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“You’ll need to hold my arm to gain access,” Jax tells me as we stand in the open doorway leading to Kade’s study.
I glance at the threshold, trying to spot any glimmer that reveals an invisible barrier, but to my eyes, there’s nothing but plain air.
With a nod, I reach out and place my hand over his arm. He gasps, flinching. His alert gaze flicks to me.
“What happened?” I ask.
He shakes his head, though his brows furrow. “Nothing. Your wolf. She’s stronger…” he hesitates before the words scrape out of his mouth, “Luna Freya.”
He recognises my strength…
I swallow the sudden emotion that strikes me. I can’t let myself get overwhelmed now. I tilt my head at the study, and he starts walking, tugging me along. We pass through the threshold. This time, nothing pushes me back or electrifies my senses.
Jax steps back. “Do it fast.”
I press my palm against the cold metal of the safe. It hums under my skin, and with a groan, the door swings open. The diadem lies within, a silver circlet studded with sapphires, glowing like frozen fire. My fingers tremble as I lift it.
‘The vault,’ Nyx says with urgency. ‘You need to see the vault.’
I turn to Jax. “Open the vault.”
His lips part as if he’s going to protest, but then he moves. His hand presses along the carved panel at the far wall until it gives way with a click.
It opens to reveal shelves after shelves filled with parchments.
‘That one on the right,’ Nyx guides, urging me.
I move with hesitant steps before examining the shelf she indicated. I gasp when I see broken seals, my name scrawled in ink I never wrote. Contracts. Land. Wealth. All signed by “Freya Vale-Thorne.”
My stomach twists. “Goddess. She forged everything.”
Before Jax can answer, the door slams. We both whirl.
Kade fills the doorway, shadows crawling at his back. I can sense his anger, his fury. His gaze goes first to Jax, then to me, then to the diadem in my hands.
“Out,” he orders.
Jax bows his head and slips past him without a word, leaving me alone with the Alpha. Kade steps into the room, closing the door behind him. His eyes lock on mine. “How,” he says quietly, “did you open that safe?”
I tighten my grip on the crown. “Don’t you understand? It’s mine. It knows me, so it obeys. It opens.”
He circles me slowly, like a predator. “It was yours. Once. You lost the right to it.”
“No,” I bite out. “I did nothing tolose my right! It was you who got swayed by another woman! It was you who couldn’t remain faithful to me, Kade! You locked my crown away, but that doesn’t change who I am.”
“You are what I decide you are,” he snaps through gritted teeth.
I feel Nyx recoil under his power, but I force myself to meet his gaze. “Then decide carefully, Kade. This crown was forged forme. Take it from me now, and you make yourself a thief in your own house.”
For a heartbeat, I think he’s going to strike me, or rip it from my hands. Instead, something flickers across his face—something sharp, almost pained. He exhales slowly. “Keep it,” he says at last.
My breath stutters. “What?”
“Keep it. Wear it in your chamber, polish it if you like.” His tone sharpens. “But you will not wear it in court. Not before the pack. Not before the Council.”
Anger burns hot in my chest. “You parade her in white silks, crown her lady of the house, and I am forbidden to even stand with what is mine?”
