Chapter 657
Evaline:
My fingers tightened around Oscar’s arm before I even realized what I was doing. My grip was firm… enough to be uncomfortable if not painful.
I could feel the tension in my own muscles, and the way my nails pressed slightly into his skin through his sleeve. Under any other circumstance, he would have teased me about it.
But now?
He didn’t react at all.
Instead, his arm came around me, pulling me closer to his side, his hand resting steady against my back in silent reassurance. His touch was warm, grounding… familiar.
And yet, it wasn’t enough.
Nothing about this moment felt calm. Nothing felt safe. Not when Kyros was kneeling in the middle of our living room.
Not when River stood near the glass wall with his back turned to all of us, staring out into the dark night where snow fell in slow, endless streams.
It was half past two in the morning.
The mansion felt eerily empty tonight. The staff had been dismissed. The warriors had been sent to patrol the estate perimeter. Every unnecessary presence had been removed.
Leaving only us – me, my two friends, the brothers – and the silence.
It stretched unbearably, thick and suffocating, pressing down on my chest until breathing itself felt like an effort.
No one spoke. No one moved.
Not even Kyros.
He remained on his knees without being told to, his head slightly bowed and his hands resting loosely on his thighs. The sight alone twisted something painfully inside me.
Through the bond, I could feel Oscar was also tense and restless. Even Kieran was no different. Though he kept his expression more controlled, the bond let me feel just how unsettled he felt.
That alone said enough.
If even they were affected by this silence, then the situation was far worse than I wanted to admit.
River hadn’t moved once. There wasn’t even a shift or a glance. He just stood there, watching the snow as if what was happening behind him didn’t matter.
Ten more minutes passed. Maybe more. But no one dared to break the silence. No one dared to rush him.
Because everyone in this room knew – when River would finally speak… it would decide everything.
And a few minutes later p>
He did.
“Kyros should be rusticated from the Warrior Academy p>
His voice was calm, quiet. But the words… they crashed through the room like thunder.
For a second, I thought I had heard him wrong. My mind refused to process it.
Rusticated?
Expelled?
My gaze snapped toward Kyros, and he looked just as stunned as I felt. His eyes were wide, fixed on River’s back, his entire body frozen in place as if the words had physically struck him.
No.
No, this wasn’t-
This was too much.
Before I could think it through, I pulled away from Oscar.
“Eva-” he started softly, but I was already moving.
I dropped to my knees beside Kyros, barely noticing the cold floor.
Rowan followed immediately, kneeling on Kyros’s other side without a word.
Behind us, I could feel Oscar and Kieran shift, their bodies reacting instinctively, but neither of them stopped me.
River, however… he stilled. Just slightly. But he still didn’t turn around.
I swallowed hard. My heart was pounding so loudly it felt like it might drown out my voice.
This couldn’t happen. Not like this. Not to Kyros.
I knew how much the Warrior Academy meant to him – more than anything, more than Silver Moon, more than anything else he had ever worked for.
If there was one place he truly belonged… it was the Warrior Academy.
And now p>
Now it was being taken away from him.
For one mistake. A stupid and reckless one, but still… just one.
I opened my mouth, the words already forming, desperation rising in my chest.
“Ri p>
I stopped and took a deep breath before trying again. “Alpha,” I said, my voice steady despite everything inside me trembling.
The word felt distant. Formal. A reminder of where we stood right now – not as mates, not as anything personal.
But as part of the Council.
As someone asking for judgment to be reconsidered.
“It’s his first mistake,” I continued carefully. “He didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. If he had known p>
I couldn’t finish.
Because in the next second… River turned around and his gaze landed on me, freezing me in my place.
I had seen him angry before. But this… this was different. There was no warmth in his eyes. No softness. Just something hard, sharp, cold.
And it hit me harder than his words would have.
For a brief moment, I forgot what I was even trying to say. I forgot how to breathe.
But then, he quickly shifted his expression. A slight softness entered his eyes and I felt him reaching out for me through our bond as if he was trying to tell me he’s not mad at me.
Only then did I let out the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. After another deep breath, my lips parted again, ready to try… to say something. Anything.
But before I could p>
A hand wrapped around mine.
I blinked in surprise and my gaze dropped to where Kyros was holding me. His grip wasn’t tight. But it was firm enough to stop me.
I looked at him and he shook his head slowly.
“Don’t,” he said quietly.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Kyros-” I started.
“It’s okay,” he added, though it clearly wasn’t.
Something in my chest cracked at that. Because I knew him. I knew that tone.
He had already accepted it.
Accepted the punishment.
Accepted the loss.
And he didn’t want me to fight for him. Didn’t want me to stand against River because of him.
But that wasn’t what made me go still.
It wasn’t his words.
It wasn’t even his expression.
It was p>
His touch.
My breath hitched slightly as a strange, unsettling feeling crept up my spine. It felt… wrong.
I frowned faintly, my attention shifting completely to where his hand held mine. Something about it didn’t sit right. Didn’t feel right.
Like something that should have been there… wasn’t. Or something that shouldn’t be there… was.
“Kyros I whispered, my brows pulling together slightly. My focus drifted entirely away from River. From the room. From everything.
Because suddenly, all I could think about was this one, quiet, unsettling truth.
Something wasn’t right.