Lara's POV
With just a box for my clothes and essentials, the guards threw me out. The palace gates closed behind me with a final, echoing thud that stole into the silence of the night.
And with that, I became an outsider, an exile, no longer of the pack I had known for all my life.
The cold night air rushed in to replace the warmth of the Great Hall, sharp and unforgiving. Each breath was heavier than normal, my lungs expanded to accommodate it, and my chest heaved. I could hear myself breathing.
The moon hung low above the forest path ahead, pale and watchful, casting long shadows that twisted between the trees.
I stood there for a moment, alone, my wrists still aching where the guards had held me. The pain was minimal to the one that raged wild in my soul.
How did I bring myself to believe my fate would change with just his promise? How did I…
I broke off the thoughts before I could do anything I'd regret, like crying.
I inhaled slowly, steadying the tremor in my hands. Panic would not help me. Fear would not save me. I had survived the worst part of everything, which was the humiliation by my own mate himself. I could survive being alone and being an exile.
I took one step forward, and then another, each heavier than the next, but I persevered.
"Lara." A familiar voice stopped me.
I turned sharply, heart lurching. It wasn't Kaelen, and though I hated what he'd done to me tonight, a part of me wished it was him calling me.
Riven showed up beneath the flush of silvery moonlight.
He was Kaelen's beta and his closest friend. A man who had trained and bled beside him. If there was anyone in the pack I might have trusted—once—it would have been him.
Kaelen must have sent him to escort me. I wished he could do it himself, so I could look into his eyes and ask why he'd not only betrayed me but also humiliated me. I could ask him about his promises to me, ask him what would become of our plans for the future. Ask him…
Forget him, Lara. Nothing and no one could repair tonight, not even the Moon Goddess.
Riven walked under the overbright yellowish pour of the searchlight. He was tall, broad, and regal, and his expression unreadable, fitting for the warrior that he is.
He stopped just beside me. "I'll escort you to the boundary," he said. "It isn't safe beyond the palace walls at night."
"I don't need an escort," I replied, my voice steadier than I felt.
Riven took a step closer. "Kaelen asked me to."
My chest tightened. Though I already knew that was the case.
"Still no," I said flatly. "Tell him I don't want his help."
What I wanted was him. So I can ask him the hundreds of questions swimming through my head right now.
Riven's jaw tightened. "Lara—"
"I said no."
For a moment, something flickered in his eyes. Annoyance, maybe. Under the lazy flush of the moonlight around us, blocked off by many of the trees, I couldn't really tell.
He sighed, as if indulging a stubborn child, stepping closer. "You won't survive the night without protection, Lara. At least let me walk you down the forest path..." he paused. "...and I will suggest you let me, Lara. You know I can be just as stubborn, too."
I wouldn't say stubborn. It was worse, more like persistent. I didn't want his help, but I knew him enough to know that refusing would only cause us to remain in the same spot. He wouldn't give up.
I eventually hesitated. "Fine," I said at last. "To the path. Nothing more."
He nodded, relief crossing his face too quickly, and we walked in silence.
The palace lights faded gradually behind us, swallowed by darkness as the trees closed in. The path narrowed, roots and stones breaking the ground beneath my feet.
I kept my senses sharp, taking snapshots of the forest in my head, cataloging every sound, every shift of air. This was going to be the last time I would be here again, so I planned to imprint the sight in my mind for memories, since I didn't get the chance to do that to the Palace itself before I was thrown out.
My senses picked up on Riven's slowed steps at a point. I felt it before I even saw it. The change in the air around us. It shifted fast from protective to predatory.
My pulse jumped in alert. I turned just as his hand shot out.
I twisted aside on instinct, his blade slicing air where my throat had been a heartbeat before. Pain flared across my shoulder as steel grazed skin.
I stumbled back, heart slamming against my ribs. "What are you doing?" I gasped, searching his face terribly for answers, while steeling my rampaging breath.
Nothing slipped past the impassive mask of his face.
"I am sorry, Lara. But you have to die. It is the only way." That was the only thing I got out of him before he lunged at me again.
I waited until he was near, following his speed, and I grabbed a fistful of dirt. I flung it into his eyes. He cursed, dusting the sand from his eyes, staggering long enough for me to run.
I didn't think. I didn't look back. I just ran. I could think of no reason why Riven would try to kill me, but I could think of plenty of reasons why I needed to run.
Branches from the trees tore at my dress, the roots clawing at my ankles. My lungs burned as I pushed deeper into the forest, the night swallowing me whole.
Then I stopped, my footsteps freezing in place, scratching dirt.
I spotted a figure ahead, dark and mysterious, slipping through the trees and towards my direction. While I wondered if it was friend or foe, more stepped out from the shadows, until I was surrounded.
The smooth steel of their swords gleamed faintly in the moonlight. Some were faces I recognized, warriors from Kaelen's guard, warriors Riven controlled with Kaelen's authority.
I refused to think of the possibility of the thoughts swimming through my mind. I refused to think Kaelen would want me killed.
My stomach dropped, turning queasy, and bile rose slowly to my mouth. My eyes jumped around, and I searched desperately for a way out, a crack through their formation, a little space or opening, something.
I don't intend to die tonight.
Footsteps approached from behind me, and Riven emerged from the darkness. His expression was so cold now that I could almost feel ice crawl over my skin as I held his gaze.
"I am sorry, Lara, but you were never meant to leave the territory alive," he said calmly.
I looked at the men surrounding me. At their weapons. At the certainty in their stances.
Yeah. This was all planned, as he must have planned the rejection and humiliation, too. I was never really meant to leave alive. I had tried to believe Kaelen wasn't part of this, but it was hard not to believe so, especially when his very men were the ones holding a sword to my neck.
This was Kaelen tying up loose ends. I was loose ends. Our mate bond would always be a problem for him.
My insides twisted harder with understanding, and it made everything hurt more. The pain grew sharper inside of me like a double-edged sword, cutting mercilessly at me.
"So this is how he does it," I whispered. "He lets his hands stay clean of my death by ordering you to do it."
Riven said nothing, but just swiped his hands at his jaw, wiping off the sweat there.
His silence was all the answer I needed. I realized I had played myself for more of a sucker than I thought. I trusted a man I shouldn't trust, just because he was my mate, just because I had loved him with all my heart.
I recollected his promises, his assurances; each memory cutting deeper.
I steeled control over my emotions. I wasn't going to let him win. I wasn't going to die and give him and the elders the last laugh.
I searched around for something to defend myself, and my fingers closed around the loose, thick branch of a nearby tree.
I hid it behind me, holding so tight to it, my palm almost bled.
I straightened, lifting my chin, meeting Riven's gaze with a fire I didn't know I still possessed. "I might be outnumbered, but I am not going to let you kill me, Riven."
Riven's lips curled. He gestured with his sword at me and barked. "Get her."
Immediately, the circle tightened, the men lunging at me with their swords.