Chapter 150

Damon

My eyes kept straying to the signed agreement as I walked. I’d memorized every word when I sealed it, every carefully inked lie that now bound me to the Ashfords and, by extension, to Ella’s poison.

Outwardly I was calm. Inwardly, Zane paced like a caged predator, claws scraping against bone, low growls vibrating through my chest.

We shouldn’t be doing this, he snarled, voice sharp in the back of my mind. Tear it up. Make her choke on her own words.

My hand flexed around the parchment. For once, Zane and I were aligned in this; every instinct screamed to turn on my heel, storm into Ella’s chambers, and rip her apart before her games spread another inch.

But this instinct wouldn’t save Lila. Swallowing my pride, enduring this humiliation would.

I stopped before the guest suite, Ella’s private chamber for now. Its polished oak was carved with delicate patterns meant to soften the authority of the space.

The guards stationed outside stiffened but said nothing, merely opening the door at my curt nod.

Ella was waiting, as if she expected this visit.

She stood near the window, pale silk clinging to her figure in deliberate contrast to the ash-stained corridors beyond. Moonlight caught in the mother-of-pearl combs pinning her hair, sending tiny shards of reflected light dancing across the walls.

Her lips curved up somewhere between a greeting and mockery.

“Your Majesty.” She dipped into a shallow curtsy, dripping with insincerity.

I didn’t bother acknowledging her.

I crossed the room with slow, deliberate strides and placed the rolled parchment on the table between us. The wax seal caught the light — my own signet impressed deep into the red.

The sight of it sickened me.

Ella’s fingers hovered over the document like she was savoring the moment. She didn’t pick it up immediately; she let the moment stretch, savoring it.

“You’ve been busy,” she said softly, voice honeyed but barbed. “I wondered if you’d lose your nerve.”

It took everything I had to hold back my tongue. And my wolf.

“You always did underestimate me,” she continued, finally sliding the agreement toward herself. Her nails were painted pearl, gleaming faintly as she broke the seal. “But you see reason when it matters.”

Zane lunged in my head, snarling for control, but I held the line. My shoulders stayed squared, jaw set, fingers curled loosely at my sides. I needed to hold my composure long enough to get the antidote for my mate.

“Where is it?” My voice came out low, flat.

Ella glanced up, eyes bright with satisfaction. “Safe. For now. Elena will arrive tomorrow to countersign the agreement.” She tucked the parchment against her chest as though it already belonged to her. “Once it’s done, I’ll bring you what you want.”

The antidote.

I forced my breathing to remain even. “Bring Elena quickly.”

Her smile widened. “Oh, I will. You’ve waited this long… what’s another day?”

Every muscle in my body begged to react, to bare teeth, to growl, to let Zane loose and end this charade in Ella’s blood. Instead, I inclined my head once, sharp and final, and turned on my heel.

The moment the door shut behind me, the mask cracked. My hand curled into a fist, knuckles aching from the tenson.

Soon, I promised myself, and Zane. Soon she’ll pay.

But not until Lila was safe.

The guards in the corridor avoided my eyes as I stalked by them. Their silence pressed against my ears like a vice, amplifying the sound of my own breathing and the faint echo of my boots striking marble.

The weight of the engagement contract – the weight of betrayal – hung heavy and invisible around my shoulders.

Zane continued to prowl in the back of my mind, restless and savage. You handed her our throat, he snarled, claws scraping against the cage I kept him in. You let her win.

“She hasn’t won,” I muttered under my breath, my voice low enough to be swallowed by the now-empty hall. “Not yet.”

My hands itched for violence. I flexed them as I walked, knuckles popping.

I wanted to feel Ella’s throat under my palm, to erase the smirk that had clung to her lips as she clutched that parchment like a prize. But want wasn’t enough. Not when Lila’s life still hung in the balance.

The air shifted as I rounded a corner, cooler here in the less-traveled wing of the palace. The scent of candle wax filled my lungs, but it didn’t ground me. Not when every sense screamed that I was walking deeper into a trap I’d built with my own hands.

I passed a window overlooking the courtyard. Moonlight poured through the glass, painting silver across the floor, catching on the faint soot still clinging to the stone walls from the last rogue skirmish.

For a moment, I stopped and pressed my hand flat to the cold glass.

I pictured Lila in her chambers, pale, withdrawn, so quiet. And the way she looked at me now: like I was a stranger she couldn’t trust.

I’d watched her retreat into herself, watched the fire in her dim day by day. And still I’d chosen to keep her in the dark. To lie through omission.

She was struggling with so much already, I didn’t want to burden her with yet another thing.

Ands I worried if I told her everything, about Ella, the engagement and the poison… I’d lose her anyway.

I dragged my hand down the glass, leaving a faint smear where the heat of my skin battled the cold.

We should mark her again. Tell her it’s time to mark us, Zane urged suddenly, his voice low and rough with longing. She would never doubt us then. She would know she is ours.

The thought hit me like a blow, sharp and visceral. Sealing our bond with her mark was something I’d dreamed of.

But how could I let her yet? What kind of claim was it, when I’d just signed my name to another woman? When I couldn’t even give Lila complete honesty, let alone the freedom she deserved?

I pushed off the wall and kept walking. The hall narrowed ahead, leading toward the wing where the council convened.

They would see Elena’s arrival as a victory. They’d see my signature as agreement to their demands and return to tradition. And they would never know that I was only doing it now, would do it again, and worse, if it meant Lila was healed and survived.

By the time I reached my own chambers, my composure had shattered completely.

I slammed the door behind me, the echo rattling through the room. The fire in the hearth had burned low, embers casting faint orange light across the room. Shadows flickered along the walls, sharp and jagged, mirroring the fracture inside me.

I paced. Back and forth, across the rug, boots scuffing. My chest felt tight, each breath shallow, like my ribs were steel bands cinched too tight.

Zane mirrored me in my mind, claws scraping, tail lashing, his fury a steady drumbeat behind my own.

I stopped at the edge of my desk. A copy of the engagement draft sat atop it in my handwriting. I hated it. Hated the lie it told, the lie it demanded I keep.

But I picked it up anyway. Because this was the path I’d chosen.

“Once she’s safe,” I murmured aloud, voice hoarse, “I burn this to ash. And Ella with it.”

The words steadied me. A vow whispered into empty air, but binding nonetheless.

I glanced toward the adjoining door — the one that led to Lila’s chambers. I could almost see her on the other side: curled up on the window bench, knees to her chest, staring out at the same stars I’d just stared out at.

I wanted to go to her. To fall to my knees and confess everything. But if I did, she’d never forgive me. So I turned away.

Instead of opening that door, I crossed to the window and threw it wide. Cold night air rushed in, sharp and bracing, cutting through the haze in my head.

The wind carried the distant sound of the city beyond the palace walls: muted laughter, the clatter of hooves on cobblestone, life continuing as if my world wasn’t unraveling.

I braced my hands on the sill and bowed my head.

“Hold on,” I whispered into the dark, the words meant for Lila even if she couldn’t hear them. “I’ll fix this. Even if it kills me.”

Zane rumbled low in my chest with acceptance.

For now, that would have to be enough.