Chapter 99

ANDRES My cold gaze fell on the envelope that was now lying on the polished desk like it didn’t carry the weight of everything I was trying to protect her from. White parchment, with a scarlet ribbon tied around it, slightly smudged from the mud and forest dirt. Fragile, deceptively innocent. But I knew better. I had taken it in the chaos of that forest attack—just before she could realize the threat. She was too sharp, too observant. I had to be colder, crueler than usual to throw her off the scent. And it worked… barely. Now, the same envelope sat between my clenched fists as I stared down at it as if it would whisper the answers I didn’t want to hear. But it wouldn’t, not yet. Not until I had no other choice… A low growl rumbled from within me, dark, furious and threatening… Czer. ‘You shouldn’t have taken it. You shouldn’t have hidden it. You damn bastard, she’s our mate!’ He snarled at me. He kept doing that since I had to be colder to her. ‘I know what she is!’ I snapped aloud, p