Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 94

Chapter 94

Chapter 94

Maya

99 vouche

Caden’s father looked at me with open dislike. Not fear or guilt. Just cold calculation with a hint of annoyance that I was speaking so freely.

And somewhere under my anger, a new thread twisted. If Philip and all the Council knew what I was, was it the same means that Rohan knew who I was long before the heirs? Did that mean the council and the rogues were more connected than they pretended to be? How many people had known that I was never just the human intern who showed up two weeks late with a suitcase and a scholarship?

“In the chamber at Sanctrum,” I said, forcing my breathing to steady, “I mentioned a name. Astrid. What do you know of her?”

One of the two women on the dais, with iron-grey hair braided over her shoulder, lifted her chin. Her eyes were a sharp amber that reminded me of old embers.

“The one who leads,” she said simply.

Aelera stirred uneasily in my chest.

“No,” I said quickly. “She is the one who will cause my downfall, I am sure of it. She is the one who wants more than one mate. The great betrayer the books talk about. She is the one who calls to Rohan. She is probably the reason my feet keep dragging me south in my sleep. So don’t give me titles, tell me what you know.”

Silas looked at me for a long moment, then exhaled as if he were tired of entertaining me. “What we know,” he said, “is that history has a way of repeating itself when power is left unchecked. Astrid lost control. Her wolf lost control. Thousands paid the price. We cannot allow that to happen again.”

He lifted his hand slightly. The gesture was small yet final. “Which is why you will begin training. You will learn to master your shifts, to control your wolf and the power she carries. We will leave that responsibility in the hands of the Alpha Heirs. They were born for it. You will be under their supervision.”

My throat tightened. “And if I don’t?”

“Then history will repeat itself,” he said calmly. “And we will be forced to act.”!

The words settled over my skin like frost.

“If you succeed,” another man added, “you will be shortlisted alongside the heirs. In time, if proven worthy, you may hold a seat on this council. The First Packland does not waste valuable assets, Maya of the Áine Eclipse.”

Valuable assets.

That was all I was to them. Not a girl who had survived too many homes. Not an intern who just wanted to pay off a debt and graduate. Not someone whose life they had nearly broken in a lab for their “greater good.”

An asset.

I saw Tylon’s shoulders shift slightly beside me as he finally dragged his eyes from his father and met the man’s gaze fully. There was a storm there, dark and quiet, and for a second the entire room seemed to hold its breath.

The doctor’s words from Sanctrum echoed in my mind. The heirs are too valuable. We will not risk harming them.

And now I saw why.

They had been grooming them for these chairs from birth. They had been breaking everyone else to keep those lines clean

18:46 Tue, Dec 23 MM.

Chapter 94

and loyal.

Now me included.

I only started manifesting anything inhuman after Sanctrum. After they strapped that collar on. After they pumped whatever energy, shock or pressure they needed through my veins to crack open what slept inside me.

That was not evaluation.

That was awakening.

And now that I was awake, they wanted to polish me up and sit me on their little stage next to their chosen sons.

My stomach twisted. I swallowed against the nausea rising in my throat.

“I would like to be dismissed,” I said quietly.

Silas inclined his head. “Of course. Remember what we have said. If you prove to be the enemy, you will be handled as such. If you learn to control your wolf, you will be honored.”

In other words, if I surrendered to the pull and joined Rohan, I was dead.

If I suppressed it and let them chain me here in some ceremonial robe, I would be theirs.

A different kind of dead.

Before I could respond, Philip stepped forward slightly.

“One more thing before you go,” he said. “You must both take a blood oath. You will swear not to disclose what was shared here today.”

Servants stepped from the shadows so smoothly I almost jumped. They carried a small stone table between them and set it at the foot of the dais. Two thin silver knives rested on top, beside a bowl engraved with the same Eclipse sigil that burned on my wrist.

Tylon’s jaw clenched. His voice came out low and controlled, but every word landed like a strike. “In other words, we cannot tell your offspring that you have been lying to them all their lives.”

The hit landed. I saw Philip’s eyes narrow, but it was Tylon’s father who gave himself away. His head lifted just a fraction higher, his shoulders squared. He still didn’t look at his son.

No one argued.

They watched.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify