Dumped the Alpha, Mated to the Lycan

y

ine. It still brought a maid running down the hal

room tipped and snapped back into focus, over and over. I

g under their breath n

quiet on me. That stillness

im." His voice cracked on the last word

k him to sa

. They didn't come. Something in me had gone past crying into something colder, some

e came from the door

pe for half a breath. The same stu

uched the sheets and flinched away

ll right. Not

lena brought me a drink earlier t

ight. "Don't p

you what happ

my own wife." His voice dropped, colder

't say a word in my defense. Nobody ever did, not to an A

cking. "My lord! Lady Selena has collapsed. S

hind him, high and broken. "Julian!

already

rossed the room

e hall. I'd already run out of excuses for a

o her instead of me. And now a child is gone, with no one in

isted, the way I used to count coins as a girl. Ex

ears.

ry night for the past two months when there'd been something there to press toward. Th

it. Once. Twice. By the third breath, the ache ha

nt to settle what they owed

changing the linens, I alread

. Hollowed out. Grateful for every spoonful of broth they brou

along the corridor were

an was owed. She'd seen every year of it, said nothing to anyone, and never once asked me to be grateful for her silence. Her mother had kept the stewar

ure. She only asked, "Whe

e to think about a

heet without being told twi

k to her hand, she'd lose more than

n language no court could argue with, that I was done. I read it

ing told to. She buried it under purchase slips and supply totals,

nce at it," she sa

nly needed him distracted

, and by sunrise, he was already short with anyone who came near his desk. A clerk backe

ay I always did, my voice as

. They need y

n, ink, next page. My whole future went under his hand, ex

ithout once lo

haled for the first time in six years. Four years as a wife. Two more debts before

something else, his attention gone from me

t's

Outside the study windows, rain had st

houlders once, in rain just like this. A man who'd asked for nothing

s only one thing left to do before this hous

ays did, rogue counts and supply ledgers dron

, exactly where she always positioned h

e end,

died at once. I never

contract with Julian Silvercrest." My hands stayed folded. My

ore I'd even finished his

l to end her own marriage?" Meredith's voice cut th

. "Withdraw your petiti

retch a moment before I said the rest. "

had lost the certai

the table where every elder could see the ink. No

ce. He stared down at his

y, like I'd just proven someth

ur family's gone, Ivy. A dead father, a dead brother, a boy too yo

band and wife." I kept my voice even. "

. I'm petitioning House Blackwood to bind a ne

rang out before anyone else could speak. "Ma