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“Shh, shh!” Zephy pleaded, touching my face.
Instantly, her palms were stained with Stralia’s blood, and she dropped them, disgusted. I rose from my crouching position, sweeping her into my arms to hold her against my body.
“Please, Alpha!” one of the servants cried out from the cells. “We didn’t mean for it to get this far!”
“She misled us—”
“SHUT UP!” I roared at them. “You will all be dealt with—after I get the names of your co-conspirators. And you will give them all to me. I promise you that.”
Their pleas died, and I marched toward the steps with Zephy in my arms, relishing the feel of her hands around my neck.
“What will you do to them?” she whispered as we ascended into the palace. “Will they—”
“That’s not for you to worry about now,” I implored her, drawing her as close to my nude form as I could.
I didn’t care about my nakedness or about the way everyone in my path fell back to make way for us as we exited the depth of the basement. All that mattered to me in those moments was the safety of my mate and our child.
“Alpha!”
I turned to find Maywin tripping up the stairs after us, her face piqued and red. I had forgotten all about her following us into the dungeon.
“Maywin!” Zephy gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“She told us where to find you,” I explained.
Zephy gasped. “You shouldn’t have come. It was far too dangerous!”
“I would follow you to the ends of the world, Luna,” Maywin told her earnestly.
Zephy untangled her arms from around my neck and nodded for me to put her on the stone ground. I put her on her own feet reluctantly, my eyes scanning the kitchen suspiciously, but the remaining staff had wisely made themselves scarce, my fury still radiating in the walls around us, but for the Royal Guards, who also stood vigilantly, keeping an eye out for any further trouble. Ryland handed me a pair of pants, and I wriggled into them as Zephy embraced her maid tightly.
“Thank you, Maywin,” Zephy murmured.
“Luna, I am so sorry we didn’t get to you sooner,” Maywin said.
“I am alive because of you, Maywin,” Zephy said.
Maywin nodded, looking as if she were too overwhelmed to respond.
“Let’s get you to the suite and have you checked out. Maywin can come, too, but I want to ensure that you’re not injured,” I interjected.
Sighing, Zephy nodded and pulled out of the embrace with her friend, but she looked back at Maywin.
“We’ll continue this conversation later,” she said.
“Yes, we will,” Maywin agreed as Zephy accepted my outstretched hand and permitted me to guide her toward the foyer of the palace.
“Find every one of them if it takes you all night of questioning,” I told Ryland, my fingers twined with Zephy’s, our steps quick and even. “I’ll deal with them all in the morning.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“And anyone who is hiding, helping, or harboring them gets the same punishment,” I told them.
“I don’t think there are many left,” Zephy told me quietly. “They started to see Stralia for what she was at the end.”
I cast her a sidelong look without slowing my gait. “I think that they saw you for what you are: a true queen and leader. You saved your people from her.”
She gave me a watery smile, and suddenly, I could read the exhaustion on her face again. I turned and once more swept her up in my arms, carrying her the rest of the way up the second flight of stairs despite her weak protests.
