EMBER’S POV

“I was protecting her from your wrath. I thought she’d come clean to me on her own and we could figure it out together—”

“Figure WHAT out?” His voice cracks upward, incredulous. “How to negotiate with a traitor? How to manage the fallout politely? You knew about Nathaniel — you knew my own beta was working against me — and you kept it to yourself.” He takes another step, and the hurt in his face is calcifying into something colder. “Do you even realise how reckless and selfish that is?”

The words hit me harder than they should, because some part of me knows he’s right, and that...