Chapter 51 051

Chapter 51 051
Chapter 50

I locked myself in the armory.

It was the only place I could think of where I wouldn't be immediately followed. Heavy door, solid walls, and enough weapons that anyone who tried to force their way in would think twice.

Beth found me twenty minutes later. She didn't knock, just called through the door.

"It's me. Let me in."

I opened the door just enough for her to slip through, then barred it again.

"Half the fortress is talking about what just happened," Beth reported. "Drogo looks like he's been punched. Aldric is furious. And Stefan seems completely confused about why his potential bride just told him to get out."

"Good. They should all be confused. They should all feel exactly as blindsided as I do."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. My plan was to confront Drogo privately. Have proof ready. Make him explain himself before I decided what to do next. But now it's all out in the open and I'm just so angry I can't think straight."

Beth sat down on one of the weapon crates. "You have every right to be angry. What they did was unforgivable."

"I trusted him. After everything with my father, after all the manipulation and control, I finally found someone I thought I could trust completely. And he was planning to hand me over to a stranger the whole time."

"Are you going to leave?"

The question stopped me cold. "What?"

"Shadow Peak. Are you going to leave? Because if Drogo is really committed to this arrangement, staying might not be safe."

I hadn't thought that far ahead. Leaving meant abandoning the school, the students, the life I'd built here. But staying meant living with a husband who'd betrayed me in the worst possible way.

"I don't want to leave," I admitted quietly. "This is my home now. The school is mine. The people here matter to me. Why should I be the one who has to go?"

"You shouldn't. But Drogo is the Alpha. If it comes down to a power struggle, he has advantages you don't."

Someone pounded on the door. Drogo's voice came through.

"Aria, please. We need to talk about this."

"No."

"I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But let me explain."

"Explain what? How you and my father have been planning my future behind my back for months? How you looked me in the eye every day knowing you'd agreed to send me away? There's nothing to explain, Drogo. I found the letters. I know everything."

Silence on the other side of the door. Then, "You went through my private correspondence?"

"Your private correspondence about my life. About selling me to the Eastern Pack like I'm property to be traded."

"That's not what this is."

"Then what is it? Because those letters were pretty damn clear about the arrangement."

More silence. Then Drogo spoke again, his voice strained. "Can we please discuss this somewhere private? The entire fortress can hear us right now."

"I don't care who hears. Let everyone know what kind of Alpha they have. The kind who negotiates away his wife without telling her."

"Aria—"

"Go away, Drogo. I can't look at you right now."

I heard him say something else but I stopped listening. Beth put a hand on my shoulder.

"You can't stay in here forever."

"Watch me."

"I'm serious. You need food, rest, and a real plan for what happens next. Hiding in the armory isn't sustainable."

She was right but I didn't want to admit it. "Where else can I go? Our quarters? The school? Everywhere in this fortress reminds me of him."

"Then leave the fortress. Not permanently, just for tonight. Clear your head somewhere you can actually think."

"Where?"

"The old hunting cabin. The one we used during that bad winter two years ago. It's far enough from the main fortress that you'll have space, but close enough that you're still on Shadow Peak territory."

It wasn't a bad idea. The cabin was basic but functional. More importantly, it was isolated.

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course. Let me grab some supplies first. You stay here until I get back."

Beth left through the armory's back exit. I sat alone surrounded by weapons and tried to figure out what I was going to do.

The rational part of my brain knew I needed to calm down before making any major decisions. But the rest of me wanted to grab a sword and go after Drogo for betraying me like this.

I settled for pacing. Back and forth across the armory floor, working through the fury that made my hands shake.

How long had he been planning this? The earliest letter was from eight months ago, but there might have been conversations before that. Had he been lying to me from the beginning? Or had something changed that made him think selling me off was acceptable?

And what about the school? Had he encouraged that just to keep me busy? To make me feel invested in Shadow Peak so I'd be easier to control?

Every good memory I had with him felt tainted now. Every moment of trust, every vulnerability I'd shown, every time I'd chosen to believe in him over my own doubts.

All of it built on lies.

Beth returned an hour later with two packs full of supplies. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

We slipped out the back way, avoiding the main areas of the fortress. A few people saw us but no one tried to stop us. Word had clearly spread that I was not in the mood for conversation.

The walk to the hunting cabin took about forty minutes. The sun was setting by the time we arrived, casting long shadows through the trees.

The cabin was dusty but intact. Beth started a fire while I unpacked the food she'd brought.

"Drogo's going to come looking for you," Beth warned.

"Let him. I'm not ready to talk yet."

"What if he brings Aldric? Or Stefan?"

"Then I'll tell them the same thing I told them in the hall. Get out and leave me alone."

We ate in silence. The fire crackled and popped, the only sound besides the wind in the trees outside.

"Can I ask you something?" Beth ventured after a while.

"Sure."

"What are you most angry about? The arrangement itself, or that Drogo hid it from you?"

I thought about it. "Both. But if I'm honest, it's the hiding that hurts more. If he'd come to me and said Aldric was proposing this arrangement, if we'd discussed it together and he'd listened when I said no, I could have handled that. We could have worked through it. But he made the decision without me. Planned my entire future like I didn't get a say in it. That's what I can't forgive."

"So if he'd been honest from the start, you two might have been okay?"

"Maybe. I don't know. But at least I would have known who I was really married to."

Beth nodded slowly. "You know what you need to figure out? Whether you can ever trust him again. Because even if he explains himself, even if he apologizes and promises to do better, can you actually believe him after this?"

That was the question, wasn't it. Could I trust Drogo again? Did I even want to try?

I didn't have an answer.

We heard horses approaching around midnight. Beth looked at me and I nodded. She went to the door and opened it slightly.

Drogo stood outside alone. No guards, no Aldric, no Stefan. Just him looking exhausted and miserable.

"Is she here?" he asked Beth.

"She is. But she doesn't want to see you."

"I know. But I need to talk to her anyway." He paused. "Please. Just five minutes."

Beth looked back at me. I shook my head.

"Not tonight," Beth told him. "Give her some space. Come back tomorrow if you want, but right now she needs to be alone."

"I can't leave things like this."

"You don't have a choice. She's not ready to talk to you."

I heard Drogo let out a long breath. "Will you at least tell her something for me?"

"Depends what it is."

"Tell her I never wanted to hurt her. That I thought I was doing what was best for the pack, for peace between territories. Tell her I was wrong and I'm sorry."

"You can tell her yourself. Tomorrow. If she's ready to listen."

Drogo was quiet for a moment. Then I heard his footsteps retreating. The sound of his horse riding away.

Beth closed the door and came back to the fire. "He looked pretty broken up."

"Good."

"You don't mean that."

"Maybe I do. Maybe I want him to feel as shattered as I feel right now."

"And then what? You both stay broken and angry? That doesn't fix anything."

"I don't know if I want to fix it," I shot back. "I don't know if this is fixable."

Beth didn't argue. Just sat with me while I stared into the fire and tried to figure out what came next.

Because one way or another, my life at Shadow Peak had just changed completely.

And I had no idea how to change it back.