Elis
The haze of lust and confusion cleared from my eyes like smoke dissipating after a fire. My chest tightened as reality set in; Lily's shell had vanished right before me.
Was it real? Was it an illusion? Or had I just doomed us both with my own weakness?
My pulse thundered in my ears as the weight of what I'd done crashed over me. Lily had warned me. She'd told me not to trust the shell if it ever drew near my bed, and had pleaded with me not to fall for its tricks. And yet, I hadn't listened. I hadn't fought hard enough.
But goddess, it hadn't even felt like her making the move. It was me. I was the one who reached out, who closed the distance, who dragged her—no, it—into my inner chamber. The same chamber where I once held my mate, where love and memory were sacred. Now I had desecrated it with a phantom.
I pressed a trembling hand to my face, bile rising in my throat. What madness had taken me? Eunice had only invited her innocently for dinner. She hadn't tried to seduce me. She hadn't schemed her way into my arms. I had done this.
And now she was gone.
What would I tell Lily when she returned? How would I ever explain that I'd betrayed her trust, not with another woman, but with a shadow wearing her skin? Worse still, what if something had happened to the shell while in my care? What if my lapse had given Zal exactly what he needed?
I gritted my teeth, panic clawing through my chest. The chain around my neck burned faintly, a reminder of what tethered me, of the narrow line between survival and damnation. And for the first time, I wasn't sure if I had already crossed it.
A cold hunch twisted in my gut. Something was wrong.
"Go," I barked at the nearest guard, the words clipped, sharp. "Check Lily's chamber.Check if she's in. Now."
I couldn't stand still. My boots echoed across the stone floor as I paced the hallway, each turn heavier than the last. The weight of what I thought I had done gnawed at me; her disappearance, the heat of my own recklessness.
The guard finally returned after what seemed like eternity, chest heaving from the haste.
"Alpha King," he said, bowing quickly, "the men at her quarters swear Lady Lily has been inside all evening. They say she has been with Lady Sera, chatting and laughing for more than four hours. She has not stepped outside once."
My breath hitched. The words crashed against me like iron. My jaw tightened, and I glared at him, stunned into silence.
Lily had been in her room… the entire time?
I dismissed him with a sharp wave of my hand, too shaken to speak. Turning on my heel, I strode back into my inner chamber. The door closed behind me with a hollow thud, but it did nothing to silence the storm inside my chest.
If Lily's clone had never left her room… then who or what had been here with me, barely 20mins ago?
I slammed the door shut harder than I meant to, the echo rattling through the chamber walls. My chest heaved, fists clenching at my sides.
"What in the goddess's name is the meaning of this?" I muttered, the words sour on my tongue. I dragged a hand down my face and began pacing again. "How many Lilys am I goddamn dealing with?"
The guard's report twisted in my head. Lily, locked in her chamber with Sera for hours, never leaving. Yet I had just spoken with her, stood close enough to feel the warmth of her breath, close enough to touch her. Every detail of her; the timbre of her voice, the sharp glint in her eyes, had been real. Too real.
A cold shiver crawled down my spine. I forced myself to stop pacing and gripped the edge of the table, my knuckles straining white. My thoughts wouldn't line up, they skittered like frightened birds, breaking apart before I could catch them.
Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
And for the first time in years, I felt fear; not of my enemies, not of battle but of something I couldn't yet name.
***
I barely slept that night. Sleep came in broken fragments, ripped apart by restless pacing and the endless replay of what I'd seen and what I thought I'd seen. By dawn, my head throbbed like a war drum, and the fire in my study did nothing to thaw the unease lodged in my chest.
Douglas arrived not long after, his face carved with grim resolve. He bowed briefly, wasting no time with pleasantries.
"My king, I seek your leave to send out warriors. The neighboring packs… calamity has already struck. They've lost too many lives. If we don't act now, we risk losing them entirely."
I leaned back in my chair, fingers steepled, though my stomach coiled tighter with every word. The thought of sending my warriors out into that storm of blood and shadows… it was a gamble with lives I could never reclaim.
"You're asking me to send them into the jaws of death," I said flatly.
Douglas straightened his shoulders. "I'm asking you to give your orders. I'm not asking you to lead the charge. But we cannot sit idle while those under our protection are slaughtered. To delay this war…" His voice hardened, every syllable carrying the weight of truth. "...is worse than not doing anything at all."
I stared at the flames leaping in the hearth, searching for answers in their violent dance. My warriors… my people. To send them was to risk them never returning. To keep them was to watch others die under my silence.
"I fear," I said slowly, "that those who march out may never return."
"Then so be it," Douglas replied, without hesitation. "At least let the people see that something has been done. Silence is death of another kind, my king."
His words cut through the fog in my head. He was right. The kingdom needed movement, even if it came with sacrifice. With a reluctant nod, I gave the order, the weight of it pressing against my ribs like iron bands.
Douglas bowed his head, but before leaving, he paused at the door. His voice dropped lower, heavy with a different kind of dread.
"There's one more thing. Zeena has been spotted following Jose into the woods. She's been compromised."
The words rooted me to my chair. I stared at him for a long time, my silence thick enough to choke on. Zeena… compromised. My would-be queen, the alliance I had been weighing like a blade at my throat, now tangled in secrets of her own.
The fire snapped in the silence, and I felt it then, the ground shifting beneath me, as if some unseen hand had already made its move.