Chapter 5

"Sophia..."

As if he had too much to say and couldn't get any of it out.

He took a breath and pulled himself together. "Miss Calloway. What did you need?"

I gave him a small look and gestured for him to lean in.

I told him everything — what I'd been living with inside the Pack, and what Elena had just done. Zane's face went very dark.

"I know it's family business. But you're my promised mate, and I trust you. Can you lend me one of your female guards?" My voice cracked slightly.

Zane nodded. He looked at me with all the concern in the world. "Sophia, just hold on a little longer. My mourning period ends next month on the third. I'll come for you then."

He clapped his hands once. A female guard dropped down from the trees above us.

I murmured a few instructions. She nodded and took off toward Elena's room.

Then came the sound of hurried footsteps from the direction of the side room, and Elena's voice calling out in mock panic. "Zara! Are you all right?"

"You told me yourself you wanted some time alone to clear your head. You made me leave. But you've been in there so long — why haven't you come back?"

"I'm worried about you. Oh — Zara, what are you doing?"

I looked at Zane. We walked toward the side room together.

A crowd of Pack guests had already gathered at the door. Elena was sitting on the ground with an expression of shock, staring at the open doorway.

One woman raised her sleeve to cover her face. "That's the Calloway second daughter, and she's doing this with a stable hand at her own grandmother's birthday feast? Disgusting."

The woman next to her frowned. "I almost arranged a marriage between her and my brother last month. Thank the Moon Goddess I fell and hurt my hand that day and the meeting never happened. My brother would have been ruined."

A young Pack member backed away, grimacing. "Wait — why does that man have sores on his back?"

The crowd fell back as one. I stepped forward and got a look — Zara on the bed, arms around the stable hand, and the decaying sores spreading across his back.

Behind me came a shout: "Enough! All of you, go!"

Mother pushed through and flew into the room. She kicked the stable hand aside and wrapped Zara in her own coat.

Elena watched Mother rush to Zara's side. The hate in her eyes got darker.

Once the guests scattered, Grandmother and Father finally arrived. Father looked at the still-dazed Zara and started crying. "Zara, you were my most precious daughter. How did this happen to you?"

Grandmother's eyes were sharp. "She's been drugged. Someone, fetch the Pack Healer."

After a long afternoon, Zara finally came around.

When she found out that a man carrying a rotting sickness had been with her while she was unconscious, she screamed and threw herself into a full breakdown in her room — crying, throwing things, threatening to harm herself — and made the entire Calloway estate impossible to be in.

The Pack Healer confirmed she had been given a lust potion. Father was furious. He ordered the estate manager to investigate immediately.

It didn't take long before Elena's maid Lily Fairfax was brought in.

Lily was on her knees on the floor, weeping — but her eyes were fixed straight on me. "Sophia, I did what you asked. I put the potion in Zara's glass. Please let my parents go."

"I've done it. Please spare me. I'll take whatever punishment you want."

The room went dead quiet.

Father's face went dark. Mother's eyes were red. "Sophia, your father and I did favor Zara. But she's still your sister. How could you be so cruel?"

Zara stopped crying. She grabbed the nearest thing — a medicine cup — and hurled it at me. "You did this to me, you bitch!"

I smiled and tilted my head. The cup sailed past. "Lily, you're saying I told you to put the potion in Zara's glass. Where's your proof?"

Lily's eyes flickered with panic. "You gave me eighty gold coins. You told me to poison Bram Colton too, so he'd die from the poison after what happened, so the sickness couldn't be traced back."

Elena widened her eyes in practiced horror. "Sophia — you bribed my personal maid to hurt Zara, so you could walk away clean and let the blame fall on me?"

I looked at Elena.

Disgust and irritation rose in my chest.

I didn't want to argue. I clapped twice.

A woman in black walked in from outside. In one hand she held a small glass vial and a confession written in blood. With the other she dragged a man in white who could barely stand.

Elena went rigid.

I brought the confession and the vial to my parents. "The person who sold Elena that lust potion wrote this confession. The vial was found in Elena's room by the guard Zane Thorne lent me. He's had a female guard watching over me since he found out what I've been dealing with in this estate. All of it came from her."

Father looked at Elena in disbelief and struck her hard across the face.

The veil came off. Elena's ruined face was exposed to the room.