Chapter 5 Do not fail

Mira didn't know how to react.

The King knew her by name. He had been expecting her.

She badly wanted to know how and why. The question settled on her tongue, heavy and eager to be released-but she knew better.

No one questioned the king. Not unless you had a death wish.

King Evren remained standing when she was ushered fully into the office. He didn't offer her a seat. Didn't gesture. Didn't even acknowledge the guards as they withdrew and the doors closed behind her with a quiet, ominous finality.

He simply watched her.

His gaze was sharp, studying her, assessing, as though he were stripping her down to bone and intent. The weight of his presence pressed against her senses, thick and unyielding. Mira felt her wolf stir uneasily, pacing beneath her skin, unsettled by the raw dominance rolling off him unchecked.

"So," he said at last, his voice low and cold, "you finally decided to show yourself."

Mira stiffened internally. Finally?

She inclined her head, carefully respectful. "Your Majesty. I came to propose a strategic collaboration..." she started, biting back the slight tremor in her voice. "...between Vale Industries and the crown-one that strengthens both our interests."

It took a lot of courage to finally speak. But if she wanted the favor of the king, she had to be audacious.

The king didn't speak at first, didn't move. He simply assessed her, with that sharp gaze that unnerved her.

A faint curve finally touched his lips-it wasn't a smile-no-it was more like mockery.

"I thought you'd have learned by now," he said, getting closer, circling her slowly, his boots silent against polished stone. "Running halfway across the realm only after your husband humiliated you so publicly."

Her fingers curled at her sides. How did he know about that?

"I'm here on business," Mira said evenly. "To discuss cooperation between-"

He laughed-a short, dismissive sound.

"Cooperation?" Evren stopped directly in front of her, towering close enough that she had to tilt her head to meet his eyes. "You came all this way to beg me to polish Adrian Vale's reputation? To help him climb the ranks so you can crawl back into his favor?"

The words struck harder than she expected. It almost felt like a physical blow.

"You disappoint me," he continued coolly. "I assumed you'd finally come to your senses. Instead, you're still the same lovesick fool who married for feelings and mistook devotion for strength."

Mira's chest tightened. She felt a mix of emotions. Shock, confusion, pain, and something else, something that stirred, growing slowly with each word that left his mouth.

"Get out," he finished, turning away. "I don't collaborate with women who don't know their own worth."

That did it. Something inside of her snapped.

"Then perhaps it's you who should be disappointed," Mira shot back without thinking.

The room went deathly still.

Evren turned slowly.

"I expected a ruler," she continued, her heart pounding but her voice steady. "Someone enlightened. Formidable. Not a man so blinded by arrogance that he mistakes cruelty for wisdom."

Silence followed-thick, heavy, stunned.

No one had ever spoken to him like that. Yet this woman, this lovesick woman dared to disrespect him in his own territory.

Evren moved faster than she could react.

One moment he was several steps away. The next, his hand was around her throat, lifting her cleanly off the ground and slamming her back against the wall. Stone bit into her spine as his grip tightened, fingers iron-hard.

The air vanished from her lungs.

His aura crashed into her fully now-overwhelming, suffocating, lethal. A weaker wolf would have blacked out from fear. Might have died.

Mira didn't.

Her wolf snarled-not in submission, but defiance-despite the way her instincts reacted to him.

It wasn't just panic she felt, it was something else. Something buried deep, ancient, primal.

He felt it too. She could see it in his eyes, the way his grey orbs darkened like a stormy sky.

Her breathing was heavy, desperate.

That was when she realized it.

He wasn't crushing her windpipe. Not yet.

'He's not killing me.'

That meant he was listening.

"You dare," Evren growled, eyes burning inches from hers, "to lecture me in my own palace?"

Mira forced her hands to still. Forced her panic down. Her pulse thundered, but she met his gaze without flinching. Brave.

"I made mistakes," she said hoarsely. "I admit that. But perfection has never been the measure of worth. Resolve is."

His grip tightened slightly, a warning.

"I've already submitted my divorce agreement," she continued, breath shallow but controlled. "I didn't come here for Adrian. I came for myself. For my parents' legacy. For my name."

Something flickered in his eyes.

"I'm not asking for an ordinary contract," Mira said. "I'm offering a long-term strategic partnership. One that benefits us both."

The room went silent again, broken only by the sound of Mira's heavy breathing.

Then-unexpectedly-Evren laughed.

The sound was deep, rich, and dangerous.

"Now that," he said, releasing her abruptly, "is the spirit of a Sterling daughter."

Mira staggered but caught herself, swallowing air as her feet hit the ground. His hand lingered briefly at her throat, thumb brushing her pulse as if reminding her how easily he could still end her.

A shiver crawled down her spine.

He stepped back, his expression unreadable.

"I won't agree yet," he said. "Words are cheap."

Her jaw tightened. "Then name your terms."

His gaze swept over her, slow and deliberate, his eyes glistening with something she didn't recognize, something that made it even harder for her to breathe.

"Finalize your divorce within a month," Evren said, the word divorce sounding like poison. "Prove you're more than the woman who once lost herself to love. Do that-and I'll consider granting you an exclusive contract."

He paused.

"Fail," he added calmly, "and this conversation never happened."

Mira lifted her chin in defiance. She was ready, determined.

"I won't fail."

A slow smile curved his lips-dark, approving, dangerous.

"We'll see."