[Elara's POV]
Enforcers.
The word was a death sentence. All the blood drained from Giselle's face. Her mother might not have grasped the full gravity of the situation, but she did. The moment the Elder Council's Enforcers were involved, there was no turning back.
Framing a mate, using a banned substance, hiring Rogues to commit assault… any one of these was a crime punishable by exile, if not a long sentence in the Blackrock Prison.
"No… no…" she stammered, stumbling backward, her body trembling uncontrollably.
"Kaelen…" Adelina finally sensed the true danger, grabbing her son's arm, her face a mask of fear.
Kaelen's expression was grim.
He took a deep breath, still clinging to the foolish hope that he could contain this.
He turned to me, his eyes pleading. "Elara, can't we… can't we just handle this as an internal Pack matter?"
I looked at him, and the last remnants of my heart turned to ice and shattered.
Even now, his first instinct was not to seek justice for me, but to protect his family's reputation.
Perhaps because I had been disappointed so many times before, this time, I felt no pain.
Only a numb, weary certainty.
"Internal matter?" I arched an eyebrow, my voice dripping with scorn. "You've never treated me as a member of your Pack. So how, exactly, is this an internal matter?"
My words were a phantom slap across his face.
"You are my mate! How can you say we don't see you as family!" he shot back reflexively.
"Mate?" The word was a bitter joke. "Kaelen, if the woman lying on the floor tonight, about to be assaulted, had been Seraphina, would you still be talking about 'internal matters'?"
He was struck dumb, a flicker of undeniable guilt in his amber eyes.
Just then, Seraphina herself swept into the room. She immediately adopted a posture of gentle reason, her voice soft and placating. "Elara, I know you've been wronged, but Adelina and Giselle were just… misguided. No real harm was done. There's no need to be so aggressive."
"I can only hope, Lady Seraphina, that if you ever find yourself in a similar position, you can summon the same grace and forgiveness," I retorted, my voice sharp as glass.
"You—!" Seraphina's face froze.
"That's enough. Save it for the Enforcers," a stern voice commanded as several black-uniformed officers entered the room. The lead Enforcer glanced at the moaning Rogues on the floor, then at the pale-faced Blackwood women, and gave a curt order.
"Take them all into custody."
As the cold, iron cuffs were brought out, Giselle completely broke down.
"No! I won't go! I won't!" she screamed, struggling wildly. Seeing that her brother was making no move to stop the Enforcers, she lunged for the last person she thought could save her, grabbing Seraphina's arm in a desperate grip.
"Sister Seraphina, help me! We did this for you!"
"This was all your idea! You told us that if we could ruin Elara, you could finally become my brother's true Luna!"
The accusation hung in the air, stunning everyone into silence.
Kaelen whipped his head around, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at Seraphina.
Seraphina's face went chalk-white. She violently tore her arm from Giselle's grasp. "What nonsense are you talking? This has nothing to do with me! I don't know anything!"
"You do!" Giselle, now fighting for her own survival, threw all caution to the wind. "You said that if Elara was gone, my brother would marry you! You were the one who gave my mother the formula for the Wolfsbane mist!"
"You're lying!" Seraphina shrieked.
"Seraphina, how could you betray us like this!" Adelina, who had already been seething at Seraphina's earlier inaction, now joined the fray. "If it wasn't to help you get my son, we never would have done any of this!"
A meticulously planned crime had devolved into a pathetic, dog-eat-dog spectacle of mastermind and accomplices tearing each other apart to save their own skins.
Liana watched from the side, thoroughly enjoying the show, even fanning the flames. "Well, well, this is getting interesting. Who do we think is telling the truth?" she mused loudly. "Lead Enforcer, it seems to me all three of them are suspects. Perhaps you should take them all in for a nice, long chat."
The Lead Enforcer gave the chaotic scene a look of cold disgust and nodded.
"Take all of them. We'll sort it out."
And so, the Enforcers unceremoniously hauled away Adelina, Giselle, and the still-protesting Seraphina.
As Kaelen was escorted out for questioning, he gave me one last, long look. His eyes were a storm of emotions: guilt, regret, and a deep, raw pain I couldn't quite decipher.
But it no longer mattered.
When the room was finally empty, a wave of dizziness washed over me.
With my adrenaline gone, the full effects of the Wolfsbane hit me like a tidal wave.
A scorching heat bloomed deep within me. My temperature spiked, and my breathing grew ragged and shallow.
"Elara!" Liana rushed to my side, steadying me as I swayed. "What's wrong? Your face is completely flushed!"
"I'm fine… just inhaled some of the mist," I gasped, fighting to stay conscious. "We need to go. Now."
"Okay, wait by the castle entrance. I'll bring the vehicle around," Liana said, helping me out of the room.
I leaned against the cold stone pillar at the castle's entrance, trying to use its chill to fight the fire raging through my veins. But the night wind only seemed to fuel the flames, sending the heat coursing through me with even greater intensity. The mist was far more potent than I had realized.
Just as my vision began to blur, a familiar, cool voice spoke from behind me.
"It seems Miss Elara is in need of assistance."
I forced my head to turn. Malachi's inhumanly beautiful face swam into view. He stood in the moonlight, his deep violet eyes like twin whirlpools, threatening to pull my very soul into their depths.
"I'm… waiting for a friend…" I managed to say, my body so weak I was about to slide to the ground.
"Your friend has been delayed," he said simply.
In the next instant, a silent, all-black Magi-tech vehicle glided to a stop in front of me.
Without another word, Malachi swept me into his arms, his movements fluid and absolute, and opened the vehicle door.
"Wait—what are you—" I struggled, but my limbs felt like lead.
He placed me gently onto the soft back seat, then slid in beside me, his voice a low, possessive whisper in my ear.
"I told you. If you're to save me, you must see it through to the end."
The door closed, sealing us off from the world.
He took my left wrist in a grip I couldn't break.
Not far away, Liana, who had just pulled her vehicle around, watched the scene unfold, nearly crashing into a planter in her shock.
Goddess above.
Elara had just been taken by the Mad King.