ROVAN’S POV
Then her hand flew to her chest. “You’re serious?”
The other day, they must have thought I was joking.
Elene nodded once.
That was all it took.
Lady Vela let out a sharp gasp and crossed the room in three long strides.
She grabbed my hands—tight, bone-grinding—and stared into my face like she was seeing me for the first time.
“Rovan,” she said, voice shaking, “you have to get her back.”
Elene choked. “What?”
I stared. “What?”
My mother’s eyes were wide, frantic now. “Do you understand what this means? She’s not just a castaway anymore. She’s the blood heir to the Lycan throne. You mated with a future queen. And you let her go.”
Elene stepped between us. “She rejected him. He doesn’t have a claim anymore!”
“Then he better find one!” Lady Vela snapped.
“I can’t just waltz into the capital and drag her back,” I said, disbelief cutting into every word.
“Then earn your way back in,” my mother growled. “If she rises, we rise with her. If she turns on us—”
“She will turn on us,” Elene said coldly. “After everything we did to her, do you really think Sylra will ever forgive this family?”
I looked between them.
The walls felt like they were closing in.
“She won’t,” I said quietly.
“Then win her back,” Lady Vela said.
Elene spun on her heel, fuming. “Unbelievable.”
She stormed out.
My mother turned back to me, clutching my face like a child.
“Rovan. Listen to me. Fix this.”
Neressa also walked in. “What’s happening here? Where’s Elene?”
My mother turned to Neressa. “Guess what I we just found out?”
Neressa raised a brow. “What?”
“Sylra is the Lycan King’s secret daughter.”
Neressa was appalled.
Sylra was no longer the girl I left behind.
She was a crown now.
And crowns don’t bend. They break.
