EDEN POV
The morning messenger arrives just as Eden is finishing breakfast in the main hall.
She hears the commotion before she sees anything. A scout bursts through the doors covered in blood and dirt, and his expression is pure panic. He runs directly toward the war room, and everyone in the hall stops eating to watch him pass.
Something is wrong.
Within minutes, Thorne appears in the doorway and gives the signal. All warriors are to report to the command chambers immediately. It's the call for a serious threat. Eden has never heard it before, but Thorne explained it to her last week.
She stays seated and tries to look invisible.
Warriors start filing out of the hall quickly and efficiently. They're moving like soldiers heading into battle. The energy shifts from casual morning routine to absolute combat readiness in seconds.
Then the details start spreading through whispers.
A northern border patrol was ambushed.
Four Ironfang wolves are dead.
The attack was brutal and coordinated.
Eden's hands go cold.
More details come through the whispers. The weapons used in the attack have Silvercrest markings. The tactics match Silvercrest strategy. Everything about the ambush screams that her father's pack orchestrated this attack.
The whispers stop when the wolves realize Eden is still sitting at the table.
Every eye in the hall turns toward her.
It happens all at once. The moment shifts. The energy changes. The careful acceptance that's been building over three weeks evaporates like it never existed.
She's not a guest anymore.
She's the spy they've been sleeping next to.
She's the Silvercrest wolf planted in their territory to gather intelligence.
She's the reason four of their own are dead.
Eden can feel the hatred pouring off them like heat from a fire. She can feel the betrayal. She can feel the moment every wolf in Ironfang realizes that their Alpha was right to reject her.
But worse than all of that, she can feel Kael's emotions crashing through the mate bond like a tidal wave.
Rage. Pure, burning, uncontrolled rage.
Betrayal so intense that it makes her gasp.
The connection between them is suddenly screaming with his fury and his certainty that she did this. That she orchestrated this attack. That she's been working against him and his pack the entire time.
The pain of his betrayal is worse than any physical wound could be.
Henrik, the stable master who taught her to ride and who actually smiled at her, looks away when their eyes meet. Sienna is watching from across the room with her hand over her mouth. The younger wolves who started talking to her are now staring like she's a monster they need to stay away from.
Eden forces herself to stand.
She doesn't run. She doesn't try to explain. She just stands there with her hands visible and her face calm because showing panic would only prove that she's guilty.
"I didn't do this," she says quietly.
Nobody responds. Nobody even looks at her directly.
The head of the warrior contingent, a massive wolf named Gareth, walks toward her. His expression is cold and his hand is moving toward his weapon.
"You're coming with us," he says. It's not a request.
Eden nods, and she walks toward him with her head held high.
As she passes Thorne, she catches his eye. His expression is conflicted and angry and something that looks like betrayal. He doesn't try to stop them. Nobody tries to stop them.
The bond is still screaming.
Kael's emotions are flooding through the connection so intensely that Eden feels like she's drowning in his rage. He's in the war room. She can feel him there, and he's absolutely certain that she's guilty.
He's absolutely certain that she used him. That the rejected mate bond was some kind of strategy. That she was working for her father the entire time.
The guards march her through the corridors, and wolves step aside to let them pass. Their faces are full of hatred and betrayal and the kind of anger that comes from losing pack members to an enemy they invited into their home.
By the time they reach the war room, Eden's heart is pounding so hard she thinks it might break through her ribs.
She knows what's about to happen.
She knows that Kael is in that room, and he thinks she betrayed him.
She knows that the mate bond isn't strong enough to overcome the kind of evidence that just came in.
She knows that she's about to be accused of treason, and she has no way to prove her innocence.
The guards push open the doors to the war room, and Eden steps inside.