Malrik POV
Ysolde’s swollen eyes shimmered with unspent tears as she dropped to her knees before me, neck bared in submission. Her voice quivered when she spoke, every word thick with terror and desperation.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Alpha,” she whispered, her voice breaking beneath the weight of her confession. “I only wanted to survive. You can see for yourself I have no abilities…” The tears she had tried to hold back spilled freely, streaking down her cheeks, stripping her bare in her vulnerability.
She didn’t believe she was safe not truly. How could she, when Dashira and Zenovia had twisted my name into a blade and used my authority as the weapon to strike her down? The betrayal dug deep, and guilt coiled in my chest like a tightening snare.
“I knew nothing of it until Seraph
