The Heartless Alpha and his War Luna

Chapter 2

In the Northern Palace, one rule stood above every other rule: no one challenged the Alpha King before an audience.

And I had broken that rule on my very first night there.

By sunrise, the tale had already spread through the palace faster than the morning bells. Servants fell quiet whenever I entered. Noblewomen hid whispers behind jeweled fans, while soldiers stared as though I were something unreal: the southern princess who had spoken back to the Wolf King... and lived.

I stood before the mirror as my maid secured the clasps on my sleeves. Her hands trembled slightly.

“The court has been summoned for breakfast, my lady,” she said softly.

“At this hour?” I lifted a brow.

“Lady Selene requested it from His Majesty.”

Of course she did.

A faint smile touched my lips. The king’s favourite wanted the entire court reminded of her place beside him. Let her have her performance.

The moment I entered the grand hall, golden chandelier light flooded the room so brightly that it almost hurt to look at. Yet beneath all that beauty, tension lingered like frost beneath clear water. Nobles lined both sides of the endless table, stiff and silent, as though even breathing too loudly might bring punishment.

Kael sat at the centre.

Beautiful in the most dangerous way possible. Cold power wrapped in flesh and bone. Every part of him radiated authority.

His dark coat sharpened the l wine. The second his eyes lifted to mine, every voice in the hall vanished. Even the air itself seemed to stop moving.

That unsettled me more than I cared to admit.

Selene reclined beside him in scarlet silk, one hand resting possessively on his arm like a queen claiming her throne without words.

Her meaning was obvious: He belongs to me.

I walked toward the empty seat across from the king, but before I could touch the chair, Selene’s voice drifted through the hall, sweet as poisoned honey.

“Oh dear,” she said lightly. “That seat is already taken.”

I tilted my head slightly. “By whom?”

“Whoever His Majesty chooses to sit beside him.”

Uneasy murmurs spread across the table. Kael said nothing.

So this was the game she wanted to play.

The only seat left stood near the servants’ side of the hall. A calculated insult.

The old Lyara would have accepted it quietly. But that version of me had died the night Kael disgraced me before his court. Something softer had broken apart inside me, and something far more dangerous had taken its place.

Without hesitation, I pulled out the chair beside Kael and sat down.

The silence that followed cut through the room like steel.

Selene’s smile cracked instantly, colour draining from her face. One of the generals nearly dropped his goblet. Kael merely looked at me with unreadable eyes.

“You seem confused about your position here,” Selene said through clenched restraint.

“No,” I answered calmly. “I understand it perfectly.”

The room grew unbearably tense. Everyone waited for the king’s fury.

Instead, Kael leaned back in his chair, took another slow sip of wine, and remained silent.

That silence was permission.

Selene understood it too. Her fingers tightened around her fork until her knuckles turned pale.

So the king’s precious favourite was finally afraid.

Good.

The rest of breakfast passed in strained politeness until one of the elder council members finally cleared his throat.

“Your Majesty, there are concerns regarding the southern princess being present during court discussions.”

There it was. The true reason for this gathering.

“Some question where her loyalty lies,” the elder continued carefully. “Many fear she still serves Moonfire.”

Every eye shifted toward Kael.

He looked at me the way someone might examine a criminal awaiting judgment.

“Perhaps they are correct,” he said evenly.

The words struck harder than they should have.

Foolish heart. Some part of me had still believed the softer looks he gave me in private meant something.

Beside him, Selene’s smile returned in triumph.

I forced myself to remain calm. I would not break in front of them.

Kael’s expression never changed. “Princess Lyara will no longer attend matters concerning war or Northern affairs.”

A punishment disguised as a royal order.

Humiliation burned beneath my skin, but something even crueler ached beneath it: the bond tying me to him no matter how cold he became. Every distant word echoed painfully through the mark fate had forced between us.

I rose slowly from my seat. The court watched eagerly, waiting for me to fall apart.

Instead, I smiled.

“As you wish, my king. I have no desire to overstay where I am unwanted.”

Something flickered briefly in his eyes. Regret perhaps. Humanity maybe.

Then it disappeared.

Too late.

Without another word, I turned and walked out of the hall.

That night, rain crashed violently against the palace roofs while lightning tore through the dark sky above. I stood alone on the balcony, cold wind curling around me as my breath fogged in the air.

Hating him would have been easier.

But the bond refused to let me.

What a cruel fate it was, to belong completely to a man unwilling to claim you.

“You should not be standing out here during a storm.”

His deep voice sounded behind me.

I did not turn around.

“I didn’t realize the king concerned himself with discarded wives.”

Silence followed, then the quiet sound of approaching footsteps. He stopped close enough for his warmth to brush against my skin.

“Do you enjoy provoking me?” he asked quietly.

“Not nearly as much as you enjoy humiliating me.”

His jaw tightened. Thunder echoed across the sky.

Finally, he spoke again.

“Do you truly believe this court is safe for you?”

Confusion crossed my face as I looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“There are people here who want you dead,” he replied. “Simply because you are mine.”

My breath caught.

Never before had he used that word.

Mine.

Hearing it shattered every wall I had built to protect myself from him.

He noticed my reaction immediately. His gaze dropped briefly to my lips before lifting again.

“The moment they discover what you are to me,” he said in a roughened voice, “they will hunt you.”

Thunder roared above us, sealing the warning between us.

And suddenly, I understood.

His cruelty had never been only punishment.

It had also been protection.

But before I could respond, a scream ripped through the palace corridors.

A servant came running toward us, drenched from the storm and shaking with terror.

“My king! Lady Selene has been attacked!”

Kael moved instantly, every trace of softness vanishing as the warrior inside him returned.

Yet just before he disappeared down the corridor, his eyes landed on me.

Cold. Sharp. Suspicious.

As though an impossible thought had suddenly entered his mind.

And in that single frozen moment, I finally understood what it meant to become the perfect suspect.