Chapter 13
“Please… please don’t do this. It’s a misunderstanding!” Cassandra pleaded, voice thin. “Adrian, I… I was trying to protect you all along. I never meant to lie to you!”
“Protect me? By lying to me?” Adrian spat. “Do you think I’ll ever believe you?”
Cassandra’s mouth opened, no sound coming out as she began to cry. “Say something!” Adrian barked, fists clenching. “You let me believe a lie. And Selene…”
The weight of it all crashed down on him. He had hated Selene for leaving, convinced he’d be indifferent if a lowly thing vanished. That convenient cruelty had kept him steady-until the truth ripped him apart.
“It was our older brothers,” Cassandra choked out. “They told me it was Selene who saved you. They threatened my life if I didn’t obey them!”
“Don’t play games with me!” he snapped.
“No-please think,” she begged. “If they treat their blood sister Selene like a servant, then I-an adopted child-was treated worse. Even those who raised me treated me like nothing.” Cassandra wove the story quickly, fingers trembling, piling betrayal upon betrayal to shift blame from herself. If discarding her adoptive parents made her claim on Adrian easier, she would do
“They thought that with Selene back, our grandfather would choose her as heir. They wanted to replace Selene with me as a piece to use in power. They told me to stay by your side; they said I was useful, and that Selene was too stubborn to control. They said they were mistreated-both of us.” Her shoulders shook as she broke down in tears. Adrian remembered his grandfather’s warning that Selene’s brothers had spread lies; the memory tightened his jaw.
Before he could press her further, Cassandra’s knees went weak. She fell, blood darkening her skirts as she slid to the floor. Panic broke across Adrian’s face.
“I-I never lied to you, Adrian… I gave you everything… even a child.” Her whisper thinned into nothing as she lost consciousness.
They rushed Cassandra to the healers’ ward. The shamans moved quickly, herbs and lunar crystals laid out; the hall became a corridor of tension while Adrian paced with clenched jaw, the last phrase she’d uttered clanging in his head-she was with child.
“Alpha, you can come in now. Mother and child are stable,” a healer said. Adrian stepped into the rune-lit chamber, breath shallow. Cassandra’s eyelids fluttered; she looked up at him, fragile and hopeful.
“Adrian?” she croaked.
“Leave us,” he said to the healer, voice flat. Then, colder: “Why didn’t you tell me you were with child, Cassandra?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise… aren’t you happy?” Her hand trembled as she reached for him, placing it on her belly. “We’re going to have a pup. You’ll finally have an heir-wasn’t that your
wish?”
Adrian’s face went hard. He slapped her hand away. “An heir? Is that even mine? Don’t you dare expect me to forget your betrayal. Only Selene’s child will be my true heir.” The words landed like
2/2 8.0%
9:40 pm PS
a blow; Cassandra’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?” she whispered.
“I want a bloodline test. Until the results come back, don’t pretend we’re close,” he said, voice sharp. “A bloodmoon ritual.”
“A bloodmoon ritual?” Cassandra muttered, stunned.
“You heard me,” he said. “Do not force me to repeat myself.”
“Adrian, you can’t be serious-” Cassandra began, tears already forming.
“It’s your word against proof. I don’t trust you.” He laughed then, a bitter, hollow sound. “Pray that the test says otherwise, or I will ruin you.”
With that he turned and left, tears in his eyes that he would not allow himself to feel. If the child was his, reconciliation with Selene Rivers would be impossible; he would be bound to Cassandra.
While Adrian wrestled with his choices, Selene-unaware of his shifting heart-spent her days searching for honest work to sustain herself and the two lives she carried. Because of Adrian’s earlier interference, many halls closed their doors to her. Hope felt thin until one morning a message came from the Maxim Guild-the very trade alliance Adrian had once championed. “Is this Miss Selene Rivers?” the voice asked through the shard.
Selene began to say she had resigned and would not be interested, but the caller’s urgency stopped her-and with that, a fragile door opened.
9:40 pm PD
Olivia Harris is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy DaisyNovel. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.