Kaelen’s POV

I watched her walk away.

Every step she took carved a line through my chest. Spine straight. Chin level. That deliberate, practiced grace she wore like armor—the kind forged in years of being overlooked, of being nothing to the people who should have loved her.

The crowd parted for her without a single bow. Without acknowledgment. They simply... shifted. The way you’d avoid an empty chair someone forgot to clear.

My wolf thrashed beneath my skin. Every fiber of instinct howled at me to follow. To put myself between her and whatever waited beyond that archway. To burn this gilded hall to cinders for what had just been done to her.

But she’d said don’t.

And she’d said please.

So I stood there. Locked in place. Jaw tight enough to crack teeth. My fingers curled at my sides until my knuckles ached.

"Kaelen."

Sylvia’s voice. Closer now. Softer. She approached from my left, her emerald gown whispering against the marble. Her head was bowed. Her scent carried something sharp—shame, mixed with the acrid edge of fear.

"Kaelen, I owe you a sincere apology." She stopped a careful distance away. Her hands were clasped in front of her. "I couldn’t sense a mate-bond on you. There was no scent-mark, no aura. I genuinely believed you were unattached, and I never would have—"

"Shut up."

The words came out low. Quiet. Not a shout. Worse than a shout. I let the full weight of the Alpha command settle into those two syllables—the kind of pressure that pressed against the base of the skull, that made the wolf inside another person whimper and cower.

Sylvia flinched as though I’d struck her. The color drained from her face. Her wolf submitted instantly—I could see it in the way her shoulders curled inward, in the involuntary step backward, in the slight tremor that ran through her clasped hands.

She opened her mouth. Closed it. Then turned and disappeared into the crowd without another word.

I exhaled. Rough. Uneven.

The terrace. I needed to get to the terrace.

"Kaelen, my boy."

A broad hand landed on my shoulder. Heavy. Familiar. I turned to find Lord Henry standing beside me, silver hair immaculate, tailored suit stretching across shoulders still built like a palace guard’s despite his age. He held a crystal tumbler of amber liquid and wore the particular expression of older men who believed their years entitled them to everyone’s ear.

Cassian’s great-uncle. A senior member of the Imperial Council. The kind of man who had held his seat so long he’d forgotten it could be taken away.

"Lovely evening," Henry said. He squeezed my shoulder with an intimacy I hadn’t invited. "Riley and Cassian look magnificent together, don’t they? A proper match. Strong bloodlines on both sides."

He nodded toward the far end of the ballroom, where Riley was laughing at something Cassian had whispered against her temple. They did look radiant. I didn’t care.

"Henry," I said. "Not now."

"Just a moment of your time, my boy." He steered me a half-step away from the nearest cluster of guests, lowering his voice into what he clearly considered a conspiratorial register. "You see what a strong pairing looks like. Two pure wolves. The Empire notices these things. The bloodlines notice."

My skin prickled. "Choose your next words carefully."

He didn’t hear the warning. Or chose to ignore it.

"You need a queen, child." He said it plainly. The way one might discuss crop yields or tax reform. "The throne has been without a proper Luna for too long. The nobles talk. The lesser packs grow restless. They need to see strength beside you. Someone whose wolf can answer yours."

"I have a wife."

"You have a... companion. A mortal one, from what I understand." He sipped his drink. "No one questions your affection for the girl. But affection is not statecraft. A pragmatic arrangement—someone like Sylvia Vance, perhaps—would give the Empire what it needs. Pure heirs. A Luna the packs can rally behind."

The glass in my hand cracked.

I hadn’t realized I was holding one. A champagne flute, taken from a passing tray at some point I couldn’t remember. The stem snapped cleanly between my fingers, and I set both pieces on the nearest table with a precision that took every ounce of my control.

"Henry." I stepped closer. Close enough that he had to tilt his chin up to meet my eyes. I dropped my voice to barely a breath—the register I reserved for enemies on battlefields. For men who had seconds to live and didn’t know it yet. "I have a mate. I have a wife. I have two children who carry my blood and hers. If you suggest—ever again—that I should set them aside for a pragmatic arrangement, I will end this conversation in a way you will not enjoy."

Henry’s face went the color of old parchment.

His mouth worked. No sound came out. The tumbler in his hand trembled—a tiny, telling vibration. I held his gaze long enough to watch something essential collapse behind his eyes. Understanding, perhaps. Or survival instinct, finally kicking in.

I turned away from him before I did something I couldn’t undo.

The terrace. Now.

I moved through the crowd. Fast. Not running—an emperor didn’t run—but close. Guests blurred at the edges of my vision. I caught snatches as I passed—whispers, murmurs, the electric current of gossip—

And then I was through the archway, past the tapestries, past the guards who straightened and then shrank as my aura hit them like a wall.

The terrace doors stood open.

I saw her.

Elara was on the ground.

The image seared itself into my brain in fragments. Shattered crystal everywhere—glittering shards scattered across wet stone like fallen stars. A puddle of champagne spreading beneath her, soaking the blue fabric of her dress dark. Her palms pressed flat against the flagstones. Blood—her blood—smearing against pale stone where glass had bitten into her hands.

A young waiter knelt beside her, white-faced and trembling. "Madam, please—I am so sorry, I didn’t—" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

And behind them both, spilling through the doorway, the crowd. Dozens of glowing eyes cataloguing every detail. The whispers. The stares.

Something inside me detonated.

Not rage. Rage was too small a word. This was older. Deeper. The kind of fury that lived in the marrow, that preceded thought and reason and mercy. The wolf and the man, aligned for once in perfect, devastating agreement.

Mine. Hurt. On the ground. Bleeding.

I crossed the terrace in four strides. The waiter saw me coming, made a sound like a wounded animal, and pressed himself against the railing.

I didn’t look at him.

I dropped to my knees in the champagne and the glass. Shards crunched beneath my weight. The cold liquid soaked through the fabric of my trousers instantly. I didn’t care. My hands found Elara’s shoulders—gentle, so much gentler than the violence screaming through my blood.

"Kaelen, don’t—I’m soaked, your suit—"

I pulled her into my chest.

She was shaking. Wet and cold and shaking, and her hands were bleeding onto my shirt, and she smelled like champagne and copper and the faintest ghost of wildflowers that was her, only her, the scent no wolf could detect because it wasn’t supernatural. It was just Elara.

"I can walk," she whispered. Her voice was too controlled. Too steady. The voice she used when she was trying to disappear.

"I know you can."

I stood and brought her with me. One arm beneath her knees. One behind her back. She weighed almost nothing. The dress dripped champagne in a steady rhythm against the stone.

Her body went rigid. "People are watching."

"Let them."

I carried her through the doorway. Through the corridor. Past the guards. Through the ballroom where every eye in the room turned and every whisper died and the only sound was the click of my boots and the quiet drip of champagne trailing behind us like a procession.

I didn’t stop. Didn’t slow. Didn’t acknowledge a single soul.

The carriage was waiting in the front courtyard. I stepped up into it with Elara still in my arms and set her down on the velvet bench opposite mine. She immediately pressed herself against the door. Against the farthest possible point from me.

The carriage lurched into motion.

Silence filled the cabin. Not comfortable silence. The other kind. The kind with teeth.

I watched her. She stared out the window. Her hands were cradled in her lap, and in the dim lamplight I could see the dark lines of the cuts. Still bleeding.

"Talk to me," I finally said.

"There’s nothing to talk about." Her voice held no emotion. "It was just an accident. Someone always spills something. It happens all the time."

"Ela."

"Really, Kaelen. I’m fine."