Chapter 11 A Crack in the Palace Walls
The kingdom stirred as it always did, but beneath the routine, something strained the rhythm. Conversations were quieter, glances lingered longer than they should have, and every order carried a sharper edge, as if the entire territory had sensed a shift in its Alpha and didn't yet understand what it meant.
Liam hadn't slept. He couldn't remember the last time silence had existed without interruption, without the low hum of awareness pressing against his thoughts. Every sound felt closer than it should have been. Every movement carried weight. The absence that had begun the night before hadnt eased with morning—it had settled in, persistent and unwelcome.
And at the center of it was a woman who should've been nothing more than a contract. Instead, she had managed to disrupt everything.
The council office doors came into view at the end of the corridor, guarded as always. The attendants stationed outside straightened immediately at his approach, but before either could speak, Liam pushed the doors open himself.
Inside, a long table stretched across the chamber, lined with council members and Alphas representing each region of Estines. Documents lay neatly arranged before them, the atmosphere composed yet dense with quiet authority. At the head of the table sat Benetta. She didn't rise.
Her posture remained composed, hands resting lightly near the papers before her as though she had been expecting the interruption. Liam stepped inside without hesitation, his gaze sweeping across the occupants only briefly before returning to her.
“So you don’t even need your king’s permission anymore to held such a meeting in my palace?” he asked coldly, his voice cutting through the silence with sharp clarity.
No one spoke. Benetta inclined her head slightly, her expression as calm as ever.
“I apologize for the necessity, Alpha,” she said, her voice smooth and measured. “You have been occupied since our last conversation. Certain matters couldn’t be delayed.”
Liam’s attention shifted briefly to the table. Documents had been distributed to each attendee, their identical formatting making it clear they were the focus of the meeting. He stepped closer, his eyes catching the image printed at the top of one page—a woman’s profile, refined and carefully presented.
“I’m curious,” he said, his tone dipping into something sharper, edged with quiet mockery. “Who is this woman… that she warrants an immediate gathering of the entire council?”
Benetta watched him, her head tilting ever so slightly, as though observing a line of argument unfold exactly as expected.
“You already know,” she replied. “She is to be the kingdom’s next Luna—your childhood friend. And because I recognize the value she will bring to this position,” she continued, her gaze sweeping briefly across the others before returning to Liam, “I intend for this council to stand in support of her.”
Liam’s eyes shifted away for a moment, as though the weight of the room pressed too closely. When he looked back, the sharpness hadn't left his gaze. Something beneath it had tightened further.
“The woman in my palace,” he said. “Did you help her escape?”
Benetta didn't react immediately. “The one we spoke of yesterday afternoon?” she asked.
“Yes. Where did you send her?”
A soft laugh left Benetta’s lips. It was light, polite, entirely appropriate. And entirely unconvincing. “What are you implying, My Alpha?” she asked, folding her hands neatly atop the table. “I have no interest in managing such trivial matters. I believe I advised you to resolve it yourself.”
Liam’s grip tightened slightly around the document in his hand. “Don’t pretend you don’t know.” He growled in low tone, got Benetta’s smile faded.
Her expression smoothed into something more neutral, more measured—but her eyes betrayed the flicker of surprise she had not anticipated. Liam didn't raise his voice, but something in his tone had changed.
A faint tension settled along Benetta’s neck, her posture stiffening almost imperceptibly.
“I also find it curious,” she said after a moment, her voice quieter now, though no less precise, “that a woman of no importance has managed to draw this reaction from you.” Her gaze held his steadily. “You, who are rarely moved by anything. Yet here you are,” she continued, the faintest edge slipping into her words, “agitated over her absence as though you’ve lost something more than a contract. You described it as business. Was that inaccurate?”
“She has a contract with me,” he said. “One I have already paid for. She’s my new home secretary, none of you didn’t know this information. She was legally attached to this kingdom as my staff!”
Benetta’s brows lifted slightly.
“What kind of contract if you don’t mine me asking further?” she asked. “Employment… or something more intimate?”
“Lady Benetta.”
Liam’s voice cut through the room like a sudden strike, sharp and unyielding. His gaze locked onto hers, the restraint he had carried since morning thinning to its limit.
“I have granted you authority beyond what is expected of a Prime Council member,” he said, each word measured but edged with something far less controlled. “That authority wasn’t given for you to act beyond your position. I suggest you remember your position.”
He didn't wait for a response as he headed towards exit. The doors opened sharply under his hand, the sound echoing behind him as he left the chamber without another glance.
The echo of his voice lingered in the air long after the doors had closed. Benetta didn't move at first. Her hands remained folded on the table, her posture unchanged.Only her eyes shifted slightly, following the direction he had gone.
There was a faint sheen to them—not from grief, not from wounded pride, but from something far more contained. The tension in her shoulders eased, though the stillness in her expression did not.
“So,” she murmured under her breath, her voice low enough that no one else in the room could clearly catch it, “she matters that much.”
Her fingers tapped once lightly against the table, a quiet, thoughtful gesture. Then, almost imperceptibly, a small smile returned to her lips.
“Very well,” Benetta said softly. “Let’s see how far this goes.”