Chapter 68
I ducked down.
My pulse thundered in my ears. Had he seen me?
I waited, barely breathing.
Then I crept back to the window, lifting the curtain with two fingers.
Gone.
I grabbed my cloak and dagger, quietly unlocking the door and slipping into the hallway.
Voices echoed somewhere upstairs–laughter, maybe from one of the guards. I crept down the stairs again, this time sticking close to the walls.
The side door Amira had used was ajar.
I slipped through it and scanned the alley.
Nothing.
No shadowed figure. No Amira.
Just the wind. And the faint sound of hooves in the far distance. Too faint to trace.
I cursed under my breath.
What the hell was she doing?
And who the hell was he?
“Couldn’t sleep either?”
I turned with a jolt.
One of the guards. Kai, I think his name was. A young wolf with shaggy hair and a sleepy scowl.
“i heard movement,” he added, rubbing his eyes. “Came to check in, you alright?”
I nodded too quickly. “Just… needed air.”
+15
He shrugged and leaned against the wall. “Amira left earlier. Didn’t say where she was going. Came back like nothing happened. I don’t trust her.”
I gave him a tight smile. “Welcome to the club.”
He yawned. “Want me to walk you back in?”
“No. I’m good.”
He raised a brow but didn’t push.
I returned to my room quietly.
Locked the door. Checked the window.
Still empty.
Bat the seed was already planted. Something was off. Very off.
And as I sat back down on the edge of the bed, running through every moment in my head-
A single phrase echoed again and again.
“The wolves here are not loyal.”
1/4
5:07 PM ·
Chapter 68
Who was that shadowed man?
What was Amira trading?
And how much danger was I really in?
I didn’t know.
But I was sure of one thing-
I wasn’t going to sleep tonight.
Amira POV
0
I lit the candle with a trembling hand, watching the flame flicker as if it too were nervous. The wax dripped slowly, bleeding down the side of the holder like time itself was melting away.
Liana. Liana.
Her name echoed in my head, bouncing off every corner of my mind like an annoying melody I couldn’t scrub out.
sat down at the edge of the creaky bed. The room smelled like dust and lavender. A terrible combination. The sheets were cheap. The walls too thin. And of course, the only person in this godforsaken village who had to recognize her–recognized her.
She’d drawn attention the moment she walked in, and it only fueled the unease crawling under my skin.
I had to act soon.
The knock came sooner than expected.
Two soft taps.
I didn’t move right away.
Another two. This time sharper.
I stood and opened the door just a sliver.
A folded letter was waiting for me. No person in sight.
Blood was smeared across the seal.
Of course. He always had to be dramatic.
í pulled the letter inside quickly and shut the door.
I stared at it for a long moment before peeling the seal open with a knife I kept beneath my cloak.
The writing was sharp and cruel.
“If you don’t do your part, Amira, we’ll tear Sheridan down and start with her blood. You wanted power. Don’t hesitate now. We are watching -H.”
I read it again. And again.
The blood wasn’t just for show. It was a warning.
He wanted her. He wanted the king’s precious Luna. He believed Liana was the key to the castle’s weakness. I’d promised access distraction anything to get what I wanted.
But now
Now I wasn’t so sure I knew what I wanted anymore.
“I should have stayed away from you,” I muttered to the air, my fingers clenching around the letter.
Liana was asleep upstairs. Or pretending to be. Or maybe she was reading some old text like the good little Luna to be she was trying to become
2/4
5:07 PM
Chapter 68
My jaw clenched.
It wasn’t just that she reminded me of everything I wasn’t.
It was worse than that.
She reminded me of who I could have been.
If I had made different choices.
If I hadn’t let my jealousy twist me into something dark. Something bitter,
“I hate her,” I whispered.
But it didn’t land the way I expected it to.
I wasn’t sure if I hated her more than I hated myself.
The way she still had light in her eyes, even after everything. The way she still held on to hope. It made me sick. It made me want to
scream.
turned to the window.
Outside, the moon was low in the sky,
The rebel king had plans. And I was his pawn. But he didn’t realize I wasn’t just going to follow.
I had my own plans too.
I just needed to move fast enough.
I picked up the candle and brought it closer to the floorboard I had loosened earlier. Beneath it was a small box–inside, two vials,
One blue. One black,
The blue one was his. The one he insisted I use on her if she resisted,
But the black one was mine,
My insurance.
“Let’s see who wins this game,” I whispered to the glass, before tucking them both back beneath the board.
There was a soft knock.
This one was real.
“Amira?” Liana’s voice. Muffled, Tired. Or maybe just wary.
I didn’t answer right away,
She knocked again. “You awake?”
I considered pretending to sleep. But then I stood, walked to the door, and opened i
She blinked at me, holding a half–empty glass in one hand,
“I just heard something. Thought it might be one of those wolves your mysterious friend warned us about.”
I nodded slowly “Of course Wolves.”
We stood in silence.
Lana’s gaze dropped to the letter on my desk.
“Who was at the door?” she asked casually, but her eyes said otherwise.
I stepped in front of it “No one important”
3/4
5:07 PM ·
Chapter 68
Another beat of silence.
Then she said, “You still hate me, don’t you?”
I tilted my head. “You think I hate you?”
“I know you do.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe I just hate the version of myself I see every time I look at you.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that.
So she didn’t.
She just nodded once and turned to leave.
But before she disappeared back into the hallway, I said-
“Don’t drink anything that’s not from your own hand, Liana.”
She turned back sharply. “What?”
I smiled,m. “You’re not as untouchable as you think.”
And with that, I shut the door.
The letter still sat open behind me.
The deadline was coming.
And blood would be spilled.
I just hadn’t decided whose yet.
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