Chapter 117: The Knife That Pierced the Wrong Heart

Author’s POV~

"Stop this, Zyran!" Blake’s voice exploded through the dungeon. "Let her fucking go!"

Zyran did not stop. His dark eyes burned with a lethal, unforgiving fire, his jaw locked tight in blind rage.

The silver knife was already in his hand, its blade glistening beneath the light. Chloe was chained to the chair in front of him, blood running down her skin from the wounds that he had already commanded the guards to inflict.

But Zyran wasn’t finished.

His eyes were glowing with murderous fury.

He slowly turned his head toward Blake.

"No way I am leaving this whore to leave this place alive!" Zyran growled, his voice dripping with absolute disgust.

Chloe’s lips curled into a faint smile.

Blake’s jaw tightened.

"Zyran—"

"Stay the fuck out of this, Blake."

Without any warning, Zyran lunged forward, his hand snapping out to drive the gleaming silver knife straight into Chloe’s chest.

But Blake moved faster. He threw his hand forward, grabbing the blade bare-handed just inches away from Chloe’s heart, stopping the deadly metal with raw physical force. The knife stopped barely an inch from Chloe’s chest.

Zyran froze, his eyes wide with shock and sudden confusion. He yanked his hand back, staring at Blake like he had lost his mind.

"Blake, what the fuck are you doing?!" Zyran roared, his voice shaking with anger. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Blake did not blink. The deep cut across his palm smoked slightly, but his advanced Lycan healing went to work immediately, knitting his torn flesh back together in a few short seconds.

He stepped right into Zyran’s space, his voice dropping into a cold, dangerous whisper.

"You are killing her."

Zyran let out a harsh, disbelieving scoff, shaking his head. "Exactly! Because she deserves to die! And I, want her dead more than anything right now!"

"Not yet!" Blake snapped back, his voice vibrating with a dark, tightly controlled fury.

"What?!" Zyran threw his hands down in total disbelief, his chest heaving up and down.

"What the fuck does that even mean? Do you even realize what you are doing right now? Who you are trying to protect? That fucking whore is the person who paid those three bastards to wreck Adeline and kill her in the woods! And she tried to pin her disgusting crime on me! I told you, Blake, I told you everything she did as soon as we found out about who hired those omegas!"

Blake did not look away. He kept his steady, chilling gaze locked on Chloe, who was slumped against the cold chains, gasping for air as the silver burned deeper into her open wounds.

"I know it, Zyran," Blake murmured, his voice heavy and dark. "And believe me... I really, really fucking wanted to rip this bitch’s heart out with my own bare hands right now. But we cannot do it right now. Not yet."

Zyran stared at him, his brow furrowing deep in frustration. "Not until what? What are you talking about?"

Blake’s jaw tightened until the bone showed. "Not until we find that fucking witch."

Silence crashed over the room. Zyran blinked, his anger pausing for a fraction of a second as total confusion took over. "What witch?"

Before Blake could answer, a wet, twisted sound broke the heavy silence. Chloe slowly lifted her head. Blood smeared across her chin, and a dark, unhinged laugh escaped her lips.

"Didn’t think you would figure that out quite so fast, Lord Blake," Chloe rasped, her voice dripping with a sickening, victorious mockery.

Zyran whipped his head around, his lethal glare locking back onto her face. "Wait. What the fuck is this even about? Talk!"

Chloe smiled, her eyes wide and manic. "Wait! Did that little bitch go crying to you? Did she run to her powerful princes like the little, pathetic, wolfless, scentless rogue she is?"

Blake’s Lycan aura exploded, a crushing wave of pure royal dominance filling the dungeon and pressing down on Chloe’s chest so hard she could barely breathe.

"You dare call her that with those foul names?" Blake took a slow, heavy step forward, his eyes turning pitch black with rage. "I swear, you bitch... I will make sure you lose that tongue right now so you won’t even be able to speak for the very short, miserable span of life we are letting you keep."

Flinching under the terrifying weight of his threat, Chloe quickly shifted her gaze to Zyran instead. A bitter, ugly jealousy twisted her pale face into a mask of pure hatred.

"What is so special about her?!" Chloe shrieked, the frustration finally breaking through her fear, her voice cracking in wild desperation. "Why is she always the one who wins everything? Why does she get all the protection and all the love when I have to claw and bleed for everything I get?"

"You both are completely wrapped around her finger, just like the other two princes! What the fuck is so special about that worthless bitch that all four of you walked into the RDC committee yourselves just to protect her? Why does the Royal Dowager Luna treat her like her own granddaughter? Why am I always treated like dirt when I am so much more capable than her? I am greater than her! I am better than that fucking bitch!"

Her screaming voice bounced off, raw and desperate. Blinded by sudden fury, Zyran lunged forward again, ready to end her life right then and there. But Blake moved instantly, planting a heavy arm across Zyran’s chest to physically hold him back.

Chloe’s laughter echoed off, sharp and unhinged. Blood dripped steadily from her forearms, pooling on the cold floor, yet a manic light danced in her feverish eyes.

"You think you are killing me, but you are terribly wrong, Lord Zyran," Chloe smiled, her lips stained crimson as she tilted her head back against the heavy chains. With a triumphant, sickening smirk, she whispered the sentence. "You are killing Adeline, not me. She is the one dying right now!"

Zyran froze mid-motion. The violent energy that had been fueling his rage completely evaporated, leaving behind a hollow, deafening shock. His wide, disbelieving eyes snapped away from Chloe and darted straight toward Blake.

Blake’s face was locked in a dark, terrifying mask of pure fury. There was no confusion in his expression only a grim, heavy realisation that confirmed he already knew the nightmare Chloe was talking about.

Zyran’s chest heaved, a low, panicked growl tearing from his throat. What is she talking about? Is Adeline in danger? How could she be? She is with the Dowager Luna and Raven. Of course she would be safe right? But Blake’s expression said otherwise.

"What the fuck does that even mean?!" Zyran roared, his voice cracking with sudden, frantic terror as he gripped Blake by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. "What is she saying?! Blake! What the fuck does that mean?! Isn’t Adeline safe with the Dowager Luna and Raven?!"

Blake didn’t flinch. His jaw was clenched so tight the bone showed starkly beneath his skin.

"She is in a safe place with them, yes," Blake said, his voice dropping into a grave, chilling register that made Zyran’s blood run cold. "But she is in pain."

"Pain?" Zyran echoed, his voice pitching higher as a sickening dread pooled in his stomach. "What kind of pain? She’s guarded by the royal family, she’s miles away from this hellhole, how could she possibly in pain?!"

Blake let out a heavy, shuddering breath, his dark eyes locked onto the floor before rising to meet Zyran’s frantic gaze.

"The pain-binding curse," Blake murmured, the words heavy with malice.

The pain-binding curse.

Zyran stood frozen, the blood draining entirely from his face.

"A pain-binding curse?" Zyran murmured. His disbelieving eyes snapped away from Blake and locked onto Chloe, who was slumped against the chains, panting through a sick, mocking grin.

Blake’s jaw worked tightly, his voice low and deadly serious. "She used a witch to place that curse for her... on Adeline."

Zyran’s breath hitched. "What? When—how?"

"Raven called me just now," Blake continued, his eyes flashing with suppressed rage. "He said that Adeline was suddenly writhing in agony out of nowhere. The Dowager Luna immediately summoned an ancient court witch because she sensed something was deeply wrong with Adeline’s wolf. That’s when the witch discovered the truth. Adeline’s wolf has been cursed."

Blake turned his head slowly, his gaze shifting back to Chloe with absolute, unadulterated wrath.

"Every cut you have given this bitch will appear as a cut on her skin," Blake growled, his voice vibrating with lethal fury. "But the pain... the agonising burn of the silver, the shock of the blades, Adeline suffers it all tenfold."

Blake stared down at Chloe, a dark realization dawning in his eyes. "This bitch... she has been faking the worst of the pain this whole time. She bit her tongue, she choked back the worst of it, acting like she was dying just to feed your rage and keep you going... because she knew every scream she made was tearing Adeline apart from the inside out."

Faking it.

The words echoed in Zyran’s ears, transforming his horror into a blinding, white-hot fury. He had thought his vengeance was righteous. He had thought every slice of the silver blade was delivering well-deserved justice to the monster who tried to murder his mate.

Instead, he had been the executioner. He had driven the knife into Adeline’s flesh with his own hands, having no idea about who suffers the real pain from that silver knife.