My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 435

Chapter 435: Chapter 435 HORNET’S NEST

SERAPHINA’S POV

Kieran didn’t speak on the way back to our room.

I tried to pretend it was nothing.

The meeting had been dense, layered with many moving pieces, many implications that would take time to unravel.

Silence after something like that wasn’t unusual. If anything, it was expected.

But this...

This wasn’t that.

It wasn’t the quiet of someone thinking. It was the quiet of someone holding something back.

I felt it in the space between us as we walked the length of the corridor, in the absence of the small, instinctive touches that had long since become second nature between us.

Normally, even in silence, there was a kind of awareness—his presence brushing against mine, steady and grounding.

Now...there was distance.

And I knew where it had started.

Not in the strategy room.

Not when Alois had mentioned royalty or witch factions or tracking curses or even Lucian.

No—it had started earlier.

Back in the Origins Archives.

The moment he came out of that place, something had shifted in him. Subtle enough that no one else would have noticed. Controlled enough that it could be dismissed as fatigue or distraction.

I had noticed.

But then everything else had happened, and there hadn’t been time to stop and ask.

Now there was.

We reached our room in silence.

Kieran stepped inside first. His movements were stiff and controlled as he crossed the space and shed his jacket, tossing it carelessly over the back of a chair.

I closed the door behind us, the soft click echoing loudly.

“Kieran.”

He paused, but he didn’t turn.

“Yes?”

I studied him for a moment, taking in the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands flexed once at his sides before going still again.

“You’ve been quiet,” I said.

“I’m thinking.”

“I know how you are when you’re thinking. This isn’t that.”

Slowly, he turned. His gaze met mine, steady, deliberately unreadable in a way that would have thrown anyone else.

Not me.

“Tell me,” I said.

His jaw tightened. “There’s nothing to say.”

“That’s not true.”

Silence stretched between us.

I held his gaze, refusing to let it slip, refusing to give him the space to retreat behind whatever wall he was trying to build.

“What was that reaction?” I asked. “When Alois mentioned royalty.”

“There was no reaction.”

“You shut it down faster than a bullet.”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “Like I said—”

“Don’t lie,” I cut him off, my chest tightening. “Not to me.”

His head dropped, and he released a sigh heavy enough to break a camel’s back as he sat on the bed.

I moved from my spot by the door and joined him, close enough that I was pressed into his side. I rested a hand on his thigh and squeezed gently.

“We don’t keep things from each other anymore,” I said softly, “right?”

He lifted his head, his gaze shifting to mine. Something awfully close to vulnerability flashed in his eyes before he masked it.

“I don’t ever want to keep anything from you,” he said quietly.

“Then tell me,” I urged.

His exhale was slow and measured. Like he was deciding something.

Then, finally, he spoke. “I...might know a way.”

“A way to what?” I asked.

“To find them.”

Instantly, I knew what he was referring to.

“Werewolf royalty,” I confirmed.

“Yes.”

I studied him, my mind already moving, connecting the pieces, filling in the gaps he hadn’t yet spoken aloud.

“Why didn’t you say anything in the meeting?” I asked.

The vulnerability returned in his gaze as he said, “Why do you think?”

I frowned. “What’s wrong with this...way?”

His gaze held mine for a moment longer before he looked away again, his hand coming up to drag slowly down his face.

“Because it’s not a solution,” he said. “It’s a gamble.”

“That applies to everything we’re dealing with right now.”

He shook his head. “Not like this.”

Something in his tone shifted—darker, heavier.

“Kieran...what aren’t you saying?”

He let out a quiet breath.

“Royal lines don’t just...fall,” he said. “Not without a reason. Power like that doesn’t just vanish. It gets dismantled. Buried. Sealed. Locked away.”

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