Private Investigation

Private Investigation

POV: Seth

I made it back to my quarters before the shaking started. My hands trembled so badly I could barely unbuckle my sword belt. The leather slipped through my fingers twice before I finally got it loose.
They knew. Not who specifically, but they knew someone was hiding. And now they were going to search. Investigate. Verify every single person in the fort until they found Magnus's missing bride.
Until they found me. I sank onto my bunk, pressing my palms against my eyes. Three days. I had three days before Magnus returned with his full force. Three days to figure out what to do.
Run? Where? The fort was on lockdown. Guards at every gate. Patrols in the forest. Even if I could slip past them, winter was setting in. I'd freeze to death alone in the mountains. Stay? Let them find me? Hand myself over to Magnus and hope he killed me quickly?
Neither option felt like living. A knock on the door made me jump. My hand flew to my knife.
"Seth? It's Kieran. We need to talk."
Of course. Kieran was a unit leader. He'd been assigned to verify his own soldiers. Including me. I thought about not answering. Pretending I wasn't here. But that would only delay the inevitable and make me look more suspicious.
"Come in," I called, my voice steadier than I felt. The door opened. Kieran stepped inside and closed it firmly behind him. His face was tight, controlled. Professional. But his eyes held something else. Concern. Determination.
Fear.
"Official business," he said quietly. "I've been ordered to verify all members of my unit. Physical confirmation that everyone is who they claim to be."
My stomach dropped. "I see."
"It's happening across the whole fort. Every commander checking their own people." He stayed by the door, making no move to come closer. "Most are doing it publicly. Quick visual inspections. Making soldiers show identifying marks or scars to prove identity."
"And you?" The words came out barely above a whisper.
"I'm doing it privately. One on one. Giving people dignity." His jaw tightened. "But I still have to do it, Seth. If I don't, someone else will. And they won't be kind about it."
Of course. This was it. The moment I'd been dreading since I first put on a cadet's uniform. The moment my lies caught up with me.
"When?" I managed.
"Now. Tonight. Before anyone else decides to double check my work." He finally moved, crossing to my small desk and leaning against it. "We're alone. No one knows I'm here. Whatever happens in this room stays between us."
The silence that followed was suffocating. It pressed down on me like a physical weight, crushing the air from my lungs.
"We could fake this," Kieran said finally. His voice was careful, measured. "I verify you're male. Write it in my report. Problem solved."
Hope flared in my chest, painful and desperate. "You'd do that?"
"Yes." No hesitation. "If that's what you want."
I wanted to say yes. Wanted to accept his offer and keep hiding. But the words wouldn't come. Because I could see the flaw in the plan already.
"What if they double check?" I asked quietly. "What if Brannor doesn't trust your report? What if someone else demands proof?"
Kieran's expression darkened. "Then I'll handle it."
"How? You can't fight the whole fort for me."
"Watch me."
The fierce certainty in his voice made my throat tight. When had anyone last offered to fight for me? To protect me at their own risk?
Not since my family died.
Kieran ran both hands through his hair, frustration bleeding through his careful control. "Then what do you want to do, Seth? Because I'm trying to help you here, but you won't let me close enough to figure out how."
"I don't know!" The confession burst out of me, too loud in the small room. "I don't know anymore. I'm so tired of lying, of hiding, of being afraid every single second. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I jump at shadows and see Magnus in every corner. I'm falling apart and I don't know how to stop it."
My voice cracked on the last word. Tears burned behind my eyes. I pressed my palms against them, trying to force the weakness back down. Crying wouldn't help. Crying never helped.
But I couldn't stop trembling. The shaking had spread from my hands to my whole body. Three months of terror and exhaustion and desperate pretending, all coming apart at once.
"Seth." Kieran's voice was closer now. Gentle. "Breathe. Just breathe."
"I can't." The words came out choked. "I can't do this anymore. I can't keep pretending everything's fine when Magnus is out there and he knows where I am and in three days he's coming back and there's nowhere left to run and I'm so tired, Kieran. I'm so tired of being afraid."
Then his arms were around me. Strong and warm and solid. Pulling me against his chest before I could protest. Before I could remember all the reasons this was dangerous.
I should have pushed him away. Should have maintained distance. But I couldn't. The embrace was everything I'd been denied for months. Safety. Warmth. The simple comfort of another person's touch.
I broke.
Sobs tore out of my chest, ugly and raw. I cried into Kieran's uniform while he held me, one hand stroking my hair, the other steady on my back. He didn't say anything. Didn't offer empty platitudes. Just held me while I fell apart.
"I'm sorry," I gasped when I could speak again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't.."
"Stop." His voice was firm but kind. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"I'm weak."
"You're the strongest person I know." He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes. His face was close, so close I could see the gold flecks in his green eyes. "You've been carrying this alone for months. That's not weakness. That's survival."
"It doesn't feel like survival. It feels like I'm drowning."
"Then let me help you." His hands moved to frame my face, thumbs brushing away tears. "Tell me the truth. All of it. Stop carrying this alone."
I wanted to. God, I wanted to. The words were right there, pressing against my teeth. The truth about who I was. What Magnus had done. Why I was running. But fear choked them back down.
"I don't know if I can," I whispered.
"Why not?"
"Because once you know everything, you'll either turn me in or try to protect me. And both of those things will get you killed." My voice broke again. "Magnus destroys everyone who tries to help me. My family. My friends. The servants who tried to hide me. He makes examples of them. Makes them suffer before he kills them. I won't do that to you."
Kieran's expression hardened. Something fierce and protective flared in his eyes. "I'm not that easy to kill."
"Neither were they." The words came out bitter. "My father was one of the strongest alphas in the territory. Magnus gutted him like an animal. My mother was brilliant and brave. He made her watch my father die before he slit her throat. My little brother was twelve years old. Twelve. And Magnus threw him off the tower because he tried to fight back."
Kieran's hands tightened on my face. "Seth."
"That's what Magnus does to people who get in his way. That's what he'll do to you if you try to protect me." Tears were falling again, hot and fast. "So please. Please just verify me as male and let me handle this alone. It's safer for everyone."
"No." The word was absolute. "I'm not walking away. I'm not leaving you to face this alone."
"Kieran.."
"Tell me your real name," he interrupted. His voice was soft but insistent. "Not Seth. Your real name. The one your family called you."
The request was so unexpected it startled me into silence. My real name. The one I hadn't spoken aloud in three months. The one that connected me to everything I'd lost.
"Why?" I managed.
"Because I want to know who I'm protecting. Not the disguise. Not the role you're playing. You. The real you."
Something in his voice, in his eyes, made the words break free. Like they'd been waiting all this time to be spoken. To be remembered.
"Seraphina," I whispered. "My name is Seraphina Thornfield."
Kieran's eyes widened slightly. Recognition flickered across his face. "Thornfield. As in the Thornfield territory? Lord Thornfield's family?"
I nodded. "My father was Lord Aldric Thornfield. Until Magnus murdered him and claimed the territory for himself."
"God." Kieran's voice was rough. "I heard about that. The whole family killed in one night. But the reports said there were no survivors."
"Because I ran." The confession was easier now that I'd started. "I disguised myself, cut my hair, bound my chest. Became Seth and enrolled in the academy before Magnus could find me. I thought if I could just disappear into the military, he'd give up searching."
"But he didn't."
"No. Because I'm not just his enemy. I'm his property." The word tasted like poison. "Our fathers arranged the marriage when I was fifteen. A political alliance. I signed the contract because I had no choice. And under pack law, that makes me his. Legally. Permanently."
Kieran's jaw clenched. "That's barbaric."
"That's tradition." I pulled back slightly, wrapping my arms around myself. "High noble families trade daughters like livestock. My opinion didn't matter. My feelings didn't matter. I belonged to Magnus the moment that contract was signed."
"No." Kieran's voice was fierce. "You don't belong to anyone. You're a person, not property."
"Pack law doesn't see it that way."
"Then pack law is wrong."
A knock at the door shattered the moment. We both froze.
"Kieran?" A soldier's voice, muffled through the wood. "You in there? Captain wants updated reports from all unit leaders. Now. Emergency meeting in ten minutes."
Kieran's eyes met mine. Frustrated. Worried. "Be right there," he called back.
Footsteps retreated down the corridor. We stood in silence for a heartbeat. Then Kieran crossed back to me, his hands finding mine.
"We'll finish this later," he said quietly. "But Seraphina, whatever happens, I'm on your side. Not pack law's. Not Magnus's. Yours."
Then he was gone, the door closing behind him with a soft click. I stood alone in the empty room, my real name still echoing in the air. Wondering if Kieran would still mean those words when he understood the full cost of protecting
me. Wondering if I'd just signed his death warrant by telling him the truth..