Chapter 93

I couldn't wait any longer. The evidence we'd gathered was too important to sit on while Kane wrestled with his demons and Raymond sank deeper into magical conditioning. People were going to die if I didn't act.

I confronted Giana the next morning in the pack library, a location I chose deliberately for its relative privacy and psychological significance. The library had always been my sanctuary, a place where truth lived in the pages of books.

"I know about your midnight meetings," I said without preamble, watching her face carefully for any reaction.

Giana looked up from the book she'd been pretending to read—a volume on pack law that I doubted she had any genuine interest in. Her expression shifted seamlessly into confused innocence, a mask so perfectly crafted it would have fooled anyone who didn't know what lay beneath.

"What are you talking about, Aurora?" she asked with exactly the right amount of bewilderment.

"Don't pretend you don't know." I stepped closer, letting my Luna authority color my voice. "I saw you last night. With the rogues. Selling pack secrets."

For just a moment—so brief I almost missed it—something cold and calculating flashed in Giana's eyes. It was like seeing a snake's true nature through the illusion of harmless beauty. Then the innocent mask was back in place.

"Aurora, I'm worried about you," she said, rising from her chair with perfect grace. Her voice carried just the right note of concern, tinged with the kind of gentle pity reserved for the mentally unstable. "These accusations are becoming increasingly bizarre."

"Cut the act," I interrupted, moving to block her path to the door. "There's no one here but us. You can drop the sweet little victim routine."

The library fell silent except for the soft tick of the old grandfather clock in the corner. Dust motes danced in the morning sunlight streaming through tall windows, creating an almost ethereal atmosphere that belied the darkness of our conversation.

That's when Giana's facade finally cracked. Her expression hardened, the innocent girl disappearing to reveal the predator underneath. It was like watching a beautiful flower transform into something poisonous and deadly.

"So what if I did?" she said, her voice dropping to its natural register—colder, sharper, infinitely more dangerous. "What exactly do you think you can do about it?"

The admission sent adrenaline surging through my system. Here it was—the truth I'd been seeking, delivered with casual arrogance that revealed just how untouchable Giana believed herself to be.

"I can expose you," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. "Show Raymond exactly what kind of person he's been protecting."

Giana laughed—a sound like breaking glass that made me want to cover my ears. "Raymond? You mean the man who hangs on my every word? The man who thinks you're a jealous, unstable Luna who can't accept that he loves someone else?"

She stepped closer, backing me against the tall bookshelves. Ancient volumes pressed against my spine—books that contained centuries of pack wisdom and law, none of which seemed relevant in this moment of naked truth.

"You're delusional if you think anyone will believe you over me," Giana continued, her voice dropping to a threatening whisper. "I've spent months building my reputation while systematically destroying yours."

"I have evidence," I said, gripping the shelf behind me for support. "Recordings, photographs, proof of your meetings with rogues."

"Evidence can be faked," Giana replied dismissively. "Digital manipulation is so advanced these days. Desperate women do desperate things when they're losing everything."

Her confidence was chilling. She truly believed she was untouchable, protected by Raymond's magical conditioning and her own careful manipulation of pack perception.

"You won't get away with this," I said, hearing the desperation in my own voice and hating it.

"Are being handled," Giana cut me off with predatory satisfaction. "Kane is already distancing himself from you, isn't he? Soon he'll realize that associating with an unstable Luna is damaging his precious reputation."

The casual way she mentioned Kane's withdrawal hit like a physical blow. Had she orchestrated that too somehow? Was his emotional retreat part of her broader strategy to isolate me?

"How?" I asked, the word escaping before I could stop it.

Giana's smile turned sharp and victorious. "Fear is such a useful emotion. All it takes is the right pressure, the right reminders of past trauma. Kane's parents died because they got too emotionally involved in their cause. Now he's terrified the same thing will happen to you."

The revelation made my blood run cold. She hadn't used magic on Kane—she'd used psychology, exploiting his deepest trauma to turn his love for me into a weapon against our partnership.

"Be very careful, Aurora," Giana continued, her voice dropping to a threatening whisper. "Accidents happen to those who can't mind their own business. Just ask your friend Marcus."

The implication that she'd been involved in Marcus's death made my heart race with rage and terror. "You killed him."

"I've never killed anyone," Giana said with mock innocence. "But I'm very good at encouraging people to make... unfortunate choices. Marcus was so distraught about his father's death, so convinced that life wasn't worth living anymore."

Before I could respond, I sensed Kane's presence. He appeared in the library doorway, his expression carefully neutral as he took in the scene—me backed against the bookshelves with Giana standing uncomfortably close.

Giana immediately switched personas, stepping back and arranging her features into a mask of startled innocence. The transformation was so complete, so perfect, that if I hadn't witnessed her true nature moments before, I might have doubted my own perceptions.

"Kane!" she exclaimed with perfectly feigned relief. "Thank goodness you're here. Aurora was just making some very concerning accusations."

Kane's gaze moved between us, his professional composure intact but his eyes betraying a flicker of something—concern, maybe, or suspicion.

"What kind of accusations?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"She claims I'm meeting with rogues and selling pack secrets," Giana said with a delicate laugh. "I'm worried about her mental state. These paranoid delusions are becoming quite severe."

I watched Kane's face carefully, searching for any sign that he would support me. But his expression remained professionally neutral, giving nothing away.

"The Luna has been under significant stress lately," he said diplomatically. "Perhaps this conversation would be better continued at another time."

The careful neutrality of his response was like a knife to my heart. He wasn't going to support me. Even faced with Giana's obvious manipulation, he was choosing professional distance over our partnership.

Giana smiled triumphantly, recognizing her victory in Kane's diplomatic response. "Of course. I understand Aurora is going through a difficult time."

After she left, Kane and I stood in tense silence. The morning sunlight continued to stream through the windows, illuminating dust motes that danced between us like visible representations of all the words we couldn't say.

"You don't believe her, do you?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Kane's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly—the only sign that my question affected him at all. "I believe you're both under significant stress."

"She threatened me, Kane," I said, stepping closer. "She all but admitted to being involved in Marcus's death."

"Stressed people sometimes hear things that weren't said," Kane replied in that same carefully neutral tone.

I stared at him in disbelief, feeling something break inside my chest. "You think I'm having paranoid delusions?"

"I think you're exhausted and frightened and looking for someone to blame for everything that's gone wrong," Kane said, his words carefully measured but cutting deep.

"Get out," I said quietly.

Kane didn't move. "Aurora—"

"I said get out!" The words echoed off the library walls.

For a moment, Kane's professional mask slipped. I saw pain flash across his features, quickly suppressed but unmistakably there.

"This isn't about what I think," he said quietly. "This is about keeping you safe."

"Safe from what? The truth?"

Kane's silence was answer enough. As he walked away, I realized that Giana had won without even needing magic—she'd simply exploited the trauma that Kane carried, turning his greatest strength into his greatest weakness.