Chapter 116
Chapter 116
3rd Person's POV
Several days passed in Nytheris, and with each one, Freya felt her plans slipping further from her grasp.
She had been sure the little incident at the orphanage would drive a wedge between Valtor and Winter. Instead, the opposite happened. Whatever tension Freya had hoped to cultivate only seemed to draw them closer. Almost every day now, Valtor brought Winter along when he attended to political matters, council discussions, and inspections around his Kingdom.
Worse still, Winter refused to behave the way Freya had expected her to. Winter didn't show hostility toward Rosentine and Cressida. Even when the twins smugly pretended they 'taught' her an etiquette lesson, Winter responded with politeness and friendly smiles.
Instead of offending Valtor, it only seemed to deepen his admiration for her.
Freya clenched her jaw.
“I suppose I’ll have to involve Lilith,” she muttered under her breath as she walked with Rosentine and Cressida through the marble corridors. “Because clearly, the three of us aren’t enough.”
That morning, Valtor and Winter had gone out together again. As if forcing Freya and the twins to witness their intimate breakfast hadn’t been enough. Freya knew Winter had allowed them to join so that she could parade her closeness to the king.
It made Freya’s blood boil.
“Damn it,” Rosentine hissed once they were alone. “Winter has figured out our game and decided to play along."
“Relax,” Freya replied coolly. “I have a backup plan. We can seek help from a witch.”
Rosentine scoffed. “All the witches here are loyal to the King.”
“Lilith isn’t just a witch,” Freya said, her lips curling faintly. “She’s a close friend. And while she may be loyal to Valtor, she has never liked Winter.”
Cressida tilted her head thoughtfully. “So you think she’ll help?”
“I think she can,” Freya answered. “And I think she will.”
They couldn’t afford to wait. Every day that passed tightened the bond between Valtor and Winter, making it harder to break. Freya knew Valtor had once severed his instinct to mate, had buried that part of himself after Kirana’s death. He still sought women, still indulged in sex, but never with emotion. His heart, she had believed, had frozen over completely.
What she hadn’t anticipated was that Winter would be the one capable of thawing it.
The three of them had just stepped beyond the castle gates when they stopped short.
Freya froze seeing who stood before her.
“Crystal? What are you doing here?” Freya’s gaze swept over the woman in disbelief, then stopped short at her stomach. It should have been rounded. Instead, it was disturbingly flat.
Where is her baby?
“Freya,” Crystal greeted quietly.
Her voice was timid, stripped of the arrogance Freya remembered from the wedding night. The proud tilt of her chin was gone, replaced by a hollow look.
Crystal wasn’t alone, but the sight was strange nonetheless. Only one man stood a short distance behind her, presumably a guard.
Freya arched a brow. “It seems a lot has changed since we last met.”
She remembered Crystal’s arrogance that night. Freya had sworn then that Crystal would come crawling back one day. She just hadn’t expected it to be this soon. Rosentine and Cressida exchanged a glance, silently noting the tension between the two women.
Crystal hesitated, then inhaled slowly, as if bracing herself.
“I lost my baby,” she said at last. “The heir of the Stoneclaw Pack, on Winter’s wedding night.”
Crystal had agonized over this decision for days before finally deciding. She had crossed into the enemy's land to seek help from a woman she had once looked down upon. But desperation had a way of eroding pride, and Crystal had always known one thing about herself;
She could persuade anyone, given enough time.
“You came to me?” Freya said sharply. “For what? You think this is somehow my fault that-"
“No,” Crystal cut in quickly, shaking her head. “Not at all. I didn’t come here to make enemies.”
She paused, her fingers curling into the fabric of her cloak.
“I came because I don’t know where else to go. You’re the only person I know here. I fled from my mate Alpha Kallias and the Stoneclaw Pack. I came alone because I needed a place to calm myself for a while.”