Chapter 176 Winter is coming
Chapter 176: winter is coming
Millen pov
His mate he thought had died in the attack that destroyed their pack, who he had mourned in the dark hours, when he thought I was asleep.
And she was very much alive.
Something twisted in my chest, anger, envy… I couldn't name it.
I had found him five years ago during a border raid. I had embarked on with my father, while my twin brother played the perfect maid at home. half-dead in a frozen gulch where he had ended up in, after escaping the attack on his pack. For some reason I couldn't kill him.
Maybe it was the force of revenge and hatred burning in his eyes that made me hesitate. I had seen something different, raw power waiting to be unleashed, experience that could not be taught, the kind of deadly grace that only came from surviving impossible odds.
I had healed him myself, pouring my ice magic into his wounds, knitting bone and flesh back together through sheer force of will. For three days he had hovered between life and death while I refused to let him go. I convinced my father to keep him. And When he finally opened his eyes, he had looked at me with the devotion of a man who understood he had been given a miracle.
And from then on, I knew what needed to be done.
I had acted quickly, I had latched on to him like a butterfly sucking nectar, slowly entering his head and erasing any thought of his mate away from his mind. And not just that,
I gave orders to erase every existence and trace of him, gave him a new name and identity and make sure he never travels outside the confinement of the pack. And now, he is indebted to me, and owes me his life.
It was cruelty, but I told myself it was necessary. Aldric's devotion to me was complete because he believed he had nothing else. If he learned Daphne lived, that devotion might waver. Might break. And I needed him too much to risk that possibility.
"You are mine," I whispered to the empty room, pressing my palm against the frozen glass. "And you will stay mine."
A sharp knock came at the door. Official. Urgent.
"My Queen." The voice was one of my senior advisors. "The Council meeting begins in one hour. They have requested your presence. Something about unusual power signatures detected in the southern territories."
My heart quickened but I kept my voice steady. "Tell them I will attend."
"There is more, Your Majesty. They are asking specifically about your brother. About Milo. They want to know if you have intelligence regarding his current activities."
I moved away from the window, my mind already shifting to the political battlefield ahead. Somewhere far to the south, Milo was probably sleeping peacefully, unaware that the Council had noticed his awakening. Unaware that his sister had orchestrated everything leading to this epic moment.
"Prepare my formal robes," I commanded. "And send word to our southern scouts. I want hourly reports on everything happening in Damon's territory."
"As you command, my Queen."
The door closed and I was alone again, but my thoughts stayed with Aldric. With the secret I kept from him. With the wife he mourned who was close enough to reach in three days' ride.
Perhaps I was as cold as everyone believed. Perhaps keeping them apart was the act of a monster rather than a queen.
But monsters won wars. And I intended to win everything.
I dressed in robes that marked me as northern royalty, layers of white fur and silver thread that made me look like a winter incarnate, just as how they see me. The ice queen.
. As I prepared to face the Council that thought they still controlled me, I pushed thoughts of Daphne and Aldric and Milo into the depths where they could not interfere.
There would be time for guilt later. That's if I survived what was to come.
If the ice in my heart did not freeze everything else first.
Now, I have a meeting to orchestrate, and an exciting package ready to be delivered to the senile old men that called themselves the elder.
The Council wanted to discuss Milo and I would give them exactly enough truth to keep them off balance. I would smile and deflect and plant seeds of doubt about Selene's loyalty. I would play my part perfectly, just as I had trained Milo to play his.
But as I descended the tower stairs, I swayed a little, catching myself before I topple and break my neck on my own grand staircases. I could not shake the feeling that the ice was cracking. That all the secrets I kept, all the lies I told, all the people I manipulated… eventually the weight would be too much.
Eventually, winter had to end.
Just not yet.
Not until I had won everything I had sacrificed everything to achieve.