Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Chapter 110

Selena

Lord Kavanagh folded the sketch carefully and slid it into the sleeve of his expensive coat.

He did it with such casualness that I wondered how many times he had shown that particular drawing to other people.

"Sit down," he instructed, gesturing toward the chair opposite his desk.

I remained standing.

His eyes briefly travelled over me before he shrugged. "As you wish."

He returned to his seat and rested his hands on the desk.

"Do you know why House Hawthorne’s guards considered it necessary to bring a mere maid to me?"

I shook my head.

"Then allow me to enlighten you. It has something to do with what you told Lady Hawthorne about freeing the girl pretending to be Sophia."

My expression remained unchanged, although my stomach tightened.

He continued, "Apparently, you know about their arrangement to sell the girl to the vampires in place of the real Sophia."

I said nothing.

He watched me for a moment before laughing. "There’s no need to pretend you don’t know anything. Besides, the old arrangement is hardly a secret among those who benefit from it."

I frowned. "Old arrangement?"

"Yes." He leaned back comfortably, looking almost pleased with himself.

"You see, decades ago, when the vampires began demanding a shewolf from every noble household, a few clever lords realised that there was a way around the arrangement. Why should they sacrifice their own daughters when there are plenty of unfortunate girls in the lower belt?"

My fingers curled.

"Those lords began bringing young girls into their manors. Some were orphans, others were children from poor families who had nobody to protect them. They were taught how to speak, how to walk, how to behave around nobles and, most importantly, how to imitate the women they were supposed to replace."

He paused to take a sip from the glass on his desk.

"They were dressed as daughters, wives or nieces, depending on what was required. Once they had been properly prepared, they were sent to the ports and handed over to the vampires in place of the real ladies."

I stared intently at him.

He spoke about it as though he were explaining an ordinary business arrangement.

"The real daughters and mates remained safely at home. Nobody questioned the substitution because the vampires were satisfied with receiving a shewolf from each household. It was a brilliant arrangement, really. Everyone got what they wanted."

My hands tightened into fists as I thought about Marqee’s friend.

I remembered the way she had spoken about the girl who disappeared, the questions that had gone unanswered and the terrible suspicion that had followed her disappearance.

Then I thought about Celeste... Sally’s sister.

A girl who had dreams of finding a charming mate, raising children and living a comfortable life. A girl who had disappeared without a trace, only for Sally to discover that she had been sold to the vampires.

How many other girls had suffered the same fate?

How many innocent families had spent years wondering what had happened to their daughters while these nobles enjoyed their comfortable lives?

Lord Kavanagh continued without noticing the storm building inside me.

"Of course, the venture expanded eventually. Someone realised that the same system supplying false daughters could also supply labourers. After all, if people were already being moved between households and ports, why not make additional profit from them?"

He smiled. "That was when the labour trade became part of the arrangement."

I slowly lifted my eyes to him. "What labour trade?"

He looked amused by my question.

"Surely you have seen the workers at House Hawthorne. The slaughterhouses, rivers, farms and mines don’t operate themselves. Someone has to do the work."

My stomach twisted.

"They began buying people in bulk. Abducted individuals, debtors, orphans and anyone unfortunate enough to have no powerful family searching for them. Males were included too, not just shewolves."

He spread his hands.

"These people were distributed among different establishments. Some worked in slaughterhouses, others in mines and farms across various packs. Every household involved received its share of the profits, and the payments were made quietly."

I couldn’t hold back any longer. "Which packs are involved?"

His lips curved. "You’re asking the wrong question."

"Then give me the right one." I said and he chuckled.

"The realm is much bigger than the Vargwyn region, young lady. You cannot possibly expect me to believe that you thought the entire world ended at the borders of your little corner."

I stared at him as the meaning of his words slowly settled in my mind.

This wasn’t an arrangement involving only House Hawthorne and a handful of noble families in Vargwyn.

It stretched across multiple regions... Multiple packs and possibly hundreds of households.

I tried to calculate the number of people who might have been involved, but the thought became overwhelming.

If each noble house purchased dozens of workers, and several packs participated, then the number of innocent people abducted and sold could be in the hundreds or even thousands.

Thousands of people... Families separated and children taken from their parents.

Women and girls trained to become replacements for noble daughters before being delivered to vampires.

Men and boys were forced into slaughterhouses, mines and farms, working until their bodies gave up.

And all of it had been happening while the people responsible continued to enjoy the respect and privileges that came with their noble titles.

I pressed my fingernails into my palms.

’Cowards...’ Every last one of them.

They called themselves noble, yet they had built their wealth on the suffering of the very people they were supposed to protect.

I wanted to reach across the desk and wipe the satisfied expression off Lord Kavanagh’s face.

Instead, I forced myself to remain still. I couldn’t afford to lose control.

Not while I was surrounded by his guards, not while Sally was somewhere in the cells below, and certainly not when I still had no idea how to get us out of here.

Lord Kavanagh lifted his wineglass and took another sip.

"Although I must admit, selling the shewolves to the vampires has become rather difficult these days."

I looked at him before asking, "Why?"

He sighed as though discussing an annoying business complication.

"There are more noble houses now, which means more girls to train and more identities to maintain. More people have to be moved, more arrangements have to be made, and more lies have to be told."

He placed the glass down.

"One tiny mistake anywhere in the chain could expose the entire operation. If the vampires discover that they’ve been receiving ordinary girls instead of the noble daughters they demanded, their wrath will fall upon everyone involved."

I swallowed. "Is that why Lord Hawthorne is so furious about me being in his manor?"