Chapter 4 TORN BETWEEN THE KING AND HIS HEIR.

Seren’s POV

I sat on the edge of the stone I was previously tied on, my skin humming with the kind of vibration that only comes from being the center of a bloodbath.

I was naked, clutching a thin cloak to my chest, trapped between the Alpha King who claimed I was his "mate" and the Prince who looked at me like I was a toy he was willing to break just to keep it from anyone else.

"Your mate?" Aiden’s voice was high, disbelief coloring it.

He moved closer, his boots crunching over the shattered remains of the door. "Father, look at her. She’s a peasant from the Outer Wards. She was brought here for me to marry."

The alpha king didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look at his son. His eyes were locked on mine—a look that promised both salvation and total ruin.

"The Council lied to you, Aiden," The king rasped, his voice vibrating in my very marrow. "And they lied to me too.”

He reached out. I should have crawled away. I should have screamed. But my wolf—the part of me I’d spent twenty years burying was purring. It was a traitorous, submissive sound that made me want to vomit.

"Don’t touch me," I whispered, though my body was already leaning toward his radiating heat.

The alpha king’s jaw tightened. "I’m not going to hurt you, Seren."

"You already have!" I snapped. "You and your Mages and your 'program.' I was sold like a piece of meat because of your crown. I don't care if we're bonded. Stay the hell away from me."

Aiden let out a sharp, mocking bark of laughter. "See? She hates you. The bond is a fluke." He reached for his sword, the steel hissing against the scabbard. "Step aside, Father. She belongs to the Crown. To me."

The king turned then.  One moment he was looking at me, and the next, he was inches from Aiden’s face.

"She belongs to no one," He growled. "But she is mine to protect. If you draw that sword, Aiden, I will forget you are my blood. Do you understand me?"

Aiden’s face was a mask of repressed fury. But he didn't draw the blade. He knew better.

"The Council is moving," Aiden hissed. "They’ll bring the whole palace down on our heads to kill her. They won't let a fated mate live, Father. Not one they can't control."

The king’s eyes flashed. "Let them try."

He turned, grabbed me off the slab, and pulled me flush against his chest.

"We're leaving," He commanded.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm going to find my father and—"

"Your father is the one who signed the waiver, Seren," He interrupted, his voice surprisingly gentle. "He took the silver. He’s already gone."

The words hit me like a blow to my stomach. The air left my lungs. My father... the man who had supposedly loved me... he had signed the paper that led to the needles.

I thought they were playing tricks on me. I thought my father wouldn’t do…

"Liar," I breathed, though I knew he wasn't.

The king didn't argue. He scooped me up into his arms and moved.

He took me to the High Keep, a place where the Mages' magic couldn't reach and set me down in a bed that smelled of him.

"Stay here," he ordered, his hand lingering on my cheek. "I’m going to end the Council. And then, I’m going to deal with my son."

"And what about me?" I asked. "Am I just your anchor? Your tool?"

He leaned in, his lips brushing against mine. Not a kiss, but a promise. "You are the only thing keeping me sane, Seren. And god help anyone who tries to take you."

He left, the heavy door locking behind him.

I didn't wait. I moved around the room, finding a way out until I saw the hidden passage behind the tapestry.

I scrambled through the dark, my heart hammering, until I burst out into the gardens.

I ran toward the grotto, needing air. Needing to think.

"It’s a beautiful night to run away from the king, isn’t it?"

I froze.

Aiden was standing by the fountain, his sword dripping blood. He looked perfectly composed, except for the wild, manic glint in his eyes.

"He's a fool," Aiden said, walking toward me. "He thinks a bond makes you his. He doesn't realize that in this world, things belong to those who are strong enough to take them."

Aiden reached out, his hand closing around my throat. It wasn't a stranglehold, but it was possessive. Terrifying.

He leaned in, his breath smelling of wine. "I'm going to take you so far away that even the King, my father can't find you."

He raised his sword, but he didn't point it at me. He sliced his own palm, the blood dark in the moonlight.

"A blood ritual, Seren. If I can't have you, I'll bind your soul to me."

“Stop…”

I tried to move away from me but he moved faster and  pressed his bleeding palm against my forehead.

I screamed as a second, darker tether began to wrap around my heart. I collapsed, my vision blurring.

Through the haze, I saw a figure on the balcony above us.

It was my father. And he was holding a crossbow, aimed directly at me. His hands were steady, he wasn’t trembling. He didn’t look like he was going o die at any moment from now.

My father looked…healthy.

It was unbelievable that the man I had spent my years looking after was standing above me, aiming an arrow at me with steady fingers.

"I'm sorry, Seren," he called out, his voice cold. "But the Council pays better for a dead mate than a live one."

He pulled the trigger.

The bolt hissed through the air and thudded into a chest that wasn't mine.

The king stood over me, the bolt buried deep in his shoulder. He didn't even flinch. He looked up at my father, and the growl that left his throat was terrifying.

It was the sound of a King who had just decided to become a murderer.

"Run," He rasped, blood beginning to soak his shirt. "Because I'm about to burn this palace to the ground."