Roan
The eastern wing reeked of roses and iron.
We moved through the halls like fire through dry grass my steps rigid, my blood already boiling with the weight of unspoken dread. Corvus flanked my left, eyes narrowed, always calculating. Ewan kept to my right, silent now, no trace of his usual smirk.
Outside the Queen's chamber, two guards stood like statues, grim-faced. One of them was stained with blood up to the elbow.
My heart pounded. I didn't wait for protocol, I threw the doors open myself.
Chaos met me.
Nova lay sprawled across a chaise, trembling, a smear of red blooming across her pale nightgown. Blood had soaked through the silks and now dripped steadily from her side onto the polished marble floor. She clutched her abdomen, eyes red and brimming with tears, her breaths sharp and shallow.
Her mother, Usera, knelt beside her, silver hair disheveled, her arms locked around Nova like a shield. She looked up as we entered and if looks could kill, Arin would already be ash.
And there she was.
Arin stood in the corner, alone. Her hands were raised as if to prove her innocence, though they trembled at her sides. Her face was pale, lips parted, and she looked… broken. But not defeated.
"By all the gods," Ewan muttered under his breath.
I moved forward, ignoring the sticky sound of blood under my boots. I stopped before Nova.
"Who did this?" I asked, voice like ice.
Nova didn't even look at me. Her gaze was locked across the room, on Arin.
"She did," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, barely audible. "Arin."
A crack thundered through my skull, invisible but seismic.
Arin took one step forward, then stopped. "That is not true."
"She stabbed me!" Nova sobbed, breaking into a fit of gasps. "She said I was nothing, said I had stolen you from her. That I was a fraud. I only came to her chambers as her sister and she…" Nova screamed as another wave of pain wracked her body.
"Guards!" I roared.
Two men stepped in.
Usera turned her fierce, tear-streaked gaze toward me. "Your majesty. You must act. You are king now. My daughter has been attacked by the woman you have chosen as your queen. That thing in the corner meant to kill her."
"Enough," Arin said quietly.
"No," Usera spat. "You don't get to speak. Not after what you have done."
"Roan, listen to me," Arin said, her voice shaking now, but her words firm. "I did nothing to her, she came to my room and taunted me.There was a blade, but it wasn't in my hand. It was on the floor beside her. I never touched her. I swear it."
"Liar!" Nova hissed, clutching at her side. "You always hated me. You told me you would ensure i and my mother are banished forever, that no one would ever love me."
"I never…"
"She said I was a puppet!" Nova's voice cracked. "That I would be discarded by the king."
I turned to Arin.
I couldn't stop the fury in my veins. "Do you think me a fool?"
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
"You and your father think that dressing you in silk and sending you into my court will make me weak. That your presence here means that you have the power you both crave for?"
"That's not what happened."
"Oh, save it," I snapped. "I know everything. Your father sired the serpent to be responsible for my downfall. And now, look what you've done."
"Roan"
"You will not speak my name like you know me," I said, stepping closer and wrapping my hand around her fragile neck. A little more pressure and I would not have to deal with this vile woman.
The urge to just wring her neck was so strong that I pushed her away to prevent it, causing her to stumble. "You have shamed your house, and you have proven every whisper about your ambition to be true."
"I didn't hurt her," Arin said again, but softer now. "I promise you that I am innocent, I did nothing."
"Obviously," I said, cold and final, "you did something."
Ewan stepped forward, unease twisting his usual swagger. "Wait. Roan. Let's think about this."
"I have thought," I replied.
"You know this doesn't feel right," Ewan said, glancing between the two women. "Arin doesn't even have a weapon."
"She threw it away," Nova gasped, still clinging to her mother. "She dropped it when she saw me bleeding. She didn't even try to help me."
"I froze," Arin whispered. "I didn't know what I was seeing. I didn't know how to…"
"Enough!" I barked. "I will not listen to another lie."
Ewan turned toward me fully now. "Roan. You haven't even asked for her side of the story."
"Because I don't need it," I said coldly. "She is guilty, there is not a shred of good in her or her father."
Arin's laugh was dry and sharp as broken glass. Everyone turned.
"Of course I am," she said, her voice hardening. "Of course I'm guilty. Your lover says I am. Her mother weeps and wails. And you well, we know where your loyalties lie."
She stood up and took a step toward me. The guards moved instantly, but she held her hands out again no threat.
"I've played along with this charade, Roan," she said. "I endured your coldness. Your silence. I kept my mouth shut when you dismissed me in favor of your mistress like I was nothing."
Her chin lifted. "But you forget one thing."
"Oh?" I said. "Enlighten me."
She smiled, slow and disappointed. "I doubt a man could recognize innocence when his head's buried so far up Nova's petticoats he can't see anything but what she wants him to see."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Even Nova stopped crying for a breath.
Corvus shifted, but said nothing.
Ewan blinked rapidly in disbelief. "Well. Shit."
I was too shocked to say a word. I could not believe that this scheming nitwit had the nerve to question me, the Alpha King.
I stepped toward her. Slowly. Deliberately.