Chapter 0018
Chapter 0018
Violet
The tension in my body slowly ebbed away as I let him hold me. I wanted to relax, but I couldn’t let myself forget that he was still an arrogant jerk.
“Thank you,” I said, all the same.
“You’re welcome,” he said softly. “I meant what I said before. You’re safe with me.”
“If I could believe that, I don’t think I’d be here”
He chuckled. “Is that a jab at me as a man or an alpha?”
I snorted, feeling the tension start to drain out of me. “A person. I’d never compare you to Lucas on either front.
“No?”
Iscoffed. “Not to inflate your ego, but you and I both know that there’s no competition in
either avenue.”
why don’t you just formally challenge him?”
“While suffering from the mark?”
“You don’t think you could take him?”
I scoffed. “I think it would be foolish to take the chance to leave myself open to such a large handicap.”
How about challenge by proxy?”
I laughed. “And what? Call you? Your brother would never sanction that.”
He grinned at me. “You really… are the brightest alpha of your generation.”
My eyes widened. Stunned. It had been… ages since anyone had mentioned that particular epithet. Something warm and uncomfortable tumbled through me. I turned away.
“You seem rather experienced in dealing with bond sickness… How?”
He chuckled. “How else? Experience.” He paused, twining a finger around one of my curls. “To be betrayed by someone who’s supposed to love you… It takes a toll on you and those who love you… My mother was forcibly marked.”
My stomach plummeted, and I went still. I shuddered at the thought. How was she still… alive? Forced markings were… horrifying to experience as I’d been told, and often led to death.
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“The pain drained her day by day. I used to sit with her, let her lean on me, just like this, hoping that maybe she would live a little longer” He sighed. “But the Goddess took her home despite my efforts.”
My heart clenched in grief. Then, I looked up at him, confused.
“The former king’s luna is still alive.”
She was luna regent alongside his brother. What was he talking about? There’s no way that overly proud woman could have been forcibly marked.
His lips curved into a bitter smile, though I couldn’t see it from this angle. “Most people don’t know my mother ever existed. They were fated.”
My eyes widened in shock. Everyone believed Theodore was the true–born son of the former Alpha King, and the royal Luna had never refuted it. Though, why would she admit she wasn’t the former alpha king’s fated mate?
“Is that why you renounced your claim?”
“Because I’m a bastard?”
“Because of your mother.”
His eyes flickered with light. He looked so vulnerable for a moment, but he looked away and said nothing. He tugged me back to lay against his chest. His fingers carded through my hair gently. The rhythmic motion was oddly soothing despite everything.
“You remind me of her,” he said. “She was pretty stubborn, too. She wouldn’t let herself cry around me… She said that having me near was a happy thing.”
My heart clenched with sympathy. “I’m sorry about your mother… This must be harder than I can imagine.”
He let out a huff of laughter. “Maybe, but maybe it’s worse… There was nothing I could have done to save her, and that’s my father’s fault. The same isn’t true for you. You should
“I said no
“I heard what you said,” he said and sighed. “And I understand why you’re saying it, but you’re saying this now when you’re not tearing your hair out and clawing at yourself from the pain.” I shuddered, imagining it. My hand twitched. “I’m telling you this while you’re still… sane, for lack of a better word. Overwriting the old one is the only way to block out the pain until you can get through a formal severance ceremony. If you don’t, it will kill you.”
Or I’d kill myself…
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I didn’t need him to say it
The logical part of me knew all of this already.
“How much time do you… think I have?”
“Without a new bond?”
“It could be weeks… It could be years. You’d have to be seen by a priest to know one way or another.”
I scoffed at that. Priests were overworked, scarce, and highly controlled. I didn’t have the time to lobby with the alpha king for access. I sighed, shaking my head.
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Chapter 0019
