His nostrils flared. “I’m not blind.”
“You’re reacting to her scent.”
“I know what I’m reacting to,” he said, and the bond between us tightened, a live wire snapping. “And so do you.”
His accusation hit the exact place I’d been trying to barricade.
I looked past him, down the stairwell that spiraled into the tower’s depths. The air here still carried her faintly, enough to keep my alpha awake, enough to keep the urge coiled tight under my ribs. It wasn’t only my body. It was the tower too, its old magic pressing and listening, waiting to see what I would do.
“She is the king’s daughter,” I said, my voice controlled. “And she’s an omega.”
Thane’s expression shifted, something like disbelief crossing his face before he masked it. “You’re saying she’s the weapon.”
“I’m saying the king hid her here for a reason,” I replied. “Omegas don’t disappear without someone making them disappear. He either hid her because she is valuable to him or because she is dangerous to him.”
“She believes she’s dangerous,” Thane said. “She told us to leave so we wouldn’t get hurt.”
“I know.”
“That’s not the behavior of a weapon.” He looked toward the half-open door. “That’s the behavior of someone who’s been told they’re a weapon long enough to believe it.”
The words landed with more precision than he likely intended. I didn’t respond to them.
“If the king comes here,” I said, “we have one opportunity. His visits are irregular. She can’t predict them—but when he comes, he arrives without warning. If we’re here when he does, we end this.”
Thane became completely motionless. “You’re talking about assassination.”
“I’m talking about ending a forty-year war.”
“In her home.” His voice had gone quiet that meant he was keeping something contained. “In the place she’s been imprisoned. You want to make her watch?—”
“I want to win,” I said.
Thane stepped closer, storm pressure building in him, magic stirring. “She’s been locked up. She might know nothing.”
“She knows his name.”
A sound came from behind the door.
Soft. A scrape of fabric. A breath caught too high.
Thane’s gaze snapped to it. Mine followed.
Aveline stood in the doorway now, her hand on the stone frame as if she needed it to hold her up. Her face had gone pale, her eyes wide, mouth parted. Her scent surged outward, warm and frightened, and my body reacted immediately, alpha flaring,the urge to step toward her hitting hard enough that my boots nearly moved before I willed them still.
“You’re going to kill him,” she said.
The words weren’t a question. Thane swore under his breath, a low curse like a gust of wind in the corridor.
I didn’t soften my posture. If I softened, my body would take over. If I softened, I would reach for her and I didn’t trust myself to stop at a single touch.
“He’s the king,” I said.
“He’s my father,” she whispered, and she wasn’t defending him. She was terrified, though she didn’t fully understand the situation.
Thane moved first, stepping toward her, palm lifted in a calming gesture. “Aveline?—”
I cut him off. “Your father has been murdering his own people for decades.”
