Chapter 19 Solace
Meira’s POV
Nothing.
That single word left his lips like a blade. Deep, cold, and final. It tore through the air and into me with more force than I expected. My heart didn’t just sink... no, it dropped past my stomach, past my ribs, past every place a heart should ever be. It sank in a way that made me feel hollow, weightless… and stupid.
Dane’s head snapped toward me.
His deep blue eyes, those same eyes that always felt like winter pressed close to my skin, searched my face as if he could read the mess inside me. I quickly tried to mask the pain, tried to wipe it from my features, but judging by the way his jaw tightened, I didn’t succeed.
“Get out,” the Alpha King yelled.
The command thundered across the room, anger pouring from him in waves. I flinched. Not because of his voice, I’d heard worse but because Dane didn’t say a single word in my defense. Not one.
My legs felt unsteady, almost rubbery, as I walked out. I didn’t go far. I couldn’t. The moment the door shut behind me, I stopped at the corridor wall, pressing my palm against the cold surface as tears slid silently down my face.
It wasn’t the Alpha King calling me filth that hurt the most. No. I was used to that kind of treatment. I grew up with it.
It was Dane’s silence. Him saying nothing. Him letting the word "nothing" represent me.
It was stupid of me—gods, I knew it was stupid, but some foolish part of me expected… something else. Anything else. Maybe a glance or a word to soften the blow. I didn’t know what fantasy I had built up in my head, but whatever it was, reality crushed it without mercy.
Of course I mean nothing to him. Of course I’m nothing. Why did I ever think otherwise?
“It’s alright, Meira. You have to get yourself together. It’s not your fault you feel this way,” my wolf, Roxy, whispered in the back of my mind. Her tone was soft but firm, like she was trying to hold the pieces of me together. “Your wolf is seeking a bond with his. It’s natural.”
“But you didn’t feel it today, did you?” I whispered back to her, barely moving my lips. “Because I didn’t. Do you know why?”
Silence stretched for a moment.
“I wish I did,” Roxy admitted, her voice dimmer now. “But honestly… I’m confused too. It’s like something was blocking me. Or him.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “Maybe banishment would’ve been better than all this.”
“No, Meira,” Roxy insisted. “Just wait. Believe. The truth will come.”
“I’ve been believing all my life,” I murmured. “And every time, it ends the same way. Maybe this belief… maybe this one will be what destroys me.”
The corridor was empty, the stone walls cold, and the torches flickering in an uneven pattern that cast long shadows. I hugged myself, trying to stop the shaking in my chest. But no matter how tight I held on, the ache didn’t ease. If anything, it spread, curling into my ribs and settling deep.
“MEIRA!”
A sharp, tiny voice called my name, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned, wiping my cheeks quickly, hoping the evidence of my stupidity was gone.
Jacinthe hurried toward me, her footsteps echoing softly across the polished floors of the royal pack house. Dressed in her servant’s uniform, she carried a bucket in one hand and a rag in the other.
Her big brown eyes scanned my face immediately.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice soft but urgent. “You don’t look… good.”
I forced a smile. It felt brittle, like a glass sheet about to shatter.
“Is it Emily?” Jacinthe continued before I could reply. “Because I woke up and saw your bed was kind of wet, did she do something? I swear that girl thinks she’s the goddess of the world just because she’s the head maid.”
“I… no,” I said, but it came out too quietly, so I cleared my throat. “No, it wasn’t her.”
Jacinthe placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes dramatically. “She’s jealous. That’s the only explanation. Her mouth looks like that of a squirrel, so she overcompensates.”
A surprised laugh escaped me, a small one, but genuine. The absurdity, the timing, the ridiculous comparison… it tugged me back from the edge just a little.
Jacinthe’s face softened the moment she heard me laugh. She stepped closer and looped her arm through mine like we’d known each other for years instead of hours.
“We have to hurry,” Jacinthe said, grabbing my wrist gently. “They’re starting the preparations for the mate-choosing ceremony.”
I raised a brow. “There’s one? I thought they didn’t—”
She cut me off before I could finish.
“Yeah, but the prince refused to choose anyone,” she whispered, glancing around as if the walls themselves had ears. Her voice dropped even lower. “I’m not even supposed to say that.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Your stay here in the royal pack house will be pleasant. Especially with me around. I’ll make sure of it.”
I looked down at her, this tiny girl who barely reached my shoulder, clinging to me with a confidence I didn’t understand. Her warmth seeped into me, steadying my trembling breath.
But deep inside, something whispered a different truth.
Pleasant?
Was anything in my life ever pleasant?
Would it truly be pleasant with the Alpha King’s hatred for wolves like me… with Dane’s cold indifference… with the strange emptiness where my bond pull should have been?
Would it truly be pleasant when secrets were already cracking open under my feet?
“Would it…?” I whispered under my breath.
Jacinthe didn’t hear me.
But someone else did.
A presence shifted in the shadows at the far end of the corridor. Heavy. Quiet and Watching.
I froze.
Because even without seeing him, I knew who it was because this time I felt the pull.
And he had heard everything.