Hades
Silence reigned.
Not the heavy, suffocating kind.
No, this was the cold, sharp silence of a room holding its breath—of men calculating, of power shifting beneath their feet.
And for the first time in his life, Darius miscalculated.
For the first time in his life, the great Alpha, the ruler of the Valmont's bloodline, the man who always held control—hesitated.
It was only for a fraction of a second. A flicker of shock in his otherwise impassive gaze, a minuscule widening of his pupils.
But I saw it.
I felt it.
She turned to me slowly, her lips parted, her breath shallow. As if she hadn't dared to believe I would say those words aloud. As if, for all her defiance, for all her strength, she had not thought I would stake my claim in front of the court.
And yet, here I was.
Darius recovered quickly, of course. A man like him did not stay unbalanced for long.
