To ruin an Omega - Chapter 458: Icarus 2

Chapter 458: Icarus 2

HAZEL

The words stung, but I did not let it show.

“Whatever it is,” she continued, “I do not want to hear it. I have seen you throw your allies to the wolves. Look at what happened to Milo.”

“I did care for Milo,” I said. “But he was going to expose me. You helped me, too. Remember?”

Delta looked away.

“When you lost your title as a born Luna in the goddess-given punishment,” she said quietly, “you treated me worse than shit because you hated what you had become. You even brought me here as revenge.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

“Do not act like you did not do things to me here too,” I said.

I reached up and held her face. Her skin was warm under my palms.

“We did ugly things to each other,” I said. “But you know me intimately, Delta. I want to save us both, and I have a plan.”

She glanced at the door. Then back at me.

“So do it,” she said. “What do you need me for?”

“Because you would have more freedom than I,” I said. “And knowledge in this. I intend to climb the ranks. Marry Wenzel.”

Her eyes widened.

“You are insane,” she whispered. “You already have Alpha Lysander.”

“No,” I said. “No, I do not. His heart belongs to someone else, and he is not strong enough to stand against his father and protect me. Pro… Protect us.”

I let my hands drop.

“We will head to Silvercreek tomorrow,” I said. “I want you to make provisions to get me an aphrodisiac. The way you used to when I needed it.”

Delta stared at me. Her mouth opened, then closed.

“For Alpha Wenzel?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Do not be a coward,” I said. “The only way to go is up.”

“The man is scary. More than that, he is crazy!”

“That should not stop us,” I said. “He would never know your involvement. The goal is to sell that his beast took over and he took me forcibly. It would be even better if I became with child.”

I leaned closer.

“But I need to know,” I said. “Do you stand by me? I am risking everything to tell you this, and that is because I trust you. Do you trust me?”

Delta looked at me for a long time. Her eyes were wet.

“I want to escape this place,” she said finally. “I am so scared. So yes. Yes, I trust you.”

I hugged her.

Relief flooded through me, sharp and immediate. Delta wrapped her arms around me, and for a moment, I almost believed we could pull this off.

I pulled back and smiled at her.

“Thank you,” I said.

She nodded.

Now all I needed to do was get Fia.

Hit two birds with one fucking stone.

The plan was already forming. I could see it taking shape. Wenzel wanted me to lure Fia away from Skollrend. Fine. I would do it. But not the way he expected.

I would use this new privilege he was giving me to my advantage.

I would drug Wenzel. I would make it look like he lost control. I would make sure there were witnesses after, I would make sure the story spread. A bride-to-be and her father-in-law-to-be. The scandal would be perfect.

With how he had built this place up, He would have to marry me in place of Lysander.

He would have to legitimize me and keep the etiquette of his performative pack.

And once I was Luna, once I had power, I could start pulling strings of my own.

I could survive this.

I had to.

Delta was still watching me. Her expression was cautious, hopeful.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Now,” I said, “we prepare. We make sure everything is in place. The aphrodisiac, the timing, the witnesses. Everything has to be perfect.”

She nodded even when it was clear that she did not look convinced. I did appreciate that she did not argue. She just sat there, hands folded in her lap, like she was waiting for permission to leave.

I stood.

“Go,” I said. “We will talk more tomorrow. But for now, just… prepare yourself and make preparations for the quick collection of the aphrodisiac. This is going to work, Delta. It has to.”

She stood and walked to the door. She paused with her hand on the handle and looked back at me.

“Mistress Hazel,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Please, do not make me regret this by betraying me.”

For a second, I said nothing.

Not because I did not have an answer, but because I needed the right one. The kind that settled into a person’s bones and made them feel foolish for ever doubting you.

I tilted my head slightly, studying her. Really studying her. The fear was still there, sitting just beneath her composure, fragile and exposed.

Fuck. What else did I have to do?

My practice shone through.

I let a small smile form. It curved at the edges, but there was something tight beneath it, something that did not quite soften my face the way a real smile should.

“Those days are long behind us,” I said.

My voice was gentle. As best I could manage, and just like I had practiced multiple times.

I took a step closer, closing the distance she had left between us, as if her doubt was something I could physically erase.

“I would never.”

The words came easily.

Too easily.

For a brief moment, something flickered in her eyes: hesitation, maybe instinct, maybe memory. Then it faded, replaced by something quieter. Something that looked a lot like relief was trying to exist alongside fear.

She nodded.

Not fully convinced.

But willing.

That was enough.

She turned and opened the door. The handle clicked softly as she stepped out, and when it shut behind her, the room fell into silence again.

I stood there for a moment, the smile still on my lips.

Then it slipped.

Gone as if it had never been there.

I exhaled slowly, my face settling back into something colder, sharper. The kind of expression that did not need to be pretended.

Trust.

Such a fragile thing.

I walked back toward the center of the room, my fingers brushing absently against my palm where I had held her earlier, as though I could still feel the shape of her there.

She wanted honesty.

She wanted safety.

She wanted me to be someone I had already proven I was not.

My lips curved again, but this time there was no softness to it. No effort to make it palatable.

Just truth.

“Then do not give me a reason to,” I murmured under my breath.