My breath left in a sharp, broken sound.
"No," I said imdiately. "That’s not true."
The word ca out too fast. Too desperate. Like if I said it firmly enough, reality would bend around it.
Maelis didn’t flinch.
She didn’t look pleased.
She didn’t look victorious.
She looked tired.
"They were executed this very nights," she said quietly. "There was no trial."
The cave felt like it shrank.
My hand flew to my stomach as if I could physically hold my insides together. The baby shifted uneasily, reacting to the sudden spike of panic, and that alone nearly undid .
"You’re lying," I whispered. "You’re trying to turn against him."
"If that were my goal," Maelis said calmly, "I wouldn’t have waited this long."
My ears rang.
Lydia’s hands flashed through my mind, warm oil, careful pressure, the way she had sung under her breath as if afraid silence might swallow her whole.
Her eyes when she spoke of her son. The way she had hesitated, as if even saying his age was dangerous.
Fifteen.
I shook my head hard, as if that might scatter the images.
"He told she was arrested," I said weakly. "He said she’d stand trial."
Maelis’s gaze softened, just a fraction.
"He told you what he needed to," she said. "What would keep you calm. Compliant."
The word cut deeper than any accusation.
Compliant.
"No," I snapped, anger flaring up through the fear. "He wouldn’t do that. He worries about . He worries about my baby."
"Yes," Maelis said gently. "Because you matter to him."
She paused, choosing her next words carefully.
"Lydia did not matter to him." She told . "No one matters to him eventually. You won’t when he has finally gotten what he wants."
My knees went weak.
I leaned back against the stone wall, the chill of it seeping through my clothes, grounding just enough to stay upright.
"She was afraid," I whispered. "Not dangerous. She just wanted to protect her son."
"That is how it always begins," Maelis said. "With fear. With love. With desperation."
Tears burned behind my eyes.
I still didn’t want to believe what she had to say.
"How many?" I asked. "How many people have disappeared like this?"
Maelis didn’t answer imdiately.
She walked past and rested her palm against one of the painted walls, her fingers brushing the image of a wolf mid-shift, frozen forever in pignt and stone.
"Enough," she said at last. "Enough that we stopped counting nas and started counting nights."
Sothing inside cracked.
I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the cold ground, my breath coming in uneven gasps. I wrapped my arms around my belly instinctively, protective, frantic.
"This wasn’t supposed to be like this," I whispered. "He said this place was peaceful."
"It was," Maelis replied. "Before he ca."
Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.
I thought of the dining table. The candles. The wine. The way his voice had been so steady when he spoke of rebels, of necessary sacrifices.
I thought of how easily he had said punished.
I pressed my forehead against my knees.
"Do you know anything about my mother?" I asked my chest heaving.
Maelis’s breath stilled.
"I don’t know your mother." She told . "But if you are having second thoughts about everything you know then you need to look in and question your father."
My heart twisted violently.
"You’re lying to ." I said sick and tired of being betrayed.
"Aiden needs you isolated," Maelis said. "Confused. Dependent."
I pushed myself to my feet, my whole body trembling now not from weakness, but from fury.
"I was told that you ca from the other side. We felt it here. The last ti anyone ever did was your father and that was years ago." She said. "I have watched you and we had believed that you were just like him. But it’s obvious that you have questions about him."
"Being an unshifted." She told as she walked around .
"How do you know that?" I asked haughtily
"I know a lot of things. You wolf being locked. Don’t you wonder why? Why your wolf would be locked."
"You have no idea of the terrible people I’ve t in my life." I hissed.
mories of Cherry and how dreadful she had been to .
How I suspected she was the one who had locked my wolf.
"Once your wolf is unleashed," she said, "you will be able to open every seal. Every gate. Including the one guarding the red stone."
Cold dread pooled in my stomach.
"What do you think he wants to do?" I whispered.
"He wants to finish what Alpha Daniel started," Maelis replied. "And this ti, he believes he will succeed."
My hands shook violently.
I had had enough of all the things she was telling .
"My father isn’t who you think he is." I snapped at her in rage.
I had no mother.
No brother.
No mate.
I had absolutely no one.
I was not about to lose the one person that had treated so well from the first instance he t .
Moreover there wasn’t any proof that he had done these terrible things
I didn’t know these people and that was more than enough to prove to this was wrong.
"I’m getting out of here." I said as I backed off. "I should have never co here in the first place."
I could feel soone breathing behind my back and saw a wolf standing aggressively behind .
"No one who wasn’t a rebel has co here and left alive." Maelis said and my heart began to race. "But I’ll let you go. To prove to you that we are not your enemy."
She nodded at the wolves and I could feel his presence back away.
"They would take you out." She told . "You won’t rember your way here either. Think about all I’ve said Jasmine."
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