Chapter 4
1523 Words
RAVIENNE
I stopped counting the hours when time itself stopped making sense.
The cell never changed. Stone walls. Iron bars. Cold air thick with the stench of rust, dampness, and old blood. At some point, my body had gone numb somewhere between sobbing and silence. Even my tears no longer felt real. They slid silently down my face as I stared at the floor, detached, like I was watching another woman slowly fall apart inside this prison.
Dawn was close.
I could feel it in my bones.
Execution.
The word no longer terrified me the way it should have. It simply sat heavy in my chest—something inevitable, something decided long before I was ever dragged into that courtroom.
I slowly pulled my knees tighter against my chest, staring blankly at the cold stone.
Maybe I deserved this.
The thought came softly at first. Quiet. Dangerous.
Maybe this was punishment for being foolish enough to love the wrong man.
My parents had warned me.
Do not trust Knox Arden.
Do not confuse ambition for love.
Do not hand your heart to a man born hungry for power.
But I hadn’t listened.
I closed my eyes tightly, remembering every argument I’d had with them over him. Every warning I had defended him against. Every time I swore that Knox truly loved me.
God. How stupid I had been.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Not rushed like the guards’. Not careless. These were controlled. Deliberate.
My eyes opened slowly.
A shadow stretched across the prison floor before a tall figure stepped into view.
Knox.
My husband. My Alpha. The man I once believed would protect me from anything.
He held a glass of wine loosely in one hand, swirling the dark red liquid lazily as torchlight danced across the crystal. He looked calm. Relaxed. Almost amused. Like he was visiting a source of entertainment rather than a woman waiting to die.
His gaze settled on me, and slowly, he smiled. Not warmly. Not lovingly. But the way one might smile at something already broken beyond repair.
“Look at you,” he said softly. “Still alive.”
My throat tightened. “Knox,” I whispered.
Hearing his name from my lips seemed to amuse him even more.
“You’re calling me that again,” he murmured. “After everything.”
I pushed myself upright on shaky legs. “What is happening? Why are you doing this? Please… just tell me what’s going on.”
He took a slow sip of wine before stepping closer to the bars. “I came to see you before dawn. It felt appropriate.”
My hands curled into fists. “Before dawn,” I repeated. “So it’s true. You’re really going to let them execute me.”
A sharper smile spread across his face. “Don’t pretend to be confused, Ravienne. You are not nearly as innocent as you like to believe.”
“I am innocent,” I said quickly. “You know me. You know I would never hurt Lilian. I would never poison anyone.”
He laughed softly. The sound sent ice crawling beneath my skin.
“You always did have a talent for believing your own goodness.”
I stepped closer to the bars, gripping the cold iron. “Knox, please. Look at me. Something is wrong. Someone is framing me.”
For the first time, his eyes met mine fully. For one horrible second, I thought I saw something human there—something familiar. Then it vanished.
“You’re still beautiful when you beg,” he said quietly.
“That’s not what I’m doing,” I whispered.
He sighed, as if I were exhausting him.
“I gave you everything,” I said desperately. “I gave you the throne. I gave you my life. I gave you my children.”
Something flickered across his face—briefly—then disappeared. He took another casual sip of wine.
“You gave me the throne,” he repeated slowly. “Yes. That part is true.”
My blood turned cold. “What are you saying?”
He stepped even closer, lowering his voice to something almost intimate. “You were always so eager to be loved. So eager to be chosen. You made everything very easy for me.”
Pain twisted violently through my chest. “No.”
“You handed me Crescent Ridge on a silver plate,” he continued. “All I had to do was let you believe you mattered.”
My knees nearly buckled. “That’s not true.”
“You were never meant to rule,” he said simply. “You were meant to be useful.”
“Useful…” I repeated numbly.
He nodded. “Your bloodline was powerful enough to stabilize my claim. Your father’s resistance was becoming inconvenient. Your mother as well.”
The world stopped.
I stared at him in horror. “No… you didn’t.”
His gaze remained terrifyingly calm. “You always wondered how your parents died so suddenly. Such a tragic accident. Wolves can be so careless near cliff roads.”
My breath vanished. Everything went silent.
“You’re lying,” I whispered, but the words sounded hollow even to me.
He shrugged. “I did what I needed to do. And you helped me more than anyone else ever could.”
My legs gave out. I hit the floor hard, but the pain barely registered.
My parents. Gone.
My son. Gone.
My daughter dying.
My crown stolen.
My name destroyed.
All because I loved him.
“I loved you,” I whispered brokenly.
“I know,” he said quietly. “That’s what made it so easy.”
Something inside me shattered completely. A sob tore from my chest as I pressed my hand over my mouth.
“I trusted you. I gave you everything. Why?”
He leaned closer to the bars. “For power.”
Then, almost casually, he added, “And because you never would have survived in my world anyway.”
Silence fell—heavy and final.
He finished the last sip of wine and placed the empty glass carefully on the floor outside my cell.
“I should thank you,” he said.
I lifted my tear-blurred gaze.
He smiled. “For being foolish enough to believe in love. And for giving me everything without asking for anything in return.”
Then he turned away. Just like that. As if I had never mattered.
“Knox,” I called weakly.
He paused at the end of the corridor without turning around.
“Please,” I whispered. “Tell me none of this is real.”
A quiet chuckle escaped him. “It’s very real. Try to be dignified when they come for you.”
His footsteps faded into silence. The prison emptied once more.
I remained curled on the floor, shaking violently as the full weight of everything crushed down on me.
Maybe my parents had been right. Maybe I really was foolish. Maybe I deserved this ending.
I curled tighter into myself, breathing unevenly against the freezing stone. There was nothing left. No family. No love. No hope. Only execution. Only the end.
Then suddenly—
A soft voice echoed through the darkness.
“Ravienne.”
I froze. My head lifted slowly.
The cell door was still locked, but a shadow moved outside the bars.
“Mira?” I whispered hoarsely.
“Quiet,” my maid urged.
Another figure stepped beside her—my personal guard, blood still staining the side of his temple. Both looked exhausted. Terrified. But alive.
My gaze dropped to the small bundle wrapped carefully in Mira’s arms.
My breath stopped.
Ashlyn.
“Mama,” my daughter whispered weakly.
Disbelief cracked open inside me. I scrambled toward the bars. “Mira… how did you get her here?”
Mira’s eyes were red from crying. “We heard everything. The trial. The sentence. All of it.”
My lips trembled. “You shouldn’t be here. If they find you—”
“They won’t,” the guard interrupted firmly. “Not if we move quickly.”
Mira shook her head. “We don’t believe any of it. Not one word. We know you, Ravienne.”
Fresh tears flooded my eyes.
“You risked everything for me,” I whispered.
“Yes,” Mira said without hesitation. She brought Ashlyn closer to the bars.
My trembling hands reached through the iron, touching my daughter once more. Warm. Alive. Weak—but alive.
“I thought I lost you,” I whispered, brushing my fingers across her pale cheek.
“You didn’t,” Mira said softly. “Not yet.”
The guard glanced nervously down the corridor. “We don’t have much time. The alarm will sound soon. They’ll realize you escaped into the woods.”
My breath caught. “What alarm?”
Before anyone could answer, a deafening siren exploded throughout the prison. Blazing alarms. Chaos erupting through the halls.
Mira’s face turned pale.
“They know,” she whispered.
And in that moment—
Everything started moving again.
- Writer
