power has shifted
1026 Words
Seraphina POV
The dungeon was quieter than I expected.
I sat on the narrow bench, my arms wrapped around my knees, and tried again to reach her. Aurora, I called silently. Aurora, please, I need you. I need you now.
Silence.
Nothing but the drip of water from the ceiling and the distant sound of my own heartbeat. My wolf was gone again, retreated to whatever hidden place she went when danger came too close.
I rested my forehead against the cold stone wall and tried not to cry. I tried not to think about what was happening above me. Tried not to imagine Cassian. my saviour Cassian, the stranger who'd saved me. He is currently being tortured, broken and probably killed already because of me.
The guards had changed after he left.
Before, they'd been cruel. Mocking. They'd laughed at my bruises, my tears, my pathetic attempts to explain that I wasn't a traitor. Also, that I wasn't a w***e, that I was just trying to survive.
But after Cassian walked out, after he'd promised to come back for me, they'd changed. They brought me food. Real food, not the slop prisoners usually got. Bread is still warm from the oven. Cheese. A flagon of water that didn't taste like rust.
I didn't understand it. I didn't trust it. But I ate anyway, because my body needed strength, and because I had no idea when I'd eat again.
I'd just finished the last bite of bread when I heard footsteps approaching. Not the heavy boots of the guards. Lighter. More purposeful.
I stood, backing against the wall, my heart hammering.
The woman who appeared in the doorway was unlike anyone I'd ever seen.
She was tall. almost as tall as Cassian. with short, spiky hair that looked like she'd cut it herself with a knife. She wore leather armor, practical and worn, with a sword strapped to her back and a smirk on her face. Everything about her radiated confidence and power. a complete comfort in her own skin that I'd never known, never even imagined possible.
"Seraphina Blackwood?" she asked, her voice brisk and efficient.
I nodded, unable to speak.
"The Alpha wants to see you." She tilted her head, studying me with eyes that missed nothing. "Come on. Up you get."
I didn't move. "Which Alpha? My father? Is he going to-" I swallowed hard. "Is he going to execute me now?"
The woman laughed. a short, surprised sound. "Execute you? Oh, sweetheart. No." She stepped closer, offering me a hand. "Things have changed. Come see for yourself."
I stared at her hand. It was calloused, scared, and strong. Everything mine wasn't.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
"Hazel," she said. "Cassian's beta. And right now, your best friend in this place." She wiggled her fingers. "Come on. Don't make me carry you. Though I will if I have to."
I took her hand.
Her grip was firm, warm, reassuring. She pulled me up easily, steadying me when I swayed. I followed her out of the cell. We walked through corridors that suddenly seemed too bright. Also, too open, too full of possibility.
My legs felt heavy as I climbed the stairs. Each step felt like walking toward my own funeral. I kept my eyes on Hazel's back, on the confident way she moved, the easy power in her stride. I wanted to be like her. I wanted that certainty, that strength, that absolute knowledge of who I was and what I deserved.
We reached the great hall doors.
"Deep breath," Hazel murmured, her hand on the handle. "And remember. Whatever happens, you're not alone anymore."
She pushed the doors open.
I stepped inside, my head down, my shoulders hunched. I was waiting for judgment. waiting for condemnation. Waiting for the blow that would finally end me.
"Look up," Hazel whispered.
I did.
And my breath stopped.
The throne.
My father was not on it.
Cassian was.
He sat there like he'd been born to it. Because he was mmm dressed in black and silver. A crown of obsidian and amber on his head. He looked regal. Powerful. Beautiful in a way that hurts to look at. Behind him, my father knelt. My sister knelt. Logan knelt. All three of them, on the floor, trembling.
Lilith looked up as I entered, and her eyes.... her hateful, jealous eyes narrowed into a glare that could have cut stone.
I couldn't process it. Couldn't understand. The man who'd carried me through the woods, who'd been naked and rough and kind, was the Lycan King. The monster my family feared. The power they wanted to appease.
He wasn't old. He wasn't cruel-looking. He was...
He was looking at me.
Cassian's amber eyes found mine across the room, and he smiled. That same half-smirk I'd seen in the cottage, in the woods, in the dungeon. But now it held something else. Something warm. Something possessive.
"Well, little wolf," he said, his voice carrying to every corner of the room. "Do you still think I'm lying?"
I opened my mouth to answer, to apologize, to explain that I'd never thought he was lying, just that I couldn't believe-
"Don't answer him!" Lilith's voice cut through the air like a knife, shrill and desperate and furious. "He's playing with you, Seraphina! He's going to kill us all! Don't you see? This is just another game to him! Another way to humiliate us!"
She was scrambling to her feet, her face twisted with rage and fear, her hands reaching for me like claws.
"Shut up," Hazel snapped, moving faster than I could track. She was between us in an instant, her sword half-drawn, her body a barrier of muscle and menace. "You speak when the King allows it. Not before."
Lilith froze, her eyes wide, her hands trembling.
I looked at Cassian. He was still watching me, still smiling, still waiting.
And in that moment, with my family kneeling and my sister silenced. the most powerful creature in the world looking at me like I was the only thing that mattered. I realized that everything had changed.
The power had shifted.
- Writer
