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Chapter 380
~Zara’s POV~
This ti, my palm struck Snow’s face. The sound echoed like a gunshot.
Snow didn’t move, didn’t react. His blue eyes bore into mine, filled with conflict, guilt, and sothing darker.
I turned back to Vani, my voice sharp and cold.
"You’re fired."
"Zara," Snow’s voice rang out, urgently.
I snapped my gaze back to him, fury and heartbreak swirling together like a storm.
"What?" I spat, my chest rising and falling rapidly. "What do you an ’Zara’? You think I’ll let this go?" My hands trembled as I pointed at Vani. "She kissed you, Snow! My own husband! And you pushed for her—this bewitching snake?!"
Snow flinched but remained silent, his jaw clenched tightly. "She’s not a bewitching snake," he defended, his last words so loud it made silent.
And that was when I saw it. The possessiveness in his eyes. The flicker of rage when I hit Vani.
The realization struck like a dagger to the heart. "Oh my god," I whispered, stepping back, my breath catching in my throat.
I looked between them—Snow’s tense fra, Vani’s guilty expression.
"You..." My voice shook. I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling the pain of the mate bond betrayal burning deep into my skin. My mark—our mark—flared red. It was burning. His lounging and protection of her was making it all worse.
"You found your mate," I whispered, my heart shattering. "You... found your mate." The words now made sense better to and a certain dread pooled in my chest. "And you didn’t think to tell ?"
The silence that followed was deafening. Snow’s face fell, the truth weighing down on him like a curse.
I let out a hollow laugh, shaking my head as the realisation settled into my bones. "So that’s why you’ve been distant. That’s why your wolf has been restless. It was never just the witches, was it?"
Snow took a hesitant step forward, his hands reaching for . "Zara, I was going to tell you. I—"
I stepped back before he could touch .
"Don’t."
His hands clenched into fists, his wolf clawing to break through. "I was trying to find the right ti—"
"There is no ’right ti,’ Snow!" My voice broke. "The mont you knew—you should have told !"
Snow’s eyes darkened, his guilt written all over his face. "Zara, please. I was scared of your reaction and—"
"Save it." My voice was empty, the weight of his betrayal sinking into like a stone in water.
Snow turned to Vani, and for the first ti, his gaze was cold.
"Get. Out."
Vani didn’t argue. She turned and ran, disappearing out the door like a coward.
The room fell into silence in a thick and suffocating manner. I glazed back at Snow only to see the pain in his eyes.
It must have hurt his wolf to see him treat his mate like that. I knew that because of Tempest and her mate but still.
Why lie? Why hide things from ?
I stood there, my chest rising and falling, my hands clenched so tight my nails dug into my skin.
But Snow? He wasn’t looking at anymore. I wasn’t his focus anymore.
I never was.
I turned sharply on my heel and stord out of the study.
"Zara—wait!" Snow called after .
I didn’t stop.
I didn’t even look back. All I wanted was to be alone right now. I was hurting and so was Astrid. The betrayal was stabbing and I couldn’t be around my chosen mate right now.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides, anger bubbling under my skin, but I forced myself to stay calm and tried to remind myself that Snow had pushed her away.
"He didn’t kiss her. She kissed him."
Still, the sight of another woman touching my husband made my blood boil. And yet, they were mates. Wasn’t I allowed to be angry?
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~Snow’s POV~
The mont Zara stord out, the weight of what had just happened settled over like a damn avalanche.
I had hurt her.
Not just physically, when I pushed her in reflex, but deeper—where the mate bond connected us.
Glacier was pacing furiously inside , restless and agitated. He had been fighting from the mont I pushed Vera away.
"You rejected her."
"She is not my mate," I snarled back at him. "Zara is my mate."
A low growl echoed in my mind. "And yet, you couldn’t even tell her the truth."
I clenched my fists, trying to shut out the voice, trying to shut out everything. Zara’s expression, the betrayal in her eyes, the pain radiating through our bond—it burned. It fucking burned.
And I did that.
I let out a slow, shaky breath, forcing myself to focus. I needed to fix this. But first—
I needed to deal with her.
With Vani.
Her room was at the far end of the mansion, near the servant quarters, but I never visited it. I never even acknowledged that she was living under the sa roof as Zara and .
Until now.
I knocked twice, not caring to wait before pushing the door open.
Vani was sitting on the edge of her bed, her injured arm resting limply at her side. She hadn’t even bothered to treat it.
When she looked up and saw , her lips trembled, and for a second, she looked... broken.
But I wasn’t falling for it. Not this ti.
"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" I asked, my voice sharp and low.
Vani inhaled deeply, then exhaled like she had been waiting for this confrontation. "I... I’m sorry."
I scoffed. "Don’t. Don’t fucking say that to , Vani."
She flinched slightly at the edge in my voice but quickly composed herself. "I didn’t an to cause problems between you and Zara."
"You knew exactly what you were doing," I snapped, stepping closer. "You knew what would happen if she saw that. If you—" I gritted my teeth, anger bubbling inside . "Why did you do it?"
Vani’s bottom lip quivered. Then, suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes.
And I knew.
I knew she was going to play this ga again.
"You think it’s fair?" she whispered, her voice breaking. "That Zara gets to have you, that she gets to claim you—but what about , Snow?" Her eyes shone with raw emotion. "What about ?"
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