Chapter 156

Amelia

The gala shimmered beneath a lattice of crystal and steel, the glass-paneled ceiling arching high above like a fragile cage. Light refracted from the chandeliers into sharp white streaks, and every polished surface reflected back a distorted version of us: diplomats, elites, wolves pretending to be at peace.

I could see my own reflection in the curved side of a champagne flute, eyes a little too wide, lips a little too red. Richard said I looked radiant. I felt like a live wire wrapped in silk.

The building was too exposed, all glass and spectacle. It was the first event we’d hosted since the tower discovery, and the invitation list had been a deliberate provocation. Peace envoys from neutral packs, rogue affiliates, even one of the Hollow’s suspected proxy territories. If a bomb went off tonight, the entire balance of power would go with it.

Richard stayed close to me but not too close. We weren’t touching. We hadn’t since the lounge two nights ago when I’d cried into his shirt and told him I didn’t think I could do this anymore. He hadn’t said much then, just held me, and let me fall asleep against his chest.

Now I walked beside him like his equal, hair pinned up and my locket cool against my collarbone. The gala dress had been chosen to draw the eye up: minimal cleavage, soft fabric, structured shoulders. It made me look older. Like I belonged here.

Until someone looked too long.

"Is that the girl from the antidote trials?"

"They say she has hybrid blood."

"That would explain why she never shifted."

The whispers moved faster than I could track. I kept smiling. My cheeks hurt from it.

Richard placed a hand lightly on my back as we approached the envoy from Karth. He had to lean in for the introduction, voice pitched low. "They’ll lose interest if you don’t flinch."

"I’m not flinching."

He looked at me, and I knew he wanted to say more. But the envoy was already stepping forward.

Karth’s delegation was smaller than expected. One woman, two guards, and a young man who looked too polished to be just an aide. His scent was faint, masked under layers of artificial fragrance. He looked up often, eyes flicking toward the glass dome above. It struck me as odd, but I was pulled into another conversation before I could track him further.

I circled through the room, smiling, nodding, listening without hearing. My head felt full. Like the pressure of the crowd and the lights and the rumors were building toward something inevitable.

I was reaching for another drink when Simon appeared at my elbow, uninvited. He didn’t usually attend events like this. His shirt was too wrinkled, and he hadn’t shaved. He looked like someone who’d been dragged into a dream and didn’t want to be awake.

"Come with me," he said.

"What?"

"Right now. Don’t make a scene."

He turned and walked toward the hallway behind the service doors. I hesitated, then followed.

We ended up in a narrow corridor outside the kitchen, the hum of machinery soft behind the walls. Simon leaned against the tile, arms crossed, eyes not meeting mine.

"You knew," I said.

"Not everything. Not until recently."

"What did you find."

He didn’t answer right away. I could hear the faint clink of glassware through the door, laughter echoing down the hall. Out there, people were still toasting our leadership. Our alliance. Our future.

"You’re not just a hybrid," he said finally. "You’re her daughter."

"Whose?"

He looked up.

"Serena’s."

The name dropped like a lead weight. I didn’t understand at first. I waited for him to explain. He didn’t.

"No."

Simon didn’t move.

"That— that can't be right. Serena died before I was even born. She was a nurse. A healer. The elder said she worked at the temple during the war. He was confused, he was just saying that I looked like her. She couldn't have been anything more than that—she couldn't have had a child."

"She could," he said. "And she did. She was never just a nurse. That was a cover. Briefly. Serena was high-born. A vampire from one of the old families. She was exiled after she had an affair with the Alpha at the time. No one knew she’d gotten pregnant. No one knew she carried the child to term, let alone that the baby survived."

My knees went weak. I gripped the edge of the counter.

"But… that would make me…"

"A true hybrid," Simon said. "Born of vampire and wolf. It’s why your blood doesn’t match any known category. Why the cure only works when your body is stable. Why your heat cycle never returned to baseline."

I stared at him. My mouth felt dry. I had no words.

"Richard didn’t tell you?"

I shook my head slowly.

Simon cursed under his breath.

"He didn’t want to believe it. Even when the signs were there. You thought you were just wolfless. You thought your heat was wrong. But it wasn’t. It was repressed. It was masked by years of suppression. And once it activated—"

"Stop."

Simon did. The silence between us was heavy.

"How do you know?" I asked. "How can you be sure?"

"Because I sequenced the blood myself. And because she left records. Serena. Not many, but enough. A journal. A few messages hidden in her clinical notes. She never named you, but she mentioned a child. A girl hidden away."

My heartbeat sounded like a drum in my ears. I didn’t know if I was shaking or just couldn’t feel my hands.

"So what does that mean? That I’m some political pawn?"

"It means you’re the first of your kind," Simon said. "And maybe the only one strong enough to survive what’s coming."

I took a step back.

"I have to go."

"Amelia—"

But I was already pushing past him, back into the hallway, back into the noise and heat and glass. The music hit me like a slap. I couldn’t see Richard, couldn’t breathe. My head spun.

I passed the envoy’s aide again, this time just as he slipped something metallic into his sleeve. I turned, but security moved faster. Alarms didn’t go off. The gala didn’t even pause. But suddenly Richard was there, one hand raised, his face hard as stone. Guards moved in from the edges. The aide was seized, device removed, and the small crowd of elite guests politely looked away.

Later, I would learn the transmission had been headed to a riverfront relay outside city bounds. A direct link to one of David’s known safehouses. The envoy herself claimed ignorance. I didn’t stay long enough to hear how that excuse landed.

Richard found me by the edge of the terrace. The cold air helped. I could feel him behind me before he spoke.

"You knew," I said.

He didn’t answer.

"When?"

"Not for sure," he said. "Not until recently."

"But you suspected. And you didn’t tell me."

"I didn’t want to believe it."

"Why? Because it was inconvenient? Because it made me dangerous?"

"Because it made you someone I might not be able to protect."

I turned then.

"You still think I need protection?"

His expression didn’t change. But I saw it. The shift in his eyes. The thing he’d been holding back since the beginning.

"You are the most dangerous person in this kingdom," he said quietly. "Not because of your blood. Not even because of who your mother was. But because you’re smart enough to use it. And brave enough not to run."

I hated that he sounded like he was proud of me. I hated that I wanted to believe he still cared.

"You should have told me."

"I wanted to."

"But you didn’t."

He reached for me, but I stepped back.

"Don’t."

The silence stretched.

"Amelia—"

"I need time."

He didn’t stop me as I turned and walked away.

I didn’t look back until I was inside the car, hands shaking in my lap, the locket heavy against my skin.

Daughter of Serena. Wolf and vampire.

I didn’t know who I was anymore.