Betrayed By One. Bound To Three Chapter 27: jealous?

Selena.

The mont I closed the door to my chamber, the silence pressed in heavier than the ceremony grounds had just monts before.

It was strange how quickly celebration could twist into tension, how a coronation ant to replace my father’s legacy could dissolve into whispers the mont I walked in alive.

I leaned against the door for a heartbeat, letting myself breathe, though my thoughts refused to settle into anything resembling calm.

So much had happened in a single morning that it felt as though ti itself had bent unnaturally. I had stopped a coronation that was never ant to happen without .

I had faced elders whose eyes carried accusation rather than celebration. I had watched Loretta collapse into tears so quickly that it almost would have been convincing, had her gaze not flickered toward the crowd first, asuring their reaction before deepening her sobs.

Her tears had been too careful, ant to fool , only if she knew.

I walked slowly toward the center of my room, my fingers grazing the familiar furniture, though even the familiarity felt distant.

This had once been my space when I was younger, before responsibilities grew heavier and expectations sharper. Yet now it felt borrowed, like sothing temporarily returned to rather than sothing I truly possessed. Everything felt misplaced.

Silas had looked shocked when he saw , though he had hidden it quickly beneath that composed exterior he wore so effortlessly before the pack.

He had expected to be dead—and yet I was here.

That knowledge made his expression, half-hidden as it was, far more unsettling than any anger could have been.

Beneath his calm, sothing tense strained to break free—and I could feel it.

I exhaled slowly, realizing that remaining inside these four walls would only allow my thoughts to spiral further.

If I were to stay here, if I were to reclaim my place in this pack, then hiding inside a guest-like chamber would not do. This was my ho long before it was ever ant to be Silas’s kingdom.

And there was one room that truly mattered.

My father’s chamber.

The king’s chamber.

If I were to stand before the pack as his daughter, then I would do so fully. I would not shrink myself to make others comfortable.

With that resolve steadying , I straightened and moved out of my door, closing it with quiet determination.

The corridor beyond was quiet, though footsteps echoed from the far end. I had barely taken two steps when I saw him approaching.

Silas.

He slowed when he noticed erging, and though his posture remained relaxed, there was sothing watchful in his gaze that sharpened as he drew closer.

"Going sowhere?" he asked, his tone light but edged with curiosity.

"I am," I replied evenly, eting his gaze without hesitation. "I have decided that I will begin using my late father’s chamber instead."

For a brief mont, sothing flickered across his face that I could not quite decipher. It was not anger exactly, but it was not approval either. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly before he smoothed his expression again.

"That is a big decision," he said carefully. "You have only just returned."

"This was my ho long before today," I answered. "If I am to remain here, I see no reason to stay confined to my room."

His eyes searched mine, and I could sense the questions he didn’t voice.

"If that is what you want," he said smoothly, "then you shall have it."

There was sothing about the ease of his agreent that unsettled more than resistance would have. Silas was not a man who surrendered control lightly, and yet he did not challenge .

As we began walking down the corridor together, he added almost casually, "Since the lower floor is now filled with guests who arrived for the coronation, I had to rearrange so accommodations. The rogues who accompanied you have been given rooms upstairs, near the king’s chamber."

I glanced at him. "That is perfectly fine."

He studied for a second longer than necessary, and then a faint, almost teasing smile touched his lips. "You are not concerned for your safety?"

I tilted my head slightly. "Why would I be?"

He gave a soft, almost amused exhale. "The problem with you, Selena, is that you have always been naive. You see only the good in people and assu it is all that exists."

You an, like I saw in you, stupid.

"I do not believe that makes naive," I replied calmly. "It makes hopeful."

"A beautiful woman choosing to sleep on the sa floor as rogues should at least pretend to feel cautious," he said, his tone light but his eyes sharp. "They are not pack-bound. They answer to no one."

His choice of words lingered in my mind. There was no overt insult in them, yet there was sothing beneath, sothing almost probing.

"Are you jealous?" I asked softly.

He stopped walking for half a second before continuing, and when he answered, his voice was smooth but lower than before, it carried a quiet possessiveness I had always wanted to see.

"Yes," he said simply.

The directness of his admission surprised more than the statent itself. I searched his face for mockery but found none.

What a great actor.

"You are my mate, after all," he continued. "It would be foolish of not to care who shares your proximity."

I considered his words carefully before responding. "If truly you are my mate and you believe that," I said gently, "then you should have nothing to fear."

He looked at then, truly looked at , as though trying to decipher whether my calm was ignorance or confidence. There was a long pause where neither of us spoke, the corridor stretching quiet around us.

Finally, he gave a small nod, the faintest curve of a smile touching his lips once more.

"I suppose that depends," he murmured.

"On what?" I asked.

"On whether the world sees you the way I do," he replied.

There was sothing in his tone that I could not quite grasp, sothing layered beneath the surface of possessiveness. It should have felt protective, perhaps even flattering, yet instead it left a subtle chill tracing down my spine.

Still, I refused to show discomfort.

"This is my ho," I said steadily as we resud walking. "And I will not live in it as though I am afraid."

Silas said nothing to that, though I felt his gaze linger on for several steps more than necessary.