Maria.

My legs felt like they didn’t belong to me anymore.

Every step I took sent a dull, nauseating ache through my body, as though my bones had been rearranged overnight and never put back properly. I was shivering and burning up at the same time, cold sweat clinging to my skin while heat pooled deep inside my chest. My breaths came shallow, uneven, and no matter how hard I tried to steady them, my body refused to cooperate.

I felt terribly weak.

Not the kind of weakness that came from hunger or exhaustion alone, but the kind that settled into your marrow, that made you feel as though a single push would scatter you into pieces. My head swam, my vision blurring at the edges, yet I forced myself to quicken my pace. Slowing down wasn’t an option. Never was.

Aidan had summoned me.

That alone was enough to make my stomach twist painfully. I didn’t know what he wanted, and the not knowing terrified me more than anything else. I clung to a single fragile hope, that whatever this was, it would be over quickly. That he would say what he needed to say, do whatever he intended to do, and let me leave before my body completely betrayed me.

I crossed into the Alpha quarters, the air there heavier, suffocating. Every instinct in me screamed to turn back, but my feet kept moving, carrying me straight toward the chamber I had been called to.

When I reached the door, I lifted my hand and knocked lightly, barely more than a tap. My strength was gone, drained down to nothing.

The voice that answered wasn’t Aidan’s.

"Come in."

It was low. Husky. Calm in a way that made my blood run cold.

Adrein.

My fingers trembled as I pushed the door open. The hinges barely creaked, but the sound felt deafening in my ears. The moment I stepped inside, the door was shoved shut behind me, the finality of it making my heart jolt violently in my chest.

I wasn’t alone.

Damien stood near the center of the room, his expression already dark with irritation. Aidan was beside him, arms crossed, eyes sharp and assessing. Adrein lingered close to the door, his presence blocking any thought of escape. And there, seated comfortably, like she belonged exactly where she was, was Vanessa.

Their little princess.

My chest tightened painfully. The room felt smaller with all of them there, the walls closing in, the air thick with unspoken threat.

"What took you so long to get here?" Damien barked, his voice slicing through the silence like a blade.

I flinched.

Adrein moved swiftly, deliberately, positioning himself fully against the door, jamming it shut as though I hadn’t already understood I wasn’t leaving anytime soon. The sound echoed loudly in my head.

My mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Panic surged.

I folded in on myself instinctively, shoulders curving inward, head bowing slightly. I knew they hated my silence. I knew what it often earned me. But I was trying—desperately—to keep myself together, to avoid provoking them into another round of pain.

My teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, the cold and fever warring violently inside me.

"Al... Alpha Damien... I..." I stuttered, my voice barely audible, broken by the violent trembling of my jaw.

The words tangled on my tongue, refusing to form properly. I could taste blood already, metallic and bitter, from where I’d bitten the inside of my cheek trying to speak.

I didn’t even get the chance to finish.

Aidan stepped forward without warning.

The slap came fast—too fast for me to brace for it.

Pain exploded across my face as his palm connected with my cheek, the force snapping my head to the side. My teeth crashed together violently, my tongue caught between them. A sharp, blinding pain shot through my mouth, and I gasped as warm blood spilled past my lips, dripping onto my chin.

The room spun.

For a heartbeat, pure terror drowned out everything else.

What if I couldn’t talk again?

The thought lodged itself in my mind, sharp and suffocating. What if something had broken, my jaw, my tongue, something that would never heal properly? What if this was it? What if I lost even my voice?

My hands shook harder as tears surged to my eyes, spilling over before I could stop them. They streamed down my face freely, mixing with the blood, humiliation burning deeper than the physical pain.

I pressed my lips together instinctively, the movement sending another wave of agony through my mouth. My tongue throbbed, swollen and tender, every breath reminding me of what had just happened.

I was scared.

Not just of them, but of my own body, of how fragile I felt, how close I seemed to breaking completely.

Tears kept falling, unstoppable now, my chest hitching with shallow, ragged breaths as I stood there, small and trembling under their gazes, waiting for whatever would come next.

"We haven’t even started and you’re already crying!" Damien sneered.

His voice cut through me sharper than the slap had. Before I could even react, he stepped forward and grabbed my chin, his fingers digging painfully into my jaw as he forced my face upward. The sudden pressure sent a fresh wave of pain through my mouth, straight to my tongue where blood still pooled. I whimpered despite myself, my tears spilling faster, shame and fear knotting together in my chest.

I hated that he could see me like this, weak, shaking, broken, helpless, terrified, pale and name it all. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"That slap just now," Aidan said coldly from behind him, "was for hurting Vanessa."

The words rang in my ears.

Hurting Vanessa?

My vision blurred, not from tears this time, but from disbelief. Slowly, helplessly, my eyes drifted across the room until they met hers.

Vanessa.

She sat there looking delicate and fragile, her posture relaxed, her hands folded neatly on her lap. For a split second, she pretended concern, but then her lips curved upward. Just slightly. A smile so faint anyone else might have missed it.

But I didn’t.

That smile crushed something deep inside me.

So this wasn’t over. Whatever she had whispered into Davian’s ears last night hadn’t been enough. She wanted more. She wanted everyone to see me broken. Punished. Reduced to nothing.

My body trembled violently, not just from fear now, but from exhaustion. I could feel it, deep in my bones, that I didn’t have much strength left. Whatever they planned to do to me in this room, I wasn’t sure my body could endure it.

But I had no choice.

Across the room, Adrein stood silently, his arms folded across his chest. His face was unreadable, his eyes fixed on me in a way that made my skin crawl. There was something there, something dark and complicated, but I couldn’t decipher it. Not now. Not with my mind spinning and my heart hammering painfully against my ribs.

I didn’t know who to look at.

Damien’s grip on my chin was merciless.

Aidan’s presence felt like a looming storm.

Vanessa’s smile burned into my soul.

And Adrein... Adrein was an enigma I couldn’t reach.

For the first time, I realized there was no one in this room I could plead with. No mercy to beg for. No kindness to cling to.

My breaths became shallow, my chest rising and falling rapidly as panic tightened its grip around my throat. My legs felt weak, barely holding me upright. The room seemed to tilt slightly, the edges of my vision darkening.

I was still trapped in my thoughts when Aidan spoke again.

"Guards," he said calmly, almost casually. "Bring in the whip."

The words landed like a death sentence.

My heart skipped violently, then began to pound so hard it felt like it was trying to escape my chest. The sound of my own pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything else. My knees buckled slightly, and if Damien hadn’t been holding my chin, I might have collapsed right there.

No.

Not the whip.

My breath caught painfully in my throat as a cold, familiar terror washed over me. Images flashed through my mind, burning pain, torn skin, the sound of leather cutting through air before it met flesh. I could almost feel it already, ghost pains igniting across my back and arms.

Oh no.

My lips parted, but no words came out. My voice had abandoned me completely, stolen by fear. Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably now, my body shaking so badly it was impossible to hide.

I was about to die.

Maybe not in the way death usually came, but something inside me would not survive this. I could feel it. Whatever strength I had left, whatever fragile piece of hope I still clung to, would be torn away with every strike.

The guards’ footsteps echoed faintly outside the door, each sound growing louder, closer, counting down the final seconds of my fragile composure.

I swallowed hard, my throat burning, my heart screaming.

This was it.