For five years, Kael had stood before this portrait. I'd thought he was paying his respects to my sire's memory. Begging forgiveness from the wolf who'd given him everything.
Now I knew the truth.
He was never looking at my sire.
He was looking at her. At that radiant smile. At stolen moments that should never have existed.
I turned the photograph over. A single line in familiar handwriting:
Kael & Raven. Forever.
His handwriting.
How pathetic I must have looked. A fool clinging to a mate bond my sire had paid for with his life.
And Kael?
He played the devoted Alpha to perfection—while hiding a scent-partner's photograph behind my dead sire's face.
My stomach heaved. I barely made it to the bathing chamber before I was retching, gripping the stone basin until my claws scored marks into the surface.
I couldn't wait another night. I needed to sever this completely.
The next morning, I met my Tribunal Advocate at a gathering den in neutral territory.
While I waited, a server approached with a steaming cup of spiced brew—then dumped it directly over my head.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry." The voice dripped with mock sweetness. "Clumsy me."
I looked up into Raven's smirking face.