Chapter 5

　　Selene's POV

　　I didn't wake up peacefully.

　　Something felt wrong.

　　It wasn't the pain in my body or the cold seeping into my skin. It felt as if I was choking on air, making it harder to breathe.

　　My eyes opened slowly, but my vision stayed blurred. The room looked the same—dark, quiet, washed in that dim crimson light—but the silence felt different.

　　My wolf stirred uneasily.

　　Not weak this time, but restless… afraid.

　　That alone made my chest tighten.

　　Then the door opened.

　　There was no sound. It just moved, like it had no choice but to obey.

　　I didn't sit up. I didn't move at all. Something in me warned against it.

　　He stepped inside.

　　The moment he did, I knew this wasn't like Adrian.

　　Adrian was controlled, cold in a way that felt deliberate. This… this was something else entirely. The kind of presence that didn't need to prove anything but simply existed, and everything else adjusted around it.

　　Even the shadows seemed to settle differently.

　　My throat went dry.

　　I didn't need anyone to tell me who he was.

　　My body already knew.

　　My wolf shrank back, curling into itself which made something twist painfully in my chest.

　　King.

　　His gaze found me immediately, and I wished it hadn't.

　　There was nothing in his eyes. No curiosity, no anger, nothing that felt human. Just a cold assessment, like he was looking at something that didn't matter enough to feel anything about.

　　"This is what you brought into my court?"

　　His voice was low, but it carried enough weight to make my chest tighten.

　　I didn't turn, but I knew Adrian was there.

　　Somewhere behind me. He was always watching.

　　"She survived," Adrian said flatly, like this was nothing.

　　Like I was nothing.

　　The king didn't look away from me.

　　"She breathes," he replied. "That is not the same thing."

　　My fingers curled slightly into the sheets.

　　I hated the way I was lying there, exactly as he described. Weak. Broken. Barely holding together.

　　I shifted slightly, trying to push myself up, but pain flared sharply through my side and forced me to still.

　　His gaze sharpened, catching even that small movement.

　　"Speak."

　　The word was calm, but it didn't feel like a request.

　　My throat tightened. "Selene," I managed, my voice rough and dry.

　　Even saying my name felt strange.

　　Like it didn't belong to me anymore.

　　The silence that followed was deafening.

　　"Selene," he repeated slowly. "And you cannot stand?"

　　Heat rose to my face.

　　Shame came first, and I tightened my fingers against the sheets.

　　"I can," I said, quieter this time.

　　I shouldn't have said it.

　　I realized that the moment he moved.

　　I didn't see him cross the distance, but suddenly he was closer, standing at the edge of the bed, his presence pressing in on me from all sides.

　　It felt suffocating.

　　Like there wasn't enough space for both of us in the same room.

　　"Then stand."

　　My heart started pounding.

　　Pain was already there, deep in my ribs and side, but now it felt worse because I had to choose. Stay where I was and prove him right, or try and fail in front of him.

　　My wolf whimpered softly.

　　It wanted me to stay down.

　　To submit. To survive.

　　But something in me refused.

　　Maybe it was pride.

　　Maybe it was anger.

　　Maybe I was just tired of being on the ground.

　　I pressed my hands into the bed and tried to push myself up. My arms shook immediately, and pain shot through my side so sharply that a sound slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

　　I froze for a second, breath hitching.

　　Then I forced myself to keep going.

　　Slowly.

　　Painfully.

　　Every movement felt wrong, like my body wasn't ready for it.

　　But I didn't stop.

　　I managed to sit up, barely steady, my breathing uneven and too loud in the quiet room.

　　The effort left my head spinning.

　　Dark spots flickered at the edges of my vision, but I held on.

　　I wouldn't fall back down.

　　Not in front of him.

　　For a moment, no one spoke.

　　I could feel his gaze on me, heavy and unblinking, like he was waiting for something more… or maybe waiting for me to fail.

　　"She struggles," the king said after a while, his tone unchanged. "Even when there is no point."

　　I swallowed, my throat burning, but I didn't answer.

　　I didn't trust my voice not to shake.

　　"To bring a wolf into my court is already a mistake," he continued, now addressing Adrian. "To bring one like this makes it worse."

　　"She is alive," Adrian said again.

　　His voice hadn't changed.

　　"And that impresses you?"

　　Adrian didn't respond.

　　But the silence between them felt different this time.

　　"She is under my roof now," the king said. "Which makes her mine."

　　Mine.

　　My stomach tightened at that.

　　I didn't belong to anyone anymore. Not my father, not the pack… not anyone.

　　Not after what they did.

　　Not after how easily they let me go.

　　"Look at her," he went on, his gaze returning to me. "This is what weakness looks like."

　　The words hit harder than they should have.

　　Because they weren't new.

　　I had heard them before. Not always said out loud, but I had seen it in their faces. In the way they looked at me. In the way they stopped expecting anything from me.

　　Even my father.

　　"And yet she lives," he added, his eyes narrowing slightly. "That is the only reason she is still here."

　　My wolf stirred again.

　　Uneasy, but not completely afraid this time.

　　There was something else there now.

　　Something small.

　　Something I couldn't fully understand.

　　"For now, she stays."

　　There was no comfort in that.

　　"If she becomes a problem," he said, glancing briefly toward Adrian, "you will deal with it."

　　A brief pause followed.

　　"Or I will."

　　That was it.

　　No argument. No raised voices. Just a decision that felt final.

　　Like my life had been measured… and temporarily set aside.

　　He turned and walked out, as calm as he had entered, like none of this had mattered enough to leave a mark.

　　The door closed behind him.

　　And just like that, the weight in the room felt bearable.

　　I didn't realize how hard it had been to breathe until I could finally do it properly again.

　　My body gave out almost immediately, falling back against the bed as the pain rushed in all over again.

　　A sharp breath left my lips.

　　My wolf curled in on itself, shaken.

　　I stared up at the ceiling, my chest rising and falling too fast.

　　Everything felt distant for a moment.

　　I didn't want to look at Adrian.

　　I didn't know what I would see in his face.

　　Regret.

　　Indifference.

　　Nothing at all.

　　But I felt his eyes on me.

　　The silence stretched long enough to become uncomfortable.

　　Then—

　　"He could have killed you."

　　Adrian's voice broke through it.

　　I swallowed, my throat still dry. "He didn't."

　　A pause.

　　"That was not mercy," he said.

　　I let out a small, breathless sound that might have been a laugh if it didn't hurt so much. "I didn't think it was."

　　Silence again.

　　I turned my head slightly to look at him.

　　He stood where he had been the entire time, unmoving, his expression unreadable.

　　Like nothing that had just happened affected him.

　　"Why am I here?" I asked.

　　The question came out before I could stop it.

　　His gaze held mine for a moment.

　　Then he said, "That is not a question you need answered yet."

　　I should have known, I didn't have what it takes to get answers here.

　　I just… existed.

　　Under their rules.

　　Under their control.

　　I looked away from him, back at the ceiling.

　　My body ached.

　　My wolf was quiet again.

　　I wasn't safe here.

　　I had just traded one danger… for another.