Chapter 82 No Emotions
"Please, save me." Her voice came out desperate and broken. "They want to kill me. Please help me."
But Keal kept quiet, unsure what to say to someone clearly in shock. He held her upright and steadied her legs even though she seemed barely able to stand.
When Lila looked up and saw the three women just steps away, her panic returned full force.
"Please, help me!" Her voice rose higher, edged with hysteria. "They're going to kill me!"
She grabbed Keal's shirt with both hands, gripping the fabric so tightly her knuckles went white. She begged with her eyes and voice and entire shaking body.
Keal didn't know what to do. This woman seemed genuinely mad or trapped in some terrible nightmare she couldn't wake from.
Unsure how else to calm her, he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace and turned her face away from the approaching women. He pressed her head against his shoulder and spoke quietly into her hair.
"Shh, I'm here now. I will protect you. They won't hurt you. Shh."
Lila suddenly crashed against his shoulders, crying harder and louder than before. Her legs gave out completely. Keal followed her down, bending to keep her stable within his protective embrace so she wouldn't fall to the cold floor.
At that moment of witnessing her terror and panic, all Keal could remember was being six years old and locked in a closet. He'd been shivering in fright, hugging his knees to his chest whogile the village burned around him. Screams had filled the air. Everything had been in ruins and flames and death.
The one thing that had calmed him when his mother finally found him was her embrace. Just like this. Holding him tight and telling him he was safe now.
Keal snapped back to the present. His hands moved instinctively, brushing through Lila's tangled hair as though he were calming a frightened child.
Then Lila fell completely silent. The sudden stillness worried him. He pulled back slightly to look at her face.
To his shock, Lila had fainted. Her body went limp in his arms.
The three women who stood frozen nearby, stunned by what they'd just witnessed, suddenly looked confused and uncertain. They all knew Keal the hunter wolf. No one dared touch his wrist or the hem of his garment without permission. He detested any form of physical contact or emotional displays. Keal was known throughout the palace as cold, brutal, and unforgiving. He lived alone in the woods most of the time, only returning during winter when hunting became more difficult.
They only saw him during the coldest months because his unique wolf coloring made camouflage easiest during summer. That was why he was called Keal the Hunter. The hunter of prey and corrupted wolves who threatened the borders.
The women were devastatingly confused about what they'd just seen until Keal's sharp voice brought them back to their senses.
"Get the diviner now!" He commanded.
One of the women named Sydney moved immediately, running toward Freya's chambers for help.
Keal stood carefully, lifting Lila in his arms. He looked at the two remaining women who still stood like idiots, doing nothing useful. He'd expected them to wrap her properly in blankets and show him to her room, but they just stared.
"Bring the blanket and show me to her room!" His voice carried command that made them jump into action.
Aria, the woman who had laughed at Lila and caused her panic to escalate, quickly grabbed a thick blanket and wrapped it around Lila's body. Together with the other servant, they led Keal through the corridors to Lila's chambers.
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At the other side of the palace, Adrian sat behind his desk working through scrolls of political documents. Reports about damages caused seven days ago during the failed ritual. Recovery efforts were still ongoing throughout the lower districts.
Adrian had woken to full consciousness two days ago and felt completely fine. Better than fine, actually. He remembered everything that had happened. The chains. The corruption. The rejection ritual. He remembered it all with perfect clarity.
Except now he felt nothing. No pain. No mate bond pulling at his chest. No connection driving him toward madness. The bond that had defined his existence for three years was simply gone.
He remembered Lila very clearly in his head. Could picture her face, her voice, her copper-red hair. But he couldn't feel what he'd felt for her before. The desperate need was gone. The aching longing had vanished. He looked at memories of her and felt only mild interest, the same way he might remember any person he'd once known.
He'd ordered that she be cleaned and bathed daily. That sweet-scented ointments be applied to her body. That she remain in the room she'd once occupied until she woke.
Lila had been unconscious for three days. Adrian had thought maybe when she finally woke, there might be some hint of what he'd felt before. That the bond might resurface once they were both conscious. He'd waited, checking his chest periodically for any stirring of emotion.
He'd kept her under the care of Lady Sydney, assistant head of female servants. Lady Aria was the actual head of the women's wing, while Sydney assisted with daily operations.
This arrangement had brought confusion to the council members. They'd wondered if the ritual had failed. But Freya had assured them the rejection was complete and permanent. Adrian had begun to believe her because even when he tried to feel something for Lila, there was only emptiness where the bond used to burn.
Now Lila was awake. The news had spread through the palace within minutes. She'd been sleeping for three days and woken only moments ago in an apparent state of madness.
Marcus had barged into Adrian's office with the news, explaining Lila's naked run through the palace and her obvious mental breakdown.
Adrian sat completely still through the entire report. He remained quiet and searched his chest for any hint of emotion or feeling or the pulling need that used to consume him. But he felt absolutely nothing. Just emptiness.
"Ensure she is brought under control and checked by the diviner." Those were the only words that came from his lips. Flat. Emotionless. As if discussing a servant who'd taken ill rather than the woman who'd once been his entire world.
Marcus was momentarily stunned by the cold response. The council members who'd gathered to observe Adrian's reaction stood shocked. Adrian never looked up from his political documents. Never stopped working. Never showed even the slightest concern.
With that reaction, everyone felt calm certainty. Adrian had truly recovered from his madness. The ritual had worked. The curse was broken. The king was himself again.
They quietly left his office, closing the door softly behind them.
Adrian sat alone at his desk and continued reading reports about grain shipments and tax revenues. Somewhere in another wing of the palace, his former mate lay unconscious after a complete mental breakdown.
And he felt nothing at all.