Lucy's POV
I woke up choking.
My lungs burned like I'd eaten fire. I coughed hard, rolling onto my side, my whole body shaking. Where was I? What happened?
Memories crashed through my head: the storage room, Lady Vivian's cruel smile, the chemical-sweet cloth over my face, the king falling beside me.
The king.
I forced my eyes open and quickly regretted it.
I was lying on top of someone. Someone warm and very, very strong.
Silver-blue eyes stared up at me in total shock.
Alpha King Stellan Voss. In a bed. With me on top of him.
I screamed and threw myself backward, falling off the bed and hitting the floor hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. Pain shot through my hip, but I barely felt it because my brain was too busy bursting.
Why am I in the king's bed? Why was I ON the king? What happened? That's when I saw my left hand.
A silver wedding band circled my ring finger, glowing softly with magic I could actually feel humming against my skin. Beautiful wolf designs carved into the metal, the kind I'd only seen in history books about holy ceremonies. "No," I whispered. "No, no, no"
My neck suddenly burned hot. I slapped my hand against it and felt raised skin. A mark. The mating mark that emerged when two wolves completed a marriage bond.
I was going to be sick. "What happened?" My voice came out too high, too scared. "What, why am I where?"
The king sat up slowly, his face pale. "I don't know." His voice was rough, scratchy. "I remember being drugged in the storage room. Then nothing."
Nothing. He remembered nothing, either.
I touched the spot on my neck again, hoping it would disappear. It didn't. "Is this... is this a mating mark?"
He didn't answer, which was answer enough.
My eyes darted around the room, huge, fancy, definitely royal rooms. Solstice decorations everywhere, like someone had prepared it for a wedding night. On the desk nearby, I spotted papers.
I stumbled over and grabbed them, my hands shaking so badly I almost dropped everything.
Official paperwork. Royal seals. And at the bottom Our signatures. "What is it?" the king asked.
I turned the paper around so he could see, unable to speak.
A marriage record. Properly registered with the Solstice Council. According to the document, we'd been married at exactly midnight in the Royal Temple during the sacred Solstice service.
I had zero memory of it. Absolutely nothing. "This is impossible," the king whispered, his face going from pale to totally white. "I would never, I didn't." "Neither did I!" Tears burned my eyes. This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare. "I don't even know your name!" "Stellan. Alpha King Stellan Voss."
The words hit me like a punch. I'd married the king. The Alpha King of all Five Territories. Me, Lucy Hart, the poor nobody who cleaned up spilled wine and hid in archives.
Except that wasn't even my real name. "Oh gods," I breathed. "Oh gods, I married the king?"
Someone beat on the door so hard I jumped. "Your Majesty!" Chancellor Dorian's voice came through, sounding worried but also... excited? "The Solstice Council has called an emergency meeting! There are disturbing stories about last night's ceremony. Reports of an unauthorized marriage involving yourself, and" He stopped. I could nearly hear him smiling through the door. "May I enter, sire?"
The king, Stellan, and I locked eyes. His silver-blue look was sharp, calculating. I could see his mind working through the problem. "This is bad," I whispered. "This is really bad, isn't it?" "Worse than bad." He stood up, running a hand through his messy hair. "In werewolf law, Solstice marriages are holy and binding. But a king marrying a commoner without the council's approval is forbidden. It's grounds for" Removal from the chair," I finished quietly. I'd read enough law books to know that much.
Someone had done this on purpose. Someone had drugged us, forced us through a marriage rite while we were unconscious, and now they had the perfect weapon to destroy the king.
But why? And why drag me into it? "Your Majesty?" Dorian knocked again. "Shall I tell the council you're indisposed?" "Don't answer," I begged. "Please. I need to think. I need to figure out" We don't have time to think." Stellan's voice was cold again, back to the Ice King everyone feared. But his hands were shaking slightly. He was scared, too, just hiding it better. "Get dressed. We need to figure out what happened during those lost hours before whoever did this destroys us both." "Why would anyone do this?" I asked, even though part of me already knew the answer.
Vivian's voice echoed in my memory: Our little truth-seer problem will be eliminated forever.
They knew about my skill. They knew I could see lies. And somehow, they'd used that information to trap both the king and me. "That's what we're going to find out." Stellan grabbed a shirt from his closet, pulling it on. "Before they finish whatever plan they started."
I moved behind a changing screen and found a simple servant's outfit hanging there, probably left by whoever prepared this room. My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I changed out of the wedding dress I didn't remember putting on. "This can't be happening," I whispered to myself. "Not again. Not on the Solstice."
Five years ago, the Solstice took everything from me. My family. My pack. My real name.
Now it had taken twelve hours of my life and chained me to a king I didn't know. "Your Majesty, I must insist!" Dorian's voice had an edge now. "The council is gathering. If you don't appear within the hour, they'll send guards to collect you both. And sire?" His voice dropped lower, almost threatening. "There are already whispers of treason."
I emerged from behind the screen, my servant outfit back in place. Like I could pretend to be normal Lucy again. Like nothing had changed.
But everything had changed.
Stellan looked at me, really looked at me for the first time. "What's your name?" "Lucy. Lucy Hart." The fake name felt wrong in my mouth now, but I couldn't tell him the truth. Not yet. "Lucy Hart." He said it slowly, like trying how it sounded. "Do you have any enemies? Anyone who would want to hurt you?"
Yes, I thought. The guy who killed my pack. The guy Dorian was talking to last night.
But I couldn't say that. Not without explaining everything, my real name, my ability, the massacre. "I'm nobody," I said instead. "Just an investigator's helper. I don't understand why anyone would engage me in this."
Stellan's eyes narrowed. Red threads didn't appear, he believed me, even though it was only partly true. "Then we're missing something," he said. "Something important."
A horrible thought struck me. "What if we actually did it? What if the drugs made us think it was a good idea and we went through with the ceremony freely, and just can't remember?" "No." Stellan's voice was strong. "I would never marry without the council's approval. It would be political death. And you," He studied my face. "You look scared. If you'd wanted this, you wouldn't be crying."
He was right. But that didn't make me feel better. "What do we do?" I asked.
Before Stellan could answer, the door handle started turning. "I'm coming in, Your Majesty," Dorian declared. "Council's orders."
Stellan moved fast, placing himself between me and the door like a shield. "Stay behind me," he mumbled. "And whatever happens, don't admit to anything. We need time to investigate."
The door swung open.
Chancellor Dorian stood there with four council guards behind him. His face was arranged in worry, but his eyes gleamed with something else. Satisfaction, maybe.
Red threads burst around him like fireworks. "Your Majesty." Dorian bowed, but it felt mocking. "And Miss... Hart, is it? I'm afraid the council has some questions about last night's highly unusual ceremony." "It wasn't odd," Stellan said coldly. "It was holy. Witnessed by the temple lady herself."
More red threads appeared around Dorian. He was lying about something, but what? "Of course, Dad. But you understand the council's stance. A king marrying a common servant without any notice, without any approval, during the most sacred night of the year..." He shook his head sadly. "It raises questions about your judgment. Your fitness to rule."
There it was. The trap snapped shut. "The council demands your presence instantly," Dorian continued. "Both of you. To explain how this... situation... came to be." "We'll be there," Stellan said through gritted teeth. "Excellent." Dorian smiled his beautiful, terrible smile. "Oh, and Your Majesty? I'd prepare a very good answer. Some council members are already calling for your resignation. They believe you've been tainted." His eyes slid to me. "By outside influences."
He left, taking the guards with him. The door closed with a soft click.
The silence that followed was suffocating. "They're going to kill you because of me," I whispered. "They're going to use our marriage to take your throne."
Stellan turned to face me. "Not if we prove someone forced this bond on us. Not if we reveal whoever planned this before the council meets." "When does the council meet?"
His jaw tightened. "Three days. We have three days to find proof, or I lose everything."
Three days. Seventy-two hours to recover twelve missing hours and solve a plot that had drugged and married us without our knowledge.
It was impossible. "I need to tell you something," I said quietly. My heart beat. This was the moment tell him the truth about who I really was, or keep lying and hope we survived. "I'm not just an investigator's helper. There's a reason someone might have chosen me specifically."
Stellan's eyes sharpened. "What reason?"
I took a deep breath, preparing to tell the secret I'd protected for five years.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness filled the room. I heard Stellan move, heard his sharp intake of breath. "Lucy?" His voice was stressed. "Stay still. Don't" Glass broke. Wind rushed through broken windows. And underneath it all, a sound that made my blood freeze.
Laughter. Cold, cruel, familiar laughs.
Lady Vivian's voice floated through the darkness like poison. "Did you really think it would be that easy, Your Majesty? That you could just explore your way out of this? Oh, you have no idea how deep this goes. No idea who you're really fighting." "Show yourself!" Stellan ordered, his alpha power rolling through the room. "Soon enough. But first," Something metallic clicked. "a gift. From the people who own you now."
An object flew through the broken window and fell on the floor between us with a heavy thud.
The lights flickered back on.
I looked down and instantly wished I hadn't.
A severed wolf's head lay on the fine carpet, blood still dripping from the neck. But that wasn't the worst part.
Tied around its neck was a note written in red ink or maybe blood. "Stop exploring, or Princess Celeste is next. You have 48 hours to accept your fate. Signed, The ones who made you."Stellan made a sound I'd never heard before, something between a growl and a scream. Pure rage and terror mixed together. "Celeste," he breathed. "They threatened Celeste." "Who's Celeste?" I asked.
He looked at me, and for the first time, the Ice King's mask totally shattered. I saw fear. Real, raw, desperate fear. "My sister. My younger sister, who can't walk, who can't defend herself." His voice broke. "She's all I have left."
And I realized with terrible certainty that whoever had forced our marriage hadn't just trapped us.
They'd taken prisoners.
They owned us now.