Chapter 7

Adrian POV

The heavy oak doors clicked shut, leaving me alone in the oppressive silence of the Royal Study. The faint, unyielding scent of lily and cedar lingered in the air, a stark contrast to the heavy amber and ambergris of my own aura. My black wolf paced restlessly in my mind, a low growl of shame vibrating deep within my chest.

I had just watched the daughter of my greatest mentor walk away with a Royal Severance Decree.

I sank back into my mahogany chair, the memory of Alpha Justin Hayes standing in this exact room a few days ago making my blood boil. He had returned from the border reeking of his polluted cologne, heavily masked by the sharp, cheap spices of Gamma Brenna Wilson's scent. He had the audacity to demand a Royal Decree to make her Co-Luna, using his so-called "military merits" as leverage.

It was a blatant violation of the kingdom's law, which forbade high-ranking officers from Rejecting their mates or taking a second within five years of marriage. But to appease the military and maintain morale, I had compromised. I had signed that cursed decree.

Now, knowing the truth-that Justin's "glory" was built on the slaughtered and maimed bodies of the Wood family-nausea twisted my gut. He had extorted me with stolen valor.

And Isla... she was returning to the ruins of the Silvermoon Pack to raise her orphaned nephew, Javion. A wolfless girl, stepping back into a graveyard soaked in her family's blood, just to preserve her pride. She refused to accept a polluted mate-bond. Granting her the Severance was the only way to save her from Justin's inevitable cruelty, but the thought of her facing those nightmares alone made my Inner Wolf shudder.

A soft knock broke my thoughts. Beta Alton Marsh stepped in, his faint ink scent laced with undeniable anxiety.

"Your Majesty," Alton bowed low. "The Dowager Empress demands your presence in her suite. Immediately."

I braced myself. I walked through the palace corridors and stepped into my mother's quarters. The heavy, suffocating scent of violet and agarwood hit me instantly, thick with the sorrowful rage of her Inner Wolf.

Dowager Empress Georgiana sat stiffly on her carved high-backed chair. Her face was pale, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"How could you, Adrian?" she demanded, her voice trembling with a mother's fury. "Arthur Crawford's daughter! You force a wolfless girl to share her mate with a Gamma warrior? You are sending her to her death!"

I knelt before her, the guilt heavy on my shoulders. "Mother, please. The situation has changed. Isla was just in my study." I took a steadying breath, breaking the news. "She didn't ask for my protection against Brenna. She asked for a Royal Severance. She is leaving the Bloodfang Pack to return to the Silvermoon estate."

My mother froze. The anger in her eyes shattered into profound, agonizing grief. "She... she chose Rejection?"

"She refuses to watch her mate love another she-wolf," I said softly.

Those words struck my mother like a physical blow. I saw the ancient scars surface in her eyes-the ghosts of Aileen, Candace, and Gina Reynolds, the favored mistresses my father had flaunted before her. She knew the soul-crushing agony of a fractured mate-bond better than anyone in this palace.

"That poor, brave child," Georgiana wept, clutching her chest as if her own heart were breaking all over again. Then, her sorrow hardened into a cold, lethal disgust. "And this Gamma Brenna... I once praised her for elevating the status of female wolves in our kingdom. Yet the first thing she does with her newfound power is trample on the marriage and dignity of an innocent woman. She is a disgrace."

I stood up, my own Inner Wolf snarling at the thought of the arrogant Alpha who had caused all this. Justin Hayes thought he had won. He thought he was the kingdom's rising star, untouchable and triumphant.

"Alton," I called out, my voice dropping to a deadly, Alpha command.

"Yes, Sire?" Alton stepped forward from the shadows.

"When Alpha Justin Hayes comes to the palace tomorrow morning to solidify his decree, leave him standing at the gates. I will not see him." I narrowed my eyes, the amber in my irises glowing in the dim light. "It is time he learns his true place."