The 30-Day Severance, Revenge Before I Leave Chapter 08

The 30-Day Severance, Revenge Before I Leave Chapter 08

By the twenty-third day of countdown, Carl no longer sent servants to North Ridge.

He sent messengers.

Then guards.

Then gifts.

I returned none of them.

The northern border had failed first. Then the eastern watchline. After that, the rogues came in small groups, testing the edges of Silvermoon land like wolves circling a wounded deer.

The damage did not stop at the border.

Allied packs began pulling back their patrols. Trade routes closed. Families that had once bent the knee to Silvermoon started sending polite excuses instead of warriors.

Carl could hide a mistress.

He could hide a sick child.

But he could not hide a weakening pack from wolves who had only ever followed strength.

Mia was stronger now.

Her cheeks had filled out. Her scent had returned little by little, fresh snow and winter mint, soft but clear.

I packed her blankets into a leather bag.

On the table lay a letter sealed with white wax.

It had arrived at dawn.

No messenger had been seen.

Only the seal.

Rosehaven.

My mother’s family.

I broke it open.

There was only one line inside.

[Come home at the New Moon. The White Throne remembers its heir.]

I read it twice.

Then I folded it and placed it against my heart.

The front door broke open before sunset.

Carl came in alone.

He looked older.

His suit was wrinkled. His hair was loose. There were dark shadows under his eyes, and his Alpha scent, once sharp and steady, came off him in broken waves.

He saw the bag first.

“No.”

I kept folding Mia’s clothes.

“Elena.”

He crossed the room and grabbed the edge of the table.

“What did you do to the oath stone?”

“I asked for what was mine.”

“My warriors can’t feel me at the borders. The trade houses are withdrawing their oaths. The border families won’t answer my calls.”

“That sounds difficult.”

He stared at me.

Then he reached into his coat and placed a stack of documents on the table.

“North Ridge is yours,” he said. “The northern timberlands, the old trade routes, and a place for Mia in the Silvermoon inheritance line.”

I looked at the papers.

Once, that would have been a fortune.

Now it was only Carl trying to buy back the blood he had thrown away.

He opened a silver box.

Inside lay the Luna Binding Token.

I had seen it once before, on our claiming night.

Back then, he told me it meant trust.

Now I knew it meant ownership.

“Give one drop,” he said. “That’s all the elders need. One drop, and the renewal can hold until we fix the borders.”

“We?”

His face tightened.

“Elena, please.”

I looked up.

That word did not belong in his mouth.

“You told me Selina knew how to obey,” I said. “Ask her.”

“She can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Her blood is weak.” His voice cracked. “The stone rejected her. Leo is dying again. The source we took from Mia is burning him from the inside.”

There it was.

Not regret.

Panic.

I closed Mia’s bag.

“Then Silvermoon is already dead.”

Carl’s eyes moved to the white-wax seal on the table.

He went still.

“Rosehaven,” he whispered.

I said nothing.

His face changed slowly as old pieces found their places.

“My father tried for years to ally with Rosehaven,” he said. “The lost heir…”

“My mother hid me here before Rosehaven’s enemies could find me.”

Carl’s face went pale.

“And your grandfather?”

“He could not claim me until I chose to break from Silvermoon myself.”

He moved to block the doorway.

“Elena, don’t do this.”

I stopped in front of him.

“You chose power over your mate. A son over your daughter. A lie over your bloodline.”

His throat worked.

“I can fix it.”

“No.”

The word was soft.

Final.

“You can survive what you built.”

I walked past him.

This time, he did not touch me.

Behind me, his breathing broke.

“Elena.”

I paused at the door.

The mark on my wrist read:

7 days.

“Enjoy your kingdom, Carl.”

Then I left him standing in the house where he had sent me to disappear.