Adrian's POV
My gaze was fixed on Elizabeth as she sat across from me in the room, her father by her side, mine by mine. Between us stood an elder from the Alpha Council, his expression unreadable, as though he'd rather be anywhere else than mediating the wreckage of two powerful families.
Father had released me from the cell earlier that morning and ordered that I be dressed. A baggy suit, nothing regal and loose enough to hide the swelling curve of my belly. I had also learned, quietly, that he killed the two servants who had helped dress me. To silence them. To keep my secret buried a little longer. I could only wonder how much longer he intended to keep this farce alive. How long before the truth would spill from the shadows and drown him with it.
Because Father never did anything without purpose. If he had freed me now, it was not from mercy but strategy. There was something he wanted, something brewing beneath his calm, murderous silence.
