Chapter 49

“What is so important that you’re willing to destroy your own pack to find it?” Marisol demands, her tone cutting through the charged atmosphere.

When he finally raises his head to meet her gaze, Marisol is momentarily stunned by the transformation in his appearance. He had cleaned up well, and the change was remarkable. The disheveled, wild image she’d associated the man with, upon their first encounter, was now replaced with an appearance that would rouse no questions about his royal descent. He looked… different and that took her off guard.

Struggling for her next words, Marisol stumbles over a variety of choices, each one falling short, or just deemed unworthy to maintain the force of her rebuke. Cedric, in response, lets out a dry laughter that bounces off the walls, finally breaking the silence with an order that feels eerily calm.

“Get out.”

The command is delivered with an air of authority that momentarily silences Marisol. The abrupt dismissal had he