Chapter 69 When Madness Wears A Smile
FINN
The wind carried the scent of pine as I stood in the second–floor corridor, by a cathedral–style window that stretched from floor to ceiling, my eyes on the slender figure moving swiftly through the garden and slipping passed the outer Academy gales.
Soft rap
of boots echoed behind me. I didn’t turn.
Alpha Hugo’s scent hit me before his voice did–leather, power, and steel.
With a low growl, he tossed something at my feet. A crumpled envelope slid across the polished floor and came to a stop by my boot.
The letter.
My letter.
“I am warning you,” his voice was rough, edged in anger, but quieter than I expected. “Don’t you dare threaten me like that again.”
I didn’t look at him. Just kept my gaze locked on Seth’s silhouette vanishing into the trees.
“Thank you.” I said softly. “For changing your mind.”
“Nothing has changed,” he snarled. “I have only given him a chance to prove his innocence by tomorrow which is impossible. He will meet his fate and everything is fixed. It’s just Seth Darven that wants to change something that is impossible. He paused, his voice colder now, “And you…”
I felt his eyes on the side of my face.
“You’re not the type to beg or bluff. Let alone threaten me with this letter when you admitted Killing Dante, just to save Seth.” he narrowed his eyes and asked, “Why the hell are you acting this way for that boy?”
Silence fell between us. I didn’t answer.
A cold wind brushed passed me. My eyes dropped to my hands as Seth’s voice, shouting my name when my mind was lost- when I was gone.
“Finn:”
It echoed in my mind.
It wasn’t strength
It wasn’t magic.
It was Seth’s voice that had pierced through the madness. But his will. His fury. His belief in me.
That sound it still echoed inside my bones.
My hand rose to my check, I pressed my palm there, grounding myself in that impossible warmth.
“I wonder that too,” I linally whispered.
Alpha Hugo stood in silence for a long moment behind me.
Then he left.
My mind went back to Seth’s impossible soft touch and the thin melodious voice that slipped from his lips under the pressure and light without him realizing.
I slowly opened my eyes at what that evil thing whispered to me. It was too talkative, “How much it spilled out..
SERAPHINA
11:52AM P
Chapter 69 When Madness Wears A Smile
“Time to strip.” he murmured, his voice low and deliberate–each word a blade laced in silk.
His smile made me breathless, almost more than his words did.
Konan.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
My thoughts spun, colliding into one another like shards of shattered glass.
+8 Pearls
Alpha Hugo had been clear, every Alpha was sent to a different forest. One Alpha per forest. That was the rule. That was the
system.
So how….how was he the only one here?
And then it hit me.
Like a thunderclap.
Like a trap snapping shut.
The fog in my mind cleared with terrifying clarity.
He had lied.
He’d planned this.
Ronan had told Alpha Hugo he’d witnessed Dante’s murder.
He had framed me.
Not because he truly believed I was guilty. Not because he stood to gain anything from it.
But because he wanted this.
Me.
Alone
With him
In Thornfall Forest, where no one else would be watching.
A trap dressed as testimony.
My heart thundered violently, an erratic rhythm of rage and disbelief. Heat surged beneath my skin like molten lava, boiling over and threatening to erupt.
“You
Thussed, eyes burning, blood roaring in my ears as I glared at him. “How dare you play with me?
I didn’t care how I looked–ugly, furious, wild, Let him see it.
Ronan’s smile faded, his expression hardening into something far colder.
“That’s what I asked myself countless times,” he said, his voice low and lethal. “How I let you play with me. Again and again. And still let you go.
His words were calm, but the darkness in his tone was suffocating
My fists clenched. “What the hell are you talking about?!”
He didn’t inch He didn’t patise
“I let you break your promise I let you lie” His voice dropped further, velvet laced with steel, 1 let you escape. I let you betray me
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11 53 AM
Chapter 69 When Madness Wears A Smile
He stepped closer
His gaze locked onto mine, and for one horrifying moment, I saw it all.
The memories. The truth behind his accusations. The moments I had walked away. The promises I’d left behind.
The fury I felt a heartbeat ago collapsed into a tidal wave of shame and confusion.
“And then,” he murmured, dragging his gaze down my body. “I remembered why I let you do it.”
He paused. His stare scorched me with its intensity.
“I wanted to strip you.”
I froze, paralyzed by the heat in his gaze, by the authority in his stance.
His words weren
t just a threat.
They were a promise.
“Now strip, Seraphina,” he said again, voice like dark silk. “Or I’ll do it for you.”
My limbs went cold. The air shifted, heavy with his dominant aura, and I instinctively took a step back.
“Crazy,” I muttered under my breath, willing myself to stand my ground. “You’ve gone insane.”
I met his eyes, unflinching. “There is no way I’m playing this sick game of yours. I’m leaving.”
I turned sharply, heart hammering in my chest as I marched away.
Every instinct screamed at me to run, to get out before it was too late.
But after barely ten steps, I collided with something.
Hard.
Unseen.
Unmovable.
I staggered back, panic rising in my throat.
“What… what is this?” I gasped, reaching out in confusion. My hands met nothing but resistance, an invisible wall.
I could see the trees, the path I had taken to get here, the familiar forest behind me… but I couldn’t move forward.
“Let me go!” I shouted, slamming my hands against the unseen barrier. “Let me OUT!”
“You can’t,” came his voice–low, near, and far too calm.
I froze as warmth pressed against my back, a solid chest caging me between the invisible wall and his body.
“Once you enter the trial. you can’t leave until it ends,” he whispered beside my car.
His breath grazed my skin.
“What?” I choked, horror and disbelief twisting through my veins. “You’re lying. Tin trapped here with you?”
He pressed closer, his body fiting against mine like a vice
And then he said it–bas lips brushing my ear, huis tune dark and possessive
“And this trial won’t end until I say su, Seraphi
My lungs refused to work. My heart stuttered
11:51AM P P
Chapter 69 When Madness Wears A Smile
Worse, I could feel him–his body against mine.
His arousal.
The hard pressure of it against my ass
My instincts took over.
With every ounce of strength I had, I shoved him back.
He stumbled. Just a step, but it was enough.
1 spun around to run, but before I could even take another step, his hand caught the back of my shirt.
His strength met my momentum like flint meeting steel.
RIP.
The buttons of my shirt flew off, scattering to the ground like fallen teeth.
I gasped and spun around, but he already had a fistful of fabric.
His grip tightened and the remaining buttons popped off, tearing away what little barrier remained.
Ronan’s eyes changed and moved.
+8 Pearls
He stood motionless, gaze locked on me–on my chest, wrapped tightly with the band of cloth I used to hide the truth.
His throat moved in a slow swallow.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, voice reverent, almost broken.
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