Instead, a crystal comms chimed beside her bed.
A message from Sorenna.
The screen flickered to life—revealing Kael in a lavish den, crumbs smeared across his cheeks as he laughed and played with shiny toys clearly not his.
Behind him, Sorenna lounged with a satisfied gleam in her eyes.
“I love Sorenna the most!” Kael chirped, giggling.
The video ended.
An audio file began.
A man’s voice—husky, low, breathless with desire—echoed through the quiet chamber.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t you say I could do anything I wanted? Regretting it now?”
Wet, heated sounds followed—lips meeting, breaths tangling, the unmistakable rhythm of bodies pressed together.
Sorenna’s next message appeared in Freya’s crystal comms, glowing with taunting lunar light, [Alpha Riven’s in the showers of my den. For the coming moons, whether it’s the Alpha or your pup, I’ll keep them by my side. You’ll be the one losing face at the public hearing.”
Her confidence was unmistakably bold and the moon days that followed proved she had every reason for it.
Riven and little Kael never once returned to the Moonstone Healing Hall. Not even to check on Freya.
Yet Freya remained outwardly calm, as if nothing could shake her.