Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King novel Chapter 236

Chapter 236: 0236

Kaelen POV

"Your trigger seems to have evolved," Darius said quietly.

I looked down at my hands, watching the warm blood pool in my palms before slipping between my fingers and dripping onto the dark leather seat beneath me. The sight was almost hypnotic, the slow, steady rhythm of crimson against black somehow keeping me grounded.

"Your curse... it used to be triggered only when you were around women. That was the pattern," he continued, pausing briefly before adding, "But now? Now it seems to be triggered by strong emotions. Rage. Fear. Stress. Anything that pushes you too far."

Evolved.

The word turned over in my mind like a slow-burning poison. I knew the curse was getting worse, but I had never considered that it could actually evolve. I had always believed it was a fixed thing, a constant burden I would have to carry for the rest of my life. It had rules. Patterns I had learned to recognize and control.

But now, those rules were changing.

I thought back to what had happened in the Council chamber. Not only had there not been a single female present, but the voices that had roared inside my head... they had sounded almost like my own. That was the strangest, most terrifying part.

Usually, the voice belonged to her.

My abuser. The woman who had cursed me.

But today?

Kill him. Kill them all. Tear them apart. Make them pay.

That hadn’t been her voice.

That had been mine.

My stomach twisted as the realization settled deeper. So what had changed? Was the curse truly evolving, or had it sunk so deeply into my soul that I could no longer tell where it ended and my own mind began?

Before I could let that thought consume me, my mind drifted straight to Jaxen.

My chest tightened painfully, and my hands curled into fists again. Fresh blood welled from the wounds in my palms as I clenched them harder, but I barely noticed the pain.

"They want to take Lorelei away from me," I muttered, mostly to myself, my voice strained as the words left my mouth. "I can’t let them take her away from me."

Darius stared at me through the mirror for a long moment without saying anything. His gray eyes were unreadable, but I knew him well enough to recognize what was hiding behind that silence. Exhaustion. Worry. And that quiet fear he had been trying not to show me for days.

He finally let out another heavy sigh before speaking. "I guess we should head back now. I’m sure Lorelei misses you terribly."

He meant it to reassure me. Usually, hearing Lorelei’s name would have been enough to pull me out of whatever darkness had settled over me. The thought of going home to her was usually the one thing that could make the weight in my chest feel a little lighter.

But this time, the moment he said her name, my entire body went rigid.

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