Chapter 43: Cold Truth
Chapter 43: Cold Truth
(Celeste’s POV)
The cold weight of Alexander’s presence was unbearable. It pressed down on every inch of me,
making it hard to breathe.
My body, already battered and broken, protested against holding myself upright.
But I wouldn’t let it show. I would stand. I would face him. I refused to allow him the
satisfaction of seeing how much I struggled.
His ice–blue eyes locked on mine. They were sharp, calculating, burning with something I
couldn’t–or wouldn’t–name.
“Do you honestly believe this is the answer?” he asked. His voice, though controlled, was tight with restrained anger. “Do you think giving yourself to Marcus will protect you? Protect
anyone?”
I clenched my fists to stop my hands from trembling. The pain radiating from my scarred
wrists reminded me why I couldn’t falter now. “This isn’t about Marcus,” I said, keeping my
voice even.
“Then what is it about, Celeste?” His voice rose slightly, his control cracking. “You can’t stand here and tell me you’re doing this willingly. Is this your revenge for everything? Or,”–his eyes gleamed with frustration-“are you running to Marcus because of…because of my marking
ceremony?”
My breath caught for a brief second before I forced it out. “Don’t flatter yourself, Alexander,” I said coldly. “This has nothing to do with you or your ceremony.” I kept my tone steady, even as I felt a burning wave of emotions threaten to break loose within me.
He stepped closer, his tall frame towering over me. His wolf’s dominance flickered in the air, coaxing mine to lower, but I fought the instinct.
Alexander’s white wolf wasn’t trying to scare me, but it pushed against the space I desperately
tried to keep between us.
“Then why, Celeste?” he pressed, his tone demanding answers. “Why are you doing this? Why are you walking right into hell, to someone like Marcus? His reputation–his nature–you know what he’s capable of.”
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Chapter 43: Cold Truth
I bit the inside of my cheek. He didn’t understand. He would never understand. “Why does it
even matter to you?” I snapped, unable to keep my frustration bottled any longer. “It’s not like
you’re going to stop me.”
He faltered, his expression shifting ever so slightly. “It matters because-”
“Because what, Alexander?” I interrupted sharply. “Because you suddenly care? After
everything? After all of this time, now you care?”
His jaw tightened, his fists clenching by his sides. “I never stopped caring,” he said quietly, but
his voice was raw, edged with an almost desperate frustration. “I’ve always cared, Celeste.”
“Enough!” I raised my voice, louder than intended. The sound echoed slightly in the confined
space around us.
The words burned in my throat as I spat them out. “You cared? Is that what you’re calling it
now? Caring? Watching me fall apart, watching me break under the weight of everything they
threw at me–for years–and doing nothing. If that’s your definition of care, leave me out of it!”
His icy gaze blazed, his wolf bristling visibly beneath his skin. But I refused to back down. My
wolf, though weak, refused to submit, even if it trembled beneath his pressure.
“You think it was easy for me?” he ground out, his voice trembling with barely contained
emotion.
His hands shook at his sides, his claws threatening to break free. “You think watching what
happened to you didn’t destroy me? Don’t you dare, Celeste. Don’t you dare accuse me of not
caring.”
His words struck something deep in me, but I couldn’t let them linger. I pushed forward,
needing him to understand.
“If you cared so much,” I said bitterly, “you should’ve done something. You should’ve said
something. But you didn’t. You kept your head down and turned away like everyone else.”
He flinched like I’d physically struck him.
“I had no choice,” he said, his voice low and full of guilt. “You don’t know what was happening
behind the scenes, Celeste. You don’t know how much I wanted to fight for you–how much I
did fight for you.”
His words shook me, threatened to dismantle the walls I’d built, but I didn’t have time to
process them. Instead, I gripped onto the only thing keeping me standing-my fury.
“And now?” I demanded, my tone sharp. “Now you care? Now you want to fight for me? It’s too
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Chapter 43: Cold Truth
late, Alexander!” My voice broke, but I pushed past it, forcing myself to continue. “What’s the point? You chose Scarlett. Not me. Never me.”
His claws shot out, his control slipping for a brief moment before he reigned it back in. “I didn’t choose anything!” he fired back, his voice like thunder..
His wolf surged forward, its dominance crashing against my trembling frame. “Everything was decided for me–just like everything is being decided for you. Don’t act like I had a choice,
Celeste.”
“Then stop pretending you have one now!” I shouted, my chest heaving from the weight of everything I’d kept bottled for years. “Don’t look at me like that. Don’t stand there and act like you can fix this. You can’t!”
The air between us crackled with tension, neither of us breaking the standoff. His ice–blue
eyes burned into mine, colder and more intense than the winter moons.
“Run,” he said suddenly, his tone quiet yet urgent.
I blinked, caught off guard. “What?”
“Run,” Alexander repeated, stepping closer. His voice softened, just enough to twist something inside me. “If this is your only option, run. Leave. Disappear. I’ll figure out a way to protect you
“You’re insane,” I interrupted, shaking my head. My heart pounded, panic flooding through me. “Running won’t solve this. You know it won’t solve this!”
His gaze didn’t falter, didn’t waver. “I don’t care,” he said quietly but firmly. “I’ll make it work. I’ll keep you safe, Celeste.”
I laughed bitterly, the sound hollow and sharp. “Keep me safe? Like you did before?” My lips trembled as fresh pain clawed its way through my chest. “It’s too late for that, Alexander.
Marcus has his claim on me. It’s done.”
“No,” he breathed. His voice was so soft, so raw, it almost broke me. “It’s not done. It doesn’t
have to be.”
Tears threatened to well beneath my lids, but I blinked them away. I wouldn’t cry in front of
him. Not here. Not now.
“It is,” I said firmly, though my voice wavered slightly. “It always was. You just refused to see it.
Our argument was interrupted by Nina’s urgent voice, cutting through my mind–link. “Regina’s
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Chapter 43: Cold Truth
guards are approaching!”
Panic surged through me like ice water. “Move!” I hissed, shoving hard against Alexander’s chest. Every touch sent flares of pain across my silver scars, but I didn’t care. “Get out of here, Alexander. If they find you here, it’ll ruin everything!”
He didn’t move at first. His ice–blue eyes searched mine desperately, raw emotion flickering across his features. “Celeste, please,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Leave,” I begged, my voice breaking. “If you care–if you even care a little–leave!”
Something in my broken plea seemed to reach him. His jaw tightened, his expression
hardening into the cold mask I knew too well. Slowly, reluctantly, he stepped back, his white wolf retreating just beneath his skin.
I didn’t wait to see if he’d linger. I turned toward Nina, who was already moving to meet me.
Her quick fingers tugged at the edges of my wrinkled skirt, smoothing it out with hurried
precision.
“We need to go,” she muttered, her gray eyes darting nervously toward the corridor. I nodded
stiffly, ignoring the burn in my legs as I forced myself forward.
As we exited the shadows, a royal guard stepped into view. His wolf’s dominance was faint
but present, and his golden eyes widened as recognition dawned.
“Lady Celeste,” he greeted with a brief incline of his head. His tone was formal, respectful.
“Good evening,” I replied with careful calm, my voice colder than intended.
Just as we passed him, something clinked softly. I turned slightly, catching the sight of his
wolf pendant falling to the ground. Carefully, I bent down, grasping the cool metal in my
fingers and holding it out to him.
His gaze lingered on me, then on the pendant in my hands. “Thank you,” he said after a
moment, taking it from me with an uneasy nod.
Before I could turn away, his eyes wandered to the shadows behind me, narrowing slightly. My
heart stopped as I followed his line of sight.
In the faint moonlight filtering through the corridor, I saw it. A flash of silver fur retreating into
the darkness–Alexander’s distinctive white wolf, barely concealed.
“Celeste?” Nina’s voice was soft but alarmed.
“It’s nothing,” I blurted, turning sharply. My pulse quickened as I forced my legs to move again.
“Let’s go.”
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Chapter 43: Cold Truth
With every step we took further from the scene, my chest tightened. Alexander’s ice–blue eyes haunted me, more vivid than the pain radiating from my scars.
