Chapter 93

Olivia POV

Refusing to follow behind Elroy like a naughty child, I swept out of the room ahead of him, though I took care to dismiss Jordan gently. She, like most of the wolves in the room who didn’t fight, looked shaken but still present in the moment. I trusted they could all take care of themselves while Elroy and I talked.

We ended up in a side room I didn’t even recognize, some antechamber for people who wanted a break from dancing, I supposed.

I turned around. Looking into my husband’s furious eyes, I was glad of the blood wood dress I was wearing. I called on the Moon Goddess to bless me with strength.

“So, you have a brother, I mean, another one besides Astor.”

His brow drew down dangerously. “As evidently you knew already.”

It was not unlike being punched in the stomach.

“You’re going to believe that murdering Rogue instead of me?”

He looked ready to argue but then turned away. I got the impression he wanted to punch his fist through a wall.

“I thought he was dead.”

“Denis?”

He nodded, not looking back at me. “I never met him, not that I can remember. They had taken him from the palace before I was old enough. They told me he was dead.”

“By ‘they’ I suppose you mean your father?”

“Yes.”

“Your father had your brother left in the woods as a child because he wasn’t an alpha?” I was screeching now more than talking, and I tried to take a few deep breaths. “And given my stance on wolves’ equality, you didn’t think you needed to tell me about that?”

“You know what my father was like. I know you spoke with my mother about him.”

“I can’t believe Iris—”

“My mother knew nothing about Denis. All that was something in my father’s past, and he never wanted to talk about it. I heard everything from the servants.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “That’s another conversation after this one.”

“But you knew.”

“I knew he had died, or, I thought I knew that. And considering I have only the word of that ‘murdering Rogue,’ I’m not sure I know anything for sure right now.”

I felt some of my rage dissipate. “So, have you ordered him jailed?”

Elroy instantly regained the anger he had lost and shot me a look of suspicion. “What do you care?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He escaped. I have no idea how.”

“Someone in the palace must have helped him,” I mused aloud. Then I regretted speaking when he rounded on me.”

“Someone like a long-lost love?” he demanded.

“I have never met that wolf before in my life,” I told him through gritted teeth. “And I know I would remember saving someone’s life in the wilderness.”

Something very odd flashed across his eyes, but before I could ask about it, there was a knock on the door.

Only one person would dare to interrupt us, so I wasn’t surprised when Iris walked in.

“The guests’ injuries are all minor and should heal up in a day or two.”

“I should go out and reassure them,” I said.

“We’re not finished talking here,” Elroy snapped. “And if you don’t mind, Mother—”

“You truly believed Denis was dead?” Iris asked.

Elroy looked completely thrown. “You knew about him?”

“Your father told me he’d had a son who ran away and was killed by Rogues. He said Denis’s mother was dead as well.”

“Is she?” Elroy asked.

Iris shrugged. “I believed everything your father said when I loved him. Now, I don’t know what was the truth and what would just be convenient as the truth.”

She turned to me. “Which is why I have to ask, Olivia. Do you know anything about his claim that you saved his life and then promised yourself to him?”

For a moment, I felt pure pain. It was bad enough Elroy could be jealous and suspicious, but that Iris could actually believe him was a piercing blow.

She held up a hand. “I said I had to ask. I didn’t say I give him any credit. Officially, I am asking if you’re denying his claims.”

“Of course I am!” I threw up my hands. “It’s all just some lie he’s made up to cause trouble.”

I put my hands down. “Think about it, if I had someone from my past I loved, why would I have gotten engaged to Damian? Why would I have put up with Louisa’s torment?

“If I were in love with some dashing outlaw, I would have made that my life, not trying for almost a year to get pregnant with someone who was only using me for status and advancement.”

“Dashing?” Elroy growled.

I looked at him in exasperation even as Iris muttered, “Come now, Elroy. Of course he’s dashing.”

“Finally, if I wanted to be with anyone but you, Elroy, I would be with them. I certainly wouldn’t throw a ridiculously extravagant party and then arrange to have it ruined by a vengeful Rogue.”

There was another knock on the door.

“Come!” Elroy commanded, still looking at me uncertainly.

Sam entered and bowed with military discipline before Elroy. “They’ve all escaped, Alpha.”

“What? All of them?”

Sam nodded and looked slightly ashamed. “I had no idea there was a private passage from the kitchen to the gardens. It’s ancient and overgrown with weeds, but someone had obviously cleared it out recently. They went through there.”

Elroy looked at me. “You were right. They had help from someone here in the palace.”

“Perhaps our visitors from White Paw?” Sam suggested.

I was going to object, but Elroy shook his head. “They haven’t had the time to plan something so elaborate, and they wouldn’t know about the passage in the first place.”

“And they’re new residents of Lunaris, not visitors,” I said quietly.

Sam bowed to me in acknowledgment.

“Not if I find out they do have some connection to Denis and his Rogue pack,” Elroy said, looking furious again.

“They don’t!”

“How can you know that? I know what stories they’ve told, but surely Ines and the others have even more reason to hate alphas than Denis and his Rogues do. I’ll be interrogating each of them as soon as I get back.”

I frowned. “Get back from where?”

“From killing Denis and defeating his would-be army,” Elroy said. Then he narrowed his eyes at me. “Lily Room.”

I was getting lost in this conversation, flung from one emotion to another. I just looked at him.

“He said you sit in your Lily Room. How did he know the room’s name has been changed?”

“How did he know anything?” I was furious again. “Are you suggesting I told him? Have you not been listening to me?”

“All I know for sure is that you’re carrying my child, you’re my Luna, and you’re my wife, and now my dead brother has shown up knowing much more about you than he should.”

“Elroy,” Iris protested. “Think about what you’re saying.”

Elroy all but growled at her, but he was looking at me. “I’m saying you’re going to stay here and look after your pregnancy while I’m fixing this mess, Olivia, and I don’t want to hear anything else about it.”

“You can’t just—” I started, but he was gone from the room with Sam following after. I stared at the door shut behind them and felt the world was no longer firm beneath my feet.

“Olivia.”

What was happening? Why was this happening?

“Olivia!”

Iris’s sharp tone brought me out of what felt like a fugue state. I looked at her.

“There wouldn’t be any harm in listening to him,” she said.

I blinked at her in even deeper shock. I had believed she was an ally, but she wasn’t. No one was.

I was alone.