His eyes bored into me, his face shifting like storm clouds.
I knew his hesitation—Yuki, his favored princess, had proposed the alliance, and here I stood, risking my life to undo it.
He waved off my bows, voice biting:
"The day the alliance was sealed—why didn’t you claim Yuki as your own?"
My throat constricted.
"Alpha king, Sophie was dying. I had to—"
" The sacred Pill I gave Yuki—where is it?"
"…I gave it to Sophie. She nearly died fetching my medicine. But I swear on my life—"
"Your life?"
He laughed, cruel as ice.
"The day she was shot, who did you save?"
Words failed me.
The memory sliced deep: Yuki falling, an arrow in her shoulder, while I scooped up wailing Sophie.
A chunk of my chest had been torn out that day, leaving only hollow ache.
Alpha king dismissed
