Chapter 21
Ella's POV
The moment Julian acquiesced to Kane taking me away, he didn't even spare me a glance, as if I were nothing more than an object that could be casually handed off. Then Kane's rough palm clamped around my wrist, the force so brutal it felt like he might crush my bones.
I didn't struggle. What would be the point? I was just a chess piece, pushed from one end of the board to the other.
The silence inside the carriage was suffocating. Kane sat across from me, his eyes boring into me like two bottomless pits. I lowered my gaze, unwilling to look at him, unwilling to let him see the despair in my eyes.
"Do you hate me that much?" he finally spoke, his voice so low it seemed to scrape out from his chest.
I didn't answer. The moment Julian handed me over, the last shred of hope in my heart had crumbled to dust. I thought that as Julian's blade, he would at least protect me, that he would at least fight for something on my behalf, but he did nothing. With those ice-blue eyes, he seemed to say: Sorry, your value ends here.
"Julian," Kane suddenly let out a cold laugh, "is as calculating as a spider weaving its web. You think he'll treat you with sincerity? Give you a way out? He's just using you as a tool to restrain me."
I lifted my head and stared at him. "Either way it's death. I'd rather die at Julian's hands than be killed by Victoria. That giant wolf trying to incinerate me with fireballs—that was Victoria, wasn't it?"
Kane's expression froze for an instant. He didn't deny it, didn't explain, only countered, "If you know that, then how can you not know how desperately I want to protect you?"
I thought of that black silhouette in the sea of flames, the one who'd been scorched by purple fire until his skin charred and split, yet never retreated a single step.
"That... that person—was that you?" I heard my voice trembling.
Kane stared at me, his mouth twisting slightly. "Who else do you think would stand in front of you like that to protect you?"
My throat tightened, as if something were lodged there.
"And after that?" I pressed, my voice barely a whisper. "I don't remember anything. I only remember it seemed like it was snowing..."
Kane's expression grew tense. He seemed about to say something, then swallowed it back, offering only a vague explanation: "You were injured. You passed out."
He was hiding something. I could feel it. But I was too exhausted to keep asking.
The carriage stopped at the West Wing manor. Kane pushed open the door and reached out to help me down, but I turned my face away and jumped down myself.
"I'll arrange a new room for you," Kane said behind me.
"No need." I walked straight toward the servants' quarters without looking back. "I'm not used to those places."
I heard him following me, his footsteps heavy. I pushed open that familiar wooden door. Ruby wasn't there; the room was cold and empty. I was about to close the door when Kane shoved his way in and locked it behind him.
Before I could react, he pushed me down onto the bed.
"Ella," his voice rasped in my ear, laced with a nearly manic longing. "Do you know? I've been going insane missing you!"
His hands roamed over my body, trying to unfasten my clothes. I lay there rigid, like a soulless shell. I didn't respond, didn't resist, just stared at the crack in the ceiling, imagining my soul drifting out through that fissure.
Kane stopped. He propped himself up and looked down at me, his eyes filled with both anger and confusion.
"Your body used to burn at my touch," his voice trembled slightly, "but now you're so cold. What the hell did Julian give you that was so good?"
I finally looked at him, tears sliding silently down my face. "I used to think I'd be your mate, imagined children playing at our feet. But now you've married another woman, killed our child—how am I supposed to respond to you?"
Kane's face went deathly pale in an instant. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Lord Kane," Ruby's voice came from outside, tinged with awkwardness. "Lady Victoria requests your presence in her chamber. She asked me to relay a message—Lady Stella says that for the future of the pack, she hopes you'll produce an heir soon."
The air froze.
Kane climbed off me and sat on the edge of the bed, hands braced on his knees, head bowed in silence. I turned onto my side, facing away from him, and closed my eyes.
"Ella..." His voice was soft, almost pleading.
"Go," I cut him off, my voice terrifyingly calm. "Go fulfill your duties as Lord of the West Wing."
I heard him stand, heard his footsteps move toward the door. The room fell silent once more.