Chapter 168 – The Betrayed Heir
Kieran
The walls of Silvercrest bleed secrets if you know how to listen.
Tonight they whisper treachery, their voices carried through stone halls and beneath heavy doors. I didn’t come here to eavesdrop. I only wanted a few moments of silence, away from my father’s constant demands.
But fate doesn’t deal in mercy.
I freeze when his voice cuts through the corridor, sharp and pleased.
“Only one pack is holding out. The rest have all neatly fallen in line. Vale thinks Blackthorn is unbreakable, but he’s about to get a lethal education in economics. Gold is worth more than loyalty. It buys soldiers. It buys shadows. And I have plenty of both.”
Corin answers with a grating little laugh. As always its too quick and eager. “You’re a masterful monarch, Alpha Alaric. Ronan Vale won’t know what hit him, and his little doe will soon be yours.”
I lean against the wall, fists tight enough for my nails to dig half-moons into my skin. I should walk away. Pretend I didn’t hear. But the words cling, thick and suffocating. Only one pack holds out. Blackthorn is in trouble.
My father's voice lowers, dripping venom.
“Once Ronan is ash, the rest will kneel. And then I’ll have my prize. An Omega who can heal, who can make me untouchable. The others are nothing more than cattle to me, but Vale’s whore will make Silvercrest immortal.”
My stomach lurches.
Calling Eli a whore is ironic, considering he flat-out refused to sell himself to the highest bidder. Choosing to stay with his mate no matter what the cost would be.
My father doesn’t want him as a partner. He doesn’t even see him as a wolf. Just a resource. Something to strip bare and exploit until there’s nothing left.
The old fear tightens my chest. I remember nights as a boy, listening at doors just like this, hearing him order punishments, executions, beatings. Hearing him laugh at the pain he caused. I told myself I could survive it if I just kept my head down, if I obeyed. But this is more than petty cruelty.
He’s planning on wiping out an entire pack, and tearing a bonded pair apart, so he can use Eli as he sees fit.
If his end goal is immortality, there will be nothing left of our world. He’s already eroding trust and loyalty between the others under the weight of our treasure.
Those packs have no real idea what they’re getting themselves into. He won’t thank them once it’s done. He’ll absorb their pack members and treat them like chattel. But by then it will be too late for regret.
I step back, breath ragged. The lamps lining the corridor blur. I stumble, needing air, needing escape, before the rage swallows me whole.
If I stay here, I’ll do something reckless. I’ll burst into the chamber, spit the truth into Alaric’s smug face. Tell him he disgusts me, tell him he’s no Alpha at all. But I’d die for it. Vell would gut me at a single gesture from my father. And the truth would die with me.
So I run.
Through winding halls, through stone passages that feel like a tomb. The gates loom ahead, guarded, but I don’t slow. Not tonight. Not when I finally understand that staying here is a slow death anyway.
As soon as I’m out of view of the gates, I shift for the first time in years. Bones cracking, body tearing open into the wolf I thought I’d buried. Sharp and relentless pain lances through me, but it’s almost a relief. I’ve missed this agony, the honesty of it. My paws hit the ground, claws scraping against stone before I bolt into the night.
It feels strange, wrong and right, all at once. My wolf stumbles at first, disused muscles screaming. But then instinct takes over, and I’m flying.
The cold air is a blade against my fur, slicing me awake. My lungs burn, but I don’t stop. I run through forest and snow, shadows whipping past, until the walls of Silvercrest are nothing but a smear behind me. For the first time in forever, I feel free.
But freedom is worthless if it ends with my father’s conquest.
By the time Blackthorn’s territory finally rises before me, my body aches, my wolf staggering under exhaustion. I managed to catch two rabbits, but that’s not enough for a large wolf, running for more than two days.
I shift back at the border, teeth chattering as I force myself to walk the last stretch. The guards tense instantly, hands on weapons as they bar the way in.
“I need to speak to Alpha Ronan,” I rasp. My voice cracks. “Now.”
They drag me into the hall. Not roughly, all things considered. They obviously know who I am and that war with my pack is looming, but the fact that I’m alone helps.
Whispers follow me, wolves craning to see the prodigal son of Silvercrest returning so soon. With no entourage or gifts this time.
And then he’s there. Taller than I remember, his eyes burning gold in the dim firelight. He looks at me like I’m a problem he’d rather tear apart than solve.
“Kieran,” he says, voice a low growl. “What the hell are you doing back here?”
I fall to my knees in front of him, which obviously looks like supplication, but the truth is my legs won’t hold me. My throat feels raw, but the words tear free anyway. “Help me. Help us. Kill him.”
Ronan doesn’t move. He simply stares at me with narrowed eyes.
I force myself to lift my gaze and speak in more than exclamations. “Kill my father. Kill Corin. Kill every member of his inner circle. But please spare the rest. They have no say in what he does. They follow because they have no choice.”
Murmurs ripple through the wolves gathered. My chest heaves. My heart feels like it might rip itself out.
Ronan’s expression doesn’t shift. He’s stone, carved sharp and merciless. “You want me to believe that Silvercrest is innocent? That your father’s grip is the only rot?”
“Yes,” I bite out. “No. Not entirely. But the wolves, most of them, are trapped. Half the pack is starving while the council feasts. Children wear rags while my father parades in furs. He breeds loyalty through fear. They hate him, but they can’t fight him. If you wipe them all out, you’re no better than him.”
The words echo back at me, reckless, maybe suicidal. But they’re true. And if Ronan kills me for them, so be it.
Ronan steps closer, looming above me. His scent crashes over me, the wildness of a wolf barely leashed. “And why should I trust you? Why shouldn’t I believe this is another ploy?”
“Because I came alone,” I snap, voice breaking. “Because I left everything behind. I shifted for the first time in years just to get here before it’s too late. If I wanted to trap you, I’d have stayed in my father’s shadow. I wouldn’t be here, begging on my knees.”
Something flickers in his eyes. Not softness, Ronan Vale doesn’t bend for anyone, but there’s a thread of consideration.
I swallow hard, my voice dropping to a rasp.
“I’m not asking for mercy. Not for me. I’m asking for the wolves who don’t deserve to die for his ambition. For the children. For the ones who don’t even know what he’s planning. Please. Help me save them. Kill him, and leave the rest.”
Finally, Ronan crouches, bringing his face level with mine. His hand clamps around my jaw. His eyes blaze into me, hot enough to scorch. “If you’re lying, if this is a trap, I’ll tear you apart before your father ever gets to see you again. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” My voice is steady now. “I understand.”
He holds me there another moment, searching, testing. Then he releases me, standing to his full height again. “You’ll stay here until I decide what to do. Step out of line once, and you won’t live to regret it.”
My body slumps, weak with the weight of it. I don’t know if he’ll ever fully trust me. Maybe he shouldn’t. But I finally feel like I’ve done something right.