{Third Person}
Mrs. Woods held Amara’s gaze for a quiet mont, as though she was carefully deciding how much of the truth she should reveal.
Then she drew in a slow breath and moved to sit properly, her expression turning more serious than before.
"Nora did not co into this residence in the usual way," she began, her tone asured and deliberate. "She was among a group of young won sent here on the Queen’s orders."
Amara did not speak this ti. She simply watched her, her hand resting absentmindedly on Ginger as she listened.
"They were brought to the courtyard," Mrs. Woods continued, her voice lowering slightly. "All of them were presented at once... and they were told that His Highness would choose one."
A faint pause followed, as if even recounting it required restraint. "But His Highness did not co out."
The silence in the room deepened.
"And because he did not appear within the ti they were given, the guards who escorted those won acted on the Queen’s command. They began to execute them... one after the other."
The words were steady, but the weight behind them was unmistakable.
Amara’s fingers stilled against Ginger’s fur. She did not interrupt or react outwardly, but the shift in her posture was subtle and real.
Mrs Woods went on, "By the ti His Highness finally stepped out, five of them were already dead."
She paused briefly before continuing. "The last one... Nora... had collapsed before the blade reached her. She had fainted from fear, so she was spared."
The room fell quiet again, but this ti it was heavier.
"She was the only one left alive. And because she survived... she remained," Mrs. Woods said softly.
Amara lowered her gaze slightly, her thoughts moving slowly as everything settled into place.
The unease she had felt earlier, the way Nora avoided certain questions, the tension behind her polite smiles, all began to make sense in a way that was far more unsettling than she expected.
There was nothing graceful about that kind of beginning. No dignity. No choice. Just survival.
Mrs. Woods folded her hands in her lap, her voice gentler now. "No one speaks of it openly, but everyone who has been here long enough knows. That is why she avoids the subject. It is not sothing she can speak of lightly."
Amara remained quiet for a long mont, her gaze still lowered as Ginger shifted slightly in her arms.
Then, slowly, another thought surfaced. Elowen’s words from before echoed in her mind—It is a miracle she is still alive.
At the ti, she hadn’t fully understood what the Princess ant. But now, she did.
Given everything she had seen of Alexander... his temper, his indifference, the way he refused to tolerate anything forced upon him, there was no reason for Nora to still be here.
She had been sent by the Queen, placed in his residence without his consent, tied to a sche he clearly despised.
By all logic, he should have driven her out the mont he learned of it. And yet... he hadn’t.
Amara’s brows drew together slightly as she leaned back, her thoughts turning in a quieter, more careful direction.
He had allowed her to stay. Not chosen... not acknowledged... but not removed either.
That didn’t feel like rcy. Not entirely.
Her fingers resud a slow, absent stroke over Ginger’s fur as a new question settled firmly in her mind.
’Why?’
If Alexander truly did not care about Nora’s existence... then what reason did he have for letting her remain in his residence?
Amara didn’t have an answer, but she began to suspect that even in his silence, there were things he was choosing not to reveal.
---
By the ti the afternoon settled over the residence, the atmosphere had changed completely.
What had begun as quiet containnt in the morning had turned into sothing far more unstable.
Inside his quarters, Alexander could no longer remain still.
The pressure beneath his skin had grown unbearable. His muscles felt too tight, his senses too sharp, and the irritation in his gums had long since turned into sothing far worse—sothing primal. Sothing demanding release.
A low, strained breath left him before his body finally gave in.
In the next mont, his form shifted. Bones adjusted, and muscles expanded. His presence filled the room with a force that no human form could contain.
The massive black wolf stood where he had been, his dark fur streaked with faint white lines that seed to pulse under the dim light. His golden eyes burned with agitation, restless and volatile.
He moved without hesitation.
The door to his chamber swung open with force as he pushed through, his large fra stepping into the corridor.
The guards stationed outside stiffened imdiately, their instincts screaming at them to kneel, but their orders held them in place.
"Your Highness—"
They didn’t get to finish as Alexander quickly moved toward the exit. But they stepped forward to block him. And that was enough to heighten his anger.
A deep, furious growl tore from his chest as his patience snapped. In a blur of motion, he lunged forward.
The first guard was thrown aside before he could react, his body slamming hard against the wall.
The second tried to hold his ground, but Alexander’s paw struck him across the chest, sending him crashing backward.
The corridor descended into controlled chaos. Servants scattered. Guards rushed in. Orders were shouted, but none of it slowed him down.
He advanced again, faster this ti, his movents sharp and aggressive. Another guard stepped in his path and was imdiately overpowered, his weapon knocked from his hand as he hit the ground.
Yet, despite the violence, there was restraint. Every strike stopped short of fatal. Every attack injured, but did not kill.
These were his people. And sowhere beneath the curse, that distinction still held.
Another guard moved in, only to be forced back with a vicious snap of jaws that stopped just short of tearing into flesh.
"Your Highness!" Jasper’s voice cut through the chaos.
He moved quickly into the corridor, his expression tense but controlled as he stepped forward, placing himself directly in Alexander’s path.
"Alpha Prince."
The na was deliberate a call, not a re title.
The wolf froze. His chest rose and fell heavily, his breath rough, his eyes still burning, but he did not make any further attacks.
For a mont, the corridor held its breath. Then slowly, Alexander stepped back, and the tension shifted.
Jasper exhaled quietly. "Inside," he said, his tone firm but steady. "Please..."
This ti, Alexander did not resist.
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