My hand flew up to strike him, but Alaric caught my wrist, his Alpha strength crushing, and hurled me to the floor like garbage.
"Without my indulgence, Lyra, do you really think you have the right to bare your claws at me?"
Seren rushed over, pretending to help me up. But as she leaned close, her whisper was pure venom, pitched below even wolf-hearing.
"You're just as stupid as your dead mother. Yes, I did it—but did you really think I'd hand you the evidence on a silver platter?"
"Your mother couldn't beat mine. And you'll never beat me."
Tears streamed down my face, numb and endless. Somewhere in the middle of crying, I started to laugh.
I lunged for the silver letter opener on the nearby table and drove it toward Seren.
Alaric kicked it from my hand. His expression twisted with horror and disgust.
"Have you gone completely insane?"
He swept Seren into his arms and summoned every top healer in the territory to treat her scratch. Then he moved her into my hidden estate—the den that had been my mother's sanctuary.
My condition deteriorated rapidly.