Chapter 29: A Visit

Chapter 29: A Visit
Ivy’s POV

I wasn’t sure what time it was after Mira legt

Morning, noon, evening. The dungeon didn’t care. The shadows clung to the walls like cobwebs, the silence heavy except for the occasional drip of water from a pipe overhead.

I was sitting on the cold stone floor, back against the wall, knees drawn to my chest. I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t slept. I was stuck in the silence with nothing but the gnawing ache of guilt and regret.

Then the door creaked open.

I blinked toward the sound, heart tightening with some foolish hope that maybe, just maybe, it was Lucien.

But it wasn’t.

It was Dorian.

He stood just beyond the cell bars, arms crossed, jaw clenched, his usual humor nowhere in sight. The light from the hallway caught his eyes, and all I saw there was disappointment.

“I should’ve known,” he said coldly. “Lucien gave you everything. Protection. A place. Trust. And you made a fool of him.”

My stomach twisted.

“Dorian, please.....” I rose to my feet quickly, grabbing the bars with trembling hands. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t lie to hurt him. I just.… I was trying to survive.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Survive? By keeping a secret like that? You’re carrying the child of the Alpha of Blackwood, Ivy. A pack we’ve fought with. A pack that placed a bounty on your life.”

I flinched.

“I know,” I whispered. “I know how bad it looks. But I didn’t want this. You think I asked for any of this? I ran to get away from him. I ran so this baby wouldn’t grow up in that nightmare of a pack. And when I came here, I didn’t know who I could trust.”

“You trusted Lucien enough to let him fight for you,” Dorian snapped. “Trusted him enough to live under his roof. Eat his food. Train with his pack. And you repaid that with silence.”

I felt the tears prick my eyes. I turned away from him, ashamed

“I was going to tell him,” I murmured. “I tried. But before I could, Hadley.....”

“Hadley,” he cut in. “Right. Because apparently she’s always two steps ahead.”

He looked away in disgust, then turned back sharply.

“But answer me this, Ivy, how did Hadley even find out? You said you told no one.”

I hesitated, dread pooling in my chest. Then I spoke.

“Mira,” I whispered. “She.… she figured it out. She saw me in the training room, asked me about it, and I…. I confirmed it.”

“You what?”

"I didn't think she would tell anyone,” I said, voice trembling. “I didn’t know she was going to sell the information to Hadley. I.... I helped her, Dorian. We saved her family together. I went out of my way, risked my life, and she still.…”

Dorian’s hands clenched into fists. His mouth flattened into a hard line.

“You saved her family,” he said slowly, “and she repaid you by stabbing you in the back. Selling you out to the same woman who threatened them.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

He stepped closer, his voice lower now but sharper.

“Because I swear to the Goddess, if what you’re saying is true, Mira’s going to answer for it. You don’t get to play both sides and walk away clean.”

I looked up at him. My eyes burned, but I kept my voice calm.

“Dorian…. you can threaten her all you want, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t change what I did. I should have told Lucien. I should have trusted him. But I didn’t. I failed him. I know that.”

Dorian looked away, jaw ticking.

“Then what do you want from me?” he asked bitterly.

“Talk to him,” I whispered. “Please. Just…. tell him to let me speak to him. Let me explain. I don’t expect forgiveness. I just want him to hear the truth from me.”

He didn’t answer immediately. For a long moment, he just stared at the stone wall beside him.

Then, with a frustrated sigh, he turned and walked away without a word.

The cell door creaked shut behind him.

I didn’t know if that was a yes or a no.

All I knew was that time was running out…. and Lucien’s heart might already be out of reach.

The cell became cold again. It crept into my bones and settled there like frost, numbing everything, skin, muscle, soul

I tried not to think, but my mind betrayed me anyway.

Kael.

His name rose like poison on my tongue.

Alpha Kael. The father of the child inside me.

The one who used me, discarded me, looked through me like I was air. Like I wasn’t even worthy of scorn.

He didn’t want this child. He didn’t want me. Not as a mate, not as a pack member, not even as a warm body. And yet.… gods help me, I had craved his attention. Every touch, every order, every brutal moment between us, I had once mistaken it for power, for safety, for something that resembled love.

I thought all Alphas were like that, unfeeling, cruel, addicted to dominance. I thought Lucien would be no different.

But he was.

He didn’t demand submission. He didn’t crush those beneath him just to prove he could. Lucien fought for his people. Protected them. Gave me a home when I had none.

And now….

Now I’d ruined that too.

The guilt ached more than the hunger in my stomach. It sat in my chest like a stone, heavy and cold.

Then I heard footsteps.

Boots clicking softly against the dungeon floor. I sat up a little straighter, wiping at my face. I knew that rhythm. I knew that calm, measured pace.

“Dorian?” I asked, voice hoarse. “Have you spoken to Lucien? Did he... did he agree to meet me?”

But the steps stopped right in front of the bars.

And when I looked up…..

It wasn’t Dorian.

My breath caught in my throat.

“Lucien,” I whispered.

He stood there, cloaked in shadows, arms by his sides, expression unreadable. The torches flickered against his face, casting sharp lines across his jaw, his eyes darker than I’d ever seen them.