Chapter 159

The revelation that Kenzo had been deceiving me from the very beginning gnawed at my mind, tightening my jaw in frustration. The mere thought of enduring yet another betrayal made my chest constrict—I wasn’t sure I had the strength to survive one more. I was exhausted by the relentless cycle of everything falling apart. Life would have been so much simpler if I were human. When a human man desires you, he doesn’t invoke destiny as leverage, doesn’t twist fate into a chain around your throat just to bind you to him.

Kenzo had done everything in his power to make me feel guilty for not choosing him. He planted the seed of doubt so deep in my heart that I could never escape its shadow. He wanted me to believe that if I chose Hadrian, I would be defying a higher power, bringing a curse upon myself. That belief had taken root inside me, poisoning my thoughts, infecting every inch of my soul. But if I wasn’t truly his mate, then why had he lied? What could drive him to such desperation to claim me as his Luna? I refused to accept that my worth to him was merely strategic, that I was nothing more than a stepping stone to the throne. He could have claimed his birthright without me.

Unless… unless I wasn’t his mate because someone else was.

Was it Bopha? Was that why she despised me so much? Had Kenzo rejected his fated mate to chase his own vision of power? The thought sent a shiver down my spine—it was too cruel, even for him.

I forced my mind away from the whirlwind of questions and returned to my room, my hands moving on autopilot as I packed. I couldn’t afford to dwell on what-ifs. My world was unraveling around me—Selene was pregnant, Hadrian had vanished, and now there was a possibility that my entire belief in my bond with Kenzo had been a lie. It was too much. And on top of it all, I was about to go to war against my father’s pack. I needed to focus. I needed to solve at least one of these impossible problems before I lost my sanity.

I had no way of uncovering the truth about Selene’s pregnancy, and I wasn’t ready to face Kenzo—not yet. That left me with one option. I had to speak to Icarus. If anyone knew anything about Hadrian’s disappearance, it was the Royal Army’s general, Gareth. Icarus had to be in contact with him.

Somewhere deep inside, I clung to the desperate hope that Hadrian hadn’t truly disappeared—that this was all just a carefully laid plan, a strategy to lure out EH. Maybe he wasn’t lost. Maybe his phone was. Maybe that was all.

God… I needed someone to tell me he was alive.

I could live with everything else, but not that. Not a world where he no longer existed. I would rather endure the agony of never having him, of watching him find happiness with someone else, than face the emptiness of a life where he was gone forever. I prayed to every divine force that had ever existed, begging them to spare him. I didn’t care about fate, destiny, or curses—just let him live.

With my bag slung over my shoulder, I pushed forward, my body moving as if possessed by something beyond my own will. I left my hotel and crossed the street, heading to where the Royal Army was stationed. Without hesitation, I marched to the fourth floor, stopping in front of room 426. Icarus’s room.

I knocked.

The door swung open with an abrupt force, and Icarus stood before me, his posture coiled with tension, his eyes burning with hostility. For a split second, he didn’t recognize me, and the sheer aggression in his stance sent a chill through me. But when his gaze finally locked onto mine, his expression softened—just barely.

Still, his eyes remained cold.

"Mind explaining why you reek of that dog?" he hissed.

I flinched. He knew. I didn’t have to say a word—he already knew what I had done. The choice I had made.

My jaw clenched, and I met his glare with one of my own. "You have no right to judge me, Icarus," I snapped. "Your King did everything he could to push me away, and Kenzo—" I faltered.

The words refused to leave my throat. Saying I was Kenzo’s mate had once been my excuse, my fragile justification for trying to move forward, for convincing myself that happiness could be found outside of Hadrian’s arms. If that had been a lie… then I was a fool for believing it. And if Kenzo had fabricated such a disgusting deception, then the blame fell not only on him—but on me as well.

Icarus’s stare burned into me, making my stomach twist with shame. His unspoken accusation made my skin crawl.

I bit down on my lip, hard enough to ground myself. If I didn’t hold on to something, I feared I might unravel right there in the hallway.

A heavy silence stretched between us before Icarus exhaled sharply, his posture deflating just slightly. "I’m sorry," he said, his voice quieter, more controlled. "I let my anger get the best of me, and I took it out on you. That wasn’t fair."

He offered me a small, strained smile before stepping aside, motioning for me to enter.

I hesitated, then nodded, accepting his apology as I stepped inside. He shut the door behind me and gestured toward a chair at the table. I took a seat, my eyes scanning his face, and for the first time, I saw something beyond his usual composure. There was a deep, simmering rage there—one that was barely contained. But worse than that was the helplessness.

"Please," I whispered, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Tell me everything. Otherwise, I might lose my mind."

Icarus held my gaze for a long moment before exhaling deeply. He sat beside me, straightening his posture as his expression darkened.

"Two days ago," he began, "three battalions were tracking a large group of degenerates. They were closing in, about thirty miles northwest of Crimsonville, heading toward a heavily populated human area. If they broke through, it would have been a massacre. To stop them, King Hadrian divided his forces. He took a smaller group—less than a hundred men—and led the degenerates in the opposite direction."

A sick feeling curled in my stomach.

Icarus’s voice hardened. "But the enemy anticipated his strategy. Over three hundred degenerates ambushed them, cutting off his forces. General Larkspur lost contact with him. No one has heard from Hadrian since."

The floor seemed to vanish beneath me.

My hand pressed against my chest, trying to contain the wild pounding of my heart. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything else. My breaths came fast and shallow, but no matter how much air I dragged into my lungs, it was never enough.

My mind screamed at me to think—to focus. Emotion was useless now.

"What about Gareth?" My voice trembled with frustration. "Wasn’t he looking for Hadrian?"

"He was," Icarus answered grimly. "He took a large force and followed Hadrian’s last known trail."

"And?" I demanded, every nerve in my body on edge.

Icarus inhaled sharply. "Three hours after Gareth sent word to the palace… his entire unit went silent. No one has been able to reach them. We believe the enemy is jamming the entire area’s signal."

A shudder ran through me. Every word he spoke only deepened the pit of despair clawing at my insides. How was I supposed to fight this war while drowning in helplessness?

I hated EH. More than I hated my father.

"So… what now?" My fingers drummed restlessly against the chair’s armrest.

Icarus’s expression was unreadable as he met my gaze. "Now we wait," he said, his voice heavy. "And we hope they survive."