Chapter 25
Lila
By the time I made it back to my room, my clothes were soaked through, my muscles screamed with every step, and my patience had been murg Du like the shirt I’d just folded beneath the awning.
The air in the palace halls was warm and dry, but I still felt chilled to the bone, like the rain had sunk deeper than skin.
I pushed open the creaky door to my tiny room and stepped inside. I peeled off the wet layers one by one, wincing as the motion tugged at bruised skin, My shoulder was tight, and my ankle throbbed from the earlier misstep I’d pretended wasn’t a big deal.
I sat on the edge of the narrow bed, the springs whining beneath me, and ran my hands over my face.
Training was supposed to be hard. But this… was starting to feel like a slow unraveling.
I didn’t know what frustrated me more – my fading endurance, or the fact that Damon noticed. It should’ve made me angry. And it did. But it also made heat stir low in my stomach. Which was inconvenient, as was the way he looked at me.
The way he said again like it wasn’t a command, but a dare. The way he caught me without hesitation. Held me for just a second too long
My fingers curled in the blanket. Gods, what was wrong with me?
He was a tyrant. Cold. Unreadable. Dangerous.
But then there were these moments. Little flashes that slipped past his rock hard exterior; those rare sparks of something quieter in his eyes, something almost… protective.
I hated that it affected me. I hated that I felt safe in his arms.
I leaned forward, pressing my elbows to my knees and burying my face in
my hands.
I couldn’t afford this. Couldn’t let attraction soften my resolve. Damon might be my mate, but I wasn’t here for him. I was here for my mother. For
survival.
I straightened with a sharp breath and forced myself to stretch out across the bed. The mattress was thin, and my hip hit the wooden slats beneath it, but
I didn’t care.
I just stared at the ceiling.
He moved like someone trying not to care. But something in his eyes…
No. I wasn’t going to analyze him tonight.
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the soreness in my body and the ache in my chest that had nothing to do with bruises.
I kept seeing Damon’s face. Not the one he wore in court – the cold tyrant – but the one from the ring, just before I lost my footing. The subtle shift in his eyes when he caught me. The tension in his jaw, like holding me wasn’t part of the plan.
It shouldn’t have meant anything. But I couldn’t stop feeling the shape of him against me, the way his body had bracketed mine like a shield, rather than
a trap.
The memory clung to my skin like the rainwater hadn’t.
He was the Tyrant King, ruthless. But now I didn’t know what I hated more…him, or the part of me that wanted to understand him. Damn Ruby for wanting to claim him as our mate.
And I couldn’t stop thinking about the trials. About what would happen when I paired against him. Because I absolutely would lose.
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Chapter 25
I didn’t just lack the strength, I lacked stamina, I didn’t have an edge over Damon in the ring. Ruby’s fatigue and slow heating had only made tre And if I couldn’t beat the others, I sure as hell couldn’t beat the Lycan King
I swallowed the fear creeping up my throat and pressed the heel of my hand against my eyes.
I couldn’t afford to break now. Not when everything depended on me keeping this lie alive.
Not when everything depended on me surviving him.
A knock at the door jolted me upright.
I sat up too fast, groaning as pain flared across my back. My
tire!
body ached like I’d been run over by a cart full of bricks.
“Coming,” I called, voice hoarse.
When I opened the door, a palace attendant stood waiting, her posture stiff and efficient. “You’ve been reassigned to a new room. His Majesty’s orders.
My heart skipped. “Wait. What?”
She blinked. “You’re to relocate immediately. I’ll escort you.”
I stared at her like she’d spoken in another language. Damon moved me. Did he think I was too fragile to sleep near a bathroom? Too delicate for a hard bed and bad lighting? Or… was it guilt?
That didn’t sound like him.
I nodded slowly, still trying to work through the knots in my thoughts. “Just give me a second.”
She waited outside as I quickly pulled my hair back and grabbed my bag. I reached for my folded clothes–and then paused.
Something soft brushed my fingers and I pulled it free from the pile. It was Damon’s shirt. The one I’d worn after getting stuck in the bathroom with no clothes. I thought I’d returned it, but somehow… it was still hre.
I held it for a second too long, the soft fabric still carrying a faint trace of him.
I swallowed hard and tucked it quickly to the bottom of my bag. I didn’t have the time, or the emotional bandwidth – to deal with that right now.
As I stepped into the hallway, two other candidates passed by and slowed their steps.
“Must be nice,” one of them said under her breath. “Special treatment for the King’s favorite.”
“She probably asked for a room closer to his.” The other spat. Their laughter was venemous.
I ignored them. Or tried to.
Every step down the hall made me feel more confused. Not because of the room, I didn’t care about the luxury, but because I didn’t understand what Damon was doing.
I know Henry insisted I now win this bride selection, but it was supposed to be a political competition, not an actual mating game. No feelings involved.
I had to win, but I couldn’t reveal who I really was. And how was that going to work long term? I couldn’t be Elena forever. I hope that and had some type of plan.
Or I was a dead wolf for impersonating a bride candidate to the Lycan King.
My spiraling thoughts were cut off as we reached the new room, and I couldn’t process what I was seeing.
nry had considered
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Chapter 25
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The suite was more than twice the size of the one I’d just left. A four–poster bed dominated the space by the wall of windows that opened onto the same garden I’d been forced to weed. A private bath.
It was too much.
I sat on the edge of the bed, running my fingers along the gold–stitched edge of the blanket.
It was too soft. Too quiet. Too noble.
Everything in this room had been chosen with care. The polished floors, the carved desk, the silk curtains drawn back with braided cords. This was the kind of space you assigned to someone important.
And I didn’t know what the hell to do with that.
This wasn’t just a room upgrade. This was visibility. This was a spotlight. And I’d spent years surviving in the shadows.
This was going to make Vanessa an absolute nightmare to deal with. And she wouldn’t be the only one. Damon had just royally fucked any chance I had at deflecting the rumors already spreading about me and his so–called favor.
I leaned back on my hands, tilting my head toward the ceiling as I breathed in the scent of the room: clean linen, faint floral oils. No trace of him.
And for some godsdamned reason, that made my chest ache.
Don’t get used to it, I reminded myself. This isn’t real. None of this is real.
But the comfortable bed beneath me was. And so was the shirt at the bottom of my bag.
A
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