Rovan's POV
The fire crackled in my mother's private study, throwing shadows across walls lined with portraits of Blackmaw ancestors who seemed to judge me from their gilded frames.
I stood by the window, arms crossed, watching Lady Vela pace before the hearth. Neressa lounged on a velvet settee, examining her nails with practiced boredom. Elene had claimed the chair nearest the fire, her crimson gown pooling around her feet, her expression unreadable.
"This is not a defeat," my mother said, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. "This is an opportunity."
I laughed, the sound bitter in my throat. "An opportunity. Sylra just had us escorted to the border like common criminals, and you call it an opportunity."
"Because that's exactly what it is." Lady Vela stopped pacing, turning to face me with eyes that gleamed in the firelight. "Think, Rovan. Actually think for once instead of mooning over that girl."
"She's not just a girl anymore," Neressa muttered. "She's apparently a princess. The King's heir. How did none of our spies catch that?"
"Because Maelric hid her well." My mother resumed her pacing, hands clasped behind her back. "For decades, he hid her. The prophecy of a female ruler terrified the old council, so he buried her among commoners. But that's not what matters now."
"Then what does matter?" I demanded.
Lady Vela's smile sent ice down my spine. "The bond."
I went still. "What about it?"
"Sylra's rejection was public, yes. Dramatic. Humiliating." She waved a dismissive hand. "But it was also informal. A declaration made in passion, not in ceremony."
Neressa sat up straighter, interest sparking in her eyes. "She never performed the unbinding ritual."
"Exactly." My mother's smile widened. "The bond was never properly dissolved before the Moon Goddess. No priestess presided. No sacred words were spoken. No offerings were made."
"What are you saying?" I asked, though dread was already coiling in my stomach.
"I'm saying that legally, technically, your claim to her still exists." Lady Vela stopped before me, close enough that I could smell her expensive perfume. "The ancient laws are very clear on this matter. A mate bond, once forged, can only be severed through proper ritual. Everything else is just theater."
Elene shifted in her chair. "So the bond still holds?"
"Weakened, yes. Damaged, certainly. But not destroyed." My mother's eyes never left mine. "Which means Rovan still has a path to her. To the crown."
The words hit me like a physical blow. "You want me to use the bond to get close to Sylra. To use her feelings for the crown."
"I want you to win her back," Lady Vela corrected. "Properly this time. Show her the devotion you should have shown from the beginning. Make her believe you've changed."
"And if I actually have changed?" The question escaped before I could stop it. "What if I want her back because I was a fool who didn't know what he had?"
Neressa snorted. "Please. You had three years to figure that out. You only care now because she's suddenly important."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?" My mother arched an eyebrow. "Regardless of your motivations, the goal remains the same. Win Sylra's heart, and Blackmaw gains access to the Lycan throne. Our bloodline merged with the royal line. Our grandchildren ruling the realm."
I stared at her, something cold settling in my chest. "And if she refuses? If she won't take me back?"
The silence that followed was deafening.
Lady Vela exchanged a glance with Neressa, then with Elene. Something passed between them, some unspoken agreement that made my skin crawl.
"The ancient laws provide for that possibility as well," my mother said carefully. "A rejected mate has the right to claim retribution. If reconciliation proves impossible, there are other remedies."
"Other remedies." The words tasted like ash. "You mean murder. You're talking about murdering Sylra if she won't submit to our plans."
"I'm talking about protecting our family's interests by any means necessary."
"No." The word ripped from my throat before I could think. "Absolutely not."
The shock that rippled through the room was palpable. Neressa's mouth fell open. Elene's eyes widened. Even Lady Vela took a step back, her composure cracking for the first time.
"Excuse me?" my mother said, her voice dangerously soft.
"I said no." I stepped away from the window, my hands clenched at my sides. "I treated Sylra badly. I failed her as a mate. I let you and Neressa torment her while I stood by and did nothing. But I will not be party to her murder."
"Rovan, be reasonable."
"I am being reasonable!" My voice echoed off the stone walls. "She is the mother of my future children, the woman I vowed to protect before the Moon Goddess. I broke those vows in a thousand small ways, but I won't break them like this."
Lady Vela's expression hardened, all maternal warmth draining away until only cold calculation remained. "You will do what this family requires."
"Not this." I moved toward the door, my wolf snarling in my chest. "Find another way. Forge another alliance. But leave Sylra out of your schemes."
"And what about your scheme with Lady Elene?" Neressa called after me. "That alliance you were so eager to forge?"
I stopped with my hand on the door. I couldn't look at Elene, couldn't face the woman I had chosen over Sylra for political gain. The irony was choking me.
"That was a mistake," I said quietly. "One of many."
I wrenched the door open and strode into the hallway, my mother's voice following me like a curse.
"This isn't over, Rovan! You cannot simply walk away from your responsibilities!"
But I kept walking.
The stone corridor stretched before me, torches flickering in their sconces, shadows dancing across ancient tapestries. I made it perhaps twenty paces before my legs gave out, and I slumped against the wall, pressing my forehead to the cool stone.
Sylra. Standing beside the Lycan King in that black gown, silver threading through her hair, her chin lifted with a pride I had never seen in her before. The woman I had dismissed, neglected, taken for granted, now revealed as everything I always sensed she could be.
A princess. A future queen. And I had thrown her away for territory and alliances.
My wolf howled inside me, mourning what we had lost, what we had destroyed with our own foolish choices. The severed bond ached in my chest, a phantom limb that would never stop hurting.
Back in the study, voices murmured. I should have kept walking, should have put distance between myself and whatever new plot was hatching. But something made me pause, made me strain to hear.
"Well." Elene's voice, cool and composed. "That was disappointing."
"He'll come around," Lady Vela replied, though she sounded less certain than before.
"Will he?" A pause, the rustle of silk. "I've seen the way he looks at her. The way he looked at her even when she was nothing. That kind of attachment doesn't disappear because it's inconvenient."
"What are you suggesting?" Neressa asked.
Elene's response came soft, measured, deadly. "I'm suggesting that if his heart proves too soft for what needs to be done, we make our own plans." Another pause. "Perhaps we don't need him at all."