Chapter 63 AN ENEMY UNSEEN
Kenna
I couldn’t stop the laughter that ripped out of me the moment Maria said those words. Not because it was funny…but because if I didn’t, I might scream until my throat bled.
“AH—HA!” The sound ripped out of me sharp and humourless, echoing too loudly off the walls as I dragged a hand through my hair and turned to face her fully. “Can you just stop with your stupid joke? Just…stop it.”
“This isn’t funny,” I continued, my voice edged with barely restrained anger rather than fear, “The last thing I need right now is for someone like you to ruin my mood. Especially not after Varkos did to me.”
Maria stood near the doorway, her hands folded neatly over her apron, posture still as if she were a damn statue. The same posture she’d held every day for years, not a hair out of place. Not a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.
“Lady Kenna,” she began softly, her tone measured, almost as if nothing about what she was going to say was pleasant. “Your temper has always been… expressive. But I assure you—this is no joke.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I walked past her, my shoulder brushing so close that it almost touched hers. “You’re trying to scare me,” I replied bitterly. “And it’s pathetic. Leave. Now.”
She didn’t move.
Instead—
She stepped forward.
One step.
That was all.
It was slow, almost deliberate—like the moment before something terrible happens. The fine hairs along my arms lifted, my body reacting before my mind could rationalize it.
For the first time since I’d known Maria, she wasn’t afraid. “It was me,” Maria said quietly. “I’m the one who had Ginnie kidnapped.”
The words struck me harder than any slap. I turned slowly, disbelief slicing through my chest, “Wh…what the hell did you just say?”
Her gaze met mine without hesitation. Dark. Empty. "I've always been one step ahead of you,” she continued, her voice dropped to a low, dangerous whisper, “Every move you made. Every alliance you forged and every poison-laced fantasy you’ve nurtured in that clever, vengeful mind of yours.”
“No,” I breathed, my mouth parting in shock to say something, but nothing came out. “You’re lying.”
She tilted her head slightly, studying me the way one examines a puzzle it was about to be solved. “Come on, Lady Kenna. Don’t try to deny it, I know that you planned to poison Varkos tonight,” she said calmly. “A measured dose. Slow enough not to draw suspicion, but very lethal and fast enough to kill him before dawn.”
“I—“
“Then when that happens,” she continued, cutting me off before I could finish. “You would claim to be in shock about his death. Claim heartbreak.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” My voice echoed through the room as I tried to deny every one of her words. Even though I knew too damn well it was true!
“Oh…you do, Lady Kenna,” she hissed. “You would lean on Lady Ravena,” Maria went on, “Pretend to offer your complete loyalty as Varkos’s widow. Grief. Obedience.”
Then she took another step closer, until there was no space between us. “And once you secured your position, you would dismantle the Draven family piece by piece.”
What the—
How the fuck did she know about all my plans!
I hadn’t told anyone, not even Dante. “How—” My voice broke. “How do you know this?”
“Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to,” she said, lifting a single finger. “All you need to do right now is listen.”
A shiver crawled down my spine.
This was definitely not the way I wanted my plans to fucking go.
“I’m not here to expose you,” Maria’s voice shattered through my thoughts. “You don’t have to worry about that…at least for now.”
“W..what do you mean by at least not for now?” I exhaled shakily.
“Because,” she continued, her voice lowering into something more sinister now. “We both know each other’s secrets. You won’t dare to expose me either because we now have the same goal in mind.”Maria said.
“Varkos must die.”
I searched her face for any hint of unseriousness. But found none, only conviction.
“Kidnapping Ginnie tonight,” she went on, “was never about her. She’s just a leverage to set my true plan in motion.”
“You’re just a servant,” I whispered weakly. “You clean floors. You pour tea. How could you do such a thing to—“
“I have served the Draven family for over ten years,” she cut in. Her lips curved—not into a smile, into something colder.“And every single day has been one more step towards my revenge.”
My stomach dropped.
“Revenge for what?”
She inhaled slowly.
“Ten years ago…I had a child.” The words landed heavily, “A son. He was the happiest child you could ever meet. Curious. Alive.”
Her eyes didn’t soften.
“But they called him an abomination. All because I fell in love with a Lycan,” Maria continued. “And for a brief, foolish time, I believed love could overcome any obstacles…even in Bleeding Rose.”
“Y…you gave birth to a halfling?” I whispered.
“Yes, Bleeding Rose calls them abominations,” she replied coldly. “The law has always been so for years now…every halfling child must be killed.”
“The Draven family enforced that law thirty years ago, “Maria continued, her voice steady despite the rage I saw in her eyes. “They found my son…dragged him from my arms.”
Something twisted painfully in my chest at just picturing the image of what that must have been like.
“The Lycan I fell in love with. He fought with everything in him,” she added. “Tried to protect us…but that monster. Varkos killed him in cold blood!”
Her gaze sharpened, cutting straight through me. “He didn’t hesitate for a single moment, not even to show mercy for my child.” She stepped closer again, until her presence felt like a blade at my throat.
“So tell me, Lady Kenna,” she whispered, “how could I not hate him? I intentionally found a job here at the Blood Moon Pack Villa. I cleaned his halls, watched him rule Bleeding Rose. I watched him become the Alpha they worship.”
Her voice finally trembled—but it wasn’t grief.
It was rage.
“And every day, the only thing that kept me going was imagining when Varkos would die at my hands.”
A slow, dangerous understanding bloomed in my chest. “That kind of patience,” I murmured, a mix of awe and happiness spreading through my voice. “Takes a lot of strength.”
“I’m glad you understand,” she said.
“I do,” I replied quietly. “Varkos humiliated me so many times all because of that slutty little human…nothing more would satisfy me than seeing him dead.”
“Then we are aligned.”
“We will work together from now on,” I shot back. “You’re very mischievous and strong-willed about your plans, and I have power.”
Maria nodded once.
“Phase one of my plan has already begun.”
“Phase one?”
Maria didn’t answer, Instead, she turned towards the door. “You’ll have to come see for yourself downstairs.” She paused.
“Things are already getting interesting.”
As I followed her into the corridor, dread and anticipation coiled tight in my chest. Whatever awaited below—
I knew one thing with terrifying certainty.
Varkos was about to get what’s coming to him.