Chapter 55

Logan

I wasn’t looking for her. I swear, I wasn’t. But somehow I’d managed to walk in on the worst moment.

I was at the palace for strictly business. Duty drove me, as always. A report of rogue movement near the river border had me walking with hurried steps.

Three scouts were missing this time. The one who had returned to us had been drugged with wolfbane and was just barely able to convey what he’d seen before passing out on the flagstones. When they checked the pulse in his limp wrist, there was nothing there.

Another scout, dead. Murdered by the rogues with a calloused hand.

This was the kind of thing I brought straight to the Alpha King without ceremony. And with its recent frequency, I found myself traversing these halls to the Alpha King’s study more and more often.

But today, I hesitated before entering.

I had been weighing up how best to approach the subject. I knew that the news of this latest rogue attack would anger the Alpha King. There seemed to be nothing we could do to staunch the flow of blood when it came to facing off with them.

I was gathering my thoughts on how best to approach it when I heard voices through the door. They were heated, familiar, and distinctly informal.

When I recognized her voice, my whole body tensed.

It was Evelyn I was hearing. She sounded sharp and persistent as ever. In front of the Alpha King.

This is a bit ridiculous, isn't it? He's the King. What gives her the right to be so confident in front of him?

My breath caught as I heard Alex’s voice next, smooth and seemingly trying to soothe her. Even with the door partitioning us, it sounded like he was trying to calm her down.

The Prince...

I heard my wolf growled, with anger.

Then the Alpha King’s thunderous rumble sounded distinctly angry as it canopied the rest of their conversation.

I didn’t wait any longer. I couldn’t. Perhaps it was shortsighted, but I shouldered the door open and stepped inside before I could question my motivations further. I practically stumbled into the study in my newfound haste.

Evelyn stood in the middle of the room, flushed with frustration. Her braid was loose, and her shoulders were tense. A sweeping glance at her mud-strewn body and the tiny cuts that marred her pale complexion made her look as though she had already seen a battle through to the end.

So it seemed she had come back from her negotiations with Jesse. A snarl caught in my throat, and it took everything in me to stifle and tamp it down.

But then I noticed it.

Alex stood beside her, one hand resting lightly on her arm. The gesture was casual, protective, and intimate.

My jaw ticked.

That one touch unraveled something tight in my chest.

“Sorry to intrude,” I managed, though the words sounded tight even to my ears.

"What are you doing here?" I looked at Evelyn and asked.

"For business," her voice calm, "same as you."

Or for the Prince?

“Alpha Logan,” the Alpha King said. “I’m afraid whatever you came to report on will need to wait.”

“Understood, Your Majesty,” I said. I turned to go, but even as I did, my gaze snagged again on the hand placed lightly on Evelyn’s upper arm. I did not trust myself to not read too deeply into it. It took everything in me to redirect myself toward the door.

But then Evelyn’s voice stopped me.

“Walk me out. I was just leaving,” she said, her tone lighter than before. It sounded practiced.

“We’re not done with this discussion,” the Alpha King warned.

“I have nothing more to say.” And then she was by my side.

What shocked me most was not that she had spoken back to the Alpha King. Evelyn was always surprising me, and so I was rarely floored by her actions. Instead, I was surprised by the way that the Alpha King had allowed her to leave. There was no punishment for her dismissal or insubordination as she left the Alpha King and Alex in her midst.

She stepped out of the study, closing the door behind her. The Alpha King and Alex remained inside, muffled now as their hushed conversation continued.

I didn’t move. She paused beside me.

“Why did you come?” she asked.

“I was here to report about a rogue attack,” I said. “I assume you were debriefing the Alpha King about your negotiations with the rogues.”

“I was,” she said, something like anger sharpening her words. And then she was walking away from the study, forcing me to keep up and follow after her.

We walked in silence through the corridor, the sound of our footsteps tapping through the halls like unanswered questions.

“How did the meeting with Jesse go?” I asked finally.

She glanced at me but kept her eyes forward. “Fine.”

“Just fine?”

She shrugged. “We talked. He listened.”

I stopped walking again. “Evelyn.”

She stopped, too, a few steps ahead, then slowly turned to face me.

“I’m not going to tell you everything,” she said. “Not yet. Not until I know what I’m going to do.”

“‘What you’re going to do’?” I repeated as I arched a brow.

She sighed loudly. “We didn’t come to a formal agreement. Yet.”

“The Alpha King seemed displeased with the terms,” I noted, pressing for more information.

Evelyn waved her hand dismissively. “He is rarely pleased by anything.”

Her harsh assessment of the Alpha King was startling. People rarely spoke so boldly against him, and few would dare to do so within the palace walls.

“He would be pleased with peace,” I said.

“Peace always comes at a cost,” she said. “And sometimes I wonder if he is willing to pay anything at all for it.”

“He will accept peace when the price is right.”

She sighed loudly. “We will see soon, I suppose.” She didn’t seem at all convinced.

I studied her. This was a woman I thought I knew when I first met her, but who kept rewriting herself before I could catch up and come to a solid conclusion. She seemed to feel everything so acutely, eager to take on the burden of the world if it meant sparing everyone else from shouldering the weight.

As my eyes scanned her, I saw the tension she was trying and failing to hide. Her mouth was set, her gaze steady, but there was something behind it. Something raw.

And I hated that I didn’t know what it was. But I had some suspicions. I cleared my throat.

“I saw the way Alex touched your arm.”

Her jaw tightened just slightly. She cut a look at me.

“I didn’t mean to overhear anything,” I added. “But… there’s clearly something more going on between you two than you’ve let on. And there was that night you spoke about him in the alley—”

“I did?” she asked, startled. Her eyes were wide, almost fearful.

“You said he was… very important to you,” I managed.

Her eyes flicked down. “Yes.”

Her voice was quiet.

I didn’t press. But the silence that followed said enough. I stood there, trying to make sense of all the puzzle pieces: her close connection with the prince, her sudden political pull with the Alpha King, and the Alpha King’s acceptance of her abrasive attitude. And then there was her evasiveness when it came to talking about her meeting with Jesse and her relationship with the prince.

I don't need them to say anything—I can already guess their relationship.

A surge of anger hit me. Had she moved on to another man so quickly?

She turned, her boots clicking softly against the marble as she walked away.

This time, I didn’t follow.

But my mind did, chasing her all the way down the corridor. It lingered with her, dwelling on her all evening long.