Chapter 187
Chapter 187:
Augusta stood slowly. The pity in her eyes vanished, replaced by cold disappointment. She hadn’t heard self-sacrifice — she had heard rejection. She heard a girl unwilling to fight for her King.
“I see,” Augusta said, smoothing her skirt. “You are just like they say. A broken thing, afraid of the fire. Dallas deserves a warrior, Adella. Not a martyr p>
“Wait, that’s not what I p>
She turned her back on me and walked to the door. “I will relay your message p>
“No! Augusta, please!” I lunged forward, but the pain in my ribs slammed me back against the pillows with a gasp.
She stepped into the hallway, leaving the door slightly ajar. I froze, straining to hear, my heart hammering against my bruised ribs like a trapped bird.
𝖲tо𝘳іеs y𝗈𝗎 𝘄о𝗻’𝘵 𝗽u𝗍 𝘥𝘰w𝗻 𝗈ո ѕ.c𝗼𝗆
“Augusta p>
The voice from the phone was faint and distorted by the distance, but I would have known it anywhere. Dallas. But it sounded wrong — rough, wet, laced with a jagged exhaustion that tore at my insides.
“I’m here, Dallas,” Augusta said into her phone, her voice low but carrying clearly through the crack in the door.
“Did you ask her?” His voice broke on a cough — a sound that made me flinch. “Does she love me, Aunt Augusta? Or is it him p>
I held my breath, praying she would tell him the truth. About the mistake. About the sensory confusion.
“She didn’t say she loved you, Dallas,” Augusta said, her tone clinical and flat. “She said she thinks you would be ‘better off’ without her. She thinks you should be free p>
No. The word died in my throat. That wasn’t what I meant. I wanted to scream, to correct her, but fear paralyzed me.
A silence stretched on the other end of the line — long and hollow, like the end of the world held its breath.
“She thinks I’d be better off?” Dallas repeated. The weakness in his voice evaporated, replaced by something else. Something dark. Something ancient and terrifyingly possessive. The tone of an Alpha pushed to the very edge of madness.
“She is confused, Dallas. She is scared,” Augusta added, though her defense lacked conviction.
“Scared,” Dallas murmured. The word was a low rumble vibrating with a dangerous promise. “If she doesn’t know where she belongs… if she thinks she can just walk away to ‘save’ me p>
A shifting sound came through the phone — a body moving against sheets, followed by a sharp intake of breath, as though he were fighting through immense pain.
“Then I’ll make the decision for her,” Dallas growled.
The call ended with a sharp beep. Augusta lowered the phone and glanced back at my door with an unreadable expression before walking away, her heels clicking down the corridor until the sound faded to nothing.
I stared at the white ceiling, the blood draining from my face.
I had tried to set him free. But the chains I heard rattling in his voice told me I had done the exact opposite. I had awakened a monster, and he was coming for me.
Dallas
The silence that followed the call was heavier than the water that had filled my lungs only hours ago.