Page 41 of Nansar
My throat constricted. This was it—the precipice where everything could shatter. I felt the weight of every gaze in the room pressing against my skin, the council members watching with the patient stillness of those who had witnessed countless confessions.
Then Chloe's hand slipped into mine, her fingers threading through my own with a certainty that anchored me to the moment. The simple gesture steadied the trembling in my core.
She had already heard this story—the manipulation, the betrayal, the shame that clung to me like a second skin I could never shed. I'd laid bare the worst parts of myself, expecting her to recoil in disgust.
But she hadn't turned away.
I drew a breath that felt like swallowing broken glass and began.
"I helped plan an assassination attempt on my father, Duke Ako. I provided information, access, intimate details that would have made his death not just possible, but inevitable."
A murmur rippled through the council like wind through leaves, but the elder remained perfectly still, her expression carved from stone.
"I allowed myself to be manipulated," I said, each word tasting like ash on my tongue. "By someone I trusted. Someonewho knew exactly which strings to pull, how to exploit my anger, my resentment, my every weakness." I forced myself to meet the elder's obsidian eyes, even as shame burned through my chest like acid.
"Thankfully, the plan was thwarted," I continued, my voice rougher now, scraping against my throat. "My father survived. But my role in it... there's no excuse for what I did. I was angry, yes. Bitter. But that doesn't justify my actions against a male who loves me unconditionally... who somehow found it in himself to forgive me my crime." I swallowed hard. "I was sentenced to fifty years on Palaydium. The sentence was fair. More than fair. I deserved worse."
The silence that followed was suffocating, pressing down on me from all sides like the weight of deep water. My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I was certain everyone could hear it, the rhythm of my guilt made audible.
Then Chloe squeezed my hand tightly, her fingers holding mine in a way that felt both protective and defiant. When I glanced at her, she was staring directly at the elder with an expression of such fierce determination it stole my breath.
"He's a good male," she said, her voice ringing clear and unwavering through the chamber. "I know what he did was wrong. He knows it too—it haunts him. But he's not that person anymore. He protected me, cared for me, kept me safe at great risk to himself." She glanced at me, and the absolute trust blazing in her eyes made my chest ache with an emotion I couldn't name. "I trust him. Completely."
The elder's gaze shifted between us, sharp as a knife, dissecting and assessing.
"This female speaks for you with great conviction." She tilted her head, studying me with those ancient, knowing eyes. "Tell me, is she your mate?"
The question hung in the air like a boulder suspended by a thread, and I felt every eye in the council turn toward me. My horns had been itching incessantly for days now—a maddening sensation I'd been trying desperately to ignore, to rationalize away. But I knew what it meant. I'd always known.
"Yes," I answered without hesitation, the word emerging firm and certain. Because it was true. Because denying it would be the greatest lie I'd ever told. "She is my mate."
Chloe's hand tightened in mine, and I felt her surprise ripple through our connection like an electric current, followed by something warmer, deeper, that made my pulse quicken.
The elder's expression didn't change, but something flickered behind her eyes—curiosity, perhaps, or suspicion. She rose from her seat with the fluid grace of a serpent uncoiling and descended the steps toward us, each footfall deliberate, measured. I locked my knees, refusing to retreat even as every instinct screamed at me to put distance between us.
She invaded our space without hesitation, stopping so close I could count the silver threads woven through her dark hair. Her nostrils flared, drawing in our scent. Then she began to circle—evaluating, judging—her gaze never leaving us as she moved with unnerving silence.
When she completed her orbit, the look she leveled at me could have frozen fire.
"You claim she is your mate." Each word sent ripples of unease through me. "Yet neither of you bears the scent of the other as bonded pairs do." She leaned in, close enough that I could see the dangerous glint in her ancient eyes. "Why is that?"
My pulse thundered in my ears. Think. Think, damn you.
"We bathed in the creek," I said, forcing my voice to remain level, controlled. "Before we began our ascent. The journey was long and we were—"
"Filthy?" The elder's lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "How... convenient."
The word dripped with skepticism. She knew. Or at least, she suspected. And that suspicion was a blade hovering over both our throats.
The silence stretched like a bowstring pulled to its breaking point. Every breath felt too loud, every heartbeat a drum announcing our guilt. Finally, mercifully, she stepped back—but the reprieve felt more like a stay of execution than a pardon.
"You will remain here." Her voice rang through the chamber with the finality of a judge pronouncing sentence. "Three days. You will live among us, under our watch." Her eyes hardened to flint, and the air itself seemed to shimmer with threat. "If I discover deception—about your bond, your purpose, anything—I will personally ensure neither of you leaves this mountain alive. Am I understood?"
The words turned my blood to ice water, but I met her gaze without flinching. "Perfectly."
Beside me, Chloe trembled—a barely perceptible shudder that ran through her small frame like wind through grass. But when I risked a glance, her spine was steel, her jaw set, her eyes locked on the elder with unflinching defiance. Fear radiated from her in waves I could almost taste, yet she stood her ground like a warrior facing down an army.
This fragile human, surrounded by beings who could snap her like kindling, refused to bow. Refused to break. Gods, this female was incredible.
