To ruin an Omega - Chapter 351: He without sin 1
Chapter 351: He without sin 1
ALDRIC
The warmth of the wine I had drunk earlier still sat in my stomach, leaving behind the dull, floating buzz that usually softened my thoughts and slowed the world around me. That haze however disappeared the moment my eyes settled on Madeline. The fog cleared with sudden sharpness, leaving my mind unpleasantly alert.
Because she was staring straight at me.
And she was shaking.
At first I thought it might be the wind or nerves or something small, something that could be explained away with a few calm words, but the longer I looked the more obvious it became that the trembling was supposed to look real and far from subtle. Her shoulders jerked slightly with each breath. Her hands were pressed tight against her chest, fingers curled in the fabric of her dress like she was holding herself together.
Her face had gone pale. The sickly, drained color of someone who believed they were in real danger. Her eyes were wide and glassy, and even from a distance I could see the shine of tears gathering there.
She looked at me as though she had just seen something terrible.
Something unnatural.
Something she had not expected to face again.
I took a step toward them, confused more than anything else. My mind was already turning through possibilities of what could be pulled now.
Cian’s hands was definitely in this. But how? How would he have sunk his canines in?
What move would Madeline also pull because there was no way she was going endanger her father and he family.
Madeline screamed before I had the chance.
The sound ripped through the courtyard so suddenly and so violently that several heads turned at once. It was not the startled cry someone made when surprised. It came out rough and broken, like the sound had been dragged up from deep inside her chest.
She stumbled backward as she screamed, nearly losing her balance on the gravel.
Her arm lifted and she pointed directly at me.
“Let him stay where he is!”
The words carried across the open space with unpleasant clarity.
People who had been moving through the courtyard slowed their steps. A pair of sentinels near the outer wall stopped talking and turned to look. Two servants carrying a crate froze where they stood, uncertain whether to leave or stay.
Within seconds, attention had shifted.
Every face began turning toward the center of the courtyard.
Toward Madeline.
And more importantly toward me.
Madeline spun away from me then, rushing toward Valentine with the desperate speed of someone who believed they were running toward safety. She collided with him clumsily, her hands grabbing onto the front of his suit while loud, shaking sobs tore out of her.
The performance would have been impressive if I had not known her.
Even knowing her, it was difficult not to be struck by how convincing it looked.
Valentine reacted exactly the way a concerned father should react. His arms came around her shoulders, steady and protective, pulling her close while he lowered his head toward her in quiet reassurance. One hand moved gently through her hair as if he were trying to calm a frightened child.
Then he looked up.
His gaze settled on me with an expression that had lost every trace of warmth.
“What did you do to her?” he demanded. “It took a lot to find my daughter. And when I did, she was keen on taking her life because she believed it was what needed to be done to protect the people that she loved. Now she tells me you are responsible for these vile ideas that she is having. So again, I ask, what did you say and do to my daughter?”
The question carried far more accusation than curiosity.
It was a bold thing for him to say too, given the power I had over him so I just had to wonder, what exactly was new that they had in their arsenal that made then feel they would be safe from me?
Was it Gabriel? Was that it?
I had to let that go for a hot second. I was being accused of something after all.
For a moment I considered answering calmly, dismissing the whole scene as some strange misunderstanding. My mouth had just begun to form the first word when Madeline spoke again from where she clung to her father.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, the words breaking apart between breaths. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t.”
Cian stepped forward at that point, moving just enough to enter the center of the growing circle without drawing attention to the movement itself. His face remained calm in the way he always preferred when speaking publicly, though there was a sharp awareness behind his eyes when they briefly flicked toward me.
“Madeline,” he said, his voice patient and measured. “What are you talking about?” He turned to Valentine too. “What exactly is even happening?”
She turned toward him slowly, lifting her head from Valentine’s shoulder with visible effort. Her cheeks were wet with tears now, the streaks catching the light as she struggled to steady her breathing.
“He made me do it,” she said.
A quiet murmur rippled through the small crowd that had begun forming around us.
She swallowed, wiping her face with the back of her hand as if ashamed of her own emotions.
“He manipulated me. He forced me to spy on you. To sabotage the pack whenever he needed it. He told me I had to stay close to you and keep influence over you so that I could report everything you were doing. Everything you said.”
Her voice trembled again.
“He threatened me.”
The courtyard seemed to grow quieter with every word she spoke.
“He said if I refused, if I stopped helping him, he would…”
Her sentence broke apart there, dissolving into another wave of sobbing as she buried her face against Valentine again.
By then the courtyard had filled far more than I liked. Sentinels had moved closer without being ordered. Several pack members stood near the steps leading into the main hall, watching with the careful attention people showed when something important is unfolding in front of them.
Madeline lifted her head again after a moment.
“I tried,” she continued weakly. “I tried to do what he asked because I was afraid. But every time I lied to you, every time I carried his messages or passed along information, it made me feel sick.”
She shook her head slowly, like the memory itself disgusted her.
“So I ran away. I thought if I just disappeared, it would stop. I had no coven anymore after all. So I couldn’t return home. I am not financially healthy either. But I just… I just thought if I left the pack and stayed somewhere quiet long enough, maybe everything would end.”
She drew a shaky breath.
“But even then, his calls kept coming. Over and over again.”
Her eyes shifted toward me.
“He wouldn’t leave me alone.”
She straightened slightly then, drawing new strength from the false fear she was displaying.
“I realized if I kept hiding, he would just keep hurting people and killing myself would be a waste of time.”
Her arm lifted again.
Her finger pointed at me.
“Cian,” she said, her voice trembling with dramatic conviction, “your uncle is the worst kind of monster.”
The accusation settled into the air with heavy finality.
Conversations around the courtyard had stopped completely now. No one spoke, though I could hear small movements from the surrounding crowd as people adjusted their stance or leaned slightly closer to hear what would happen next.
Madeline continued speaking before anyone else could respond.
“It’s not just him too,” she said, her voice rising with urgency. “There are others involved too.”
She looked directly at Cian.
“Your Beta, Ronan, has been helping him.”
