Chapter 4

Rhea’s POV

Merek crossed the hall and slapped me. The blow turned my face towards Grandmother. She stepped between us before he could raise his hand again.

“You will not strike her in front of me,” Grandmother warned.

“She accused Monica of destroying this family,” Merek replied. “She frightened Dagan at the river and turned a public apology into another attack.”

“I was trying to escape,” I replied, tasting blood. “Not everything I do is meant to control you.”

Merek had once been my gentlest father. I spent my childhood in his treatment room, learning herbs while resting beneath his table in Kiro’s form. When my inner wolf feared our first shift, Merek spoke through our bond until she took control.

“Your wolf will always protect you,” he promised that day. “I will never let anyone damage your bond.”

He broke that promise after Monica’s awakening. Monica claimed Kiro had deliberately driven her white wolf into a rage and attacked the injured cubs. Merek accepted her story even though the awakening wards had prevented me from shifting.

Guards held me while he burned moon-silver seals around my mark. The seals damaged the path between my human and beast halves until I could no longer shift.

Merek had called it a temporary restraint and promised the marks would fade within days. Kiro cried for him inside my mind while he placed them. He heard her but believed Monica’s warning that my wolf was trying to deceive him. When the seals failed to fade, he accepted Black Hollow’s report that I was pretending they still hurt.

Now Monica hurried towards him and loosely held his arm. “Please do not hit Rhea again,” she begged. “If she confesses, I will forgive her.”

The guests praised her kindness. Merek faced me. “Kneel and confess. I will treat your wounds and repair your bond with Kiro.”

He still spoke as if three years of damage could be treated with a tonic. “What happens if I refuse?” I asked.

Dagan answered from behind me. “You will return to Black Hollow’s surface wing tonight and remain under observation until you are willing to tell the truth. I will order the warden to keep you away from the mine.”

He believed his order would protect me. I knew Monica’s silver carried more weight inside Black Hollow than any instruction he sent.

“She will not return anywhere tonight,” Grandmother declared. “Rhea will stay in my rooms until I learn what all of you have hidden from me.”

The four men fell silent. Monica’s fingers tightened around Merek’s sleeve. If Grandmother began asking questions, the lie surrounding Black Hollow would not survive.

Merek opened his healer’s case. Bottles for fever and broken bones stood beside a black vial sealed with silver wax. I recognised concentrated wolfsbane.

Small doses calmed Beast Rage. Swallowed alone, it stopped a beast core within minutes. Dagan blocked the doors while two guards moved behind me. They would force my confession or return me to the place that had nearly destroyed Kiro and me.

“Drink this tonic,” Merek ordered, reaching for my arm. “Then you will kneel.”

I knocked the tonic away and seized the black vial. Merek’s expression changed. “Put that down, Rhea. That is not ordinary medicine.”

Monica remained outside my reach. “Please listen to him,” she said. “We only want to help.”

They wanted obedience, not my life. Kiro moved weakly inside my mind. “Do not leave me,” she pleaded. Her voice almost stopped me, but Dagan signalled the guards to surround me.

“You will never have my confession,” I told them. “I would rather die with the truth than live inside Monica’s lie.”

I swallowed the wolfsbane. The empty vial shattered against the floor. Merek caught me as my legs failed, while Grandmother shouted for him to save me.