The Maid Who Stole My Alpha

Chapter Seven

(Bardolph’s POV)

Blood covered Ashina’s wrist when they brought her into my study, and the sight made my wolf roar with rage.

For one cruel second, all the doubts Farkas had placed in my mind burned away beneath the smell of fresh blood.

Ashina clung to Lowell as she could barely stand, yet her eyes searched for me with the desperate trust of a frightened woman.

“She tried to kill me,” Ashina whispered, and those five words struck the room harder than the border attack itself.

Farkas stood near the desk, his old face unreadable, but I saw suspicion tighten the corners of his eyes.

“Let the healer inspect the wound before we decide what happened,” Farkas said, sounding calm enough to make my anger worse.

I turned on him with a growl because the night was already filled with blood, smoke, and accusations against my mate.

“You question a bleeding servant while my patrol lies dead because someone opened the northern road?” I demanded.

Farkas did not bow, which reminded me why my father had trusted him and why other men feared him.

“I question any story that arrives exactly when doubt begins to touch the first story,” he answered, looking straight at Ashina.

Ashina flinched as if his words had struck her, and my protective anger rose before wisdom could stop it.

“She has risked everything to speak against Daciana,” I said, though the name tasted like pain in my mouth.

“She has gained everything by speaking against Daciana,” Farkas replied, and the study fell silent beneath that dangerous truth.

Ashina sobbed softly, and I hated myself because part of me wanted to comfort her while another part wanted to run to Daciana.

My wolf paced behind my ribs, snarling that our mate was locked away while another woman’s scent covered the room.

Hrolf entered before I could answer, carrying a black pouch sealed with the mark of our own medicine room.

“Alpha, we found this beneath Daciana’s mattress in the servant wing,” Hrolf said, placing the pouch on my desk.

I opened it and found crushed wolfsbane wrapped in cloth, along with a small silver blade stained with fresh blood.

The air left my lungs slowly, because wolfsbane was used to weaken werewolves before poison or silver finished the work.

Farkas reached for the blade, but Hrolf stopped him with a sharp look that made the old elder’s eyes narrow.

“Careful, Farkas, unless you want your hands smelling like the evidence,” Hrolf said, and the warning sounded too prepared.

I stared at the blade, then at Ashina’s wound, and the neatness of the proof should have frightened me more than it did.

Instead, it gave my anger somewhere to stand, because anger needed solid ground before it became judgment.

“Bring Daciana to the great hall,” I ordered, hearing my own voice turn into the voice of an Alpha, not a mate.

Ashina gasped softly, and I saw fear cross her face before she hid it against Lowell’s shoulder.

“My Alpha, please do not face her alone,” she begged, making the warriors near the door tighten their grips on their weapons.

I wanted to tell her Daciana would never hurt me, but the words stayed trapped behind the memory of those letters.

Farkas stepped closer, lowering his voice so only I could hear the warning hiding beneath his obedience.

“Alpha, if you judge her tonight, you may lose the truth before you ever find it,” he said.

I looked toward the window where the smoke beyond the border had turned the moon red above the trees.

“If she opened my border and raised a blade against my pack, then truth has already lost me,” I answered.

(Daciana POV)

They dragged me into the great hall beneath the red moon, but I walked the final steps without letting them pull me.

Every pack member who could stand had gathered there, their faces pale with fear and anger from the northern attack.

Some wore blood on their clothes, some carried wounded children, and some stared at me as I had personally lit the fires.

I searched the crowd for one friendly face, but pity had hidden itself behind fear, and fear had married hatred.

Then I saw Bardolph standing before the Alpha chair, and the sight nearly broke the strength I had forced into my spine.

He looked like war made flesh, his eyes bright with rage and his hands clenched hard enough to show his claws.

Ashina sat near him with her bandaged wrist against her chest, wearing my old blue shawl around her shoulders.

That shawl had been a gift from Bardolph after my first winter as Luna, and seeing it on her felt like being skinned.

I stopped before the elders and lifted my chin, refusing to kneel when I had committed no crime against my pack.

Boris stepped forward with a scroll in his hand, looking far too pleased for a man standing among wounded wolves.

“Daciana, former Luna of Blackfang, you stand accused of treason, planned escape, attempted murder, and aiding Northridge wolves,” he declared.

The word "former" moved through the hall like a blade, and several servants looked down because even they felt its cruelty.

“I deny every charge,” I said, keeping my voice steady though my heart was breaking in front of everyone.

Bardolph’s eyes met mine, and pain flashed there so quickly that I almost believed my mate still existed beneath the Alpha.

“Then explain the letters, the border attack, the wolfsbane, and Ashina’s blood,” he said, each proof becoming another wall between us.

“I can explain only one thing,” I answered, stepping forward before the guards could decide whether to stop me.

The hall grew quiet, and even Ashina leaned closer as if she feared the truth might be stronger than her plan.