Fated to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 28: Breaking

**************

Chapter 29

~Jade’s POV~

Silvie’s laughter floated behind me as I turned away, like she had just dropped a harmless comment instead of a blade.

"Well," she said sweetly, adjusting the cuff of her sleeve, "I suppose this is what happens when people forget that attention comes with consequences."

I stopped short and turned back, my glare landing not on Silvie, but on Isadora.

Isadora flinched under my look. "Silvie," she said quietly, almost apologetically, "that’s not nice. You shouldn’t say things like that."

Silvie tilted her head, feigning innocence. "Say things like what? I didn’t say anything untrue."

The way Isadora lowered her gaze, the way her fingers twisted together nervously, irritated me more than Silvie’s smug expression ever could. If you were going to scold someone, at least mean it.

My jaw tightened as I looked back at Silvie. She was smiling, but in a wide manner or obvious. Just enough to let me know she was enjoying this.

I turned to leave.

"Jade, wait." Isadora hurried after me and caught my hand. "I’m sorry. About Silvie. I really am."

I yanked my hand free. "Good to know you’re still thinking about your new friend," I said sharply, "instead of what just happened to me."

"No." Isadora shook her head quickly. "That’s not what I meant. I mean, Silvie isn’t what matters right now."

Silvie snickered behind us. "I mean... she matters, but—" Isadora faltered, wanting to please two friends at once... more like enemies.

I glanced over Isadora’s shoulder and caught Silvie’s reflection in the glass panel nearby. She was still smiling and watching. Too bad Isadora didn’t see it.

"I’m here for you," Isadora said earnestly. "I swear."

Something clicked in my mind.

The way Silvie had shown me the gossip. The ease with which she had scrolled. The timing. It was too precise and prepared.

My chest tightened. "Did you..." I stopped myself, then forced the words out. "Did you know?"

Isadora’s breath caught.

"Did you know about the pictures before you came to meet me?" I pressed in a low voice. "Before you held my hand and told me you were sorry?"

She didn’t answer. Isadora didn’t have to. The guilt was written all over her face. Her lips trembled. Her eyes darted away.

"Figured," I muttered.

I turned away before she could explain. Before she could make it worse.

—

I didn’t want to hear anyone’s voice, advice, concern or even pity. I skipped training without a second thought and ran.

I ran until my lungs burned and my legs ached, until the noise of the academy faded into nothing but wind and heartbeat.

My feet finally slowed when I reached the East Wing garden, a quiet stretch of green most students avoided at this hour.

I stopped beneath a tall tree and bent forward, hands braced on my knees as my chest heaved.

The betrayal, the gossips and Silvie... Tears burned my eyes.

How could someone do this?

All the confidence I had been forcing myself to build, every steady step I had taken forward, began to crack. I leaned back against the tree, its rough bark pressing into my spine as if to keep me upright.

My mind betrayed me with one thought.

The King.

If my father saw those pictures... I didn’t even want to imagine the disappointment that he must feel or the questions. Who knows what people of court would say, especially my Uncle Azriel.

The silence that would hurt more than anger ever could.

The Trial of the Moon Contest flashed in my head. I would be disqualified before it even began. No academy would send a student surrounded by scandal. No council would defend me.

I had barely began my senior year properly when everything was about to go down the drain.

I reached into my pocket for my phone, only to come up empty. I let out a frustrated groan. I had left it in my locker. Going back meant facing the stares from students, the whispers, the judgment.

In everything my mind failed to think about the most important people right now. My mates. They’d think I was whoring myself again.

Just the thought made my heart ache and Javelin whined.

"Not again," I muttered as I slammed my fist against the tree, ignoring the pain that shot through my hand.

"Hey." Javelin’s voice echoed softly in my head. "You’ve got this."

My throat tightened, and a tear slipped free despite my effort to hold it back.

She was right. Crying wouldn’t fix anything. But anger—anger might.

Who would do this to me? 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Then the memory surfaced.

The pose. The angle. The familiarity.

Troy.

My heart pounded harder. I hadn’t taken any pictures like that. Not like those. Unless... unless he had twisted something. A video. A frame. Something sent in trust.

My thoughts spiraled, racing through possibilities, when a sudden shift in the air behind me made my skin prickle.

I spun around.

Xade stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable.

I sniffed and stepped back instinctively. "What are you doing here?" I asked, turning my face away.

Xade Zevran. The triplet everyone underestimated and feared in equal measure. He didn’t overpower opponents with brute strength or flawless strategy like his brothers. He dismantled them mentally.

Cunning. Observant. Dangerous.

Those three words described Xade Zevran perfectly, the master of psychology and the worst person to be near when you were already coming apart.

He didn’t need brute force to win. He only needed a few quiet seconds to see through you, to find the cracks you were trying so hard to hide.

My mind betrayed me, dragging up his rejection from the first day we met, and the days after that. The cool distance in his eyes. The way he had made it clear he had no interest in weakness not even in his mate.

And yet... he had been there.

That day on the field, after my first training with Lady Ember, when my frustration finally spilled over and I stopped pretending I was fine. He had watched without interrupting or mocking, as if he was trying to understand something instead of judge it.

And if Xavier had not stepped in when he did, I was almost sure something else would have happened between us.

I turned my back fully to him.

"I saw you running," Xade said quietly. "What happened?"

"It’s nothing."

"Nothing?" Doubt crept into his voice. "Or does it have something to do with the whispers?"

I whirled around as anger flared in me. So he knew. Yet he asked. Was he here to mock me?

Unable to contain my frustration, I voiced, "If you already know, then why are you asking me? Are you here to gloat? To confirm the rumors or...?"

Xade stepped closer, bridging the gap between us. "If I knew," he said firmly, "I wouldn’t be here asking questions. I’d be dealing with whoever hurt you."

My heart skipped thanks to those words. And at once my anger towards him disappeared. Xade reached out, then hesitated, before gently turning me to face him.

"What happened, Jade?" Something flickered in his eyes when I looked into them—anger, concern, something sharper.

"Tell me," he said softly. "Who in Lunaria thought they could touch you like this?"