Chapter 100 You're a coward
Fernando strode through the dim corridor, his boots striking the stone floor with sharp, echoing authority. Behind him, Samael and Darius followed closely, their expressions unreadable but their postures rigid with obedience.
“Starve him,” Fernando said without turning. His voice was low, clipped, and carried the weight of command that brooked no argument. “Double his shifts. No exceptions. No leniency.”
Samael blinked once. “Sir, if I may—”
“You may not,” Fernando cut in, still walking. “Alberto disrespected a guest under this roof. He will learn the cost of it.”
Darius shifted uneasily. “But sir, he’s… he’s been working nonstop since the last moon cycle. If we double his shifts and cut his rations…”
Fernando stopped abruptly. He turned, eyes blazing with cold fire. “Are you questioning me?”
Both enforcers stiffened. “No, Alpha,” they said in unison.
“Good.” Fernando turned back and resumed walking, one hand clenched at his side, the other absently gripping himself through his trousers, a nervous habit born of fury, not arousal. He didn’t care who saw it. Let them wonder. Let them fear.
Eliana trailed behind them, her steps hesitant, her breath hitching between quiet sobs. She had tried to keep up, tried to speak, but Fernando hadn’t slowed, hadn’t acknowledged her presence until now. When he reached the heavy oak door of his private study, he threw it open and stepped inside without looking back. Eliana hesitated at the threshold, then entered, closing the door softly behind her.
Fernando turned to face her. His jaw was tight, his eyes narrowed. “You will not disrespect my pack members again,” he said, voice dangerously calm. “I don’t care how you treat your own people in your territory. But here? In my home? My pack is treated with respect. That ends now.”
Eliana’s eyes widened. “He slapped me, Fernando! Did you forget that? Or did you choose to ignore it?”
“I’m not a fool,” Fernando snapped. “I saw what happened. You provoked him. You cornered him like prey. And for what? To prove you could? To remind everyone you’re above him? And I'm not a fool to know you slapped him first”
“He’s a slave!” she cried, voice cracking. “He has no right to lay hands on someone of my standing!”
“He has every right to defend himself when you shove him against a wall and spit trash in his face and even lay your hands on him,” Fernando shot back. “And the only reason I punished him was to keep you from feeling unwelcome here. Not because I believed you.”
Eliana recoiled as if struck. “Unwelcome? After everything I’ve done for your alliance? After everything I’ve offered you?”
“You offered me a political merger,” Fernando said flatly. “Not friendship. Not loyalty. And certainly not the right to abuse those under my protection.”
She scoffed, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “Protection? From what? He’s nothing. A filthy thing you keep in the kitchens, scrubbing floors and serving wine like the dog he is.”
Fernando’s entire body tensed. His voice dropped to a near whisper, but it carried more threat than any shout. “He has a name.”
Eliana blinked. “What?”
“He has a name,” Fernando repeated, each word deliberate. “It’s Alberto.”
She stared at him, confusion twisting into something sharper. “Why do you care so much? Why is this so personal for you? He’s just an ordinary slave. Nothing more. And soon, I’ll be your Crown Luna. Your equal. Your partner. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Fernando’s eyes darkened. Something inside him snapped, not loudly, but irrevocably. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them in two strides. “Alberto isn’t just anything to me,” he said, voice trembling with restrained emotion. “He’s my mate.”
The word hung in the air like a blade.
Eliana’s breath caught. Her face went pale. “Your… mate?” she whispered, disbelief lacing every syllable. “But… you called for the mate duel. You stood before the Council and declared yourself unmated. You invited suitors. You let me come here under the pretense that you were free to choose.”
“I did what I had to do,” Fernando said, his voice raw now. “To protect him.”
“Protect him?” Eliana laughed, a brittle, broken sound. “By hiding him? By letting him serve like a common servant while you parade potential Lunas through your halls? That’s not protection, Fernando. That’s cowardice.”
Fernando flinched as though she’d struck him. But he didn’t deny it.
Eliana took a step back, her expression hardening. The tears were gone now, replaced by something colder. Calculating. “So all this time… you’ve had your mate hidden in plain sight. While I traveled across territories, prepared alliances, sacrificed my pride all for a man who was never truly available.”
“I never lied to you about my intentions,” Fernando said quietly. “I told you I sought a strategic union. I never promised you my heart.”
“But you let me believe it was possible,” she countered. “You let me hope. You let your court believe it. And for what? So you could keep your little kitchen boy safe while playing politics with the rest of us?”
“He’s not a kitchen boy,” Fernando growled. “He’s my soul bonded. My fated mate. And if you ever refer to him as ‘that filthy thing’ again, I will personally escort you to the border and ensure you never set foot in my territory again.”
Eliana’s lips curled into a bitter smile. “You think I care about your threats? You think I’ll walk away because you finally grew a spine and admitted the truth?”
She straightened, lifting her chin. Her eyes burned with resolve. “I came here to win. Not just your title, not just your lands but you. And I will win. At all costs. I will be your Crown Luna, Fernando. Whether you want me or not.”
With that, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the study, the door slamming shut behind her with enough force to rattle the shelves.
Fernando sank into the nearby chair holding his head in his hand. He knows going to Alberto to atone for his mistakes is a dead point but
he will do all means to have no winner at the mate's duel tomorrow.