Chapter 256: His Confession
Kaden’s POV
"It’s a strong arousal draught, Alpha," the seer said, putting her glass bottles back into her bag. "Luckily, her body is handling it safely. She will be fine, but the lingering physical effects and high fever could take several hours to completely leave her body."
I barely heard the end of her sentence. My jaw felt tight enough to snap, my hands curling into fists at my sides. A potion. In my private rooms. Under my roof.
"Watch her," I gritted out, my voice carrying the harsh, trembling edge of my wolf fighting for control. "Tell me the second anything changes."
Before the healer could even nod, heavy, hurried boots echoed in the hallway. The study door swung open, and two of my guards pushed a crying maid into the room. She stumbled, falling straight to her knees on the floor, shaking so hard her cap slipped from her hair.
"Alpha, please!" she cried out, pressing her palms flat against the wood. "I didn’t do anything! I swear on the Goddess, I didn’t do it!"
I took a single step toward her, the full, crushing weight of my Alpha power filling the room until the guards themselves stood up straight in discomfort. "You brought the tray into my study."
"I—I was bringing it up from the kitchen, Alpha!" Her voice broke as tears ran down her red cheeks. "In the hallway, Lady Tanya stopped me. She took the tray from my hands and sent me on a quick chore to the laundry rooms. When I came back two minutes later, she handed the tray back to me. I didn’t put anything inside it, I swear!"
A cold, clear truth settled over me.
My eyes snapped back to the half-empty cup sitting on my desk, then back to the servant shaking at my feet. The maid hadn’t targeted Ruby. Nobody had targeted Ruby.
The tray was meant for me—and Tanya was behind it.
The absolute foolishness and nerve of it burned through my blood like acid. A dangerous, silent anger took hold of my wolf, making my vision edge in dark red. I looked down at the maid, my eyes narrowing.
"You are an absolute fool for trusting anyone to touch what I eat," I growled. "Lock her in the dungeon. And find me Tanya. Now."
"Yes, Alpha!" The guards grabbed the maid by her arms and dragged her back out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them.
I stood alone in the quiet study for a long moment, my chest rising and falling as I fought to keep my temper from destroying the room. An investigation wasn’t even needed anymore. Tanya had signed her own death warrant, and she would pay for this before the sun came up.
But despite the anger raging inside me, my focus kept pulling toward the bedroom door.
I turned around and walked inside.
Ruby’s personal maid had already helped her change out of her wet dress and into an oversized shirt and cloth pants before leaving the room. She was lying in the middle of my wide bed, tucked under a dry blanket because the doctor insisted on keeping her watched until the fever fully broke.
The wild, desperate heat that had filled her in the shower was finally starting to fade, leaving behind a heavy, awkward silence in the room.
Ruby was curled on her side, her wet hair spread across my pillows. She had her arms pulled tightly against her chest, her body stiff, her eyes fixed strictly on the far wall.
She wouldn’t even look at me.
I walked to the side of the bed slowly, my heavy boots making almost no sound against the rug. As I got closer, I saw the bright, deep red spread up her neck and cover her cheeks—not from the potion this time, but from pure, painful embarrassment. She remembered every word she had cried out under the cold water. Every kiss she had tried to force on me.
I stood over the bed, looking down at her weak form. My anger over Tanya’s betrayal suddenly faded into something much heavier, a dark, protective pain settling deep in my chest.
"Ruby," I said softly, my voice lower than before.
Her shoulders twitched slightly at the sound of my voice, but she squeezed her eyes shut, pulling the blanket higher up over her chin, determined to pretend I wasn’t standing there at all.
I sat on the edge of the mattress, the bed dipping under my weight.
"You don’t have to feel embarrassed about what happened," I said quietly, keeping my tone as gentle as my wolf would allow. When she didn’t move, I leaned in a little closer. "Ruby. It was the potion. And that drink wasn’t even meant for you."
She stiffened for a second before letting out a soft sigh. Slowly, she pulled the blanket down from her face and sat up on the bed. Her eyes were still red-rimmed, her dark hair clinging damply to her shoulders. She didn’t look at me right away; instead, her gaze drifted toward the window across the room. Outside, the sky had turned a heavy, pitch-black night. It was already late.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the quiet hum of the room. "For holding yourself back."
I nodded once. "You don’t have to thank me for that."
She didn’t know how close I’d actually come to losing that control.
One fucking thread.
That was all that had been holding me together in that shower.
"I need to go back to my room," she said, shifting her legs over the side of the bed. "I don’t want Kane returning and seeing me here... and misinterpreting it."
My jaw clenched instantly, a hard frown pulling down my face. Kane. Where the hell had he been all through today? I glanced toward the clock before looking back at her.
"Where the hell is Kane?"
Ruby paused. "What?"
"He hasn’t been around all day."
"He had something to do."
"At this hour?"
She shrugged. "I don’t control his movements."
I stared at her. Apparently, neither did she know where the bastard kept disappearing to.
The image of Kane sitting across from that strange woman at the coffee shop flashed through my head again.
My jaw tightened.
"And you’re alright with that?"
Ruby gave me a tired look. "Kaden, please don’t start."
"I’m asking a question."
"And I’m telling you I don’t want to discuss Kane with you."
I frowned. "You are covering up for him."
Her eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you’re here carrying his child while he’s Goddess-knows-where doing Goddess-knows-what."
Her expression hardened instantly. "That’s between Kane and me."
"Of course," I spat.
She shoved her arms into her cardigan. "Why are you angry?"
"I’m not angry."
"You look angry."
"I always look like this."
Before I could voice the harsh questions burning in my throat, she stood up.
Her feet hit the floor, and for a second, her knees wobbled under her remaining weakness. My hand shot out automatically, catching her firmly by the elbow to steady her.
"You can barely stand, Ruby," I growled softly, my grip lingering on her arm a second longer than necessary. "And you’re worrying about Kane?"
She pulled her arm back gently, though her eyes finally met mine—filled with a mix of exhaustion, lingering embarrassment, and a stubborn refusal to stay in my bed a second longer.
I stood up too.
For a moment, we simply stared at each other. There were only a few feet between us, but the silence felt strangely heavy.
Ruby was the first to look away. "I should go," she murmured.
"Yeah," I nodded.
She turned and walked toward the door. I watched her go, telling myself to let her. She was Kane’s woman. She was carrying Kane’s child. Whatever the fuck was happening inside my head whenever she was around needed to stop before I did something I couldn’t take back.
Her fingers had already closed around the handle when the words escaped me. "Ruby."
She paused. Every sane instinct in my head immediately screamed at me. Don’t. For once, my voice of reason was in total agreement. Don’t fucking say it.
Ruby slowly looked over her shoulder. "Yes?"
I should have told her goodnight. Instead, I heard myself say, "I have a confession to make."
Her eyebrows pulled together. My heart began beating harder against my ribs. What the fuck am I doing?
"Okay..." she said cautiously.
I dragged a hand over my face. Don’t. She’s your brother’s woman. Don’t.
But I was tired of pretending I didn’t know what this feeling was. I was tired of wondering why I looked for her every time I entered a room, why two days without seeing her had irritated the hell out of me, and why seeing her with Kane made something ugly twist inside my chest.
I was tired of hiding why I’d almost kissed her long before that fucking potion ever touched her lips.
"I think I like you."
Ruby froze completely. Her hand slowly fell away from the door handle, her body turning rigid. "What?"
I almost laughed at the shocked disbelief on her face. "You heard me."
"No." She shook her head quickly, her eyes wide with disbelief. "No, I don’t think I did."
"I said I think I like you."
Her mouth dropped open, her breath catching clean in her throat.
There. I’d fucking said it.