Chapter 140: Two steps ahead 1
FIA
I pulled out my phone the mont I cleared the doors, my fingers fumbling with the screen as I walked. The hallway stretched ahead of , long and lined with sentinels of the Knight Estate in their formal dress uniforms. They stood at intervals, backs straight, eyes forward. Professional.
I hit Maren’s contact and pressed the phone to my ear. It rang once. Twice.
A sentinel near the next doorway noticed . He turned slightly, his expression polite but alert.
"Miss, are you lost?"
I shook my head, still waiting for Maren to pick up. "Did you see a man pass through here? Clean shaven, in his forties or fifties?"
The sentinel nodded. "Yes, miss. A gentleman went that direction." He gestured down the hall to the left.
"Thank you."
The line clicked. "Fia?" Maren’s voice ca through, steady but questioning. "Did sothing happen?"
I started walking in the direction the sentinel had pointed, my heels clicking against the polished floor. "No. Did sothing happen on your end?"
"No. Everything’s quiet here. The witch hasn’t even arrived."
"Good." I turned a corner, scanning the corridor ahead. Empty. "But I’m sure sothing might happen because Alpha Aldric just left the wedding procession. Sothing is off. So keep watch. Support Beta Ronan."
"Of course."
I ended the call and kept moving. The corridors branched in different directions, each one looking nearly identical to the last. All I saw were the high ceilings, the expensive artwork, more sentinels stationed at regular intervals. I didn’t know this estate well enough to guess where soone might go if they wanted privacy. Or if they wanted to do sothing they shouldn’t.
I turned another corner. Nothing. There was another hallway and plenty set of doors. My chest felt tight. Where the hell had he gone?
I was about to approach another sentinel when movent caught my eye through one of the tall windows. Outside. In the courtyard.
I changed direction, heading for the nearest exit. The door opened onto a stone terrace that led down to a manicured garden area. Lanterns hung from posts, casting warm light over the pathways. And there, not too far away, stood Aldric.
He had a cigarette between his fingers, the ember glowing orange as he took a drag. He looked relaxed. Casual. Like he’d just stepped out for so air during a boring party.
When he saw , his lips curved into a smile around the cigarette.
"You look like a frightened rat," he said.
I kept my expression neutral as I walked toward him, my shoes crunching softly on the gravel path. He took another puff, letting the smoke curl upward into the air.
"Were you looking for ?" he asked.
I stopped a few feet away from him. "I didn’t know you smoked."
He exhaled slowly. "So I owe you that?"
"What are you up to?"
He looked at
for a long mont, the cigarette dangling between his fingers. "Maybe I called the witch I promised Cian I would get. Turns out she’s not answering." He tapped ash onto the ground. "I hope the rumors that have been going on in the warlock community about my nephew didn’t dispel her from offering us her hand."
He tilted his head. "Why are you here?"
His smile widened as he spoke.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Every response that ca to mind felt like a trap.
"You don’t need to answer," he continued. His tone shifted, mocking now, high pitched in a way that made my skin crawl. "I guess I know why you are here. What is he planning? What is that evil man up to? I have to stop him. I’m special. I need Cian to see that. I need to stay useful. So he doesn’t get bored. There was only so much my cunt can offer."
The words hit
like ice water. Not because they were accurate, but because of how casually cruel they were. How easily he twisted everything into sothing ugly.
My hand moved before I could think about it. The slap connected with his cheek, the sound sharp in the quiet courtyard.
"Cian will see you for who you are regardless," I said. "All I need is ti."
He dropped the cigarette and ground it under his shoe. The movent was deliberate. Slow.
"You slap like what you are," he said.
Then he smiled again, wider this ti.
"I don’t plan to kill my sister in law, Fia. If anything, I want Morrigan to live. And she will. So get a grip. Whatever ga you think it is, it’s not that."
He leaned in closer. Close enough that I could sll the tobacco on his breath.
"What I an to say is you’re no threat to ."
My jaw clenched. "You’d be surprised."
"Oh really? Is it because you added a new chess piece?"
And when he said that, his smile turned sharp. Knowing.
Then he spoke again, and his voice changed. It beca mine. My exact tone, my exact inflection.
"When the Grand Luna coded, it was an intentional act. Alpha Aldric poisoned her again."
My blood went cold. The words I’d said to Beta Ronan. In private. In what I thought was a secure location.
Aldric watched my face change. Watched the realization hit
like a physical blow.
"I have eyes and ears everywhere, Oga."
My phone... I’d had my phone with
when I spoke to Ronan. Had he sohow planted sothing on it? Or was there soone else? Soone else who was at the training yard reporting back to him?
He reached out and grabbed my phone from my trembling hand before I could react. He glanced at the screen, then back at .
"You’re not recording," he said. "You’re learning quick."
He held the phone a mont longer, his thumb moving across the screen like he was checking for sothing. Then he handed it back to .
"I do like this idea of resistance that you think you have," he said. His voice was conversational now. Almost friendly. "But you stand no chance if you’re not willing to go far and down, dragging yourself along in the madness."
He straightened, adjusting his cufflinks.
"From a mad man to you."
My throat felt dry. I couldn’t seem to form words. I couldn’t seem to do anything but stand there and take the phone he offered back to .
"The wedding itself will be nearing its end now," he said. "The ballroom is where things get fun. Do you want to see?"
He walked past . His shoulder brushed mine, the contact brief but deliberate. A reminder that he could get that close. That he could touch
if he wanted to.
Then he was gone, his footsteps fading as he headed back toward the estate.
I stood frozen in the courtyard. The lanterns swayed slightly in the breeze. The sounds of new celebration drifted from sowhere inside, muffled and distant. Music. Laughter. The clinking of glasses.
My hands shook. I looked down at my phone, the screen dark and innocent in my palm. How long had he been listening? What else had he heard? Every conversation I’d had with Ronan, with Maren, with anyone I’d tried to trust, replayed in my mind. Had he known everything from the start? Had this all been so elaborate ga to him?
I wanted to scream. To throw the phone as far as I could and run. But I couldn’t. Because if Aldric knew everything, then he was already several moves ahead. And if I showed panic now, if I broke, he would use that too. He would know I was no threat to him at all.
I forced myself to take a breath. Then another.
The wedding was ending. People would be moving to the ballroom soon for the reception. Cian would notice if I didn’t co back. He would be worried.
I had to go.
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