Chapter 34
Damon
“You may go.”
I was done listening to Elena confirm everything that I finally convinced myself might not be true. than to let myself feel anything for a candidate.
But I should’ve expected it. I should’ve known better
Elena nodded and left my study the same way she entered. Resigned. Like she already knew what the answer would be but had to ask anyway,
I didn’t offer her a seat and she didn’t take one. That was the first thing that felt wrong.
The second was what she asked for.
She didn’t try to sugarcoat it, and in some other context, I might have respected that. Any of the other women would have tried to seduce the seat out of me or haggle for it over dinner.
But Elena just stood there in the soft golden glow of the study lanterns, asking me to gift political power to a man I barely tolerated, and worse, she knew it. She admitted she didn’t want to ask. Said she had to.
I wanted to believe that. But I didn’t.
Not with the way she’d vanished after the match. Or how she avoided even looking at me when we were in the same room. And not after the hairpin.
That stupid silver hairpin. The one Natalie used to wear. The one I saw in Elena’s hair. I knew she was up to something then and should have listened to myself, not Zadé.
But I had. And now she asked for political leverage, confirming everything I didn’t want to believe about her.
Natalie would never have done this.
She would have argued for mercy, maybe. Fought for the vulnerable. But she would’ve never tried to manipulate her way into power on behalf of a man like Henry Ashford.
And when she looked at me, when her voice cracked, just barely, asking me to consider mercy… Goddess help me, it felt like betrayal.
The silence in the study after she closed the door was thick, suffocating. I stared at the grain of the desk for a long moment before walking to the balcony and opening the doors.
Cool night air rushed in.
Below, the palace grounds glowed with soft light flickering through the trees. Somewhere near the candidate wing, I saw Elena’s silhouette slip past the garden edge.
She didn’t look back. Good. I didn’t want her to.
Zane’s voice stirred at the edge of my mind, low and tense. Yes, you do. Admit that you care.
It’s not about caring, I told him.
She asked you for help –
She asked me to give power to someone unworthy. My anger was palpable over what I didn’t‘ want to admit was hurt.
She asked for mercy. You wanted her to ask for something real, and she did. Zane fired back.
She tried to manipulate me.
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Chapter 34
Zane growled softly, pacing in the back of my mind. She’s hurting again. Figure out what her father has that makes her obey
I replied with a growl of my own. No. She’s not worth it.
You don’t believe that.
I shut him out. I didn’t want to hear it. Zane and I had never been so at odds with each other before. Before Elena.
Behind me, I heard the faintest sound of footsteps. “Don’t say it,” I muttered.
“I didn’t,” Ronan said quietly. I turned just enough to see him leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
“She’s not Natalie,” I said, before he could.
“I know that.”
“I thought she might be… different.” My hands clenched around the railing.
“She is,” Ronan said. “But not in the way you want her to be.”
I said nothing. Ronan stepped up to the balcony rail beside me. “You’re allowed to be angry.”
“I’m not angry.” I practically yelled at him.
He raised a brow.
I exhaled slowly. “I’m not angry, I’m disappointed.”
Ronan nodded once. “That’s worse.”
We stood there in silence for a moment, the breeze pushing through the leaves below, rustling against the stone.
“She’s clever,” he said. “But she doesn’t know how to use it without burning something down.”
I glanced at him. “You sound like you pity her.”
He shrugged. “No. I just recognize what it’s like to be raised by someone who only taught you how to survive, not how to lead.”
I looked back over the garden towards the candidate’s residence. “Her father’s poison.”
“Then why are you surprised she carries some of it with her?”
I didn’t answer.
Ronan shifted beside me, arms still crossed. “You wanted her to be different, But she’s playing a game she doesn’t fully understand. And you? You’re playing with expectations you keep setting on ghosts.”
I bristled. “This isn’t about Natalie.”
“No?” He looked at me. “Because every time she disappoints you, that’s who you compare her to.”
“She’s nothing like Natalie.” It was starting to become a mantra. Shit, Ronan was right.
“Exactly,” Ronan said. “And maybe that’s the problem. Not that she’s different, but that you’re expecting her not to be. She might look like your dead Mate, but Elena is very much alive and her own person.”
I said nothing, jaw clenched. And Ronan didn’t push. Just stood beside me, quiet and steady. It was why he was my Beta.
“She’ll probably ask again,” he said eventually. “Maybe not for the same thing or in the same way, but she’s too stubborn not to come back swinging.
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Chapter 34
I stared down into the dark, heart heavy.
“If she does,” I said, “she’ll be on her own.”
Zane stirred again but said nothing this time. Even he didn’t believe me.
“She’s not worth this,” I muttered, too loud. I turned and shoved the balcony door open wider with more force than necessary, the metal creaking against
wood.
Ronan didn’t flinch, but his eyes followed every movement. I paced once, then twice, the frustration clawing at the surface. I didn’t want to feel this, but
there it was. Bitterness.
“Don’t,” I snapped when I felt him lingering. “Don’t give me that look like you already know how this ends.”
Ronan didn’t move, but his voice came out steady. “You’re pacing. Which means you’re going to start breaking things soon.”
“No I’m not,” I bit out. “I’m thinking about how fast she proved me right.” I turned and slammed my palm onto the edge of the desk. “She didn’t‘ even try seduction or bargaining, not a single political tactic, she just fucking asked outright.
You should’ve seen her,” I snapped, raking a hand through my hair. “She stood there like she wasn’t using me. Like we weren’t…
Weren’t what? We weren’t anything, not really.
W
Ronan said nothing, but his expression shifted just slightly. Watching me with concern.
I wanted to break something. A chair, the desk, the wall between my hopes and the truth. Instead, I stalked back to the balcony and gripped the rail until the iron dug into my palms.
“She knows exactly how to get under skin.”
my
“That’s what scares you,” Ronan said. “She gets in, and you don’t know how to shut her out.”
I didn’t answer. Because he was right. Again.
After a moment, Ronan turned his gaze back to the garden. “The banquet’s still on for tomorrow night. Official start of the next round of selection. Jackson’s already planning his speech.”
I grimaced. “Let him talk.”
“She’ll be there,” he added, too casually. “They all will.”
I didn’t respond, but I didn’t need to. We both knew I’d be watching her.
