[Third Person].
A thick, suffocating silence fell in the room. redith turned away at last and sank onto the couch, rubbing her temples. A dull headache had settled behind her eyes.
Draven watched her for a mont, then let out a heavy sigh—relieved that her emotions were no longer spiralling.
Then, he turned back to Xamira with a steady but unyielding gaze. "How long," he asked evenly, "did you plan to keep all of this a secret?"
Xamira’s shoulders slumped. "As long as possible. I didn’t think you would accept if you ever learnt what I was."
redith let out a cold breath and turned sharply toward her. "Then tell us this," she said. "Now that you’ve been exposed, how did your first nanny die?"
The room went still. Xamira’s fingers tightened in the sheets as seconds stretched. Then her composure finally broke.
"She... died because of ," Xamira whispered.
Draven’s eyes darkened.
"I was very close to her," Xamira continued, voice shaking. "We used to play together. On that day, we made paper birds. One of them flew to the balcony."
Her breathing hitched, then she continued. "She went to retrieve it. I thought it would be funny to scare her, so I transford into a bird." Her voice cracked. "I didn’t know she saw change. She panicked and repeatedly stepped back without stopping. And then, she fell."
Tears spilt down her cheeks. "I didn’t an it. If I knew she would die, I swear, I wouldn’t have done it."
redith felt sothing cold settle in her chest. This whole thing wasn’t just deception. This was danger.
A being capable of erasing traces, of slipping between shapes, of turning accidents into silence.
redith didn’t want to look at her anymore. The child she had seen, spoken to, and drawn with had never existed.
Through the mate bond, redith spoke quietly to Draven. "We should let her go." But fear followed imdiately. "What if she cos back here as another child. Another servant. Or worse, goes out there and parades as one of us?"
"I understand," Draven replied.
Then, he turned back to Xamira, who was still crying. "Before the woman found you," he asked, "where did you live?"
Xamira shook her head weakly. "I don’t rember. I was badly injured when she found . She took in. That’s all I know."
redith didn’t believe her fully, but when she searched her thoughts, there was no deception, only guilt, regret and fear.
There were absolutely no plans or sches.
redith withdrew from her mind, refusing to soften even a bit.
Draven spoke to Xamira again. "Who else knows what you are?"
"No one," Xamira said quickly, shaking her head. "No one else."
Draven nodded once. Then, through the mate bond, he spoke to redith, his tone steady, resolute.
"The safest solution is to end this here. Take her life."
redith nodded in acceptance. She felt nothing at the thought, only exhaustion.
She turned slightly, ready to leave the room, ready to stop caring what happened next. And that was when Xamira finally moved.
She slid off the bed and fell to her knees before them, bowing low until her forehead touched the floor.
"Please," she begged. "Alpha."
She didn’t call him Daddy as she usually addressed him. She didn’t dare.
Then she turned toward redith, her voice breaking. "My lady... please."
"I know I deserve punishnt," Xamira sobbed. "But don’t kill . I will do anything. Anything you command. My life is yours."
She bowed again lower.
redith’s voice was ice-cold. "Stop dreaming," she said. "You will never live here again. Not as who you were. Not as who you are."
Xamira didn’t stop. "I won’t be anything," she cried. "I will obey whatever you command. I will disappear. I will live by your rules. Just—please."
Draven watched her silently. There was no hesitation in his expression. Only sothing heavy, buried deep—regret he refused to indulge.
For five years, he had raised her, protected her, and believed in her. But sentint could not outweigh risk. And he would not allow it to.
On the other hand, redith did not soften. She looked down at the kneeling figure with cold clarity, her voice stripped of rcy.
"You don’t have the right to keep your life anymore," she said flatly. "After everything you’ve done—everything you’ve hidden—you are not trustworthy." Her eyes hardened. "And sothing that cannot be trusted is useless."
The words hit harder than any blow.
Xamira stiffened, then slamd her forehead against the floor with a sharp thud. "I’m not useless!" she cried hoarsely. "I’m still useful—I swear it! I will prove it!"
redith leaned forward slightly, her shadow falling over her. "And how," she asked quietly, "do you intend to prove that you are worth keeping alive?"
Xamira lifted her head. For the first ti since the interrogation began, she t redith’s gaze fully—fear still there, but now threaded with desperation and resolve.
"I can be your ssenger," Xamira said. "Your eyes. Your shadow." Her voice steadied as she continued. "I can take on any identity in the world—as long as I see it. Faces, mannerisms, voices. I can beco anyone you need to be."
Instantly, sothing clicked inside redith.
Contrary to expectation, it wasn’t rcy. Rather, calculation.
redith straightened slowly, her mind already moving ahead—too fast, too sharp. A shapeshifter. Perfect infiltration. No suspicion. No trace.
’She will be a powerful weapon,’ She realized.
Draven felt the shift in the atmosphere. Then, through the mate bond, his voice ca low and cautious. "What have you decided?"
redith didn’t look at him as she replied. "I will take care of this."
The next second, she turned back to Xamira. "Stand."
Xamira scrambled to her feet at once, lowering her gaze, her entire posture submissive.
"You have twenty-four hours to decide your fate," redith said coolly.
Xamira’s breath hitched.
"You will either choose to die," redith continued, unflinching, "or you will beco my weapon until the day I decide you are no longer useful and ask for your head."
There was no promise of forgiveness, and definitely no illusion of safety. Only truth.
Xamira bowed deeply, her forehead touching the floor once more. "I understand, my lady."
redith didn’t respond. She turned away, walked straight to the balcony, and shut the doors firmly, sealing them with a decisive click.
If Xamira had been given twenty-four hours, then redith would ensure she didn’t escape even a minute before that ti was up.
"Watch her," redith said to Draven without turning back.
"I will," he replied.
redith left the room and went in search of the nanny while being calm on the outside, but ruthless and focused within.
While Draven remained behind, his gaze never leaving Xamira, who stood frozen in place, fully aware that her life now rested on a single decision.
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