Beneath the Manor

I stared at the pill and the note for a long while, turning them over slowly in my hand. The small white tablet looked ordinary enough, harmless.

But I was still skeptical.

A part of me wanted to trust whoever had sent it. After what happened earlier, how the crow had stopped me from eating the poisoned meal, I wanted to think they weren't as bad as the people around the Alpha like Esther who wanted me dead.

If the person behind the crow wanted me dead, they could have easily let me eat the poisoned food. But they didn't. They stopped me, and now this pill. That had to count for something, didn't it?

I didn't know who they were or what they wanted from me. But I couldn't deny this growing weight on my chest, the way each passing day in the Alpha's manor felt more suffocating than the last.

So much had happened. Too much, too fast.

At first, I convinced myself I could live with it. That being the Alpha's breeder, no matter how humiliating, was still better than starving on the streets or scrubbing floors in the Council's halls like my mother. At least this way, my needs would be taken care of and Mom wouldn't have a hard time anymore.

But now… now I wasn't so sure. 

With what's happening around the estate and how Finn was treating me, it felt like I was pushed into a corner. 

I let out a quiet sigh and tucked the pill into the hidden seam of my pillowcase. I'd keep it for now. I wanted to decide after I took proper rest.

Not long after, Stella arrived with a tray of food. The smell alone made my stomach flutter. 

My face must have lit up, because her own expression softened when she saw me. She walked in briskly, setting the tray on the bedside table before rushing to my side.

"I'm really sorry, Miss Vivien," she said, breathless and a little flushed. "I rushed home earlier today because my sister sent word that my mother was sick. When I came back and heard what happened. I wasn't even allowed upstairs until just now. They're… investigating everyone."

I sat up straighter, shaking my head gently. "No, it's fine. You don't have to apologize. I'm all right now."

Stella pressed her lips together, her eyes brimming with guilt she didn't deserve. 

"I cooked the food myself," she said. "Didn't leave it to anyone else, not even the kitchen staff. So… it's poison-free." She offered a weak smile.

I smiled back.

Stella stayed with me until sunset. For supper, she brought a warm soup infused with medicinal herbs she claimed would help restore my strength. By the time the sky had turned a soft gray, sleep had settled over me like a thick blanket.

The next morning, I woke with more clarity and strength.

When I walked to the bathroom, I no longer felt weak and dizzy.

I washed up slowly, letting the water clear away the heaviness of the past few days. When I finished, I sat near the window, waiting for Stella to arrive with breakfast like she always did.

An hour passed. Then another.

Outside, the sun climbed higher, pale and quiet over the treetops. A light breeze stirred the curtains, but the hallway beyond my door remained still. No footsteps. No voices.

I considered stepping out and asking someone, anyone, if they'd seen her, but just as I reached for the door handle, a knock interrupted me.

The door creaked open a moment later, and standing there was Master Roldan.

He looked as severe as always, his silver hair combed perfectly back. His eyes were sharp and cold.

"Follow me," was all he said.

My stomach tightened.

I nodded, forcing my feet to move even as something in me resisted. The silence in the hall was almost deafening. 

We passed familiar corridors with familiar paintings and old banners with frayed edges, and then turned down a narrower hall that curved deeper into the manor's spine. 

The air grew colder, damper, and I knew exactly where we were going.

The dungeon beneath the manor.

I'd been there before. A long time ago, back when my father still held the Beta's title and I was just a girl with wide eyes and too many questions. I remembered the torches fixed to the stone walls, the iron scent of rust and blood lingering in the air. The cells. The chains.

Even then, it had unsettled me.

Now, with each step descending deeper underground, dread curled up in my chest like a tightening noose.

Why was I being taken there?

My thoughts spiraled. Was this about the poison? Did Finn decide I was to blame after all? No investigation, no trial, just quiet blame passed down like an order.

I swallowed the rising panic.

The stairs curved downward, swallowing what little warmth remained in the air. My shoes made no sound on the stone steps, but my heart pounded loud enough to fill the silence.

When we reached the bottom, the torches lining the dungeon walls flickered, casting long, dancing shadows across the damp floor. I looked at the uneven stones, the heavy iron doors, and noticed the stench of blood.

Master Roldan didn't say a word. He only kept walking, and I followed.

And then we stopped.

He moved aside, and that's when I saw him.

Finn.

He stood in front of a cell at the end of the corridor, hands behind his back, posture relaxed like he had all the time in the world. 

I was about to speak, about to ask what this was, when my eyes fell past him, and I froze.

There, inside one of the cells, chained to the stone wall, was Stella.

A choked breath escaped me.

Her head hung low, her hair matted with sweat and dried blood. Her arms were lifted above her, wrists bound tightly in silver shackles. Her face was bruised and swollen, a trail of blood crusted at the corner of her mouth.

My knees nearly gave out.

"Stella," I whispered, the name breaking in my throat.