Chapter 232
Chapter 232
Atasha’s POV
“So, they finally couldn’t wait,” I said as the words slipped out with a small smirk that I did not bother to hide.
55 vouchers
Grace stiffened. She had been standing near the door for a while, watching me the way she always did in this mansion, like the walls themselves had teeth and she was counting how many were aimed at my throat.
“If you are laughing, then I am relieved,” Grace said, but her voice still carried strain. “However, I need to ask, and I know it is not my place to pry, but this is a dangerous place and I need to understand what you are doing so I can keep you safe p>
I leaned back against the cushions, letting my posture look weaker than I felt. It was not hard to act fragile.
Grace hesitated for a heartbeat, then forced the question out as if she was cutting through a rope.
“Forgive me,” she said, eyes steady on mine. “May I know why you didn’t heal the Alpha when you went there, when this was your intention all along p>
I let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh, because she was already seeing it, and she was still trying to pretend I was innocent.
“I did not heal him because I did not go there to heal him,” I said. “I went there to confirm what I suspected, and I went there to make a few people anxious p>
Grace’s brows pulled together. “Anxious,” she repeated.
I looked toward the balcony doors, toward the strip of sky beyond, and I let my mind return to William’s face when I pulled my hand away from my father’s pulse. He had tried to look steady. He had tried to stand there like a loyal Beta who only wanted answers. But his eyes had changed, and I noticed because I was no longer the girl who only looked down.
William had been waiting for me to fail.
He had been waiting for me to break.
He had been waiting for my gift to punish me.
“I saw it,” I said softly. “When I withdrew my hand, William’s body reacted before his mind could hide it, and that told me everything I needed to know p>
Grace’s jaw tightened. “You think he is involved,” she said.
“I think he is the reason,” I replied. “I also think Celeste knows the truth now, if she did not already know it before p>
Grace’s gaze sharpened. “Your parentage,” she said.
I did not deny it, because denial was pointless at this stage.
“Yes,” I said. “If Celeste knows that she is not Collin’s blood and if she realizes that I can see what is inside bodies instead of only closing wounds, then she is going to assume I can expose everything, and she is going to respond the way Celeste always responds when she feels cornered p>
Grace’s shoulders squared. “With a scheme,” she said flatly.
“With a scheme,” I agreed, and my mouth curved again, because the idea was almost insulting in how familiar it was. “Celeste fooled me for years because she was good at it, and she will try to do it again, except this time she will not aim for my pride or my guilt, because those tricks do not work anymore. She will aim for my life p>
16:45 Fri, Dec 26 Ma
Chapter 232
18 55 vouchers
Grace’s hand tightened at her side. “She will try to blame the Demon Fangs,” she said, already following the thread.
I nodded. “She will put me in a situation where I can die, then she will cry loudly enough everyone to hear, and she will point at the border, and she will say she tried to protect me but she failed, and then she will wait for Cassian’s wrath to land on the people she wants gone p>
Grace’s eyes narrowed. “You think she wants the North to burn the South,” she said, and there was disgust in her voice.
“Celeste wants control,” I corrected.” If the pack is terrified, they will cling to whoever looks steady. If the North is angry, Celeste can pretend she is the bridge between both sides, and she can paint herself as necessary. She will not care who gets crushed as long as she ends up standing at the top p>
Grace went quiet for a moment, then she asked carefully, “What do you want me to do p>
I turned my head toward her. “How is everything outside?” I asked.
Grace’s face hardened. “Most of the Northfall soldiers who were injured are in critical condition,” she said. “The poison has penetrated deep. It is not only in their blood. It is in their bones. It is severe, and their healers have already exhausted what they can do without you p>
I exhaled slowly, because that part did not surprise me. The west did not send toxins
to inconvenience people. The west sent toxins to leave bodies behind.
“One cannot underestimate poison from the west,” I said, and I meant it. I had seen enough now to understand that the Demon Fangs did not throw attacks for sport. They prepared and they adapted. There was a reason why for years, Demonfangs had ruled the west.
They were always good at waiting… for the right time.
Grace’s eyes stayed on me. I could see the question she did not want to ask forming again.
I pressed my lips together as my mind slid back to Cassian’s last visit, to the conversation that had kept replaying in my head since the night I discovered how long my father had been fed poison.
Cassian had not come to comfort me. Cassian rarely came for comfort. He had come because something bigger was moving under the surface, and he needed me to be aware of it whether I liked it or not,
That night, he told me about the witch that worked with Matron Yara. The witch whose traces had appeared not only in the North but also here in the South.
He had told me his men traced problems near the packs that bordered Arecor and the West, and the pattern was not random, because the same signs kept appearing wherever the West wanted influence.
He had also told me something else, something the King had apparently discussed about my ability, something that still made my skin tighten whenever I remembered
it.
Cassian had said his brother might be cruel, but his brother was not stupid.
Cas
unc
u yet,
s not d
AD
Comment
Send gift
No Ads