CHAPTER 20: POISON AND PRIDE 2

CIAN

Those words seemed to send Ronan off the deep end. "You should have thought about that before you successfully stole your sister’s place."

"I did not..." She did not finish. Ronan would not let her.

"She should be in the dungeons!" Ronan continued. He was pacing now, agitated. "Until we can figure out what her game really is. An Omega that was calculating enough to deceive our Alpha into marrying her doesn’t just stumble into poison and then know exactly how to treat it shortly after being treated herself. This reeks of manipulation."

I wanted to tell him to stop. Wanted to tell the room that she’d saved me and that was it. Whatever happened in that forest, as much as I hated to admit, I had been willing to risk my life to make sure she did not die just as she’d been willing to risk her own recovery to help mine. That the bond had brought me back to her not out of cruelty but because it was stronger than whatever beef we had going on.

But I didn’t say any of that. I was thinking of way to say it ’right’. So she did not think I cared at all.

So Fia decided to speak instead. Her voice was quiet but it cut through the room like a blade.

"I do not mind the dungeons."

The ’right’ words immediately fled my mind. I opened my mouth to disagree. To assert my authority. To say something. Anything. Because what the fuck was wrong with her?

She beat me to it.

Her eyes met mine for a second. Just a flash of something I couldn’t read. Pride. Defiance. Maybe even understanding.

She did not need my help. No. It was worse. She did not want

my help.

Then she looked away.

The coldness that had always come easy to me settled back into place. The part that ruled a pack. The part that couldn’t show weakness. The part that understood that sentiment was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

"Take her," I said to Ronan. My voice was ice. "A day in the dungeons will teach her that pride has no place here."

The sentinels moved. They grabbed her by the arms, not rough but firm. Professional. She went with them without resistance. Without complaint. Like she’d expected this. Like she’d accepted it the moment she decided to save me.

I watched her disappear through the door.

Then I turned back to Ronan. He stood there looking satisfied. Looking like he’d protected me. Like he’d done something right.

"How is my mother?" I asked.

"Fine. She was not in pain today." He pulled a chair over and sat down like he was settling in for a long conversation. "She was really expecting to see your bride today."

There was a question in his tone. A judgment. Why hadn’t I killed the girl and taken the Luna like I intended. Why had I let her live.

"I have a bride," I said flatly. "That is what matters. They can meet tomorrow."

"She humiliated you." Ronan leaned forward. "This will spread. Every pack will hear about how an Omega stole the place of her sister to marry you, then walked into poison to infect and nearly kill you... On your wedding day. They will laugh."

"I am not a tyrant." The words came out harder than I meant them to. "We can protect ourselves. We do not need to be the boogeyman in every story."

"But she is an Omega." He said it like it explained everything. "Skollrend cannot have a weak heir."

"Skollrend is not having an heir." I turned my head away from him. "I am not having kids with the Omega. She is just here to be a decoration around my arms. Her sister would have been the same thing. At least a vile Omega like her will have no complaints once I am done with her."

The words felt heavy. Like I was trying to convince myself as much as him.

"Regardless, my mother will be satisfied," I continued. "I now have a bride."

"Luna Morrigan will want grandchildren though." Ronan smiled like he’d caught me in something. "How will that be handled?"

I closed my eyes. I thought about the contract I had forced upon Fia the moment I realized I had gotten the wrong bride. The Contract I would still force her to sign, come hell or highwater. But my thoughts lingered on the clause where I was supposed to present my seed to her on the first night, and on the nights after, so she could inseminate herself and give me a child—a child my mother expected, the heir Skollrend wanted to dote on.

But no self-respecting woman would agree to that. I had known she wouldn’t. That was why I had written it, expecting her to refuse. It would eventually sink in for anyone who cared to wonder why. It wasn’t my fault. I was trying to get what was needed from the union, but it just wasn’t working out.

Plausible deniability.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there." I opened my eyes. "For now I just need to fucking rest."

Ronan nodded and stood. "We will take our leave."

He left with the others. The room fell quiet except for the sound of Dr. Maren moving around. Checking vitals. Making notes. Pretending she hadn’t heard any of it.

I lay there in the silence and felt the poison still moving through my veins. Felt the exhaustion pulling at me like hands trying to drag me under.

Somewhere beneath it all, I could feel the bond. It was still there, connecting me to her. Even separated by stone and distance, I could feel her. The fear. The resignation. The strange pride that had made her accept the dungeons without a fight.

The thought of her down there in the dark made something in my chest twist. But I pushed it away. Locked it deep deep down.

She’d saved me. That meant something to me apparently. I would figure out what later. When I wasn’t still half-poisoned and weak and confused about my own motivations.

For now, I just needed to sleep.