— What does one not endure for love? —

The men began kicking the poor omega, shoving him, striking him over and over without pause. Blows rained down from every direction, each one harder than the last.

If Ren wanted to, he could end it all in an instant.

He didn’t need to endure this.

All he had to do was unleash his power.

He could kill them all.

They wanted him dead—so why should he care whether they lived?

The thought rose fiercely within him—

But then Zayden’s face flashed through his mind.

Ren froze.

What if Zayden misunderstands? What if he believes I truly betrayed him if I fight back... if I kill them?

His fists tightened against the stone. He couldn’t allow himself to retaliate.

Even if it was foolish. Even if every instinct screamed at him to fight. Even if the man he was protecting had cast him aside without hesitation.

Then another thought slipped in.

Did Zayden truly abandon me?

The mere thought stung harder than any of the blows he was receiving. His chest tightened painfully.

"Did I make the wrong choice...?" Ren whispered under his breath, barely audible as the guards continued to hit him over and over again.

Eventually, what appeared to be an endless cycle came to an end. The beating stopped.

Ren’s body trembled on the cold stone, every breath burning. But the cruelty wasn’t over. Rough hands grabbed at his clothes, tearing them away until he was left with nothing but his underwear. Cold air hit his bruised skin. He froze in place, perplexed.

Within a few seconds, his wrists and ankles were chained, the restraints forcing his body against the ground so that he could barely move.

Ren slowly lifted his head, his bruised face turning toward the men standing around him.

The expressions on their faces made something cold settle deep in his chest.

Fear.

A strange, suffocating fear.

Because the beating had not been the end.

And as he looked at them, bound helplessly beneath their gazes, only one thought echoed through his mind.

What are they about to do to me...?

The cold steel bit into his bare skin, leaving him shivering. The dungeon was colder than the room he had been given at the Temple. Yet instead of looking at the group of men surrounding him, Ren’s gaze remained fixed on the door.

A glimmer of hope still lingered in his crimson eyes.

Zayden would burst through those doors.

He would see the state Ren was in and immediately drag him away from this place. The cold fury that had filled his gaze the night before would disappear the moment he saw him like this.

Right?

But it was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Zayden never came.

Not yesterday.

Not now.

And perhaps... Never.

Never?

Ren’s breath caught at the mere possibility.

The thought alone felt suffocating. He could endure the cold. The chains. The humiliation. But the idea of leaving Zayden believing he was a traitor—that his love had been a lie—hurt more than anything they could do to him. When in truth, loving Zayden had been one of the very few good things that had ever happened in his life.

Ren had never fought for much.

Only for Ilyan.

Only for Eiran.

Now that he had finally accepted Zayden, he found himself wanting to hold on to him with everything he had left. To cling to him even if it cost him his life, because he knew one thing for certain: Zayden would never take his anger out on Eiran—their son.

The thought brought a bitter ache to his chest.

After what felt like an eternity, the dungeon doors finally creaked open.

A gust of cold air swept through the room, causing Ren to squeeze his eyes shut.

"What is happening here?" A commanding voice cut through the large, shabby space, powerful enough to silence the room instantly.

Ren slowly opened his eyes and looked up through lowered lashes. To his greatest disappointment, it wasn’t his lover. Rather, an unfamiliar man who stood a few steps away.

"And who is this?" the stranger demanded, his gaze narrowing as it settled on the chained omega. "Why is there a naked man bound to the floor? Since when do we degrade criminals like this, instead of torturing them?"

The knights surrounding Ren immediately straightened. Their backs stiffened.

From the way sweat suddenly appeared on their foreheads and the panic flickering across their faces, it was obvious this newcomer outranked every one of them.

"Th-This is—" A knight stammered, his voice barely above a whisper.

"This man is the snake we’ve been searching for," one of the knights interrupted quickly. His voice remained composed, but the glare he directed at Ren was filled with hostility.

Ren barely noticed.

"Where is General Zayden?" the omega asked instead, his voice hoarse and weak.

His throat burned. Not a drop of water had passed his lips since the night before, and sleep had been the last thing on his mind.

How could he sleep when Zayden was nowhere near him? When the alpha he had finally accepted as his fated mate believed him to be a traitor? And perhaps how hated him...

Hate.

Ren’s blood ran cold. If Zayden hated him...

He shook his head quickly.

No, no. What nonsense! I just need to clear up the misunderstanding. Zayden is just mad because I hid so much from him. He will... He will save me. He loves me...

The words of comfort he offered himself came to a stop when the newcomer spoke.

"The snake?" he repeated, completely ignoring Ren’s question.

"Yes, General." The knights didn’t waste another second to answer.

His gaze shifted from the omega to the knight who had spoken.

The room fell silent.

The knights nodded eagerly, several of them sneering as if proud of themselves. Even the commander standing among them seemed convinced of Ren’s guilt.

The man’s eyes swept across the dungeon before returning to Ren’s bruised face, the marks on his skin, the chains digging into his wrists and ankles.

"Mhmph!—" Ren bit the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from screaming louder.