POV: Francesca
I struggled when the guards dragged me across the courtyard, but my limbs felt heavy and unresponsive, as if the curse Cassian had woven into the stones had seeped into my blood.
Chains bit into my wrists. My knees buckled more than once, and each time they hauled me upright without care, their grips bruising, efficient, practiced.
I could still hear Luka crying behind me.
That sound hurt more than the iron, more than the curse, more than the way my strength had burned itself out the moment I reached the gate. I twisted my head back desperately, trying to catch one last glimpse of him, but the guards forced my face forward.
“Move,” one of them snapped. “You should be grateful the queen spared your life.”
I laughed weakly, the sound breaking apart as it left me. “Spared?” I whispered. “You call this mercy?”
Another guard shoved me hard enough that I stumbled. “You were warned,” he said. “You came back anyway.”
Yes, I had. And I would have done it again don’t ask me why.
The gates loomed closer, iron bars already beginning to open so they could throw me back into exile like refuse. The night air pressed cold and damp against my skin. My vision swam, and I knew I was close to collapsing.
Then the ground shook, and a wolf burst into view.
He was enormous, his black fur rippling with power, his eyes burning gold as he lunged into the guards without hesitation. Steel clattered uselessly to the ground as men were thrown aside like dolls. One was sent flying into a pillar. Another hit the ground and did not rise.
Wilhelm! My heart seized painfully in my chest.
“No—Wilhelm, don’t—” The words tore from me even as relief and terror tangled together.
Wilhelm skidded to a stop in front of me. Without shifting, he lowered himself, and I felt his teeth grip the back of my torn dress with careful precision. In the next breath, I was lifted and settled onto his back, my arms instinctively wrapping around his thick fur.
“Hold on,” his voice echoed inside my head, fierce and urgent.
Then we were running.
The castle fell away behind us as Wilhelm tore through the gates and into the forest beyond, branches snapping beneath his weight. Wind whipped against my face, stinging my eyes with tears I couldn’t stop. I pressed myself low against his back, clinging with every scrap of strength I had left.
I did not know how long we ran.
At last, when the forest grew thick and dark enough to swallow all sound of pursuit, he slowed. Night had fully fallen by the time he stopped.
We were miles away from the castle, surrounded by towering trees and the quiet hum of insects. Wilhelm shifted back into human form carefully, lowering me to the forest floor before straightening. He staggered slightly, bracing a hand against a tree, the effort of the fight and the run finally catching up with him.
I collapsed onto my knees, then onto my hands, my body shaking uncontrollably.
Wilhelm knelt in front of me immediately. “Are you hurt?” he demanded, his hands hovering over me, afraid to touch without permission.
“I’m alive,” I whispered hoarsely.
He exhaled sharply and sat back on his heels, running a hand through his hair. “You should have told me,” he said. “You should never have gone back there alone.”
I looked away, staring at the forest floor. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Why, Francesca? Why did you go back to him? Why do you keep running toward the man who destroyed you?”
I pressed my lips together, tasting blood where I’d bitten down too hard. If I spoke now, everything would unravel. Wilhelm would turn back toward the castle with murder in his eyes, and Luka would pay the price.
Wilhelm’s jaw tightened. He stood abruptly, pacing a short distance before turning back to me. “Do you know what Cassian was before he took my throne?” he asked harshly.
I lifted my gaze reluctantly.
“He was nothing,” Wilhelm continued, anger sharpening his words. “An ordinary soldier at my father’s court. He ate at our tables, trained in our yards, swore loyalty to my family. I trusted him. My father trusted him.”
Wilhelm stopped in front of me, his fists clenched. “And when my parents were murdered, when I was dragged into that underground cage, he stood there and watched. He took my crown while my blood was still warm on the stones.”
I swallowed hard.
“He used me,” Wilhelm went on. “Used my absence to turn the court against my bloodline. And now he dares to parade himself as a father.”
His voice broke into a growl. “I will take my throne back. I swear it.”
Wilhelm stepped closer, his presence suddenly overwhelming. The air around him seemed to thicken, pressing against my skin. I felt it then—his alpha power unfurling, deliberate and commanding, sliding into my bones like a tide.
“Tell me,” he said, his voice resonating with authority. “Why do you keep choosing silence?”
My instincts screamed at me to submit, to give him what he demanded. My knees trembled, and for a heartbeat I nearly broke.
Suddenly, heat flared low in my chest, sharp and unfamiliar, pushing back against his dominance. My pulse steadied and my spine straightened. I lifted my head, meeting his gaze without flinching.
“No,” I said quietly.
Wilhelm froze.
The pressure did not vanish, but it no longer crushed me. It slid around something solid, something newly awakened. I could feel it clearly now, rising from deep within, coiling like a sleeping beast finally opening one eye.
My wolf. Not broken or small. Alpha.
Wilhelm stared at me, shock flickering across his face. “You’re resisting me.”
The forest seemed to hold its breath. Wilhelm took a slow step back, his expression shifting from anger to awe and confusion.
“What are you?” he asked quietly.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling, not from weakness but from the magnitude of what I was beginning to feel. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But whatever it is, it won’t let me speak. Not yet.”
Wilhelm searched my face, then finally nodded once. “I will tear Cassian from that throne. And when I do, whatever secret you’re protecting will no longer be safe.”
I looked into the darkness where the castle lay far behind us and felt my heart twist painfully. “I know.”
I feared the day the truth would finally destroy us both.