Chapter 6 No Desire For Him

ELENA

I sat with my chin resting in my hand, staring at the blank parchment before me. Memories of my past life pushed against my mind, relentless and sharp.

I remembered today clearly. In my previous life, this was the day Nora had dragged me to the seasonal gathering hosted by the elder families of the High Pass. She had spent hours convincing me that it was my duty as the Crown Princess to show support, only for me to realize too late that she had given me the wrong details regarding traditional etiquette. I had arrived dressed improperly, spoke out of turn during the opening toast, and left the room as the laughingstock of the nobility. Nora, of course, had stayed behind to offer sweet, tearful apologies on my behalf, winning the hearts of every elder in attendance while making me look like an arrogant fool.

A knock at the door broke my concentration. My head maid stepped inside, bowing low.

"Princess, Lady Nora is waiting in the carriage courtyard. She asked if you were ready for the High Pass gathering."

I picked up a feather quill, dipping the nib into dark black ink without looking up. "Tell her I am not attending."

"Not attending, Princess?" The maid blinked, startled. "But Lady Nora mentioned—"

"I have pack records to review," I said, my voice smooth and absolute. "Send Lady Cecelia in my place to represent the royal house. She has been begging for an invitation to an upper-tier event all month. Give her my seat."

"Right away, Princess."

Once the maid scurried off, I let out a low breath. Let Nora try to play her delicate, sympathy-seeking routine without me as her foil. Without my mistakes to highlight her perfection, her act would fall flat.

Hours passed in bliss as I buried myself in the old ledgers of the pack's eastern borders. But the peaceful afternoon vanished the moment my study doors burst open.

Julian hurried inside, his breathing was heavy and his face pale as chalk. He didn't even stop to bow.

"Princess," he rasped, his eyes wide with urgency. "There has been an attack at the High Pass gathering."

My hand froze over the ledgers. "What happened?

"Lady Cecelia collapsed ten minutes into the opening feast," Julian said, stepping closer to my desk, his knuckles white against the hilt of his sword. "She was sipping the welcome wine served at the head table—the glass reserved specifically for the royal representative. She is currently foaming at the mouth. The healers say it is a concentrated trace of Night-Shade poison."

The air left my lungs in a sharp gasp.

Night-Shade.

In my first life, I had been humiliated at that table, but I hadn't been poisoned. I had been too distracted by my own embarrassment to touch the wine, leaving early after being laughed out of the room. But if I had stayed... if I had played the part of the refined princess and taken that traditional toast…

I wouldn't have just been embarrassed. I would have died three years early.

"Elena?" Julian reached out, his hand hovering near my shoulder, his voice laced with deep concern. "You look terrified. Did you know something was going to happen? Is that why you stayed back?"

I swallowed hard, forcing the tremor out of my hands. I couldn't tell him the truth. How could I explain that I was living a second life? How could I explain that my knowledge was based on memories of a future that was already twisting into something far more dangerous? If I told him, he would think the trauma of my illness had shattered my mind.

"No," I lied, keeping my voice steady as I looked up at him. "I simply had work to finish. Julian, seal the High Pass hall immediately. No one leaves until every servant and noble at that table is questioned."

"I have already dispatched guards to lock down the perimeter," Julian said, nodding firmly. "I will lead the investigation myself."

"No," I interrupted, setting my quill down. "Investigate the kitchen staff, but leave the guest ledgers to me. I want to see every name that crossed the border threshold this morning."

Julian frowned, a flash of hesitation crossing his dark eyes. "Elena, this is dangerous. Someone targeted the royal seat. You should step back and let the guards handle it."

"I am the Crown Princess, Julian," I said, my tone hardening just enough to end the debate. "I need to know who is pulling the strings."

He stared at me for a moment longer, clearly unsettled by my strict composure, before he gave a tight bow and backed out of the room to execute the orders.

Once he was gone, I pulled the leather-bound pack registries from the wall shelf and carried them to the lower archive rooms, far away from the main halls where chatter was already spreading like wildfire. My mind worked fast. The poison was targeted. Someone wanted me dead long before Lucian ever stepped up to sign those divorce papers in my past life.

I was so deep in thought, tracing line after line of entry logs, that I didn't hear the heavy boots echoing down the stone corridor.

"I didn't expect to find the Crown Princess hiding in an archive while her pack is in chaos."

I snapped the registry book shut, the loud thud echoing off the stone walls.

Lucian stood in the doorway. He wore a black coat bearing the crest of the Northern Ridge, his broad shoulders easily blocking the light from the hallway. His eyes were fixed on me in this sharp and calculating way.

"Alpha Lucian," I said, keeping my hands resting on top of the closed book. "I was not aware the Northern Ridge had official business in our private archives today."

"Your father invited me to discuss border trade agreements," Lucian replied, taking a slow, deliberate step into the room. He tilted his head, his gaze dropping to the thick ledgers scattered across my desk. "Though when I asked for you, your guards said you were resting. Yet here you are, knee-deep in ten-year-old trade routes and lineage records."

"A princess must stay informed," I said coldly, stepping back slightly to create distance between us.

Lucian paused, leaning his hip against the edge of a nearby wooden shelf. He looked down at the open page I had just closed, his sharp eyes catching the detailed marginal notes I had written in the margins regarding territorial supply lines.

"These notes," Lucian said, a hint of genuine surprise breaking through his stoic expression. "You've restructured the northern grain distribution routes to account for winter floods. Most Alphas don't even track seasonal soil decay." He raised his eyes to meet mine, the usual arrogance in his face replaced by intense curiosity. "You aren't just a figurehead, are you?"

"I never claimed to be one," I replied flatly. "If your official business with my father is finished, Alpha Lucian, I suggest you return to your quarters. The palace is under a partial lockdown."

"Because of the poisoned girl," Lucian said smoothly, taking another step closer. The lingering pull of the mate bond flared faintly between us, a low heat that made my skin prickle, but I kept my posture stiff, refusing to acknowledge it. "She took your place today. Whoever tried to kill her was aiming for you."

"That is a matter for Moonspire guards to handle," I said, picking up the registry book and tucking it under my arm. "Excuse me."

I brushed past him, intending to sweep right out of the room and end the conversation before it went any further.

Before I could clear the doorway, Lucian’s hand shot out. His fingers wrapped firmly around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

The touch was like a spark of fire, the mate bond surging fiercely through my veins at the contact. I stopped dead, my spine going rigid.

"Let go," I commanded, turning my head to glare at him with absolute coldness.

Lucian didn't release me immediately. He stared down at me, his grey eyes searching my face with a strange, unreadable intensity. "You look at me like I've committed a crime against you, Elena. We barely know each other, yet every time I try to speak to you, you draw a blade."

He softened his grip just a fraction, his thumb brushing lightly against the inside of my wrist. "I would love to get to know the woman behind all this ice."

I snatched my wrist out of his grip with enough force to break his touch entirely.

"I have no desire to get to know you, Alpha Lucian," I said, my voice cutting through the quiet archive room like a razor. "And I suggest you keep your hands to yourself before my guards remind you of where you stand."

Without waiting to see the shock on his face, I turned around fast and practically ran down the corridor, my heavy footsteps echoing behind me.