“Yes.”
“Because I’m not up to your standards?”
The words hit me with physical force. Vix’s poison, still working even now. She’d planted those words in Riley’s mind, and now Riley was throwing them back at me, believing them, accepting them as truth.
“Because this was never meant to be permanent,” I said, forcing the words out. “I apologize for any... confusion.”
“Confusion.” Her voice cracked. “You claimed me. You bit me. You put a child in me, and now you’re standing in front of everyone and calling it confusion?”
More gasps. More whispers. The pregnancy wasn’t public knowledge until now.
Well, let them hear. Let whoever was watching believe they’d won.
“The child will be provided for,” I said, and it took everything in me not to break. Not to fall to my knees and beg her forgiveness, tell her the truth, damn the consequences. “But our... personal relationship is over.”
Riley’s eyes filled with tears. She blinked them back furiously, her jaw clenched, her whole body trembling with the effort of not falling apart in front of everyone.
My wolf was howling, clawing, screaming at me to take it back, to gather her in our arms, to explain. I held him down with brutal force.
Yes, I was aware this was a terrible idea. My wolf had made his opinion abundantly clear. He could get in line with everyone else who wanted to kill me today.
“You’re a coward,” she whispered. “A liar and a coward.”
I said nothing. There was nothing I could say.
She turned and walked out of the throne room. Her head was held high, her spine straight, but I could see the devastation in every line of her body. The way her shoulders shook. The way her hand pressed against her stomach, protecting the child I’d just publicly dismissed.
Thessa followed, shooting me one final, murderous look.
The whispers exploded into full conversation the moment they were gone. The nobles were already dissecting what happened, speculating about reasons, gossiping about the poor human woman who thought she’d caught a prince.
I hoped they were enjoying themselves. I really did. Someone should benefit from this disaster.
I stood frozen.
I’d just destroyed the only thing that mattered.
And I couldn’t even go after her.
The throne room emptied slowly, everyone reluctant to leave the scene of such spectacular drama. I waited, motionless, until the last of them were gone. Until the whispers faded. Until I was alone with my father and the weight of what I’d done.
My father said nothing. There was nothing to say. We both knew what this had cost.
Then I moved.
I needed to find Riley. Needed to explain, now, immediately, before she did anything drastic. The staged rejection was done. Whoever was watching had seen it. Now I could fix this.
But when I reached the corridor where she should be, she wasn’t there.
“Where is she?” I demanded of a passing guard.
“The... the woman? She left, Your Highness. Through the east wing. The princess was with her.”
I followed. East wing, then the gardens, then nothing. Riley was gone. Thessa was gone. They’d vanished as completely as Vix had, and panic seized me.
I searched the gardens, the courtyards, every path she might have taken. My wolf was frantic, straining at my control, desperate to track our mate’s scent. But there were too many trails, too many people who had walked these corridors, and Riley’s scent was fading with every minute.
I was about to tear the castle apart when a small figure appeared in my path. A child, one of the kitchen servants’ boys, maybe seven or eight years old.
