Chapter 47 Chapter forty-seven
My hands shake as I grip the letter tightly. I can feel my legs turning to jelly.
I glance around to see if anyone has witnessed my odd behavior; fortunately, the hallway is empty.
I swallow nervously and tuck my hair behind my ear. I crumple the paper and conceal it within my dress. When the coast is clear, I’ll make sure to burn it. This letter must not be discovered.
I turn to head back to the chamber, scanning the area for any prying eyes. My heart pounds heavily in my chest, and I breathe as if I just completed a marathon.
Claus is lying on the bed when I walk in; upon seeing me, he sits up, leaning against the headboard. I avoid meeting his gaze. I clutch the hem of my dress tightly.
"What took you so long?" he asks.
I hesitate to respond, perhaps because my thoughts are clouded by the letter. A whirlwind of thoughts races through my mind.
"Ellie," he calls, jolting me back to reality.
"Y-yes," I reply, looking at him.
"I was asking what took you so long and you didn’t reply. You seem out of it. Are you sure you’re alright?" He gestures animatedly with his hands to emphasize his concern.
I swallow hard before replying, "Yes, I’m sorry about that. I was just giving instructions to the maids, that's all."
I turn and head to the bathroom, hoping to calm myself down. Claus’s gaze still lingers on me. Although I’m not sure if he can see it, my body is trembling from anxiety.
"Are you cold? You’re shaking," he calls out before I can step inside the bathroom.
I whirl around sharply, wrapping my arms around myself as I rub my hands against my bare upper arms.
"Yes, a little," I lie. How could I confess to him that I received a letter that frightened me?
"Come here, love," he beckons with outstretched arms. "You’ve been working non-stop all day. You should take a break." He smiles at me.
My heart races as I take a step forward, forcing a smile to reassure him that I’m fine.
As I lay beside him, the rhythm of his breathing should have soothed me, but instead it only made my heart pound harder. The silence in the chamber felt heavy, as if the walls themselves knew the secret I was hiding beneath the sheets. I kept my eyes shut, pretending to sleep, afraid that if Claus even glanced at me in the dark, he would see the truth stamped across my forehead.
What if I hadn’t seen that soldier?
That question kept scraping my mind like claws against stone. One second later, one blink slower, and he would have handed that letter directly to Claus instead of to me. Claus would have opened it.
I swallowed, the sound loud in my ears. Who had send that letter because It made no sense, unless someone wanted exactly that to happen. Unless someone was lying.
But who?
My pulse wouldn’t calm. I kept replaying the moment I opened the letter , the fear that rushed through me so violently my hands shook.
If Claus had seen the envelope—moon goddess, I don’t know what I would have done. I’m still not sure.
I turned slightly, just enough to see his face in the faint glow of the light across the room. He was asleep now, jaw tense even in rest, brows drawn into the faintest frown.
Then I remembered Sylvia.
The name tightened something in my chest, not because of jealousy, or affection, just confusion. Deep, suffocating confusion. Because for all the rumors, for all the sideways glances the pack kept giving me, one truth remained: I had never even been intimate with him. Not once. Not in any way that could justify the lies being whispered around us. If someone was spinning a story linking the two of us, it wasn’t coming from me.
Which meant it was coming from someone else… someone who wanted to trap me, or both of us.
But why?
I pressed a hand to my chest, willing my heartbeat to slow. I needed answers. I needed to know who was lying. I needed to understand who would dare send me such letter.
Most of all, I needed to understand what was inside that letter—and who I would become once I read it.
Because I knew one thing with certainty.
Whatever truth waited behind that sealed paper… it was going to change everything.