Selara's POV
He was lying. There was no way Sylas would be alive and wouldn't be actively searching for me.
I searched his face for a moment, hunting for that hint of a lie, for something to confirm my suspicion, but his grin hid every piece of information. His pale grey eyes let nothing out either.
I raised my head in defiance and pride up at him. We could be mated, but he wasn't my husband. "You are lying." I challenged him. It took conscious effort to keep my chin from shaking and my voice.
That earned me a narrowed look. He scoffed, heavier now, almost mocking.
He was so used to mocking people that, though he tried to keep that from his grin, he couldn't completely.
"I see you truly love him." He muttered. I didn't miss the quiet momentary hollowness that followed the words 'love him.'
I could swear he sounded hurt there, but like always, his eyes gave out nothing.
"That's right, I love him, that's why I can't love you, even if you are my mate. My heart belongs—"
"The question isn't if you love him, Selara. It is if he loves you."
"Of course he does." I fired back at him. "Just what are you insinuating?"
He tried to say something, then he searched my face for a moment, his gaze careful and studying. His lips clamped shut, as if he'd decided against what he wanted to say initially. He sniffed, then he finally spoke again, "Ever wondered how the bandits that attacked your home could get into your manor, and did as much damage as they did?"
If he meant that I had a spy in my home, then that wasn't innovative. I've figured that out already, and whoever that spy was, he was the first person I intended to find and kill once I was free. "Just what are you trying to insinuate, Darian?"
His eyes sized me up while he slid his thumb on his lips gently. "I figured by now, you should know you had a spy in your ranks. But do you know who he is?"
There was a strange, rather accusing tint to his voice that I refused to believe. He sounded like the spy was Sylas. But there was no way that could be true. I'd watched him die defending our home against the bandit.
I wanted to accuse him of lying, to yell at him that nothing he said could ever tarnish the image of Sylas in my head. But I held back as much as I could, my fists pulsing beside me. Was he that desperate for me that he would have to lie?
"If you know the spy, then tell me, who is it?" I asked through clenched teeth.
He grinned as he spied the dark tint in my expression, as rage fired through my veins. "Rather, why don't I show you?"
He took his cell phone from his pocket, operated it for a few moments, and then crossed over to me.
"Here you go, mate."
He threw the phone at me, and I caught it reluctantly. My hands trembled around it. I stared at the phone and then at his grin, and then back to the phone. Something in his eyes told me I wasn't going to like what I was going to find out.
I tapped onto the blank screen, and instantly, light and colours flooded the space.
The image that first greeted me twisted my stomach into knots so tight that pain screamed through me.
I double blinked at the screen. The image just couldn't be real. It was impossible. Sylas leaned on the railings of the yacht we owned, with another woman in his arms.
I zoomed in on the picture to recognize her, my fingers trembling over the screen. She was the daughter of Alpha Ludwig, one of the old Alphas of the lycan council.
Sylas has never gotten along with her and has always complained about her, ever since she began to represent her father in the lycan council meeting.
What could they be doing in each other's arms? What could... Memories flooded me then, memories of him running away off to take calls in secrets, of him returning home late, of him going off for weeks on business trips that were all lies.
I tried not to believe the picture, told myself it was fake. But there was so much I could do to fool my heart, so much. Tears spilled from my eyes, and I squeezed them shut tightly so that my eyelids had soaked up everything.
My hands trembled as I leaned the phone back to him. "This still doesn't prove that Sylas was the spy. It just proves he was cheating on me." I said, ignoring how hollow and sad I sounded. I had always thought my marriage was perfect, not knowing it had worse cracks than any I'd ever known.
Darian didn't take the phone from me. His grin struggled to reach his eyes, but it wasn't mocking or taunting; it was sad, almost like pity. I hated pity, but I couldn't stop him from feeling that, not when I looked terribly helpless.
He nudged back the phone with his eyes. "You might want to swipe right, Selara. And by the way, that picture is just yesterday."
I pretended I didn't hear his comment about the picture. There was no way that was possible, there was no way...
My thought crashed to a brutal stop again when my eyes fell on the news Headline, below which sat Sylas's picture.
"POPULAR BILLIONAIRE WHOSE WIFE DISAPPEARED WITH ANOTHER MAN SET TO MARRY BILLIONAIRE HEIRESS, VALENTINA LUDWIG"
To the humans, we were just billionaires, so the headline wasn't strange. What was strange, and had me cleaning off my eyes for a clearer and confirming view, was the date beneath it. 19/12/2015. That was just two days ago. My palms suddenly burned hot, like I was holding lava rather than a phone in them, my insides twisting so tight, my whole body shook. How was this even possible?
How could Sylas be alive? I had watched him die.
I had no idea I had said those out loud until Darian answered me, striding closer. "He is alive because he never died. He planned the attack with the bandits, schemed everything, and sold you into slavery to the bandits, so he could get you out of the way to marry Valentina, and inherit her father's pack as he did yours. The rest I would leave to your imagination." He said. Though it was supposed to be simple words. He even spoke with more calm and compassion, yet each word was like a dagger to my heart, brutally tearing through.
I tried to deny it, tried to let my mind wash it away as just lies, but the truth was just so desperate to stay.
But why? Why would Sylas do this to me? All I'd ever done was love him. How could he plan an attack on us and sell me into slavery just for his greed and ambition?
I had always known he was ambitious, wanting to become the most powerful and wealthiest Alpha in the council. But never did I know he would sacrifice me for that ambition. All the love I had once had for him quickly dissolved into murder. The urge to pin him to a wall and demand from him why he betrayed me before ripping off his neck consumed me. My claws tightened on my tattered dress.Still, even with my murderous thoughts, I still couldn't get over the betrayal, my heart tightened in my chest, and all I felt was pain.
I lifted my head when Darian dropped close. I fought it with every strength in me, trying not to cry before him, but I just couldn't hold back the tears. A drop slid down both cheeks.
Every trace of the grin on his lips faded at the sight of the tears.
He'd worn on some gloves now, and he leaned closer to me.
My body would have instinctively moved after the burn earlier, but I just stood there, like a statue, too weak to do anything.
He pressed his thumbs on my cheeks, his touch tender and gentle as he wiped away the tears from my eyes and cupped my face.
"I will make sure to make him pay for all he did to you, Selara. I will make him wish he had never been born." He declared, rage making his voice tremble.
"No!" I brushed off his hands and moved back from him, cleaning off my tears myself. "This is my fight, it has nothing to do with you."
He reached for me again, and I dropped back from his reach. "Then let me help you, Selara. He's claimed your empire. You have nothing to fight with."
"I—" I wanted to counter that. But I realized he wasn't actually wrong. Sylas had convinced me just a week before the attack to sign everything my family and I owned over to him. Now, thinking back, I realized I was stupid to have ignored the signs, to have let love blind me to the truth.
I forced down the bile rising in my throat. "Just like I have nothing to my name against to fight Sylas, I also have nothing to bargain with you."
"That's not exactly true." His lips curled into a stiff grin.
"I would love to lie to you, but I don't think I can love you, Darian."
"Who said anything about love? I need you to hate me, Selara. But still stay close." He said. "That's the only way I can ever have you."
"What do you mean by that?" I squinted my gaze at him. I could tell he was hiding something. Something that had to do with why his touch burned me earlier, and why he had to wear gloves to touch me.
"Nothing you need to stress your pretty brains about," he grinned again. He leaned out his hand for a handshake. "We have a deal then."
He was definitely hiding something. "I don't make deals where I don't have the full details and secrets. Tell me whatever you are hiding, then you have a deal."
Now his grin widened, spreading to capture all of his face, especially his calculating pair of grey orbs. He stepped back from me and turned towards the door. "From where I see it, you don't have a choice but to take the deal. So come along, let me show you to your room. I can't have my mate looking dirty."