Rhiannon's POV
I slammed the door in the woman's face.
My heart hammered as I pressed my back against the wood. Through the bond, I felt Caspian's sudden alertness—he'd sensed my fear.
"Rhiannon?" The woman's voice was calm, amused. "That's quite rude."
"You gave me poison," I hissed through the door. "The same poison that's already killing him. You're using me."
Silence. Then, "May I at least explain before you make assumptions?"
"No. Get away from my door before I call the guards."
"And tell them what? That you're carrying shadowroot poison meant for their Alpha?" Her laugh was soft and dangerous. "I don't think that will end well for you."
She was right. I was trapped.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"To talk. Five minutes. Then I'll leave if you ask."
Every instinct screamed not to trust her. But I needed answers. Needed to know who was trying to kill Caspian and why they wanted me involved.
I opened the door a crack.
The woman slipped inside like smoke. Up close, she was beautiful in a sharp, dangerous way. Her eyes held secrets that made my skin crawl.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"Someone who wants the same thing you do—to end this war." She smiled. "My name is Senna Frost. I used to be Blackthorn, before I realized what was really happening."
"And what's really happening?"
"The war is being controlled. Prolonged on purpose by people in power who profit from the bloodshed." She moved to my window, looking out at the fortress. "Both sides have traitors working together to keep the fighting going. They sabotaged peace talks. They engineered battles to maximize casualties. And they definitely don't want this bond to succeed."
My mind raced. "The poison in Caspian—"
"Is from someone in his inner circle. Someone he trusts." Senna turned to face me. "I gave you shadowroot because I thought you'd want revenge. I was wrong about you."
"Then take it back." I pulled the vial from my boot and held it out.
She didn't take it. "Keep it. You might need it—just not for Caspian."
"I don't understand."
"You will." She moved to the door. "Be careful, Rhiannon. You're more important than you realize, and that makes you dangerous to the wrong people. Trust no one here—not the guards, not the servants, not even—"
The door burst open.
Caspian stood there, fury radiating from him like heat. Through the bond, I felt his rage, his fear, his absolute certainty that I'd betrayed him.
"Step away from her," he ordered Senna, his voice deadly quiet.
"Alpha." Senna bowed mockingly. "I was just leaving."
"You were just infiltrating my private quarters and threatening my mate." His hand went to the blade at his belt. "Give me one reason not to execute you right now."
"Because I'm not your enemy." Senna looked at me, something like sympathy in her eyes. "But you'll figure that out too late, as usual."
She was gone before Caspian could stop her, melting into the shadows of the hallway like she'd never been there at all.
Caspian slammed the door and turned on me. "What did she want?"
"To warn me." The truth came easier than lying through the bond. "She says someone in your inner circle is trying to kill you."
"And you believed her?"
"I believe the poison I can feel eating you alive!" My own anger flared. "I believe that you're dying and too stubborn to admit it!"
"What I believe," Caspian said, his voice dangerously soft, "is that you're working with insurgents to undermine my authority. Just like you did three years ago."
The accusation hit like a physical blow. "I saved children!"
"You defied my direct order during a military operation!" He moved closer, and I could feel his fury through the bond—but also his fear, his desperation to maintain control. "Do you have any idea what that did? My soldiers stopped trusting my commands. My enemies saw weakness. That one act of defiance cost us the entire northern border!"
"Those children would be dead!"
"Thousands died because you made me look weak!" His control was cracking, three years of buried emotion spilling out. "Thousands of my people, slaughtered because I couldn't maintain order in my own ranks!"
"So Kieran's death was worth it?" The words ripped from my throat. "My brother dying on that platform—that was an acceptable price for your authority?"
Caspian's face went white. Through the bond, his guilt crashed into me so hard I stumbled.
"Your brother," he said, his voice shaking now, "made his own choice."
"Because you gave him no other option! You sentenced me to die for saving innocent lives!"
"I sentenced you to die because I had no choice!" The confession exploded from him. "Don't you understand? My pack was fracturing. My authority was questioned daily. If I'd shown mercy to you, shown weakness, they would have torn me apart and we would have lost the war!"
"And that matters more than children's lives?"
"It mattered more than YOUR life!" He was shouting now, all his careful control gone. "I had to choose between you and thousands of my people, and I chose my pack like any Alpha would!"
"Then why do you feel so guilty?" I demanded. Through the bond, I could feel it—the self-loathing that consumed him, the nightmares that woke him screaming, the way Kieran's face haunted every decision he made. "Why does it eat you alive if you're so certain you were right?"
"Stay out of my head," he snarled.
"I can't! That's what this bond does! I feel everything you try to hide—every regret, every doubt, every—"
"Then feel this." His eyes locked with mine, silver and blazing. "I would make the same choice again. I would sentence you to die a thousand times if it meant protecting my pack. That's what leadership means. That's what being Alpha requires."
The bond screamed with his lie.
We both gasped as pain lanced through us.
"You're lying," I whispered. "You wouldn't make the same choice. You regret it. You wish—"
"Get out of my head!" He grabbed my shoulders, and healing magic flared between us unbidden. For a second, I felt the poison clearly—saw exactly what it was doing to him, how close he was to dying.
And felt something else. Something that made my blood freeze.
"The bond," I breathed. "It's healing you. When I touch you, it neutralizes the poison."
Caspian jerked away like I'd burned him. "No."
"That's why you've felt better since the ceremony. Why the headaches lessen when I'm near. The bond is keeping you alive."
Through our connection, I felt his horror at the realization. He didn't want to need me. Didn't want to be dependent on the woman he'd condemned.
"This changes nothing," he said, but his voice had lost its certainty. "You'll still follow my rules. You'll still—"
A scream echoed through the fortress. Then another.
Caspian's head snapped toward the door. Through the bond, I felt his alarm spike.
"What is it?" I asked.
He was already moving. "Stay here."
"Not a chance." I followed him into the hallway.
Guards were running toward the main hall, weapons drawn. Servants scattered in panic. And through it all, I heard someone shouting:
"The Alpha's been poisoned! Someone's trying to kill the Alpha!"
Caspian stopped dead.
"They know," I said. "Someone knows about the poison. And now they're making their move."
Through the bond, I felt his calculation, his warrior's mind already strategizing. But I also felt something else—trust. Fragile and unwilling, but there.
He looked at me. "If you're part of this plot—"
"I'm not." The bond confirmed my truth.
"Then stay close. If someone's bold enough to announce my weakness publicly, they're ready to act on it."
We ran toward the main hall together. But as we rounded the corner, I felt it through the bond—Caspian's sudden dizziness, his vision blurring.
The poison was surging. Someone had just given him another dose.
He stumbled, and I caught him before he fell.
"The wine," he gasped. "At dinner. I drank—"
His eyes rolled back.
As the Alpha of Blackthorn Pack collapsed in my arms, guards surrounded us with weapons drawn.
And I realized with cold certainty: They thought I'd done it.
They thought I'd poisoned him.