Thalen materialized at his shoulder, both men working to support Merral’s convulsing body as healers rushed forward with emergency injections. The hall erupted into controlled chaos as guards cleared space, their movements efficient despite the panic threading through the crowd.
Faith stepped back to give the medical team room, her face pale with shock and growing comprehension of what this meant for her reputation.
Before Kovrak could command the crowd to disperse, Varrek’s voice sliced through the chaos like a blade finding flesh.
“How tragic,” he drawled, rising from his seat with predatory grace. “An unfortunate reaction to foreign experimentation.”
The implication hung in the air like poison gas, and Kovrak felt his tiger surge forward with murderous intent. Varrek was using his uncle’s collapse to destroy Faith’s credibility—and by extension, Kovrak’s judgment.
“I would never—“ Faith’s voice trembled.
“I assisted her personally with these desserts,” Kovrak cut in, his tone glacial enough to freeze blood. “Every ingredient. Every preparation. Every tray.”
But doubt was already spreading through the crowd like wildfire. He could scent it—sharp and corrosive to unity. Varrek’s poisonous words were taking root exactly as intended.
“There must have been deliberate tampering,” Kovrak continued, steel entering his voice as he rose to his full height. “And I will uncover the truth behind it.”
He would not allow Faith to stand alone under suspicion. She was his mate, his responsibility, his to protect. The very suggestion that she would deliberately harm someone was ludicrous to anyone who truly knew her.
As the crowd began to disperse and Merral was rushed to the medical wing, the triumphant atmosphere of the evening lay in ruins. Faith’s moment of glory had been twisted into something dark and threatening.
Kovrak watched Faith flee toward the kitchens, her shoulders rigid with determination and fear. Fury coiled tighter in his chest with every step as he followed, tension building like a storm about to break.
The scent hit him the moment he entered the kitchen—sharp, familiar, wrong in every possible way. The allergen he had specifically warned her against. The one ingredient that could kill his uncle.
Faith moved toward the starfruit tarts with professional focus, then stopped abruptly, her entire body going rigid.
“That’s not my custard.” Her voice carried absolute certainty as she stared at the glazed surface. “Someone replaced it.”
The glaze coating the fruit was subtly different from her vibrant original—almost identical, but not quite. Only someone with her trained eye would have spotted the substitution.
Cold rage burned through Kovrak’s veins as the full scope of the sabotage became clear. Someone had deliberately targeted both his uncle and Faith’s reputation in one calculated strike.
Movement flickered in his peripheral vision—a young male slipping through the rear servant’s entrance, panic written across his features as he realized he’d been caught.
Kovrak gave chase without hesitation, his tiger roaring for justice.
The corridor beyond was narrow and dimly lit, but the fleeing saboteur didn’t make it far before Kovrak’s longer stride closed the distance. When cornered, the rogue shifter spun with desperate eyes before shifting mid-stride into his smaller, leaner tiger form.
Foolish.
Kovrak welcomed the change as his own transformation ripped through him—bones rearranging with controlled violence, white fur exploding outward as his tiger claimed dominance over the situation.
The fight was brief and brutal. Claws met claws, teeth grazed fur, but the outcome was never in question. Kovrak’s superior size and skill overpowered the younger male easily, his massive paws pinning the saboteur beneath his weight.
Mercy,the rogue’s thoughts pleaded through their shared telepathic connection.I was paid. I don’t know by whom. I swear it.
Kovrak’s growl reverberated like thunder through the confined space, promising consequences that would make the saboteur regret his choices for the rest of his life.
When royal guards finally appeared, both males shifted back to human form. The captured saboteur cowered beneath Kovrak’s ice-blue glare, trembling with the knowledge of what he had unleashed.
“Take him away,” Kovrak ordered, his voice carrying lethal calm. “He will answer every question about this sabotage. Thoroughly.”
Only then did awareness prickle along his spine. Faith stood at the corridor entrance, wide-eyed with shock at having witnessed the full ferocity of what he truly was. She had seen him transform into an apex predator and had watched him fight with primal violence.
The fear in her expression cut deeper than any physical wound ever could.
She turned and fled, her footsteps echoing off the stone walls as she ran from the monster he had revealed himself to be.