Leila’s POVHe was fixing up a room for her? By himself?My mind was racing with a million questions, and not the kind that anyone could proffer answers to. Only a deity who oversaw all could help me make sense of Kai’s obsession with Cora, especially after he’d ingested a shit ton of the supposed fate-altering red rose I risked my ass to get.How the hell was he fighting it off? I mean, I knew he was strong but I thought it was just against physical warfare, not the supernatural. The mere fact that he had chosen the worst possible time to show how boundless his strength and determination could be pissed me the hell out.“I just need one more shot at Cora’s life, and this time, I won't miss the target” I looked into my scrying mirror while I waited for it to locate Cora.I barely made use of the scrying mirror to spy on my enemies within the palace because it drew an unimaginable amount of power from me to keep it connected to a magical source. It was usually a last resort when I’d ex

Leila’s POV Kol? I knew I’d seen a familiar figure. The same cowardly asshole that’d made my last trip nothing worth remembering? How did such a lousy excuse for a man get into a cult as powerful as that? How could he have ensured that a closed off tunnel was opened for his secret meeting? How the hell was he sleek enough to do treacherous shit under Kai’s nose? Kol didn't even have the balls to stand in the presence of a mystical being in the body of a little girl so how could he be some brilliant mastermind? He’d really fooled me with that act. “When you're finished, pick your jaw off the floor and leave” He said in a shockingly authoritative voice. At this point, I wasn't even focused on the order he’d given, I was simply trying to recover from my initial shock upon seeing him. It shouldn't surprise me as much as it did since I was a cunning person whose survival depended on covering my tracks, but Kol hadn't just covered his tracks, he’d buried them in his cowardly persona

Cora’s POVI woke up to a throbbing pain in my arm because of how I’d slept the night before. I’d been scribbling down a poem to calm my nerves the night before and I’d gotten stuck on the fourth line, and then nothing else made sense after that.A while after my creative block struck, I’d started to feel sleepy but I didn’t get up from my desk because I hated to leave the poem unfinished. Well, nature bit me in the ass and I fell asleep with my arm under my head while seated in an incredibly uncomfortable position.Awakening with a throbbing pain was the least of my problems though, and I’d now decided that I very much hated the poem I’d written so I tore off the paper, squeezed it into a ball and threw it in the bin.“Good morning, wildcat,” Kai’s voice seeped through the door to indicate that he’d not left my door all night.It must’ve been how the paper hit the bin that alerted him of my being awake, and now I was contemplating retrieving the poem and using the lines to end him in

Cora’s POVThe smoke signal was slowly dissipating already but I tried to trace is origin from where it looked the thickest and I confirmed that it was coming from beyond the palace fences.That was all it took to figure out that it’d been set off by my partner; the shadow.I had absolutely no clue how he/she always managed to find me and send cryptic messages that only I would understand, but the shadow’s ability to be so attentive to details and an an ardent planner were things I truly admired.Those attributes also made it easier to trust my mystery partner because they were essential in plotting the defeat of a powerful man like Kai whose enemies had been clumsy in their attempts to execute him, myself inclusive.Fucking go already, my wolf urged me as though she wasn't as whipped with Kai as I was.In fact, she seemed oddly at peace and filled with contentment whenever I was with him but since I knew that both our loyalties were still tied to our deceased pack, I understood why s

Kai’s POV“All set?” I asked as I emerged from a shed where I’d been watching Levi order the guards to load a carriage.“Yes, Alpha,” he called out just before a guard mounted the horse attached to the carriage.“Make sure not even a dime is left uncollected, and defaulters for the last payments should pay double this time around,” I reminded him like he hadn't gone on tax collection trips a thousand times.I just preferred to be thorough, and that's why I always sent Levi on those trips. He was through, calculative and I trusted him with my finances as well as my life.“Yes, sir,” Levi responded as he climbed into the carriage.I watched it ride out of the palace gates until it’d disappeared into the woods. I realized then that since Levi would be gone for at least two days passing through the towns under my protection to collect taxes, the rest of the administrative work rested solely on my shoulders since, you know...Leila was dead.But she deserved to die, especially since she wa