I growled in frustration. I was suffocating in this fucking house, restless and impatient. Everything smelled wrong, burned and herbal, the sickening stench fogging my thoughts. Every time I paused, my mind would reel off visions of a lifeless body, frozen in time. The words ‘I love you’ would echo, louder and louder like a taunting chant, that sweet voice following me like the sound of my conscience. I would claw out my eyes and eardrums if it would grant me the clarity to do what needed to be done. I couldn’t be useless, not in this. The art of war was a subject I was familiar with, and I couldn’t disappoint my mate by fumbling now.

‘You promised.’

I aimed for the door, intent on drafting more missives or drawing up a plan, anything that would assist in the efforts, but I swayed forward, grunting as my temples pulsed and a wave of nausea roiled in my stomach. I brushed it aside, swallowing it down, but a concerned rustle came from behind me.

Was I not alone?

Why did it sound like…

“Your Highness, you are exhausted,” Zadok unhelpfully pointed out, the tone of his voice too familiar, too soft, too caring. “Rest, we⁠—”

I bared my fangs in a snarl. “I won’t rest until his body is torn to pieces.”

Why had my father done this? What was his goal? I knew he was vicious, but I hadn’t thought he would tear the realm apart to prove it. There was nothing to gain except bloodshed and ruin, a kingdom shrouded in darkness and ash. Unless there was a detail I’d missed, a clue that was staring me in the face.

Luca will know.

“He was so adamant that we mated,” I murmured, fragmented thoughts surging through my head at a rapid velocity. Nothing was truly sticking, all of it fleeting and jumbled, but there was a persistent need to know his motivation clawing at me. Why did it matter? I would destroy him anyway.

‘You promised me his head.’

“Was he planning this from the moment Luca walked through the Veil?” A conclusion was appearing in the distance, but I couldn’t reach it. My father’s smirk flashed behind my eyes. “Using him to weaken me?”

“Two birds, one stone,” Zadok said. I could barely concentrate on the words, that fucking smell was grating on my nerves. “He would have bided his time, lulled you both into a false sense of security at the palace, making you think he was indifferent to you building a home there, while he plotted in the shadows, using your mating to his advantage. Had he taken action then, it wouldn’t have had the same effect. This took you by surprise. This hurt you more.”

Hurt was insufficient.