Chapter 31 Sparks
Rhea POV
The castle felt alive. A heartbeat of stone and steel echoing through every corridor. Boots pounded in the distance, doors slammed, and voices barked orders I couldn’t quite make out.
Something was wrong, I could feel it vibrating under my skin.
I’d only gone to the gardens for air. Just a few stolen minutes away from the hovering maids and the suffocating heat of being watched. The morning light filtered through the canopy, soft gold kissing the marble fountains and curling ivy. For the first time since I woke up in this place, I almost felt calm.
Then the ground itself seemed to tremble.
“Rhea!”
Rhett’s voice, raw, sharp, and furious, cut through the courtyard like a blade. I turned just in time to see him stalking through the archway, his eyes burning with gold, and his energy coiled tight enough to snap.
Before I could speak, his hands were on me, gripping my arms, scanning for blood, like I might vanish if he blinked. Then he pulled me against him and crushed his mouth to mine.
It wasn’t a kiss so much as proof of life, desperate, wild, and burning. My knees nearly gave out from the sheer heat of it. When he finally broke away, he kept his forehead pressed to mine, his breath coming out in ragged gasps.
“I thought they took you,” he rasped.
I blinked, half dazed. “Took me? I was literally in a garden.”
He stepped back, still breathing like he’d run a mile through hell. “You disappeared. No one saw you leave. The guards said...”
I cut him off, smirking despite the chaos. “What, you think I got kidnapped by a rose bush?”
Something between a laugh and a growl left his chest. He didn’t smile, though. Not really. “You shouldn’t wander alone.”
“Yeah, well,” I shot back, “maybe you shouldn’t keep me locked in a tower.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a hand. “We’ll circle back to your trust issues later. Right now, I want to talk about the ice queen who just tried to verbally shank me near the lilies.”
That got his attention. “Who?”
“Lady Vane,” I said. “Tall, pale, all cheekbones and condescension. Called me little rebellion stray. Real charmer.”
His expression darkened immediately. “She said that to you?”
“Among other things,” I said dryly. “You want to tell me why your ex is haunting the castle like some kind of frosty poltergeist?”
He dragged a hand through his hair, exhaling hard. “It’s complicated.”
“It always is,” I muttered. “Start talking, wolf.”
He leaned against the stone balustrade, staring out toward the treeline. The muscles in his shoulders bunched and released like he was chewing on words he didn’t want to say.
“Lira Vane and I were… promised,” he began.
“Our fathers arranged it. Political match. Old wolf bloodlines like to keep power in the family.”
I folded my arms. “So she thought she was gonna be Queen of the Wildlands?”
“She still does,” he said bitterly. “Even after I ended it.”
“What happened?”
“She wanted the title,” he said. “Not the man.”
I studied him, the grim line of his mouth, the flicker of something almost, regret? No, not regret. Weariness. “And you just let her hang around here?”
“It’s not that simple,” he growled. “Her family still controls the northern trade routes. If I exile her, it’ll split the council and half the packs will rally to her cousin.”
“Cousin?”
“Aryen,” he said darkly. “Alpha of the southern markets. He’s been circling the throne like a vulture since my father died.”
I frowned. “You mean the ‘meat markets’? The ones that sell humans?”
His jaw clenched so hard I heard it pop. “He claims it’s trade. Voluntary labor. It’s slavery, no matter what he calls it.”
“That’s… vile.”
“It’s power,” Rhett said grimly. “And it buys him allies. Vampires pay for human donors; dragons pay for workers. Aryen profits from both.”
I stepped closer, anger coiling through me. “And you think Lira’s feeding him information?”
“I know she is,” he said. “I just can’t prove it.”
“Then why not rip it out of her?” I demanded. “You’re the damn Alpha King.”
He gave me a look that was half warning, half admiration. “Because I can’t start a civil war on suspicion alone. Wolves are loyal, to blood, to hierarchy, and to the illusion of order. If I move without proof, they’ll tear themselves apart before I can stop it.”
I stared at him for a long moment, taking in the weight of that responsibility, and the exhaustion behind his eyes. He wasn’t just a king. He was a man trying to hold a crumbling kingdom together by his teeth.
Still, the jealousy simmered in me, sharp and ugly. “So, what? I’m supposed to sit pretty while your scheming ex and her pet warlord try to overthrow you?”
He stepped closer, close enough that his heat pressed against my skin. “You’re supposed to stay alive.”
I scowled. “You really think they’d kill me?”
His gaze softened, but his voice stayed hard. “If they knew what you are? What you can do? They’d burn this castle to ash just to get to you.”
For a moment, the world went very quiet between us. Then I said, “You should have told me.”
“I didn’t want to burden you,” he said.
“Rhett,” I snapped. “I died twice. You can’t protect me from the truth.”
He stared at me for a heartbeat, then, slowly and reluctantly nodded. “You’re right.”
“Damn straight,” I muttered.
His mouth curved, the faintest hint of a smile. “You’re infuriating.”
“And you’re bossy.”
He leaned in close, his breath brushing my lips. “You like that.”
“Not even a little,” I lied.
We stood there, locked in some strange magnetic pull neither of us wanted to name. His scent, rain, pine, and danger, was making it very hard to think straight.
Finally, he exhaled, the tension breaking. “Please,” he said quietly. “Just stay in the castle for now. Until I deal with Aryen. Until I can keep you safe.”
I wanted to fight him. To tell him I wasn’t his to command. But something in his tone, raw and pleading, made me stop.
“Fine,” I said, crossing my arms. “For now.”
He nodded, the relief visible in the slope of his shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” I muttered. “You’ll regret it when I burn your throne.”
He chuckled under his breath, brushing his thumb along my jaw. “If you burn it, Ghost, I’ll just build you another one.”