Chapter 27
Jul 4, 2025
I didn’t scream. Not when the guards shoved me through the iron door. Not when I stumbled across the floor and slammed into the stone wall, scraping my knees raw. The lock clicked behind me with the finality of a death sentence. I just stood there in the dark, swallowed whole, and whispered his name.
Cassian.
The word cracked through the silence, small and desperate. It didn’t echo. It just disappeared—like maybe even the stones didn’t believe in him anymore. There was no window, no torchlight, no sound but my own shaking breaths. The air was thick with rot and damp, and the scent of fear soaked into the floor like blood.
I moved slowly, hands outstretched, finding only cold stone wherever I reached. No blanket. No basin. No trace of mercy. Just a thin cot in the corner, metal frame rusted and sharp at the edges, and a silence so loud it roared. I crawled onto it anyway, bones aching, skin flaring with every touch.
The bruises on my back throbbed like a curse. My wrist still bore the scabbed burn of his brand. And beneath all of that, the bond sat like a splinter—buried and festering. I reached for it. Desperate. Starved. And all I felt was static. A flicker, then nothing.
He was still alive. But too far. Too faint. Or maybe… maybe not reaching back at all.
Time twisted. I didn’t know how long I stayed like that. Could’ve been hours. Could’ve been days. The dark had no shape. No rhythm. I counted my breaths just to prove I still could.
And then—light.
The door creaked open, slow and smug. Gold spilled across the floor like mockery. I blinked into the brightness, pupils burning, and even before I saw him, I knew.
Valen.
His shadow hit me before his voice did. He stepped into the room like a king entering a church, slow and reverent, as if my suffering made the air sacred.
“You look smaller in the dark,” he said, shutting the door behind him with a soft snick. “Quiet. Tame. I like you this way.”
I didn’t answer. I wouldn’t.
He walked closer, boots tapping the floor with measured precision, and sat on the edge of the cot like it was a throne. His gaze dragged over me like a knife, and his hand came down casually to nudge my ankle.
“Still no thanks for the hospitality?” he said with a smirk. “I’m wounded.”
I stared past him at the stone.
His smile deepened. “Did you think saying his name would bring him running? That your precious prince would ride in on moonlight and steel to take you back?”
Still, I said nothing.
Valen leaned in, breath warm against my cheek. “He’s marrying Lady Vaela.”
My body locked.
He saw it. He always saw it. “I watched him receive the notice. Gold seal. King’s signature.”
“No,” I whispered.
He chuckled, soft and cruel. “Seven days from now, your Alpha takes his place beside a real Luna. Noble. Untouched. Loyal.”
My throat burned. I turned away, but Valen’s fingers found my wrist, slow and almost tender. The brand throbbed where he touched.
“He gave you up, Lucy,” he whispered. “Said you were too much trouble. Said risking war for a broken Omega wasn’t worth it.”
“You’re lying.”
He laughed. “Even you don’t sound convinced.”
I shook my head, harder now, but the doubt was already in me, sinking deep. What if it was true? What if Cassian had let go? What if I was just a mistake too heavy to carry?
“You really think he’d choose you over his crown?” Valen murmured. “You were a moment. A distraction. You’re not the ending, Lucy. You’re the reason he’ll never reach it.”
I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood. My heart was thudding so loud I thought it would wake the dead.
He leaned in again, brushed his lips against my cheek. “You’ll learn, little wolf. They always say forever—until something easier comes along.”
Then he stood, slow and graceful. He walked to the door, fingers trailing along the wall like he was tracing a memory.
“Sleep well,” he said, just before the darkness swallowed me again. “No one’s coming.”
And then I was alone again.
But this time, I didn’t curl up. I didn’t whisper Cassian’s name. I just stared at the wall, eyes wide, throat tight.
And I cried where no one could see.
