Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Chapter 69

Sophia’s eyes fluttered open as though she were only now stirring, though she’d been fully conscious the entire time. All through them rushing her out of that darkened hall to the carriage and finally to the pack, she’d been conscious through it all.

And now, once she was sure she’d been left alone with just the head healer, her eyes fluttered open.

"L-Luna, you’re awake!" The healer said, ready to go call the Alpha, but Sophia grabbed her hand so hard it turned blue instantly.

"What do you think you’re doing?" She snapped quietly. "Get back here and finish your job."

The healer’s brows furrowed. She looked down at the cloth in her hand—she’d just dipped it in herbal potions meant to soothe Sophia’s body.

"Luna, you have no need for this since you’re now con—"

"Do it!" Sophia snarled, and the woman jumped in fright, getting right to it.

The healer pressed the damp cloth against Sophia’s forehead with trembling hands, saying nothing further, though her eyes kept flicking toward the door as though she expected the Alpha to walk in at any moment.

Sophia lay still, letting her eyes drift half-shut, her mind working far faster than her body appeared to be.

Evelyn had ruined her. Not embarrassed her—ruined her, in front of every Alpha and Luna who mattered in the realm, in a single, devastating stroke that Sophia hadn’t seen coming until it was already too late to stop.

The whispers would follow her now wherever she went. Luna of Silver Creek, who mailed her own undergarments to her Alpha’s ex-wife. She could already hear the shape of the joke, the way it would calcify into legend by the time it reached the farthest packs.

Gods, she was done for.

How was she to explain this to Kael? What would she say? How would she spin this story?

"Gentle!" She snapped, staring daggers at the healer.

"S-sorry," the healer stammered.

Sophia’s mind ran in circles. She needed a plan. Something to salvage what remained of her standing before Kael’s fury curdled into something worse. But she needed time—time to think and spin this right back at Evelyn.

The healer wrapped up, ready to leave, but Sophia grabbed her wrist so hard her face contorted into pain.

"Alpha Kael—has he asked of me?" she asked.

"The Alpha is outside. He’s pacing around the corridor, extremely worried about your health, Luna."

That wasn’t the news she was hoping for. She’d hoped he wasn’t here, perhaps still at the hall. But how? She could already imagine the talk flying around the realm. Not even Kael could withstand that level of shame.

"Tell him I’m still unconscious."

The healer paused, her brows raised. "Luna—"

"What? Have you grown deaf suddenly? Tell him I’m still unconscious and would be for the entire night. Tell him my condition is serious and that my heart has been shaken terribly and needs rest."

"What? Luna, I can’t possibly lie to the Alpha. Alpha Kael will want to know that you’ve regained consciousness."

"Then find a way to make him not want to know," Sophia hissed, her fingers tightening further around the woman’s wrist. "I don’t care how you manage it. Tell him the shock nearly stopped my heart. Tell him I’m fragile, that too much excitement tonight could do real damage. Tell him whatever keeps him on the other side of that door until I’ve had time to think."

The healer’s face had gone pale, caught between two fears now instead of one. "Luna, if he discovers I lied to him directly—"

"Then don’t get caught." Sophia released her wrist at last, and the woman stumbled back a step, cradling it against her chest. "You’ve lied for me before. This is no different."

The healer stared at her for a couple of seconds, then nodded stiffly. "As you command."

Once she was gone, Sophia took a deep breath and sat up a little. She needed a story. Something that painted her as the true victim rather than the architect of her own collapse—perhaps Evelyn had stolen the garment, perhaps someone loyal to Evelyn had planted it, perhaps the entire donation had been forged from the start to destroy her specifically.

It didn’t need to be believable to everyone. It only needed to be believable to Kael.

The door opened again, sooner than she expected, and Sophia’s carefully constructed composure vanished in an instant. She quickly dropped back against the pillows, letting her eyes fall shut, her breathing evening out like she was still unconscious.

There were three footsteps, that much she could tell.

"How is she?" Kael’s voice, tight and clipped.

"Still resting, Alpha," the healer said quickly, her voice only faintly unsteady. "The shock was significant. I’ve advised she not be disturbed tonight."

"I didn’t ask for your advice." Kael paused, staring at Sophia. "Leave us."

The healer’s footsteps retreated fast, the door clicking shut softly behind her.

Sophia kept her breathing slow, listening as Kael crossed the room and stopped beside the bed. She could feel him standing over her, though she didn’t dare open her eyes to confirm it.

"The shock must’ve been quite a lot." Came a second voice. It was Beta Callum’s. "She must be so fragile, seeing such things exposed to the public eye. It must’ve been quite embarrassing."

Sophia’s stomach dropped. This was good in a way—at least now she could figure out what exactly Kael thought of her and the situation.

"Embarrassing doesn’t quite cover it." Kael’s voice had gone rough, exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with concern for her.

"Either way, I have a realm’s worth of Alphas who watched my mate’s undergarments pulled from a donation box tonight, reeking of—" He stopped himself, disgust thick in his voice. "The entire hall smelled of it. Of us. My name will be a joke by morning. Every ounce of respect I’ve spent months rebuilding, gone in a single evening, because of this..."

"Do you think Luna Sophia had meant to send it to Evelyn, or—"

"Sophia would never!" Kael’s voice rose in defiance. "Sophia is a top-tier, classy lady. She’s kind. She’s soft. She’s—she’s perfect. She would never send something like that to Evelyn. This is definitely the handiwork of Evelyn. She must’ve found a way around it—gotten Sophia’s undergarments one way or the other." He paused, shaking his head.

"It doesn’t matter now, does it? The entire realm has witnessed my mate’s undergarments. They’ve smelled us. They’ve—my name will be dragged through the chains of humiliation."

Callum stared at him for a second longer, then shook his head. "Not necessarily," Callum said.

A pause. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Callum said, "that reputations are rebuilt every day, Alpha. Forgive me for saying this, Alpha, but before coming into your pack, I gathered quite a lot on my own. My own wealth. Alliances. I have helped some powerful Alphas, and what good am I as your Beta if I let you drown in this without offering a way out?"

Sophia, still feigning sleep, felt her pulse quicken.

"I’ve spent years cultivating relationships outside Silver Creek," Callum continued. "There are men who owe me favors they’d rather not discuss openly. I can put all of it toward repairing this, Alpha, if you’ll let me."

Kael said nothing for a while, then he finally spoke. Something in his voice had shifted. "What would you need from me?"

"Trust. That’s all, Alpha. Trust."

Kael stared at him for a moment, then nodded. If there was a way to get him out of this hole Evelyn had dug for him, he’d take it.

"Fine." Kael’s voice had gone hollow, stripped of whatever pride had carried him this far. "Do whatever needs doing. Just fix this, Callum. I can’t survive another humiliation like tonight."

"You won’t have to, Alpha." Callum’s voice was gentle and reassuring. "I’ll take care of everything from here."

---

It was past midnight, but part of the Valemont estate was still lit up. Evelyn sat down, legs crossed, her face wiped clean of the makeup from the evening and her hair tied into a loose bun.

She wore a loose silk robe—the first time she was wearing something that made her skin feel beautiful in months.

Tristan had also changed out of his usual formal clothes into a white top and shorts. He passed Evelyn a glass filled with wine while he stepped back, taking a seat opposite her.

Evelyn smiled as she sipped it. She felt so good, she didn’t have it in her to sleep.

"I confess," he said finally, "I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it. Not like that."

"Which part?" Evelyn asked, swirling the wine without drinking it. "The donation, or letting her hang herself with her own note?"

"Everything." Tristan said, shaking his head with a smile. "The look on Sophia and Kael’s faces is forever embedded in my head. It was the single most memorable thing of the night."

"And when she pretended to faint after being cornered?" Evelyn added, and the two of them burst out laughing hard.

"Gods, what I’d give to relive that again."

Evelyn laughed again, softer this time, tipping her head back against the cushions. "I almost feel sorry for her."

"Almost?"

"Almost." She finally took a sip of the wine, savoring it. "I keep waiting for the guilt to arrive. It hasn’t yet."

"Maybe it won’t." Tristan studied her over the rim of his own glass. "Maybe you’ve simply run out of guilt where those two are concerned."

"Maybe I have." She swirled the wine again, watching the candlelight catch in it. "Do you know what the worst part of tonight was for her, really? It was watching her realize in time that she wasn’t above it. She wasn’t excluded or able to enact the reaction she so desperately wanted from me. Instead, she realized she had single-handedly given me the weapon to kill her."

Tristan huffed out something between a laugh and a sigh. "Remind me never to cross you."

"You never could." Evelyn’s smile softened slightly. "You’re the one person in this whole mess who’s never given me a single reason to."

Tristan looked down at his glass, something quieter passing behind his eyes, though he said nothing to that.

"I mean what I said earlier," Evelyn continued. "About not giving him peace. This isn’t the end of it, Tristan. Tonight was only the opening move."

"I assumed as much." Tristan set his glass down. "What’s the next one?"

Evelyn leaned back, taking a sip of the wine. "Send word to the healer," she said quietly. "Tell her it’s time."