Ex-Alpha's Regret: Siren's Comeback novel Chapter 41

POV: Damian

The words of my oath still echoed in the stone council chamber, a final, definitive statement. I watched Seraphina walk out, her back straight, her face a mask of infuriating indifference. There was no outburst, no tears, no satisfying crack in her composure. There was nothing. Her silence was a void that my power could not fill, and it left a sour, unfamiliar taste of agitation in my mouth.

A part of me, a small, nagging voice I refused to acknowledge, knew the public declaration was a cruel blow. It was unfair to her. But my hands had been tied. The elders were pushing, their conservative whining a constant headache, and Sylvie… Sylvie had been terrified, her tears a sign of a vulnerability I felt a primal need to protect. My oath was a shield for her, a necessary, if blunt, political instrument to silence all dissent and secure her position at my side.

I told myself it was a temporary measure. Seraphina would go back to her family for a while, this period of coldness would thaw, and I would find a way to make it up to her. A gift, perhaps. A new title for one of her pointless art charities. She was my mate, after all. A bit of distance and a grand gesture were all she ever really needed to be brought back into line. I would manage her, as I always had. I was completely oblivious, in that moment, to the fact that I was not managing a sulking wife, but witnessing the birth of an enemy.

POV: Seraphina

Damian's words were a hammer, and my heart was the anvil. But I did not shatter. I simply hardened. The sound of his oath, the public execution of my unborn child, echoed in my ears as I walked out of the council chamber. The pitying stares of the elders, Sylvie's triumphant, tear-streaked face, Damian's cold, resolute expression—they were all images from a life that was no longer mine.

I did not go to my room. I did not go to the gardens to weep. I walked, my steps steady and silent, to the manor's small, secure communication room. There was only one thing left that mattered. One last thread to tie off before I could sever myself from this place forever.

My fingers, no longer trembling, moved to a different contact. A name that now meant salvation. Jax. My message was even shorter this time, a final command, a summons.

"Plan is on. Tonight. Before the dawn."

I hit send, and in my mind, I could already hear the sound of my brother's engines roaring in the distance, coming to carry me away from the ashes of my old life.