Chapter 238 - 0238

Kaelen POV

Of all the people in the empire, of all the places she could have been, and of all the moments she could have chosen to show up... it had to be her.

Callista.

Lorelei’s twin sister. The woman who had spent years making Lorelei’s life a living hell.

Her expression was difficult to read as she scanned the room, one hand resting protectively over her lower belly. The second her eyes landed on Darius and me, her face briefly lit up with what looked like relief, completely oblivious to how hard my expression had fallen.

She quickly made her way toward our table with a warm smile. "Alpha King," she greeted, but before she could get any closer, her foot caught on the edge of something, causing her to stumble.

I didn’t move a single muscle.

Darius, however, surprised me by shooting to his feet and catching her before she could fall, one hand wrapping firmly around her pregnant waist.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice unexpectedly soft.

My brow lifted slightly, watching as Darius hesitated with his hand still resting against her waist before quickly pulling away.

Now that was strange.

Darius was normally worse than me. He didn’t have a curse keeping him away from women, but he was still an arrogant bastard who rarely spared a woman who wasn’t Lorelei more than a passing glance.

So there were only two explanations for what I had just witnessed.

Either he was forcing himself to be a gentleman because she was pregnant, or...

"Yeah..." Callista answered softly, still looking a little shaken as she straightened her clothes. She lowered her head toward him. "I’m sorry, Beta Darius. Thank you for catching me. I wasn’t looking where I was going."

"Sure you weren’t," I replied coldly, my fingers tightening around my glass before I carefully set it back on the table.

Her eyes immediately shifted toward me.

"What is a heavily pregnant woman doing walking around a bar alone?" I asked, my gaze sweeping over her before settling back on her face. "And more importantly, what are you doing in a private lounge reserved exclusively for the Alpha King? Surely you didn’t come here to drink, did you?"

As I spoke, my gaze dropped to her rounded stomach before lifting back to her face, only to find those familiar green eyes already brimming with tears.

For a split second, my chest tightened.

Just for a second.

Then I forced myself to remember that the woman standing in front of me was not Lorelei.

Yes, they had the exact same face. The same eyes, the same hair, everything that could make them look like perfect copies of each other. But everything else about them was completely different. The cruelty, the manipulation, the years of making her own sister’s life miserable. Those things made them complete opposites.

"I’m so, so sorry, Alpha King," Callista sobbed, putting on such a fragile, heartbroken expression that it probably would have made any other man feel guilty for even speaking harshly to her.

Unfortunately for her, Lorelei had already warned me about all her little tricks.

My expression didn’t change.

When she realized her tears weren’t getting the reaction she wanted, she pressed a hand against her chest and lowered her voice, making her sobs quieter and somehow even more pitiful.

"I didn’t come here alone. I was out shopping with my mother-in-law, but she stepped away for a moment. Then I overheard the staff saying the Alpha King was here, and since we’re practically family now, since you’re marrying my sister, I just wanted to properly introduce myself."

She swallowed hard, looking at me through tear-filled eyes. "I wasn’t thinking. If I had known my being here would upset you this much, I swear to the Moon Goddess I would never have shown my face. I’m so sorry. If you want to punish me, then you can."

With that, she started lowering herself, bending her knees as though she actually intended to drop to the floor and beg for forgiveness.

I didn’t say a word.

I simply leaned back in my seat and watched her with cold, almost mocking eyes, waiting to see if she would really go through with it in her condition.

"Okay, that’s enough," Darius suddenly cut in, causing my brows to pull together, and I shot him a sharp, questioning look.

But Darius kept his attention on Callista, his expression tense as he answered the question in my glare.

"She’s pregnant."

I scoffed.

As if I couldn’t already fucking tell.

I almost rolled my eyes at him, but I kept my composure. Instead, I turned my attention back to Callista, my voice flat and dismissive. "So, you’ve seen me. You can leave now."

My mind was already consumed with Lorelei and how I was going to deal with that bastard Jaxen. I had no patience to waste on her twin.

But instead of leaving, she hesitated again, which irritated the absolute hell out of me.

"Actually..." she started, her voice soft and hesitant. "Our birthday is coming up soon. I’m sure you already know that, since you’re dating my sister."

A cold pang suddenly hit my chest.

With everything happening so quickly, I hadn’t had the chance to really dig into Lorelei’s personal life. Hearing that I had somehow missed something as simple and important as her birthday made me feel like absolute shit.

"So?" I asked anyway, keeping my face blank as I watched her reach into her purse.

She pulled out an invitation card. The envelope was pale pink, sealed with a neat layer of gold wax.

"I’m throwing a party," she explained, her voice still carrying that carefully timid tone. "And... since Lorelei and I haven’t exactly been on speaking terms, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors because of her curse..." Her voice trailed off as she watched my face, clearly waiting for some kind of reaction.

I gave her nothing.

Seeing that, she quickly continued, "We still love her, despite everything that happened in the past. My family and I want to make things right. So, if you could pass this invitation to her, Alpha King, I’d really appreciate it."

She held the invitation out to me, her hands trembling slightly as though she were genuinely afraid of how I might react.

I stared at the pink envelope for a long moment without bothering to take it. Then I lazily gestured toward the table.

"Put it there."

Relief immediately washed over her face. She quickly stepped forward and placed the invitation on the table.

But then, to my absolute disbelief, she reached over and pulled one of the empty chairs out from our booth.

"What are you doing?"