Both Lance and Kael had believed their deduction about Emira breaking the slave bond by saving Zen was correct when they heard the panic about Zen being poisoned through the pack link.
Despite knowing that she would need to save him eventually for the bond to break, they had not thought that the scene would be so dire. It was why they had not rushed over earlier.
But now, seeing Zen lying at death’s door, his face turning blue, had shaken them to their core. Could their mate really be so ruthless that she would risk Zen’s death just so she could break the bond and help the dark master? Even if they understood her need for revenge, even if she didn’t know they were her mates, even if she had planned to save him later... the sight had still almost crushed them.
Because despite everything, if Emira really could be so ruthless, then could they really let her be?
But the moment they caught the heartbreak and fear in her eyes, everything inside them shifted, and they had only one thought on their mind. She wasn’t the one behind this poisoning. Whatever plan she had in mind when she insisted on being let out, it hadn’t been to break the bond....
Which meant that someone else had planned to break the bond. And they knew it was dissolving because they could feel it in her gaze. Kael and Lance exchanged a look then, their eyes hardening.
With Aldren screaming that Emira was a dark witch, things had changed drastically. Instead of catching the real culprit, everyone was now focused on her.
Kael lifted his hand, and the entire hall stilled. "Everyone stays where they are," he said in a low voice, "No more running around. No more accusations shouted over the top of the voice. We all have good hearing." As he said this, he gave a pointed glance to Councilman Aldren who was still seething at letting Emira being carried out.
Some of the council members looked as though they wanted to protest, but one sharp glance from him shut them up. Lance on the other hand, simply pulled a chair and sat down, letting Kael do the dirty work.
But Councilman Aldren was not one to stay calm, especially when he saw a ’dark witch’ being taken away. His hands clenched. To him, Emira was not his daughter, simply a descendant of those who had tortured his pack members in the past and each generation of Aldren men had vowed to kill. The hatred was inherited.
Even though both Lance and Kael wanted to go with Emira and Zen, they knew they couldn’t without resolving this matter. When he turned back towards the people, Councilman Aldren was already drawing in a breath to yell at him—Kael saw it in the way the man squared his shoulders.
But before Aldren could start, Kael’s voice cut in, "What happened? Tell me the exact sequence. No empty accusations."
Aldren blinked, caught off guard by the direct question. His anger, however, didn’t fade. He stepped forward. "She cursed him," he said, as if the conclusion were obvious and they were deliberately being dense. "Emira must have cursed His Highness Zen."
Lance’s jaw clenched at the blind accusation..
Aldren continued quickly, almost tripping over his explanations. "Only someone who practices the dark arts can do that. And the curse His Highness showed clear signs of the Azure Wither Poison curse. It forces the poisoned blood to spread through the body at a dangerous speed, staining the veins and skin blue."
He gestured vaguely, as though emphasising the colour that had been on Zen. "Exactly as we saw."
Kael nodded slowly, absorbing every word. His expression stayed unreadable, which only made Aldren push harder, convinced he finally had the attention he wanted to make them understand how dangerous Emira was.
"And why," Kael asked, each word measured and calm, "do you think she did this?"
Aldren opened his mouth, closed it, then gathered himself. "To increase her plausibility, of course. To make her look better of course. If she was willing to save him, then everyone would naturally be thankful and not think much of her dark roots... And then, later, when she helped the Dark master, she would no be assumed to be the culprit. She could even accuse someone else and hide her true motives."
He said the theory with confidence, but something flickered in his eyes while he spoke. Doubt. Small, faint, but unmistakable.
Because even he had noticed the look in Emira’s eyes when she tried saving Zen-pure panic, not the calculating coldness he expected from a dark witch. And he had also seen the way the Alpha Triplets reacted to her. They already trusted her immensely. So why would she need to create a scene just to get more of their trust? They would be self harming...
And that was the problem. If they trusted her so deeply, then this incident... could it really have been orchestrated by her? Or did someone want it to look that way?
Aldren’s mind stumbled on that thought, uneasy. Because he refused to believe that anyone else could be more ruthless that the Dark Witches.
Kael watched that hesitation settle in and then tilted his head, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"I see," Kael murmured. "One last thing, Councilman."
Aldren straightened, relieved to be done with the questions. "Yes?"
"This curse you mentioned," Kael said lightly. "The Azure Wither. Does it leave a mark on the one who casts it? I mean, there must be some way of finding the one who dared to poison a Stormhold Alpha on their own territory. I am sure you must have seen the mark. That is why you were so confident about it being Emira."
Silence fell again.
Aldren frowned at first, not understanding why the prince would bother asking something so trivial. His brows slowly knit together, his mind working backward through his knowledge of curses and rituals. He frowned for a moment, and then, a few seconds later, Councilman Aldren’s eyes widened.
He inhaled sharply, face draining of color as the realization hit him. "Actually... it does."
Kael’s smile widened just a fraction. "Describe it."