Chapter 38. Caius’s Confession

The blackthorn thicket was silent, illuminated only by the faint, diffused light of the setting moon. Neriah lay with her head resting against Caius’s chest, the painful, hot presence of the Moon Priestess’s seed a constant reminder of her failure, and the steady beat of his heart the only anchor in her spinning world.

“Tell me,” Neriah repeated, her voice thin, fragile. “Don’t spare me any pain. I need to know why the man who loved me watched them kill me.”

Caius inhaled sharply, the sound a ragged edge in the silence. He shifted, cradling her wounded shoulder with excruciating care. He was no longer the Alpha, no longer the shield. He was just a man confessing a monstrous sin.

“I didn’t just watch, Neriah. I ordered it,” he began, his voice flat, devoid of the familiar Alpha resonance. “I signed the execution order. I stood on that scaffold and declared you a traitor, sealing the fate I knew was already coming. It was the only choice I had left to save you from a