Chapter 211 - 0211

Lorelei POV

"I’m cursed."

My hands clenched tightly into the bedsheets, my knuckles turning white as I struggled to get the words out.

But once I started, everything I had spent years keeping buried came rushing out, one painful memory after another, until there was no room left to hide anything.

I told Kaelen everything.

I told him about the ancient prophecy that foretold the birth of twins, one destined to bring unprecedented prosperity and the other destined to become a shadow that would bring nothing but ruin.

I told him how, at first, things between my family and me had been relatively normal. My parents had treated me well enough, and I had never had any reason to believe that would change.

Then Callista started acting out.

She would hurt herself, break things, destroy anything within reach, and somehow find a way to blame every single incident on me. At first, my parents believed her. Then, little by little, they stopped seeing me as their daughter at all.

That was when everything changed.

I went from being their child to being the pack’s scapegoat, eventually reduced to nothing more than a maid and an outcast while everyone around me treated me like I was some kind of curse they had been forced to live with.

"I really am cursed, Kaelen," I whispered, staring down at my trembling hands. "Ever since I was a child, it feels like I’ve brought nothing but bad luck to everyone around me, so..."

My voice faded, and the rest of the sentence died somewhere in my throat.

And as the room fell silent, I squeezed my eyes shut, already preparing myself for what I was certain would come next.

I imagined Kaelen’s expression changing, his jaw tightening as everything finally made sense to him. I imagined the warmth disappearing from his eyes, replaced by the same disgust and fear I had spent my entire life seeing on the faces of the people around me.

I waited for him to pull away.

For him to finally realize I wasn’t worth the trouble.

For him to stop loving me.

Instead, Kaelen moved closer.

I felt his thumb brush gently across my trembling bottom lip, and when I opened my eyes, he was staring at me with an expression I couldn’t quite understand.

"Can I tell you a secret too?" he whispered, forcing me to swallow hard.

After everything I had just confessed, I honestly didn’t think there was anything left for me to lose. So I gave him a small nod.

Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, but I stubbornly blinked them back, refusing to let them fall.

When I finally looked at him properly, I found none of the hatred or revulsion I had been preparing myself for.

If anything, his expression had softened.

His amber eyes held mine with a warmth so deep and fierce that it made my chest ache.

Then, in the same calm voice he had used throughout my confession, as though what I had just told him hadn’t changed a single thing about the way he saw me, he said, "I’m cursed too."

My breath caught, and I stared at him, completely speechless as shock washed over me.

"What?" I finally choked out, my voice rough with disbelief, and a single tear escaped despite my best efforts, sliding slowly down my cheek.

Kaelen immediately brushed the tear away with the pad of his thumb, his touch lingering as his hand slowly traced down to my jaw.

"Why do you think the royal witches left their own kingdom and came all the way to this estate?" he asked quietly. "They’ve been working around the clock trying to break it."

My eyes widened even further.

"How?" I asked, pushing myself a little straighter against the headboard. "What kind of curse is it?"

Kaelen shifted beside me, sitting up as his expression grew more serious.

"I can’t handle physical contact or even being too close to another woman," he admitted, his tone surprisingly matter-of-fact. "The moment they get too close, I start feeling severely nauseous. And when it gets really bad, my wolf can lose control and go completely berserk."

Another horrified gasp slipped from my lips, but Kaelen only let out a low, amused chuckle at my reaction.

It made absolutely no sense.

I had seen him around countless women, and he had always seemed completely fine. If anything, he had always appeared almost unnaturally calm, even when they were standing close enough to touch him.

"A woman from my past did something to me," he continued, the amusement fading from his face as his eyes darkened with the memory. "I still don’t know exactly what she did. Even Princess Nala and Prince Kalu haven’t been able to completely unravel the spellwork."

He paused, his jaw tightening slightly.

"But after that night, I couldn’t stand being around another woman. I couldn’t touch them, and eventually, even looking at one was enough to make my skin crawl. Then one night, she just disappeared. I never saw her again, but whatever dark magic she used on me stayed behind."

His gaze lowered for a moment as he added, "And it’s been tormenting me ever since."

My heart ached at his words, and another tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.

"I had no idea," I whispered, but Kaelen reached for me immediately, gently wiping the tear away with his thumb while a small, almost sad smile touched his lips.

"How could you?" he murmured. "I hid it pretty well."

He said it so casually, but knowing what he had been living with all these years only made my chest hurt more. I stared at him for a moment, replaying everything he had just told me until one detail suddenly stood out.

My brows furrowed together.

"If that’s the case..." I began, confusion creeping into my voice as I looked at him. "Then how can you stand me?"

I meant it. He was literally lying in bed beside me. We had held each other countless times, shared intimate touches, and even made love, yet he had never once seemed like a man whose skin was crawling or whose wolf was barely being held back.

Kaelen’s eyes softened as he looked down at me.

"That’s what I don’t understand either," he admitted quietly. "You’re not my mate, and there’s no bond between us. Yet somehow, you’re the only woman my wolf actually wants near him. So honestly, who the fuck cares if you’re cursed? I still want you."

My heart swelled so intensely that it almost hurt.

For years, I had carried the weight of everyone else’s hatred and suspicion like it was something I deserved.

I had spent so much time believing there was something inherently wrong with me that hearing Kaelen say he didn’t care about my curse, especially after exposing something so vulnerable about himself, felt like someone had finally lifted that suffocating weight from my chest.

I could finally breathe.

I had Raven, of course. She had stood by me even when everyone else believed the horrible rumors surrounding my birth. But hearing those words from Kaelen was different.

This was a man who had every reason to walk away from me once he knew the truth, yet he was sitting right beside me, telling me that none of it changed what he wanted. For once, I didn’t feel like I had to prove that I deserved to be wanted.

"Do you feel better now?" Kaelen’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I nodded repeatedly, quickly wiping the last traces of tears from my cheeks.

He shifted beside me and leaned back against the pillows, his gaze lingering on me for a moment before he asked, "So... is that all the secrets you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes," I whispered, managing a small smile, and for a few seconds, everything was quiet, but then something in Kaelen’s expression changed.

His posture stiffened slightly, and his gaze shifted away from mine. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking so unusually hesitant that it was almost strange to see from the Alpha King.

The softness in the room seemed to disappear almost as quickly as it had come, leaving me wondering what had suddenly crossed his mind.

"Then... what about him?"

My brows furrowed.

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Alpha Jaxen."

The moment his name left Kaelen’s lips, an icy shiver ran straight down my spine.

I instinctively tensed, but Kaelen didn’t seem to notice. His jaw had already tightened as he continued, his amber eyes growing darker.

"I know how a man looks at a woman, Lorelei, and I really didn’t like the way he was looking at you back at the banquet," he admitted, his voice taking on a possessive edge. "Especially considering your sister is carrying his child."

He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at me.

"Did you two ever have... I don’t know, some kind of relationship?"