Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Chapter 62

Sophia hadn’t been quiet enough, but that was the farthest thing from her mind. She rushed into her room, her fingers curled into the fabric of her dress.

Ten bouquets and ten days! Ten days of constantly giving that wench flowers—and oh, it was paired with a portrait of Evelyn and Lily.

Kael wanted Evelyn back. The realization struck her with such force that her chest tightened.

He wasn’t merely trying to apologize. He was planning for Evelyn’s return.

Sophia pressed her lips together. How could he be so certain? After everything Evelyn had done, after everything she had taken from Silver Creek, Kael still believed he could bring her back with flowers and a portrait of Lily.

She paced the length of her chambers, her breathing uneven as her mind raced through every possible outcome.

If Evelyn returned—even for a season, even only to fix what Sophia herself couldn’t manage—everyone would know.

The healers who still whispered comparisons behind her back. The merchants who’d stopped bothering to disguise their doubt in her signature on a contract.

And Kael—oh, Kael—watching Evelyn move through the pack with the same effortless command she’d always carried, while Sophia stood somewhere at the edges, tolerated rather than needed.

She would not survive that. Not with any dignity left intact.

Sophia stopped pacing, her gaze slowly shifting toward the wardrobe. For several moments, she simply stared at it.

Then she walked toward it. Her hand closed around the handle, but she didn’t open it immediately.

Evelyn’s belongings had been kept separately ever since she left. Kael had never ordered them discarded; he had simply locked them away, perhaps because some part of him had always believed Evelyn would return.

Sophia’s jaw tightened at the thought. Even gone, Evelyn still had a place here.

She pulled the doors open.

Silk and velvet greeted her.

Dress after dress hung untouched, their fabrics catching the afternoon light.

Sophia reached out and ran her fingers over one of the gowns. They were all beautiful and outrageously expensive.

Evelyn had possessed more clothing than Sophia had ever been able to count, and somehow she had barely worn half of it.

Prideful brat.

Her fingers trailed down the sleeve of the nearest one, fury coiling tighter with every passing second.

Even when Silver Creek had been her home, Evelyn had carried herself like a Valemont princess doing everyone else a favor by living among them. ℴ

Evelyn had left behind more wealth in unworn dresses than Sophia had managed to accumulate in five years of trying. Even now, gone from this pack completely, she still managed to make Sophia feel small—standing in her own dressing room, in front of a wardrobe that had never truly been hers to begin with.

Oh, how Sophia hated her. Evelyn was a true thorn in Sophia’s flesh. A woman who had always looked at Sophia as something beneath her, even when they had both been vying for the same man’s attention. Even when Sophia had been the one wearing the title, sharing Kael’s bed, standing at his side.

She still managed to make her feel inferior. Like she were the same old wretched Sophia.

But no—she wasn’t anymore. She had picked herself up and turned her life around. She was exactly like them now. A Luna of a wealthy and influential pack.

But now Kael wanted Evelyn back. Even if he said it was to deceive her into running the pack again, Sophia couldn’t allow it. The sheer horror of what it would mean—what it meant to everyone watching—that Sophia hadn’t been enough on her own.

That none of it—the healing, the marriage, the pack itself—had only truly worked with Evelyn’s hand steering it quietly from behind the scenes all along. Bringing her back would prove, publicly and permanently, that Sophia had failed at all of it.

She would not be humiliated that way. Not after everything she had already sacrificed to get here.

Her hand moved deeper into the wardrobe, past the gowns, until her fingers closed around something tucked toward the back—a piece of deep red silk, delicate and clearly never worn, the kind of thing a woman kept for herself rather than for anyone else’s eyes.

Sophia drew it out slowly, something cold settling over her features as she stared at it.

Sophia slowly smiled. If Kael wanted to remind Evelyn of what she had left behind, then Sophia would remind her too.

Only she would show Evelyn something Kael would never send himself.

Something that would remind Evelyn, without the need for a single explanation, just what she could never get in her five years with Kael.

For years, Sophia had imagined what it would feel like to finally stand above Evelyn. Now she had the opportunity.

And she wasn’t going to waste it.

---

That evening, Sophia stood before the mirror. She had changed her clothes.

Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she had taken considerably more care with her appearance than usual.

She stared at her reflection, and she was truly a sight to behold. The red silk lingerie fit her skin so perfectly it could’ve been made specifically for her.

She smirked, grabbing the coat to cover up, and once she was done, she walked out of the room and straight to Kael’s office.

Kael was still so engrossed with work. The pack was still behind, yet the moment the door shut and the smell of wild jasmine and sweet amber filled his nostrils, his wolf reacted immediately.

He looked up, and he’d never seen a sight so perfect. He leaned against the chair, pushing aside the work he’d been doing, and parted his legs.

"A surprise, for you, my Alpha." Sophia said sultrily, and lowered herself to the floor. She crawled toward him.

Kael’s pants tightened, and he groaned once she started unbuckling him.

---

By the following afternoon, Evelyn had become so engrossed in work.

The summit was only days away, and Valemont’s council had been working since dawn to finalize the matters that would be presented before the First Houses.

Evelyn sat at the long table, a stack of documents before her, while Varek spoke across from her.

"The trade agreements with Bloodmoon have been restored," he said. "The moment Lucien’s order was lifted, their merchants resumed crossing the southern routes."

"Good," she replied.

"And the healing house received formal recognition this morning."

Evelyn looked up. "Already?"

Varek nodded. "The seal arrived with the official decree. The Supreme Alpha was quick to carry it all out."

A small smile touched her lips. At last, the fight was over. She reached for the next document, but before she could open it, the doors to the council room opened.

Clara entered carrying a small package. "My Lady, a package addressed to you."

"A package? From who?" Evelyn asked. She hadn’t been expecting anything.

"I don’t know, my Lady. It carries no name but is addressed to you."

Tristan immediately stretched his hand out. "Give it to me. I will—"

Evelyn shook her head. "It’s fine. I’ll check it myself."

Tristan frowned. "But—Evelyn!"

"If someone wanted me dead, Tristan, I doubt they’d bother wrapping the attempt in silk."

Varek snorted. "That is exactly the kind of thing someone who is about to open a suspicious package would say."

Evelyn smiled faintly. "Then I suppose we’ll find out."

She accepted the box. It was beautifully wrapped—perhaps too beautifully wrapped. The ribbon alone was expensive enough to tell her that whoever had sent it wanted the recipient to know they had gone to some effort.

Evelyn slowly untied it, and the moment she lifted the lid, the room went silent.

The strong smell of wild jasmine and amber mixed with wine filled the air. Instantly, she recognized the scent.

Tristan sniffed the air, his face becoming so dark that even Varek glanced at him. "Is that—is that the smell of—"

"Enough," Varek said quickly.

Evelyn picked the red lingerie out of the box. It was no doubt one of hers, she knew. The smell of sex and scent was heavy on the underwear.

"Wait, is that—"

"Semen." Evelyn finished. "Kael’s semen and Sophia’s underwear." She said, dropping it back into the box and picking up the note it came with.

He can’t get enough of me. Something you never got to experience.

She almost laughed. Sophia had genuinely believed this would hurt her.

That was the amusing part. Five years ago, perhaps it would have.

Five years ago, Evelyn might have locked herself in a room and cried until there were no tears left.

She might have questioned every memory she had of Kael. She might have wondered whether she had somehow failed as a wife.

But that woman was gone.

Evelyn looked down at the package again.

There was something else that struck her.

Sophia had sent this herself, and she had written the note herself. Which meant that if Evelyn ever needed to prove where it had come from—she had proof.

A smile slowly formed on Evelyn’s lips, and Tristan noticed.

"Why are you smiling?"

Evelyn looked up. "Because Sophia is very generous."

Evelyn folded the note one more time and placed it inside the box. "She wanted to humiliate me. Now I’ll let her know what humiliation truly means."

Varek stared at her, clearly puzzled. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing," she replied, but the answer only made him more suspicious.

Evelyn rose from her chair and carried the package toward the cabinet beside the fireplace. She opened it and locked the box inside.

Then she turned to face all of their confused faces. "Where were we?"