Marcus later told me how miserable Adrian’s days in the Council Holding Cells had been.
During his first week, he slammed his head against the wall every day. At night, he kept trying to reach Elena through the mate bond, but that connection had long since vanished.
The other prisoners knew he was blamed for the deaths of his mate and child. They beat him night after night.
Adrian never fought back. He took their punches, insults, and contempt in silence.
Then one day, the Royal Council Advocate he’d hired for his defense brought him news.
“Alpha Adrian, the Rogue Information Broker recovered a secret record from the Sanctuary Archives.”
“It dates back to the early hours of the morning Elena Silvercrest was declared dead.”
“According to the Healing Cradle Record, Blackthorn Healing Sanctuary activated a Neonatal Healing Cradle that night.”
The advocate studied him through the visiting-room glass.
“That means someone may have survived. Either Elena Silvercrest or the pup. Possibly both!”
“The Silvercrest Royal Bloodline has enormous power. Forging an Official Death Scroll isn’t beyond them.”
Light burst into Adrian’s eyes.
“Elena’s alive! My Elena’s alive!”
He pounded on the visiting-room window, laughing and crying at once.
“I knew it! She loves me too much to leave me alone!”
“I want to see Marcus Reed! Tell him to bring someone from the Silvercrest Royal Bloodline here!”
Adrian caused a scene in the Council Holding Cells for three straight days.
He threatened to starve himself and cut his wrists unless they let him see me.
He was certain I was alive.
I heard about it while sitting in the garden, weaving a little crown of flowers for my daughter.
When Marcus finished his report, I settled the flower crown on her head.
Then I handed him a sealed parchment scroll.
“Marcus, go see him.”
“If he wants hope, give it to him. Then break it apart with your own hands and make him swallow the pieces.”
“There’s nothing quite as painful as falling from happiness into despair, is there?”
Marcus took the scroll and nodded.
“Don’t worry, Royal Heiress. I’ll make sure he suffers.”
That afternoon, in the visiting room at the Council Holding Cells…
A Council guard escorted Adrian inside.
He had a scraggly beard, and his cheekbones stood out sharply beneath his skin.
The moment he saw Marcus, he lunged at the glass.
“Where’s Elena? What was that Healing Cradle Record about?”
“She’s alive, isn’t she? Our baby survived too, didn’t she?”
Tears streamed down his face.
“Tell her I know I was wrong.”
“When I get out, I’ll give her my life if that’s what it takes. I just want her to forgive me…”
Marcus sat without interrupting.
Only when Adrian’s voice had grown hoarse did Marcus slowly unroll the scroll.
“Alpha Adrian, you’ve got the wrong idea.”
“The Royal Heiress sent me here to clear up your final misunderstanding. Perhaps then you’ll spend your time in custody reflecting on what you’ve done.”
Marcus unfurled a Remains Preservation Scroll and held it against the visiting-room glass.
Adrian stared at the parchment, his eyes wide.
When he read the words, the joy on his face froze.
It wasn’t a Neonatal Healing Record confirming a surviving pup.
It was a Remains Preservation Scroll documenting the preservation of a dead newborn.
The date on the scroll was the very day I’d suffered hemorrhagic shock.
“Do you see it now, Alpha Adrian?”
“Elena Silvercrest lost nearly all the blood in her body that day.”
“The pup was deprived of oxygen in the womb. When they delivered her, she was already dead.”
“The Neonatal Healing Cradle you found doesn’t prove your child survived.”
“This preservation scroll says the newborn girl had no signs of life.”
Something in Adrian’s mind finally snapped.
His entire body shook.
“No! You’re lying! All of you are lying!”
He clamped his hands over his ears and slammed himself against the glass.
Marcus produced another recording, this one preserved by the Council Enforcers at the scene of the rescue.
A healer’s desperate shout filled the visiting room.
“The Luna has no blood pressure! Where are the blood reserves? Why can’t we get her blood?”
Then came a long, unbroken tone.
“Resuscitation unsuccessful. Pup deceased from oxygen deprivation. Luna deceased from hemorrhagic shock…”
“Before she left us, the Royal Heiress made one last request,” Marcus said.
He looked at Adrian, who had slid to the floor, and delivered his final words.
“The reason the dead pup was preserved in the cold was so that, on the day you’re released from prison…”
“You can hold your daughter’s frozen body in your own arms.”
“And kneel before Elena Silvercrest’s grave to beg forgiveness.”
A terrible scream tore out of Adrian.
He clawed at his own throat and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Council guards rushed in and hauled him back to his cell.