Luca’s POV
The halls stretched long and dim in front of , but I barely noticed them as I walked with a rage boiling beneath my skin. My fists were clenched so tight that the pressure burned my knuckles.
Every servant I passed dropped their eyes and moved out of my way, sensing the storm in my expression. I didn’t need to growl or snap orders. My anger was thick enough to choke them all.
Selena had stood in front of like a creature resurrected from ashes, yelling like she had been the one wronged. She had spit at my feet, her voice torn and wild, accusing of cruelty—, the son of a woman she murdered.
She had scread that I was a monster. She dared to twist the truth like that. If I were a monster, she wouldn’t have had the chance to raise her voice, let alone scream in my face. She wouldn’t be breathing.
Still, her words echoed in my head louder than I wanted to admit. The brokenness in her voice had cut deep. I told myself I didn’t care, but the truth was I had seen sothing in her eyes—sothing I couldn’t ignore.
She had been angry, yes, but it wasn’t just rebellion. It wasn’t pride. It was sothing deeper, darker. It was the kind of rage that only ca from soone who had swallowed their pain for too long.
I couldn’t understand it. Since the day we took her in, she hadn’t made a sound. She didn’t resist when we took her na. She didn’t protest when we branded her. Not a word when we tossed her in the dirt and gave her nothing. Even when she cried during that first night in the slave quarters, she didn’t scream.
Not like this. So what made her snap now? What could push her to beat ogas bloody in the middle of the courtyard? I knew she wasn’t irrational. If she were, she would’ve caused chaos the mont she stepped into our territory.
My boots slamd against the stone as I entered the lower hall leading to the servant quarters. The courtyard was already in view, and even from a distance, I could see the chaos that still lingered from her explosion.
Tables were shattered. Tools were thrown around like debris in a storm. Blood stained the stone path, so of it hers, most of it not. It was the scene of sothing far worse than disobedience. It was personal.
The air shifted the mont I entered. Ogas froze in place, their eyes wide, their bodies shrinking like prey. The fear in the air was suffocating. But I wasn’t here to tear them apart. I needed to know what happened. The facts.
The head maid wasn’t among them. One of the others whispered that she had been taken to the healer after sustaining serious injuries. My jaw clenched, not because I pitied her—I didn’t—but because I didn’t know what the hell happened to cause such a collapse in order under my command. I didn’t tolerate disorder.
I stepped into the center of the ss and turned toward the group, letting my gaze sweep across them. The fear was clear, but not a single one of them spoke. I had no ti for silence.
"I want answers," I said, my voice cutting through the air like a blade. "Now. From the beginning. Not one lie. Not one detail left out."
When no one responded, I let the full weight of my Alpha voice ring out across the space.
"Speak."
The effect was imdiate. One maid dropped to her knees, her face pale as she began to stamr sothing about Selena attacking her, about rebellion, about betrayal. She claid Selena struck first...that she disobeyed the head maid and start beating her.
It was pathetic. Her eyes darted to the broken table behind as though it would defend her.
Before I could even respond, a voice spoke up from the side.
"I saw everything, Alpha."
It ca from a young male oga I vaguely recognized. He was small but steady, and though his hands trembled slightly, his voice didn’t waver. He took a step forward, lowered his head in respect, and continued.
"The maid lied. She sent selene to your brother Lucian’s chambers on purpose. She said it would bring her punishnt and set an example. Selena didn’t resist. She just did her work. She didn’t fight until she was confronted again—cornered, actually. The maid scread at her, threatened her. Tried to slap her. That was when Selena snapped."
His words settled into like ice in my bloodstream.
"She caught the slap. She didn’t hit first. She tried to defend herself. Then the head maid ca. And she didn’t listen either. She believed the lie. Ordered Selena to be dragged through the quarters and punished in front of everyone. Selena begged her to stop. She tried to explain. But no one believed her. But when head maid start talking bad about her mother, she lost all of her composure and start beating her like this."
There was a long silence after he finished. Everyone was watching , waiting.
I turned my eyes to the maid who had lied. She had turned ghost white, and her legs were shaking beneath her. She opened her mouth to beg, but I didn’t give her the chance.
"You will not return to Alpha Quarters," I said coldly. "You’ve lost your standing. From now on, you’ll be assigned to the knights’ barracks. You’ll clean armor, stables, boots—everything. You’ll be under strict supervision."
"No—Alpha, please—" she sobbed, falling at my feet. "Please, I didn’t an to—"
I didn’t even look at her as I turned away. Her voice faded behind .
My thoughts were a storm of questions I couldn’t answer.
I had seen Selena’s eyes earlier. The way she looked at wasn’t just fury—it was grief. A pain I had no right to ignore. And I hated that it unsettled . I hated that part of wondered if we had made a mistake.
No. I wasn’t weak. I knew what she had done. I knew what she had taken from us.
But sohow, everything was becoming less clear.
And I didn’t like it.
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