Octavia's POV
I stood in the kitchen, my hands steady as I worked at the simple task I'd set for myself.
The fire crackled warmly in the hearth, casting dancing shadows across the stone walls as I prepared bread and broth, nothing elaborate, but something made with my own hands. Something I could offer to Darius when he returned from whatever business kept him away from the castle so often.
It wasn't much, but I thought maybe it would be a small step toward bridging the distance that had grown between us. A gesture that might show him I was trying to be more than just a political obligation wearing his ring.
"My lady," Margaret whispered from where she stood nearby, wringing her hands with obvious anxiety. "You shouldn't be doing this work yourself. Not in your condition. Please, let me-"
"No," I said firmly, not looking up from the pot where I was stirring the broth. "I want to do this."
She opened her mouth to protest again, but I shook my head. For once, I wanted to create something with my own hands, to contribute something meaningful to this household that had become my home whether I'd chosen it or not. That's when the shouting started.
It came from somewhere deep in the castle, voices raised in alarm and panic that made my blood turn cold. I set down the wooden spoon I'd been using and listened, trying to make sense of the commotion. Then a maid burst through the kitchen door, her face flushed and her breathing labored as if she'd run the entire length of the castle.
"Sir Leon," she gasped, pressing one hand to her chest. "He's being attacked by a wolf!"
The wooden spoon clattered to the floor as my hands went numb. My heart began hammering against my ribs with such force I could hear it in my ears, drowning out everything else. I didn't speak, I couldn’t. I just ran.
Through the castle halls, my feet pounding against stone floors that seemed to stretch endlessly before me. Past startled servants and shouting guards, out the main doors and into the bitter winter air that hit my lungs like knives.
The snow crunched beneath my feet as I raced across the training yard, following the sounds of conflict and the trail of disturbed snow that led toward the forest edge.
My heavy winter dress tangled around my legs, slowing me down, but I pushed forward with desperate urgency. By the time I reached the clearing where the confrontation had taken place, it was already over.
I saw the blood first, dark stains against the pristine white snow that told a story of violence and pain. Then I saw Darius, still in his massive wolf form, an arrow protruding from his side. It took seconds for me to realize that it was fired by Leon’s men who came with him. His red eyes met mine across the distance, and in them I saw something that might have been regret before he turned and fled into the trees.
"Darius!" I called after him, my voice breaking on his name. "Wait!"
But he was already gone, disappearing into the dark spaces between the pines like a shadow given form. I started after him instinctively, driven by the need to follow, to help, to somehow undo whatever damage had been done.
That's when Leon's hand closed around my arm, stopping me before I could take more than a few steps.
"Don't go after him," he said urgently, his sword still in his free hand and his face pale from his ordeal. "Come with me. Now. Before it's too late."
I yanked my arm free with more force than I'd known I possessed, spinning to face him with fury blazing in my chest.
"Stop it," I snapped, the word coming out sharp as a blade.
Leon froze, staring at me as if he'd never seen me before. Something shifted in his expression, confusion, hurt, a dawning realization that the woman standing before him wasn't the same frightened girl he'd known in childhood.
"What has he done to you?" he asked, his voice dropping to an anguished whisper. "Are you... are you brainwashed by some cursed beast? This isn't you, Octavia. This isn't the woman I loved."
"Shut up," I said coldly, my voice carrying an authority I hadn't known I possessed. "You don't get to speak like that. Not after everything you've done!"
Leon's blue eyes widened as if I'd struck him. "Everything I've done? I came here to save you! To give you the life we always dreamed of!"
"The life you dreamed of," I corrected, my gaze never wavering from his face. "Not me. Not anymore."
His sword arm dropped to his side, the weapon forgotten as he struggled to understand what was happening.
"This wasn't how it was supposed to go," he said, his voice hollow with defeat. "You and I, this was always our plan. We talked about it for years. What changed?"
I didn't answer him directly.
How could I explain that somewhere between my arrival at this castle and this moment, everything I thought I knew about myself had shifted?
That the man I'd married, the one Leon called a monster, had shown me gentleness when I expected cruelty, protection when I expected abandonment?
Instead, I turned away from him, my eyes fixed on the forest where Darius had disappeared. The blood trail was already being covered by fresh snowfall, but I could still see the path he'd taken.
"Octavia," Leon said behind me, his voice thick with pain and confusion. "Please. Look at me. Remember what we meant to each other."
But I didn't turn around. I didn't care about Leon's plans anymore, didn't care about the childhood dreams we'd shared or the promises we'd made when we were too young to understand what they would cost. I didn't care about the pain in his voice or the weight of his stare boring into my back.
All I cared about now was finding Darius. Making sure he was all right. Somehow bridging the chasm that had opened between us through misunderstanding and doubt and the terrible weight of secrets we'd both carried too long.
"Go home, Leon," I said quietly, still facing the forest. "Go back to my father and tell him the alliance stands. Tell him his daughter is exactly where she needs to be."
I heard his sharp intake of breath, felt the moment when he finally understood that whatever he'd come here to accomplish, he had already lost.
"And if he asks whether you're happy?" Leon asked, his voice barely audible. I finally turned to look at him one last time, seeing the boy I'd once loved reflected in his devastated expression.
"Tell him I'm home," I said simply.
Then I walked away, leaving Leon standing alone in the snow while I went to find my husband.