When Sasha opened the door, her hand still on the knob. She froze.

Derek stood right there on the threshold, tall and imposing, his expression cold and detached. His eyes locked onto hers with that quiet intensity he was known for.

Her heart lurched violently. Without thinking, she severed the mind-link with Ruby, cutting her off completely.

Then, she bowed quickly, trying to keep her voice steady. "Your Grace. Ruby isn’t here."

Derek’s eyes didn’t move from her. "I’m not here for Ruby," he said in a deceptively calm voice.

Sasha felt his pheromones even through his apparent calm, the low, controlled pressure of a King keeping himself deliberately restrained, which was somehow more unsettling than if he had simply let them out. She stepped aside quickly and gestured for him to enter.

He walked past her into the foyer, and she slipped out behind him, pulling the front door closed with barely a sound, and did not look back.

Derek stood in the foyer for a long moment, taking in the familiar space. Even after all the renovations across the estate, Ruby’s family home still carried the same quiet atmosphere he remembered from his childhood. The marble floors, the soft lighting, the faint scent of herbs that had always lingered here because of Ruby’s mother.

He moved slowly toward the stairs, his footsteps echoing in the house. A maid appeared from the far end of the hall, bowing so quickly she nearly lost her balance, surprised to see the King.

"Your Grace, can I get you anything? Shall I—"

Derek shook his head. "No. You and the others can take the rest of the day off. Leave the house."

The servant nodded twice, muttered something grateful, and disappeared. Soon, the entire apartment grew quiet as the servants snuck out one after the other, until Derek was completely alone.

Then, he started up the stairs, his hand trailing lightly along the bannister. Family portraits lined the wall — Ruby’s mother, the pack’s former healer, her father, once a respected beta, and Jasper. His best friend. The man who had died protecting him. And then little Ruby, the baby of the family, always smiling in every picture.

He stared at those photographs for a few moments and then continued up.

Jasper’s bedroom was at the end of the corridor, and Derek pushed the door open slowly, half-expecting the disarray that grief sometimes left behind in a space no longer occupied. But the room was clean. Properly clean.

The bed was made, the surfaces were clear of dust, and the curtains were drawn back at an angle that let the light in evenly.

Ruby had been maintaining it.

Jasper had always been particular about his space. It had been a running joke between them, the way Jasper could not concentrate if so much as a pen was out of place.

Apparently, that had not changed even after he was gone. Ruby had kept his room exactly as he would have wanted it.

He stood with his hands in his pockets and looked around without touching anything. Posters on the walls from years ago, things Jasper had put up when they were young and never taken down. A jacket hanging on the back of the door. A shelf of books arranged by height.

Then, his eyes found the photograph on the desk.

He crossed to it slowly and stood looking down at it. Jasper was laughing, one arm thrown around a much younger Derek, who was scowling at something outside the frame.

He could not remember what he had been scowling at. He remembered the day, though. He remembered almost everything about that day.

He stayed there for a long time, staring at Jasper’s smiling face in the portrait. Derek finally let out a heavy breath and spoke, his voice low and rough, like he was confessing to a living person.

"It’s been a long time, my friend."

Then, he pulled the chair from the desk and sat down, took the portrait and ran his thumb gently over the frame, eyes distant.

"I got married," he said. "You probably know that already, wherever you are. I did it for the reasons you would have argued me out of if you had been here. Revenge." He paused. "My plans were clean and simple."

He let out a bitter laugh that didn’t reach his eyes.

"But nothing about her is simple, Jasper. Kira... she got under my skin. She laughs at the worst times. She fights me even when she’s scared. She looks at me like I’m more than just the Cold King everyone fears. And now I’m starting to care for her. Really care. More than I ever thought possible."

He was quiet for a moment.

"Leo is obsessed with her. Her scent, her presence, everything about her. And I’m beginning to think she might be my soulbond." He sighed. "You know what that means. It scares the hell out of me."

He ran his fingers through his hair.

"I kept my promise to you. I gave Ruby everything I could think to give, but still failed her." He exhaled slowly. "That’s on me. Maybe I should have been clearer. I should have drawn the line properly instead of letting it blur because it was easier not to address it."

He set the photograph down carefully. "I’m sorry, Jasper. I failed you. I crossed lines I shouldn’t have crossed. Things that were never part of what you asked of me. And now she’s become very angry. And it’s dangerous."

He paused, swallowing hard.

"But I’ve also found out she’s been using some kind of aphrodisiac on me for years. That flowery perfume she always wore... I never understood what was so particular about it, why it always seemed to affect me in ways I couldn’t quite account for. It wasn’t until Leo recoiled from it completely that I understood."

When their beast fixates on a particular person, when every other scent becomes offensive to it, that might be the first sign that they were soul bonds.

But it could also mean nothing. The bond is only confirmed when it snaps together at the Red Moon bonding festival.

"I’ve been blind to Ruby’s faults for years because of you. Because of what you did for me. But she crossed a line when she tried to harm my wife, Jasper."

He stood, slowly. "She’s a grown woman now, responsible for her own actions. I can’t protect her from the consequences anymore. I made you a promise, and I have honoured it for years, but I cannot honour it at the cost of Kira’s safety. I won’t. And I think, if you were the man I knew, you wouldn’t ask me to."

But even as he said the words, the guilt sat heavy in his chest. He felt like he was turning his back on the memory of the man who had died protecting him.

After a few more moments of heavy silence, Derek walked out of Jasper’s room and entered Ruby’s bedroom at the other end of the corridor.

He went through it methodically, not searching dramatically, just looking. He opened drawers, looked at surfaces, and checked the wardrobe. But he found nothing. He didn’t even know what he was looking for.

He started to leave, and was almost at the door when his foot caught the edge of the small bin beside the dresser and sent it tipping, its contents scattering quietly across the floor.

He glanced down, about to step over it, but something stopped him.

A small container had rolled out and come to rest against the skirting board. He crouched and picked it up, turning it over in his hand.

It looked familiar.

His eyes narrowed as he studied it, trying to place where he had seen it before.

Then it hit him.

There’s something you need to know, Your Grace.

Ishita.

She had been holding it that night before her accident, trying to tell him something. And Ruby had walked in at that exact moment.

Derek’s grip tightened around the container.

His suspicion had been right all along. Ruby knew exactly what Ishita was about to say. Ruby had tried to silence Ishita.

He looked at the container again.

What the hell was in this container?