POV: Francesca
The sound of Wilhelm’s body hitting the stone floor snapped something inside me.
I had been standing numb and hollow while my father was dragged away, my mind still echoing with his words, but seeing Wilhelm fall shattered that emptiness. The fury he had carried for me, the restraint he had shown when killing would have been easier, tore me out of my apathy like a blade through cloth.
“Wilhelm,” I whispered, then louder as panic surged. “Wilhelm!”
I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands trembling as I touched his shoulders, his face. His breathing was ragged, his expression drawn tight with rage he had finally allowed himself to feel.
“Look at me,” I begged. “Please.”
His eyes opened slowly and fixed on mine, fierce even through exhaustion. His hand lifted weakly, catching my wrist as if anchoring himself to the present.
“I shouldn’t have let him speak to you like that,” he said hoarsely.
“You stopped him,” I replied, my voice breaking. “You stopped him when no one else ever did.”
The bond between us pulsed, raw and demanding, and I realized I could no longer hide behind silence. Whatever remained unsaid between us was poisoning us both.
“Wilhelm,” I said quietly, forcing my voice to steady. “You asked me before why I went back to Cassian. Why I kept choosing silence. I owe you the truth.”
He searched my face, then nodded once. I drew in a slow breath, feeling years of fear press against my ribs.
“After you freed me from the cave, Cassian found me,” I began. “He dragged me back to the palace. He told me I was his property, that the bond meant nothing to him. He raped me and said the child I carried belonged to the crown.”
Wilhelm went completely still. His fingers tightened around my wrist, but he did not interrupt.
“He claimed the child as his heir,” I continued, tears finally slipping free. “When Luka was born, Cassian took him from me. He told the court the boy was his son. He kept me alive only because I was the child’s mother.”
Wilhelm’s breath came harsh and uneven. “You stayed there,” he said, disbelief and pain threading his voice.
“I stayed because I was a mother,” I whispered. “Leaving meant never seeing him again. Cassian made sure I knew that Luka would disappear if I disobeyed.”
I pressed my forehead briefly against Wilhelm’s shoulder, grounding myself in the warmth of him. “After I fled with you, Cassian cursed me,” I said. “He bound my body so I cannot approach my son. If I try to reach him before he turns eighteen, the curse will kill me.”
Wilhelm’s gaze sharpened, fear cutting through his fury. “And the boy?”
My throat closed, but I forced the words out. “It will kill Luka too.”
Wilhelm’s hand came up to cradle my face, his thumb brushing my cheek as if reassuring himself I was real. “That is why you ran,” he said softly. “That is why you wouldn’t tell me.”
“If you knew,” I whispered, “you would have gone straight for Cassian. And he would have used the curse to punish our son.”
Wilhelm exhaled slowly, his eyes burning with something far more dangerous than rage. “Together,” he said firmly, “we will take back our son and my kingdom. Sooner or later.”
The certainty in his voice steadied me. He shifted, pushing himself upright despite his exhaustion, and then looked at me with an intensity that made my breath catch.
“Marry me,” he said.
I blinked at him, my breath catching. “Wilhelm…”
“I should have done it years ago,” he said, his gaze unwavering. “Not as a ceremony or politics. As a promise. I want you to be my wife before the world. I want you protected by my name in every pack that still honors the old bloodline.”
Tears streamed down my face, but my heart felt lighter than it had in years. “Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I will marry you.”
Relief and fierce joy flashed across his face. He pulled me into his arms, holding me as if the world itself might try to tear us apart again.
He kissed me then, not rushed, not hungry, but full of vow and devotion. His arms wrapped around me as if he could shield me from every curse ever spoken.
I clung to him, letting the bond flare warm and bright, letting myself believe that there could be something beyond survival. The passion that followed was fierce and consuming, born from grief and anger and the desperate need to anchor ourselves to something real.
Wilhelm touched me with reverence that made my throat ache, and when I cried, he kissed my tears away without asking me to be strong. He held me until my trembling eased, until my body remembered that pleasure could exist without pain.
When we finally lay together, breath slowing, the weight of what lay ahead settled between us.
He brushed my hair away from my face, his gaze steady. “We will find a countermeasure,” he said. “A way to break the curse before Luka turns eighteen.”
I stared at the ceiling, the weight of the future pressing down, but for the first time in years it did not feel like a death sentence. It felt like a path, hard and steep, but possible.
“We’ll need help,” I murmured. “Magic older than Cassian’s.”
“We will search every pack, every healer, every forgotten shrine,” Wilhelm promised. “Kyle’s alliances will be useful for once. If my brother wants power, he can earn it by helping me reclaim my son.”
I turned my head to look at Wilhelm, studying the man who had once been a prisoner and was now a storm held in human form. “What if the curse cannot be broken?”
Wilhelm’s eyes darkened with resolve. “We will wait,” he said, “and we will build our strength until the day we can take Luka without risking his life.”
I swallowed hard, but I nodded.
The truth was out now. The bond between us was no longer strained by silence, and it felt stronger, forged in honesty and vow.
As dawn began to pale the sky beyond the window, Wilhelm’s hand tightened around mine.
We are getting married. We would search for a way through the curse, and we would not stop until Luka was ours again.