Chapter 126 CHAPTER 126
Morning arrived gently, the kind that did not rush or demand anything, as if the world itself knew it needed to slow down.
Lisa was already awake when Liam arrived.
She heard the familiar sound of his steps before she saw him, that steady rhythm she had come to associate with safety. When he stepped into the hall, she wrapped her arms around him without thinking, pressing her cheek to his chest. He smelled like coffee he hadn’t finished and a night that had been far too long.
She pulled back slightly and looked up at him, and that was when she saw it.
The tiredness.
It was not just in his eyes, but in the way his shoulders sagged just a little, in the way his smile came a second too late.
“You didn’t sleep,” she said softly.
Liam tried to brush it off. “I did. A bit.”
She shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but she reached up and touched his cheek, her thumb grazing the faint shadow beneath his eye. “You should rest today.”
His brow furrowed instantly. “I’m taking you to school.”
“Liam…”
“It’s my job,” he said, a little too quickly. “I promised.”
She stepped back just enough to look at him properly. “You promised when I was new here. When everything scared me. When I didn’t know who to trust.”
“And now?” he asked quietly.
“Now I do,” she said. “And I trust the guards. I trust the palace. I trust myself.”
He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t like the idea of someone else taking you. Not with Sebastian there.”
“I know,” she said. “But I don’t like the idea of you breaking yourself apart when you already have too much on your shoulders.”
She hesitated, then added, “If you really want to make me happy today… take a day to rest. Please.”
Before he could respond, footsteps approached from behind her.
Ethan appeared from the corridor leading to his study, already dressed, already alert. One look at Liam and his expression shifted.
“You look awful,” Ethan said bluntly.
Lisa winced slightly, but Liam let out a breathy laugh. “Good morning to you too, Your Majesty.”
Ethan ignored the tone. “You haven’t slept.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” Ethan said. “And she’s right.”
Liam turned toward him. “I can still take her…”
Ethan raised a hand. “If you don’t want to listen to your girlfriend, then you’ll listen to your king.”
That stopped him.
“You’re taking today off,” Ethan continued, voice firm but not unkind. “We need you clear-headed. What’s coming isn’t light work. If Celestine is serious about training, you’ll need your strength.”
Liam’s jaw tightened. He glanced at Lisa, who looked back at him with quiet certainty.
Finally, he nodded.
He pulled her into his arms, kissed her forehead, and murmured, “I’ll be a phone call away.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“I’ll still drop you off Lisa,” Ethan said. “The guard will stay with you.”
Lisa smiled. “That’s fine.”
Minutes later, the king’s car rolled through the palace gates.
The moment the door opened at Lunaris Academy, everything stopped.
Students froze mid-step. Conversations died in the air. Heads bowed instinctively as the Lycan King stepped out, his presence commanding without effort.
Ethan lifted a hand. “No need for ceremony. I’m just dropping my sister off.”
Lisa stepped out beside him, heat flooding her cheeks.
“Would you show me your class?” Ethan asked casually.
She hesitated. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“They already treat me differently,” she said. “If you come in with me, it’ll be worse.”
Ethan smiled faintly. “Trust me.”
She sighed, then nodded.
The classroom fell into stunned silence the moment they entered.
Every student stood.
Ethan gestured for them to sit with a smile.
“See,” Lisa whispered nervously, “I told you it would be awkward.”
“It’s not that bad.” Ethan grinned as he whispered back to her, but he was already looking for something – someone.
Ethan’s attention drifted, not loudly, not dramatically, but with the quiet certainty of instinct. His gaze moved across the room, passing over students whose wolves stirred faintly beneath their skin, over hearts that beat steady and sure.
Then it stopped.
On Sebastian.
Sebastian stiffened the moment their eyes met.
Ethan felt it immediately - not defiance, not arrogance, but fear. Raw and unguarded. The kind that came from memory rather than the present moment. Fear carried over from Silverpine. From guilt. From knowing exactly who stood before him.
And beneath that fear, something else rang just as loudly.
Absence of his wolf.
The space where one should have been was hollow, unmistakable to a Lycan king. Human. Entirely human.
Something primal stirred in Ethan’s chest. A low, instinctive response he did not bother to suppress.
He took a step forward.
Then another.
The room seemed to hold its breath as Ethan stopped in front of Sebastian and extended his hand.
“So,” he said calmly, “you must be Sebastian.”
Sebastian stood far too quickly, chair legs scraping the floor. His heart thundered in his ears as he bowed his head.
“Y-Your Majesty,” he said, his voice shaking despite his effort to steady it.
Ethan tilted his head slightly, eyes flicking to the still-extended hand.
“Are you going to keep your king waiting,” he asked mildly, “or are you going to greet me?”
Sebastian swallowed hard.
His palms were slick with sweat as he wiped them against his trousers and reached out.
The moment their hands met, everything changed.
Ethan’s grip tightened.
Not abruptly - deliberately.
Power flooded his hand, the Lycan strength coiling through his fingers like steel drawn tight. A low growl slipped free, barely audible to anyone else in the room.
But Sebastian heard it.
Felt it.
Pain shot up his arm, sharp and unforgiving. His breath hitched as Ethan leaned closer, his smile still polite, still composed, but his voice no longer human.
“I heard,” Ethan murmured, a restrained growl threading his words, “that you and your pack caused my sister a great deal of suffering back at Silverpine.”
Sebastian couldn’t speak.
The pain was too much. He didn’t scream - not aloud - but his body trembled under the pressure, fear flooding his senses.
“I hope,” Ethan continued softly, “you don’t intend to repeat that mistake here at Lunaris. Because if you do… you will answer to me.”
Lisa had already noticed.
She saw the tension in Sebastian’s shoulders, the way his face had drained of color, the subtle shift in Ethan’s posture that told her this was no simple greeting.
She stepped forward without hesitation.
“Ethan.”
Her voice cut through the moment.
Ethan looked at her.
The pressure vanished instantly.
Sebastian staggered slightly as Ethan released him, barely managing to stay upright. Ethan straightened, the growl gone as if it had never existed.
“I was just getting to know,” he said calmly, turning to Lisa, “your old acquaintances from Silverpine.”
Lisa held his gaze, searching his face.
“Is that all?”
A faint smile touched his lips. “Of course.”
He glanced around the room once more, then back at her.
“I’ll pay a courtesy call to the Lunaris staff and leave for the palace. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will,” she said quietly.
Ethan turned and left the classroom, his presence fading but not disappearing.
Lisa exhaled slowly and walked toward her desk.
She felt it then.
Sebastian’s eyes on her.
“Y-Your Highness,” he whispered, his voice trembling.
She stopped.
Turned her head slightly.
“You have to help me,” Sebastian said, barely above a breath, fear shaking his words. “You have to save me… from the king.”
Lisa looked at him fully now. There was silence between them.
“And why would I do that?” She finally asked. “The only reason I won’t let him tear you apart is because I don’t want him fighting my battles…. I am strong enough to take on my own enemies.”