Chapter 51

Ronan’s POV

Often, people assume anger is the worst emotion, and I believed that too—until tonight, when sadness overwhelmed me. Sadness is far more dangerous. In its grip, you lose all self- control. You obey your heart’s darkest impulses. When I murdered the guard assigned to watch Seris, it wasn’t anger but grief driving me. The devastation of my mate stolen from under my nose unleashed a frenzy: I rampaged through the castle corridors, smashed doors, shattered goblets, and tore down tapestries. Nothing survived my sorrow-fueled wrath. She was gone, as I had feared, and in that realization, I was broken.

At first, we told ourselves she must have slipped out for a stroll. My warriors and I scoured the castle chambers, the vast library, the spiral staircases, and the moonlit battlements. We even combed the forest grounds under starlight. But everywhere we searched, there was no trace of her—no dropped hair, no footprints, no echoes of a struggle. The ache in my c