Chapter 6

Ella's POV

When night fell, Ruby slipped into my room, bringing ointment with her.

"God, Ella..." She gasped when she saw my swollen cheek. "What... what happened? It looks like a burn..."

"It's nothing," I said, my voice hoarse.

"How can it be nothing?" She opened the ointment, carefully applying it to my face. "That woman is vicious. An ordinary slap wouldn't leave marks like this..."

Just then, the door suddenly swung open.

Kane stood in the doorway, his face dark.

Ruby jumped, quickly bowing and stepping aside.

"Out," Kane said to her.

Ruby glanced at me, hesitating before leaving the room.

After the door closed, only Kane and I remained. He walked over and crouched in front of me, reaching out to touch my face.

I turned my head away, avoiding his hand.

"Ella..." His voice held a hint of helplessness.

"Don't touch me," I said, my voice cold.

His hand froze in midair before finally dropping. He pulled a small bottle from his pocket—fine healing salve.

"Let me put medicine on it," he said.

"No need," I turned away. "Ruby already did."

He was silent for a moment, then opened the bottle anyway, squeezing some ointment onto his fingertips. This time I didn't pull away, letting him gently apply it to my swollen cheek.

The salve was cool, carrying a faint herbal scent. His movements were gentle, as if afraid of hurting me.

"You need to learn patience," he said quietly. "Victoria is the mistress here now. You can't defy her. I know you've been wronged, but now... now isn't the time."

I looked at him and suddenly laughed, tears spilling from my eyes.

"Patience?" I said. "Kane, I've been patient for ten years. How much longer do you want me to wait?"

"Until I secure that position," he said. "Ella, trust me. When I become Alpha, I'll give you everything you want. Then, no one will be able to bully you."

"But I don't want anything anymore," I said, my voice terrifyingly calm. "Kane, I just want to leave here."

His expression changed. "What did you say?"

"I said, I want to leave." I looked into his eyes. "Let me go. To Free Haven, anywhere, as long as it's far from you."

"Impossible." He stood up, looking down at me. "Ella, you're not going anywhere."

"Why?" I stood up too. "You're marrying Victoria. Why won't you let me go?"

"Because you're mine," he said, his voice carrying undeniable dominance. "No matter what happens, you can only be mine."

I looked at him, and suddenly an irrepressible impulse surged through me.

"Kane," I said, "do you remember? In Blood River, that winter, I was pregnant."

His body went rigid.

"Four months," I continued. "When we left Blood River, I was already four months pregnant. I thought it was a gift from heaven. From Blood River to Silver Moon, three months on the road, every day I prayed that the child would be born safely."

"Ella..." His voice trembled slightly.

"But the child was lost," my tears finally fell. "On the road, in the second month. I thought it was the rough journey, that my body was too weak, that heaven didn't want us to have this child."

I paused, watching his face grow paler.

"Until a few days ago," I said, "when I was sorting through your old luggage, I found a medicine packet. It still had the scent of wolfsbane on it."

Kane's face went completely white.

"Then I remembered," my voice began to shake. "In Blood River, you made me drink a bowl of soup every day, said it would calm my nerves. On the road, you still made me medicine every day, said it would make me healthier."

"I asked Ruby," I continued. "She told me wolfsbane makes Omegas miscarry. Used in small amounts, no one would know."

"Ella..." He tried to say something, but I cut him off.

"You were drugging me all along," I said. "From the moment I got pregnant, you were putting wolfsbane in my food. You never wanted that child."

"I..." He opened his mouth but couldn't speak.

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you do it?"

He was silent for a long time before finally saying, "Because I couldn't let that child be born. Ella, you don't understand. If you'd given birth to my child, everything would become complicated. The Vane family wouldn't agree to the marriage, the military commander wouldn't support me. I would lose everything."

"So you killed him," I said. "Killed our child."

"I had no choice!" He suddenly roared. "Ella, I didn't want to! But I had to think of the bigger picture! That child... he shouldn't have come into this world. His existence would only bring you more pain."

"How do you know?" I screamed. "How do you know he would bring me pain? Maybe he was my only hope! Maybe he was my reason to live!"

"He wasn't!" Kane grabbed my shoulders, shaking me hard. "Ella, listen to me. If that child had lived, Victoria wouldn't have spared you. She would have used every means to torture you, even kill you. I did this to protect you!"

"Protect me?" I laughed, my whole body shaking. "Kane, you killed my child and say it was to protect me?"

I shoved him away, stumbling backward.

"You know what?" I said. "The night I miscarried on the road, I was alone in the carriage. You'd gone hunting. I held that mass of flesh and blood, not knowing what to do. I didn't even dare cry out loud, afraid someone would hear."

My tears wouldn't stop.

"I buried him under a tree by the roadside," I said. "I didn't even have cloth to wrap him in. I could only cover him with leaves, then crawl back to the carriage and pretend nothing happened."

Kane's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling.

"The next day when you came back," I continued, "you asked what was wrong. I said nothing. You made me medicine. I drank it. Because I thought you cared about me, that you were helping me recover."

I looked at him, my voice cold as ice.

"Now I know there was still wolfsbane in that medicine. You were afraid there might be something left in my body, afraid the child might somehow survive. So you drugged me again."

"Enough!" Kane shouted. "Enough, Ella! I know I was wrong! I know! But I had no choice!"

"You had a choice," I said. "You could have chosen to protect our child. You could have chosen to let me leave. You could have chosen not to want that damned Alpha position. But you didn't."

"Because that position should have been mine!" He roared. "If not for that cursed blood pact, if I hadn't been sent to Blood River as a hostage, the heir's position would have been mine! I could have avenged my mother!"

His eyes were bloodshot, his whole body trembling.

"Alpha Walter! He's grown senile. He betrayed my mother, let her die in agony. He chose me as the hostage between Julian and me," his voice was hoarse. "I fought beasts in Blood River's arena to survive. While he enjoyed family bliss with his mistress and Julian! How can I not hate?"

Kane's rage nearly spiraled out of control, fur bristling on his face—a snarling wolf's head emerging!

"Blaze! Change back!"

Kane suppressed his wolf.

"So you want to reclaim that position," I said, "at any cost. Including sacrificing our child."

"Yes," he said. "I have to take it back. I owe my mother that."

We stared at each other. Neither spoke.

Finally, Kane turned and left the room, leaving me standing there alone.

I slowly sat back on the bed, hugging my knees.

That child... our child...

If he were alive, he'd be able to call me mama by now, wouldn't he?

I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall.

This time, I didn't suppress my grief.

I sobbed openly.

For the child who never saw this world.

For myself.

And for Kane—that boy who once held me gently and promised me a future.

He was already dead.

Dead on the road to power.