The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Hot-Ass Mess To Cold-Ass Chess

Serena’s back hit the stone, lungs not letting her get a full breath. She slid down the wall and pulled her knees to her chest.

She was hiding in a literal broom closet.

Well, it was an antechamber. Technically. But with the dust on the furniture and the single window letting in a sliver of grey light, the distinction felt generous.

Was this rock bottom? Maybe.

Her eyes burned, so she pressed the heels of her hands into them and tried to push the tears back in, which was stupid, because that had never worked in her entire life, but she kept trying anyway.

She was furious at herself. For being this much of a mess. For crying in front of the entire court. For not being able to hold it together for one hour, one single hour, in a room full of people who were already talking about her behind her back.

Dexmon was worried about her. She knew everyone was watching her like she might shatter at any moment, and she hated it, because she didn’t know how to explain that she wasn’t shattering.

She wasn’t broken. She was grief-sick, fury-sick, exhaustion-sick, and her body was doing the only thing it knew how to do with all of it.

But no one in that room seemed to know that.

The door opened.

"Serena?"

Gav. Of course it was Gav.

She didn’t look at him. "I’ll be out in a minute."

He shut the door behind him. Crossed the room in three strides. And pulled her up off the floor and into a hug so tight her ribs protested.

She buried her face in his chest.

"Please don’t tell anyone," she whispered.

"Tell anyone what? That you’re leaking from your face in a dusty room that smells like moth balls? Serena, I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t even in my top five most concerning moments involving you this month."

She almost laughed. It came out as more of a hiccup. "I mean it, Gav. Don’t. Dexmon is already..." She trailed off. "I don’t understand what’s wrong with me..."

Gav pulled back enough to look at her. His mouth was still half-smiling, but his eyes were doing that thing where they catalogued every detail. Classic Gavriel. The joke always came first, but underneath there was a mind that missed nothing.

"Let me do a quick inventory." He began counting on his fingers. "Broken matebond. War. Poisoning, plural. Failed shift. Throat slit. Shadow-tethered to a crazy guy."

He paused. "If you weren’t crying right now, I’d call you Hyran Thornfell."

That actually made her laugh. A real one, small and wet, but real.

"I believe her," Serena said quietly. "Cass. I believe her."

Gav was quiet for a moment. "I’m on the fence. But I understand why you do."

"She flushed it, Gav. I know she did. That wasn’t a woman lying to save herself. That was a woman who is terrified that the truth isn’t enough."

"Even if she’s telling the truth, the suit was still poisoned. That’s the problem. If Cass didn’t lace it, someone else did, and right now there’s no proof of that."

Serena wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. The tears were slowing. Her brain was starting to work again, which always happened when Gav was around. He had a way of steadying her that was less like comfort and more like recalibration.

"Then we need to find proof," she said.

"In the next forty minutes?"

"In the next forty minutes."

Gav looked at her. Then he sighed, smiled, and offered his hand. "Lead the way."

The defendant’s holding chamber was a stone room beneath the great hall. Two guards stood outside. They looked uncertain when they saw the Crown Princess approaching with red eyes and Gamma Sterling at her back, but they stepped aside without argument.

Serena entered alone. Gav leaned against the wall beside the door, arms folded.

Cass was sitting on the bench, her chained hands in her lap, staring at the wall. When Serena walked in, she flinched. Then her eyes went wide.

"Princess, I..."

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