I couldn't hold it in any longer. The words ripped out of me, raw and bleeding. "Is that what you told yourself when you slaughtered the Hollowmere Pack, my lord? That they were just a bunch of lowborn nobodies?"

Hadeon flinched as if I'd driven a blade between his ribs. His hand shot to my throat and squeezed, his eyes splitting gold with fury.

"Perenna, what nonsense are you spouting?!"

I struggled to break free, and the wound below tore open again. Blood soaked through the bedsheets in an instant.

Hadeon panicked at the sight. He gathered me into his arms, clumsy and desperate. "Perenna, stop moving. Please."

I pried his hands off me and glared straight at him. "Hadeon, you've been lying to me for years. Was it worth it?"

"Hundreds of lives. And my two pups. Don't you lose sleep at night?"

Hadeon's hand hung frozen in midair, trembling beyond his control.

"You know about all of it?"

When I said nothing, he rushed to explain. "Perenna, I had no choice. Wolves in the Hollowmere Pack saw you with the Alpha Heir. If the pregnancy got out, it would have torn the court apart."

I let out a bitter laugh. "Was it really about the court? Or were you afraid your precious Cressida would lose her power?"

Hadeon's brow creased. Whatever guilt had been in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold displeasure. "That was all my decision. Cressida had nothing to do with it. Leave her out of this."

Even now, he was still shielding Cressida. The last thread of hope in me snapped. Somewhere beneath my ribs, my wolf went utterly still, as though the creature had simply stopped breathing.

"Then what about my pups? The first one, fine, I'll blame myself for grieving too hard to protect it. But the second?"

Hadeon saw that I had ripped away the final veil, and he stopped pretending. "Yes. I had someone take care of it."

His scent had changed. The black walnut bark and iron I had once pressed my face into were still there, but that sweet, wrong undertone had risen to the surface, thick as rot. I could taste it on the back of my tongue.

"I wasn't ready to be a father."

"Even now, you're still lying to me..."

"Perenna, stop this. Whatever I've done, I owe you. I've sworn an oath. I'll make it up to you. I'll give you a life of wealth and luxury, secure in your place as my mate for the rest of your days!"