Chapter 6

Just then, urgent footsteps came from outside. The head official from the Pack Dungeons stumbled in, his face drained of color.

"Serena! Something's happened! Vera woke up!"

"She's awake, but her face is twisted and she seems to have lost her mind. She keeps repeating one thing over and over — that Vivienne is trying to silence her!"

I stood up sharply. My eyes went cold.

Vivienne had rushed to silence her and handed me the most damning evidence of all.

This trap was ready to close.

The cold rain that autumn fell hard and close together.

Calla slipped in through the curtain quickly, her voice low.

"Serena. Your father has been kneeling at the Pack Grounds gate for three hours. He's soaked through. His head is bleeding from knocking it on the ground. He's asking for just one moment with you."

The needle I'd been using to sew the Alpha Heir's small clothes paused. The tip pricked my finger, drawing blood.

I wiped it away without any change in expression.

"Let him in. Don't let it disturb the Alpha Heir."

He came through the door and dropped straight to his knees on the cold floor.

Gerald was soaked through. The decent clothes he always wore were gone — he had on rough cloth that had been washed so many times it was nearly white. The cut on his forehead mixed with rain as it dripped down, and his voice shook so badly it was hard to understand.

"Serena. I'm begging you. Save your mother. Save the Colton family."

"The council has been filing complaints every day. The Alpha King has already stripped every one of my positions. Even the family's standing in the Pack is about to be gone. You're the Alpha Heir's mother. If you say the word, the Alpha King will listen."

I set down my sewing and looked at him. Something in me was completely cold.

"Now you know to come to me?"

"My whole life, every time my mother spread rumors about me, every time she ran her mouth at the worst possible moment, you saw it all."

"When the engagement with the good family fell through and I was locked in the shrine hall for three months, you told me she was just being careless, just making jokes, don't take it to heart."

"Before I came to the Pack, she told the assessment official I couldn't have children. I nearly didn't make it through the gate. You still said to let it go."

"Yesterday at the Alpha Heir ceremony, she nearly sent me and the Alpha Heir to their deaths. And now you're here asking me to forgive her and save her?"

Gerald couldn't lift his head. His shoulders shook hard. He couldn't form a complete sentence.

"It's my fault... I didn't protect you... but she's still your mother, and the Colton family is still your blood..."

"My blood?"

I raised my voice.

"Every time she destroyed my reputation and tried to take my life, did she think of me as her daughter? Every time you enabled her and smoothed things over, did you think about whether I'd have anything left?"

I looked at his white face and let out a cold breath. I put the worst of it plainly in front of him.

"You still don't see it. My mother was Vivienne's weapon. From getting Vera to make accusations, to planting the garment, to the powder in the Blood Rite water — it was all Vivienne's operation. She wanted to use my mother's loose mouth to get rid of me and the Alpha Heir and secure her own position."

"And you think the Colton family was going to survive that?"

Gerald looked up sharply. His eyes went wide, like something had hit him.

He went still for a long moment, then crumpled and sobbed loudly.

"I was stupid! I was blind!"

"Vivienne had been meeting privately with your mother since before you were even showing. She gave her jewelry and gifts. She told her that once you had the Alpha Heir, you'd climb over her and forget she existed. She said you'd use your position to put the Colton family under your heel."

"I was there when your mother accepted the gifts. I thought it was just normal Pack socializing. I didn't stop it. I didn't warn you. I was the one who failed you, Serena."

"Serena, I know I was wrong. I want to make it right."

"I'll go to the Pack Dungeons now. I'll make your mother tell everything — every instruction Vivienne gave her, everything she was made to do. Signed statements, handprint, all of it. Give me the chance to make it up to you."

I looked at the new grey in his hair. After a long silence, I slowly nodded.

"Go. Whether you can convince her, whether you get the evidence — that's up to you."

Gerald got up and stumbled out, running back into the rain.

The rain outside kept falling. I walked to the window and watched his unsteady figure disappear into the rain.

I knew my mother's personality well. She was stubborn to the end. After Vivienne had been working on her for so long, she wasn't going to give anything up easily.