Chapter 5 5

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PARIS POV

The hall didn't go silent for me.

I had already heard the truth long before Liam spoke it out loud.

I had known Selene was selling me.

I had known I was walking into a monster's hands.

What I hadn't known was whose blood ran in his veins.

Or that the man I had loved was standing on the wrong side of it.

My uncle.

"Everyone out!"

The sound shook the room. Guards dropped to their knees. Servants ran for the doors. Only a few of us were left, Vincent, Selene, Liam, Mason, Lily and me.

The doors closed hard, the echo ringing in my head. I could barely stand; my hands were shaking.

Vincent stood where he was. He did not speak. His hands were clenched at his sides, and the air around him felt thick, as though his control was the only thing holding the room together.

For the first time since I had met him, something cracked beneath his stillness. His breathing was slow but uneven, and his jaw was set so tight that a muscle jumped along his cheek. His eyes were fixed on nothing at all, as if the truth had struck somewhere too deep for words.

Liam shifted uneasily. "You're seriously not going to say anything?" he asked, his voice low but strained. "About Mason."

The silence stretched again.

Mason's chest rose sharply. His eyes burned, wet and red, and his lips trembled as he stepped forward. "Of course," Mason said bitterly. "Why would he?"

Vincent did not answer him.

Mason laughed, sharp and ugly. "That's it? Nothing? You find out you have a son and you can't even pretend to care?"

The air thickened. Vincent took one step forward.

"Care," he said quietly, "is a privilege."

Mason's breath hitched, tears spilling freely now as his hands curled into fists. "This mad king can't be my father," he said, his voice shaking as the words tore out of him. "He can't be. I won't accept it."

The sound of his grief cut through the hall, raw and unguarded. I felt it settle in my chest like a weight I could not push away.

Vincent finally moved but not toward Mason.

His gaze shifted to me without warning, heavy and unreadable, as though he was searching for something he had already lost. His eyes lingered there longer than necessary, and whatever he saw only tightened his expression further.

Mason noticed.

"So you won't even look at me," Mason said bitterly through tears, his voice rising. "But you can look at her."

Vincent's shoulders stiffened. His breath caught once, shallow and sharp, before he forced it steady again. His hand lifted halfway, then dropped back to his side as if the effort alone had cost him something.

The room waited.

Slowly, Vincent turned his head away from me and faced Liam, his eyes dark with a storm he had not yet allowed himself to release.

Vincent twitched his hand. His eyes glowed red once more, and his chest rose quickly. When he turned to face Selene, I for a moment believed that his rage would shatter the floor. His voice was low but burning as he said, "You destroyed my brother's name."

"You turned his daughter into a toy for your greed. You made her dance for wolves who wanted to devour her."

Nobody saw him coming because he moved so quickly. Selene was lifted off the ground as his hand closed around her neck. She gasped and clawed at his wrist. "Please, please, don't, Vincent."

He held on to her even as her feet kicked in the air. His voice thundered and his eyes grew brighter. "For what you did, you should have rotted long ago!"

"Vincent, stop!" I cried, running forward. "She's not worth it!"

He didn't move. His hand tightened, and Selene choked out a weak sound.

I pushed closer. "Don't kill her! You'll be no better than her if you do! You left your family behind, you left me behind and now you want to wash your hands in her blood? You think that makes you clean? If there is anyone who needs to take revenge on her it's me."

His head snapped toward me. "Watch your tongue," he warned, his voice shaking the air.

Liam moved between us fast. "She's just a kid, Vincent."

But Vincent didn't look away from me. His glare was cold. "As much as you're my niece, it would take me nothing to cut that sharp tongue out if I hear another word from you. Don't test me."

Liam caught his arm and forced him to drop it. "That's enough!"

Selene fell to the floor, coughing hard. She tried to speak, but Vincent raised his hand, cutting her off.

"Strip her of everything," he said to the guards. His voice was calm now, but it was worse than shouting. "Her title, her lands, her name, everything she owns belongs to the crown. She's no Luna, no ruler. From now on, she is nothing."

Selene's eyes widened. "You can't do this to me..."

"I just did," Vincent said.

The guards grabbed her by her arms. She screamed and kicked, but they dragged her toward the door.

Her voice echoed through the hall. "You'll regret this, Vincent! You'll all regret this!"

The doors shut behind her, and silence filled the room again.

Vincent stood in the middle of it, chest rising and falling. His eyes were still bright, his jaw tight. He looked powerful, dangerous, and empty all at once.

I wanted to hate him. But I couldn't look away.

Then he said in a voice that filled the room, "No one leaves until I say so."

The guards stood at attention, waiting for his command. He looked at them and said, "Show everyone to their rooms."

Then his gaze stopped on me. His tone dropped lower. "And you, Paris... you're coming with me. We need to finish what we started."

I was struck hard by the words. My breath caught in my throat and my heart jumped. Just what did he say? His gaze remained fixed on me, and I felt my stomach turn. The silence was broken by Mason's voice.

"What do you mean by that?" His voice trembling, his face flushed, he took a step forward. "What do you mean by "finish what we started?"