to the great hall. It was early evening. The torches were being lit. Warriors were gathering for the meal.
I saw her immediately
She was standing near the fire, laughing at something one of the older warriors had said. She was beautiful in the way that predators often are all sharp angles and dangerous confidence.
Vespera.
She turned, as if sensing my gaze, and her smile widened when she saw me.
“Alpha,” she said, moving toward me with the easy grace of someone who’d never questioned her place. “I was wondering when you’d come back to the main tower. It’s been so long since you’ve graced us with your presence.”
I said nothing. Just looked at her and felt something inside me crystallize into certainty .
“Something wrong?” she asked, her smile never wavering. But I could see something shift in her eyes. A flicker of concern. A moment where she understood that something had changed.
“No,” I said. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just looking for Kael. Have you seen him?”
Her expression didn’t change, but the bond flared with something. Relief, maybe. Or calculation.
“He was in the war room last I saw,” she said sweetly. “Is there something I can help with instead?”
“No,” I said. “This needs Kael’s particular expertise.”
I turned and walked away before she could respond, aware of her eyes on my back. Aware that I’d just told her, without saying a word, that I knew something.
And now the game would change.
- Writer
