Chapter 32 Treacherous Heart
CHAPTER 32: Treacherous Heart
Seraphine's POV
The words stayed lodged in my chest like a blade I couldn’t pull out.
“You must do away with the human girl.”
I didn’t move and I didn’t breathe. I just stood there with my hand hovering inches from the throne room door and my entire body locked in place like if I so much as blinked, the ground would split beneath me.
Slowly and carefully, I glanced around.
The guards posted along the hall stood stiff and straight with faces hard and eyes forward. None of them were looking at me and none of them looked like they had heard a single word. To them, I was still just the human girl lingering too close to the Lycan King’s door, exactly where I was always told to wait.
Good.
My heart pounded harder as I leaned closer to the door, pressing my ear near the cold wood. If this was about me then I was going to hear every ugly word of it.
Inside, Aric’s voice came first. I knew it well enough now. Deep, controlled and tightly wound.
“No.”
Just that.. one word, flat and final.
Another voice followed, older, smoother and llayered with respect that didn’t quite hide the steel underneath.
“My King, I beg you to listen. This human girl will be the end of you.”
I swallowed.
“You speak out of turn, Elder Gaius,” Aric said coldly.
“I speak out of loyalty,” the man replied calmly. “Your grip on the pack is weakening. There's riots, doubt and blood in the streets. All because you hesitate where you should act.”
There was a pause and I could picture Aric standing there jaw tight and eyes burning.
“You think killing her will fix that?” Aric asked.
“I think removing your weakness will,” Gaius said gently. “If you wish to rule without challenge, you must tighten your hold. And to do that, the girl must go. Immediately.”
My stomach twisted.
“She is under my protection,” Aric snapped.
“And she is human,” Gaius countered. “She does not belong here.”
Another voice spoke then, quieter but firm. A voice I hadn’t heard before.
“Elder Gaius may have a point, my King.”
My breath hitched. That had to be Caspian!
Silence stretched.
“She has become a vulnerability,” Caspian continued carefully. “Whether you admit it or not.”
My chest burned.
Aric exhaled sharply.
“Enough.”
I pressed my palm against the door as if I could steady myself through it.
“I feel nothing for her,” Aric said.
The words were cold, sharp and clean and I flinched like I’d been struck.
“She is a means to an end,” he went on with his voice distant now. “A bridge to keep the humans calm while I deal with the greater threat. The Grimhowls are the priority. She is leverage and nothing more.”
Nothing more…! My vision blurred.
“I will not kill her,” Aric finished. “But do not mistake that for sentiment.”
Something ugly and hot tore through my chest. Rage, humiliation and hate so sharp it made my hands shake.
Using me.. that was all.
I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw ached. I didn’t love him. I reminded myself of that. I didn’t but this bond between us was twisted, unwanted and cruel. That was all it was.
So why did it hurt like this?
Why did my body betray me with memories I didn’t want? Of his hands, his mouth and the way he had looked at me when we forgot the world for a moment and made love to each other that night. The forest and my small room… the heat, the closeness and the way he bent me over on the table and took me from behind.
I hated him for that and I hated myself even more.
I turned away from the door before I did something stupid, before I burst in and screamed and gave him the satisfaction of knowing he’d wounded me.
I stormed down the corridor with fury carrying me forward like fire in my veins. I didn’t know where I was going at first, only that I needed space and air and distance from that room and that voice.
The forest. Of course.
A guard stepped into my path near the exit.
“Lady Seraphine, you cannot go that way.”
I stopped short and glared at him.
“Back the fuck off!”
His eyes widened.
“I can’t let you...”
“I didn’t ask for permission,” I snapped.
He reached for my arm but that was his mistake.
Training kicked in before thought did. I twisted, ducked under his grip and drove my elbow into his ribs then swept his legs out from under him in one clean move. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get back up.
I straightened and looked at the second guard.
“Go on,” I dared. “Try.”
He growled, half-shifting with fury flashing across his face.
“Enough!”
Darius rushed forward, grabbing the guard’s shoulder.
“Stand down.”
The Lycan hesitated, then stepped back, snarling softly.
Darius stared at the unconscious soldier, then at me with his eyes wide in disbelief.
“Are you… are you alright?”
I laughed sharply and humorlessy.
“Do I look alright?”
He stepped closer.
“Seraphine, please. Don’t go into the forest alone.”
“Stay away from me,” I shouted. “All of you.”
He raised his hands.
“I’m only trying to help.”
“Well, don’t,” I snapped and shoved past him.
I ran and the forest swallowed me whole with branches scratching at my arms with roots catching at my feet. I ran harder, faster with anger fueling every step. My lungs burned and my legs screamed but I didn’t stop.
Images started flashing in my mind sharply and cruelly with fire, screams and blood soaking into dirt. My mother’s voice and my brother’s small hand slipping from mine and Lycans tearing through Red River Village like monsters out of nightmares. The night everything ended..
And here I was, tangled up with a Lycan King, letting myself forget for even a second who they were and what they had taken from me.
I stumbled and dropped to my knees, the strength draining out of me all at once. The forest went quiet around me as I bowed my head and sobbed, pressing a fist to my mouth to keep the sound in.
I didn’t know how long I stayed there and then I heard it… A soft crunch of leaves.
I froze as another step came slowly and carefully.
My breath caught as I turned my head slightly with my heart pounding.
That wasn’t Aric.. It wasn’t Darius and it wasn’t a guard. This was someone stalking me and whatever it was, it was getting closer…