Rhiannon's POV
"Everyone out."
Caspian's voice was stronger now, though I could still feel his weakness through the bond. Guards hesitated, looking between their recovering Alpha and me—the Silverfang who'd just been accused of poisoning him.
"I said out." Power rolled through his words, the Alpha command that made wolves obey without thinking.
The guards filed out reluctantly. Senna caught my eye and nodded once before slipping through the door. Then it was just me and Caspian, the bond pulsing between us like a living thing.
I pulled my hands away from his chest. "The poison's still in your system. I've neutralized most of it, but whoever made this knew what they were doing. It'll take days of healing to fully purge it."
"Days of you touching me." His jaw tightened. "How convenient."
Anger flared. "I just saved your life!"
"After carrying shadowroot poison in your boot. After meeting with a known insurgent in your room. After—"
"After your trusted Beta tried to murder you!" I stood, shaking. "Theron's been poisoning you for months. He just admitted it to me in the cells. And there are others—a conspiracy spanning both packs, all working to keep this war going."
Through the bond, I felt his doubt warring with the truth he could sense in my words.
"Why would Theron betray me?" His voice was quiet, dangerous. "He's been my friend since childhood. My most loyal—"
"He thinks you're weak. He said it himself—that a true Alpha doesn't need a mate to be strong, doesn't feel guilt over necessary deaths." I moved closer. "He's been waiting for you to show weakness so he could take your place."
Caspian's face had gone carefully blank, but through the bond, I felt his emotions—devastation, rage, and worst of all, the terrible certainty that I might be right.
"The bond lets you sense lies," he said slowly. "When he confessed to you... you felt the truth?"
"Yes. And I felt something else." I hesitated. "He wasn't working alone. When I mentioned the conspiracy, he didn't deny it. Someone more powerful is behind this."
"Who?"
"I don't know yet. But whoever they are, they wanted you dead before the bond could fully form. That's why Theron gave you another dose tonight—he was racing against time."
Caspian sat up slowly, pain flickering across his face. I moved to help him instinctively, and he didn't pull away. Progress.
"You could have let me die," he said quietly. "You had every reason to. Kieran—"
"Don't." The name still hurt like a fresh wound. "I don't let people die if I can save them. Even you."
"Even the man who sentenced your brother to death."
"Even him." Through the bond, I felt his surprise, his confusion. "Though I reserve the right to hate you while keeping you alive."
The corner of his mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "Fair enough."
A knock interrupted us. A servant's nervous voice: "Alpha? The healer is here to examine you."
Caspian's eyes met mine. "Do I need the healer?"
"You need rest and more healing sessions. But your pack healer should look at you too. If I'm the only one treating you, it looks suspicious."
He nodded and called for the healer to enter.
An elderly woman bustled in, her eyes widening when she saw me. "The Silverfang is still here? Alpha, I thought—"
"She saved my life." Caspian's voice was firm. "Whatever you heard, it was wrong. Theron Darkwater is the traitor."
The healer's face went pale. "But he's your Beta. He's been... oh gods. The supplements he asked me to prepare for you. He said they were for strength and focus."
My blood ran cold. "What was in them?"
"Herbs for energy, mostly. Some nightshade in tiny doses for—" She stopped, horror dawning. "Nightshade builds up in the system over time. In small doses it seems beneficial, but combined with other toxins..."
"It becomes deadly," I finished. "How long has he been giving these to Caspian?"
"Six months. Maybe more." The healer's hands shook. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know."
"It's not your fault," Caspian said, though his voice was tight. "Check me now. Confirm what Rhiannon's told me."
The healer examined him, her face growing grimmer. "She's right. Shadowroot, nightshade, and something else I can't identify. It's a miracle you're alive."
"The bond," I said quietly. "It's been healing him without either of us realizing."
The healer looked between us with something like wonder. "A true bond, then. The old magic. I thought those were just legends."
"So did I," Caspian muttered.
After the healer left with instructions to prepare antidotes, silence fell between us. I could feel Caspian's exhaustion through the bond, but also his racing thoughts.
"You should rest," I said. "I'll come back in a few hours to—"
"Stay."
The word stopped me cold. Through the bond, I felt his reluctance, his pride fighting against necessity.
"The bond heals me faster when you're close," he admitted. "And if there are other conspirators, they might try again tonight. You'd sense the poison before anyone else."
He was right. But staying meant being alone with him. Meant feeling his emotions, his pain, his guilt over Kieran.
Meant getting closer to a man I was supposed to hate.
"Fine," I said. "But I'm sleeping in the chair."
"There's a perfectly good bed—"
"That you're in. So I'm taking the chair."
Through the bond, I felt his amusement. "Stubborn."
"You have no idea."
I settled into the chair by the window while Caspian lay back down. Night had fallen fully now, the fortress quiet except for guard patrols.
"Rhiannon," Caspian said after a long moment. "About Kieran. I need you to know—"
"Don't." I cut him off. "Not tonight. I can't... I'm not ready to hear it."
Through the bond, I felt his understanding. His acceptance.
We sat in silence as he drifted toward sleep. But just before he slipped under, I felt something through our connection—a memory he couldn't quite suppress.
Kieran, standing on the execution platform. Not afraid. Not angry. Just... at peace.
And Caspian, watching from the Alpha's seat, his hands gripping the armrests so hard they cracked. Fighting every instinct to call it off. To show mercy. To save the man who'd chosen to die.
But knowing if he did, his pack would fracture. The war would be lost. Everything would fall apart.
I'm sorry, Caspian had thought as the blade fell. I'm so sorry.
I gasped, the memory hitting me like a physical blow.
Caspian's eyes opened, meeting mine in the darkness. He'd felt me sense it.
"You didn't want to kill him," I whispered.
"No. But I did it anyway." His voice was raw. "That's what makes it worse."
Before I could respond, a sound from the hallway made us both freeze.
Footsteps. Quiet, careful. Someone trying not to be heard.
Through the bond, I felt Caspian's instant alertness. He sat up silently, hand going to a blade hidden under his pillow.
The footsteps stopped outside his door.
Then, slowly, the handle began to turn.
Someone was breaking into the Alpha's chambers while he was weak and vulnerable.
I moved to Caspian's side, magic flaring in my palms. He positioned himself to attack despite his weakened state.
The door creaked open.
A hooded figure slipped inside, a vial in one hand.
More poison.
"Now," Caspian whispered.
I unleashed my magic. The figure dodged, faster than any wolf I'd seen. They threw the vial, and I barely managed to deflect it with a shield of power.
The vial shattered against the wall, releasing vapor that hissed and burned.
"Airborne poison," I realized. "Don't breathe—"
But I'd already inhaled some. My vision blurred. My legs gave out.
Through the bond, I felt Caspian fighting the same effects, trying to reach the intruder.
The hooded figure pulled back their hood.
I couldn't see clearly through the poison's effects, but I heard the voice. Female. Familiar.
"Sorry, sweetheart," she said. "But you're too dangerous alive. Both of you."
It wasn't Senna.
It was someone else. Someone I knew.
My vision went black before I could identify her.
The last thing I felt through the bond was Caspian's terror—not for himself, but for me.
Then nothing.