To ruin an Omega Nov Chapter 148: Skollrend all the way

Chapter 148: Skollrend all the way

CIAN

"If this is giving you hope that we’d rekindle anything," I said, "I hate to say it, but it’s not happening."

Madeline’s expression didn’t change. "I didn’t say any of that."

"You know what I an."

"Do I?" She tilted her head slightly. "You know , Cian. Do you think I would do anything expecting a prize or a reward? This is your mother’s safety we are talking about."

I looked away. The paintings on the corridor walls blurred at the edges of my vision. "I just want to make that clear. It doesn’t make sense why you would make such a move if you still didn’t care about ."

"I still care about you." Her voice was quiet. Steady. "I still care about you a lot."

The words hung between us. I could feel her eyes on my face, waiting.

"What about you?" she asked. "Do you?"

My throat tightened. I forced myself to et her gaze. "I have a mate and she is not chosen anymore."

"That’s not an answer."

It wasn’t. We both knew it. I could feel the truth sitting in my chest like sothing physical. Sothing I couldn’t swallow down or push away no matter how hard I tried.

"I’m afraid my answer will make you change your mind," I said.

Madeline went still. "So you do love her?"

The question shouldn’t have hurt. I had chosen Fia. I had married her. It might have started with a lot of hate. But things were different now. Sowhere along the way, without aning to, without even realizing it was happening, I had started to care about her in ways that had nothing to do with mundane duty or the idea that marriage was one of my mother’s wishes.

"It would seem so," I said.

Madeline was quiet for a mont. Then she laughed. It was soft. Surprised. "Well. That wasn’t so hard, was it?"

"Mads—"

"And I still haven’t changed my mind."

She stepped closer. Her hands reached for my jacket, smoothing down the lapels where they’d gotten twisted. The gesture was familiar. Automatic. Like her body rembered doing this a thousand tis before even if everything else between us had changed.

Her gaze caught on the aquamarine brooch pinned to my chest. Madeline’s fingers paused there for just a second before she dropped her hands.

"Let us enjoy the party," she said. Her voice was lighter now. More controlled. "You should even introduce

to her. Then we go back to your place and make this right."

I stared at her. "You’re serious."

"I am certain my people will understand when I tell them one of our own poisoned a grand Luna." She straightened my collar one last ti. "And I helped prevent future strife and unnecessary bloodshed, which I’m sure you’re keeping tight under lock and key."

"Nobody needs to know my mother’s business." The words ca out sharper than I intended. "I don’t want that becoming gossip."

I turned to leave. Started walking back toward the ballroom. Back toward the music and the lights and Fia waiting for

sowhere in that crowd.

"Is it because you care for her?" Madeline’s voice stopped . "Or because you know the stain it will leave on your leadership and the strength of your pack?"

I looked back over my shoulder. "I don’t think you should be therapizing , Mads."

"It’s just as depressing as it was before." Her smile was sad. Knowing. "To see that your pack will still be number one priority over everything and everyone in your life."

The accusation hit exactly where she ant it to. Because she was right. She had always been right about that. My pack ca first. Skollrend ca first. It was the foundation of everything I was, everything my father had built, everything I had promised to protect.

"Your new bride," Madeline continued. "If you had to choose, which would you choose? Skollrend or her?"

The question settled over

like ice water. I knew the answer. I had always known the answer. And the worst part was that Madeline knew it too. She had asked

the sa thing years ago when we were still together. When she had begged

to choose her over my father’s legacy. When she had given

that ultimatum that had torn us apart.

I hadn’t chosen her then. I suspected that I wouldn’t choose Fia now.

The realization sat heavy in my gut. Fia deserved better than that. She deserved soone who would put her first. Who would burn the world down for her if that’s what it took. But I wasn’t that person. I couldn’t be that person. Not when Skollrend depended on . Not when hundreds of pack mbers looked to

for leadership, for protection, for the kind of strength that ant putting the pack above everything else.

Even above the people I loved.

"Rumors are probably flying about us now," I said. My voice sounded tired even to my own ears. "We should get back."

Madeline smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes. "I guess I have my answer. Skollrend all the way."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell her she was wrong. That things were different now. That I was different. But the words stuck in my throat because they would have been lies. She knew

too well for lies to work. She had always known

all too well.

"Co on," I said instead.

We walked back toward the ballroom in silence. The music grew louder with each step. Voices and laughter spilled out through the open doors. The warm glow of chandeliers cut through the dim corridor lighting.

I could see people moving inside. Dancing. Drinking. Pretending that politics and poison and broken promises didn’t exist for a few hours. Julius would be sowhere in there watching . Waiting to see if his little manipulation had worked. If bringing Madeline here would crack

open the way he wanted.

Maybe it had.

My hands were steadier now than they had been earlier. The shaking had stopped sowhere during our conversation. But my chest still felt tight. My heart still beat too fast. And I knew that the second I walked back into that ballroom and found Fia, I would have to look her in the eyes and pretend that seeing Madeline again hadn’t shaken sothing loose inside .

Pretend that I hadn’t also just confird that I would still choose my pack over her if it ca down to it.

Madeline paused at the entrance to the ballroom. She smoothed down her dress. Checked her reflection in one of the decorative mirrors hanging on the wall. When she looked back at , her expression was neutral. Pleasant. The mask she wore when she had to be diplomatic.

"Ready?" she asked.

I nodded. Didn’t trust my voice to co out steady.

We stepped into the ballroom together. The noise hit

first. Then the heat of too many bodies pressed into one space. The sll of expensive perfu, champagne and the faint tallic tang of silver that always seed to cling to formal werewolf events.

I scanned the crowd for Fia.

Faces blurred together as my gaze moved from cluster to cluster. Dresses, suits, familiar pack mbers laughing too loudly. I caught sight of Elara near the drinks table, her back to , deep in conversation. Aldric stood closer to the dais, looking perfectly at ease, as if nothing in the world ever touched him unless he allowed it.

But Fia was not there.

I shifted my weight and looked again. Slower this ti. More carefully. I checked the edges of the room first, the places she would have gravitated toward if she felt overwheld. Near the tall windows. Beside the pillars. Close enough to the exits to leave if she needed air.

Nothing.

A flicker of unease slid through . I told myself not to overreact. The ballroom was crowded. She could be behind soone taller. She could have stepped aside to speak with soone. She could be anywhere.

I took a step forward, then another, gently easing through the press of bodies. Polite nods followed . Quiet greetings. I answered them automatically, barely hearing my own voice.

But still, I got nothing.

My chest tightened.

So I imdiately reached for the bond without thinking.