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“What?” Isla snapped, not realizing she’d stepped herself in front of Kai in reflex as if to protect him until he rested a hand on her shoulder.
Kai let out another loud laugh. “I was wondering how he’d try again. I thought he’d at least have the dignity to do it himself.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened, and for a moment, he paused. Like he stood at the edge of a cliff or had just gone to hurtle himself off it but now dangled by one last finger. Finally, he said, “He’s afraid of you.”
Isla tried to keep her temper in check.“Headmittedthat to you?”
“More or less.”
Kai inclined his head. “Why are you telling us? You’re his heir. You should be protecting his plans.”
“Because I’m done,” Adrien said. “He has taken and twisted so much of my life, hoping to mold me into a mindless monster he can control, but I won’t break. I’m sure there are even parts of this plan I’m missing. He wouldn’t have let Raana go to Callisto after telling her all he did with the risk that she’d flee or come to tell you. And he would’ve never told me because he hasn’t fully trusted me in years. The moment he learns I’m here, I’ll lie, but he’ll know I told you. Even if I truly didn’t, he wouldn’t believe me.” His tone was thick as he steeled against his emotions. “I love my pack, and I want my crown, but I only have a few people left. If theeasy wayto get those things means hurting them,” he focused on Isla, “Then I’ll fight for it.”
Isla’s heart clenched, and all she wanted to do was grab him and pull him into a hug, but her shock must have held her back. “You’dchallengeyour father?”
“If it became the only way. It would be better me than anyone else challenging him to keep the continent from teetering into mayhem.” Tension settled in the room like a thick, dark cloud, the traitorous words winding around them all. If this had, in some alternate, messed-up reality, been a setup, she and Kai would be screwed for not refuting him. Adrien’s eyes slid over Kai. “Did you genuinely kill Brax without touching him? He didn’t actually lose his mind; it was you.”
“A little bit of both.”
Fear flashed in Adrien’s eyes. “How?”
“I’m still figuring it out.”
Adrien rubbed at his wrist again. “I think my dad knows a lot more aboutwhat it isthan he’s letting on. I don’t think he’s just blowing smoke up my ass when he says you’re a threat. He genuinely believes it.”
“Good.” Kai’s voice was a lethal calm. His arm slid around Isla’s waist, holding her close. “Because the next time he threatens my mate, family, or home, you won’t get a chance to challenge him. When I see him, I’ll end it. I’m not the Imperial Alpha; I don’t need to be concerned about the rest of the continent.”
Isla slid her hand over his, feeling that power rising. She stroked her thumb over his skin, reassuring him,I’m here. I’m safe.
Adrien said nothing, seeming to understand, but his eyes betrayed other unspoken words. Isla had pried information from him far too many times to miss it. “What aren’t you saying?” she asked. “What else is there?”
Adrien took a long breath of resignation because,of course,she’d figured there was more. “Have you ever heard of the dark moon?”
CHAPTER7
RAANA
When Raana closed her eyes, she dreamt of him.
When she settled deep enough into the threadbare pillow, she could pretend that any warmth it offered was from Adrien’s arms. She could pretend the press of her own suffocating shadows was his body against hers and that she was still in bed with him, enveloped by his scent, feeling his kisses pepper over her shoulders, her neck, his hands roaming and exploring her skin. Unrestrained.Unafraid.
Once she awoke, she sat in her own darkness.
She didn’t bother chastising the icy shroud draped over her body, the shadows protecting her. It would’ve been easy to say it was from Nerissa. Easy to say it was from the horrific monsters that stalked the forests beyond with their skin-tearing talons and teeth. But what Raana truly needed safety from was her own shredded heart. Because if she remained in the shadows, if she steeped within her own darkness long enough, the rest of the world didn’t exist, and she could feel nothing. She could remember nothing.
Not that the closest person she’d ever had to a mother had betrayed her. Not that a target the size of the mortal realm itself had been placed on her back by the King of Wolves, and…not that she’d betrayed the one person who may have actually cared about her.
Within a week, she’d lost everything.
But there was a voice, a tug, from somewhere she couldn’t see, telling her toget up—and for some reason, she always listened.
Even now, begrudgingly.
The halls of this ruined palace smelled of rot and horrid things, but Raana no longer scrunched her nose as her keener senses took it all in. She moved like a wraith through the narrow, dilapidated corridors, the sound of her footsteps dulled by the shadows that rippled by her feet and trailed behind her like the train of a gown.
It had been three days since Nerissa had brought her here. Of them, she’d been conscious for two—thanks to the unfamiliarity and overuse of her magic that horrible day—and she’d spent them doing this: exploring their new refuge in all its destructed glory. And it was going…well, terrible, quite frankly.
Every door she passed on this floor was locked or warded—or both—and she’d almost killed herself trying to overtake the spells to get inside.
