To heal a Rogue

LYSANDER

I let him go.

Not gently. I released my grip and stood, stepping back, my whole body still humming with the effort of not finishing what my fist had started.

”You sound borderline insane,” I said.

He pushed himself up off the floor, unhurried, brushing dust from his sleeves with exaggerated care.

”Do you know what’s waiting for you tonight, girl?” he asked, turning his full attention to Bonnie. His voice was smooth, almost pleasant, which only made it more sinister. ”Do you know what my dear cousin has agreed to let them do to you?”

His gaze swept over her with calculated scrutiny.

”You know, I’ve been having a rather difficult time believing you’re as innocent as everyone, and my everyone, I mean my dear cousin here, seems determined to make you out to be.”

A slow smile tugged at his mouth.

”I’ve heard the investigators recovered shell casings from the library that didn’t match the rounds fired into my father.” He lifted a shoulder in an exaggerated shrug. ”According to you, there were other shooters. Other people involved. A convenient little story.”

His eyes lingered on her, searching.

”And yet...” he murmured. ”Here you are.”

He gestured lazily toward her.

”Standing. Breathing. Barely worse for wear.”

His finger settled on the bandage wrapped around her temple.

”Well... except for that.”

A soft laugh escaped him.

”Forgive me if I find it curious. A room full of bullets, assassins lurking in the shadows, and the woman at the center of it all walks away with little more than a bump to the head, which you did not even have in the morning, so that must have been the work of disgruntled .”

He looked at her as though he already knew the answer.

”Tell me, Bonnie... why do you think that is?”

I felt her fear spike through the bond, sharp and sudden, and something about its shape confused me. Not exactly fear of Johann’s accusation. Something underneath it, something older.

Was he circling something real that Bonnie was keen on keeping without even knowing it?

”But enough about that. I’m probably wasting my breath.” Johann waved the thought away with a lazy flick of his hand before his smile returned, brighter than before. ”There is something you should know, though.”

He looked directly at Bonnie.

”You should be very careful with my cousin.”

His eyes glittered with malicious delight as they drifted back to me.

”He had a mate once. A girl from Silvercreek. Their Luna, before she was demoted to an Omega due to some horrible shit she did.”

He let the silence linger, deliberately stretching it until it became unbearable.

”She went back home in pieces. Literally.”

The words landed like a blade sliding between my ribs.

The world narrowed to Johann.

I crossed the distance before I was even aware I’d moved.

My hand fisted in the front of his shirt, yanking him forward so violently his heels left the floor for a heartbeat before I slammed him back against the corridor wall. Stone groaned beneath the impact.

My breathing had turned ragged.

Every instinct demanded I break him where he stood.

Instead, I forced the words through clenched teeth, each one scraped raw.

”Choose,” I said, my voice dangerously quiet, ”your next sentence very, very carefully.”

”Why?” he said, entirely unbothered, still grinning through the grip I had on him. ”I think we should all be honest today. What was that girl’s name again? Hazeleigh?” He tilted his head, pretending to search his memory. ”No, that’s not quite right. It was Hazel.”

That was when I hit him.

There wasn’t a decision.

One moment he was smiling, the next my fist crashed into his jaw.

He slammed onto the stone with a sickening crack, but instead of staying down, he threw his head back and laughed. The sound rang through the corridor, bright with manic amusement. Blood spilled from the corner of his split lip, and he swiped at it with the back of his hand before grinning at the crimson staining his fingers.

”Ouch,” he said between laughs. ”That actually hurt.”

He glanced at the blood, then back at me.

”About as much as being accused of murdering my own father.” His smile widened. ”Especially when that particular distinction seems to belong to...”

”Johann.”

My voice was low, stripped of everything but warning.

He looked positively delighted.

”Lysander,” he echoed, mocking my tone with infuriating precision. ”What? Did I say something wrong?”

He pushed himself onto one elbow, unfazed.

”It doesn’t feel very nice, does it? Having people casually decide you’re capable of the worst thing imaginable.” He chuckled. ”Being handed a title you never asked for.”

His grin sharpened into something cruel.

”Like Murderer.”

”That’s not what happened.” I shot back.

”Who cares what happened?” he said, pushing himself back up onto his elbows, still grinning through blood. ”Or how it happened. Nobody does. Tonight, for example. It will be another story of ’the Omega did it’. That’s a satisfying enough story for anyone tonight.” He turned toward Bonnie, his expression shifting into something almost gentle, almost sincere, which somehow made it worse. ”Even though I want you dead,” he said, ”you should be careful with this one. I have no problem baring my teeth when it counts. But him.” He nodded toward me. ”He’s an Asker to the bone. A deceiver. He will betray you in the end. It’s simply what his type is built for.”

Bonnie’s voice cut through before I could answer.

”I already know he intends to make me a breeder when evening comes,” she said, steady despite everything Johann had just thrown at her. ”He told me himself.” Her eyes flicked toward me, then back to Johann. ”I understand how packs work. Even royal ones. The people need somewhere to put their grief, and a female rogue who lied her way into a male retainer’s uniform makes a perfectly satisfying target for that.” She lifted her chin slightly. ”And if you must know, he offered to defend me publicly. I was the one who told him not to. What I actually want is to find the people who really did this. To clear whatever suspicion you’re still holding onto, Your Highness. And to bring actual justice to your father, whether you believe I deserve credit for wanting that or not.”

The look on my cousin’s face in response to her words was precious to look at.