Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
TESS
The grand foyer fell silent after Korran’s brutal departure, his words hanging in the air. Tess remained frozen where he’d left her, her body rigid with shock while her mind struggled to process the emotional whiplash.
You might as well just go home now.
The dismissal cut deeper than any physical wound could have. After everything, he was casting her aside like she meant nothing. Like the connection blazing between them was just her imagination.
“Dr. Holt?” Gabrielle’s gentle voice penetrated the haze of hurt and disbelief. The attendant approached with careful steps, her brown eyes reflecting genuine concern. “I can make arrangements for your departure if you need to return to Earth.”
Departure.
The word hit like another blow, confirming that everyone expected her to simply vanish now that King Voran was dead. The failure burned in her chest alongside the personal rejection.
“I just need some time to process everything.” The words emerged steadier than she felt, her years of maintaining professional composure under pressure serving her well even as her world crumbled.
Gabrielle nodded with understanding. “Of course. Take all the time you need.”
The attendant hurried away with Orric, their urgent footsteps echoing across the marble as they disappeared deeper into the estate. Tess stood alone in the vast foyer, surrounded by the opulent trappings of a world that had never truly welcomed her presence.
I need to get out of this space before I fall apart completely.
Her legs felt unsteady as she climbed the grand staircase, each step requiring conscious effort as shock gave way to a tsunami of emotion she’d been holding back for too long.
The ornate banister provided necessary support as she navigated toward her guest suite, desperate to reach sanctuary before her carefully constructed walls collapsed entirely.
Within minutes, the suite door clicked shut behind her with finality that made her chest tighten. She’d made it exactly two steps into the sitting area before her knees buckled, sending her crashing to the plush carpet as three years of suppressed grief exploded through her defenses.
I couldn’t save him. Just like I couldn’t save her.
The tears came in wrenching sobs that tore from her throat without permission. King Voran’s kind eyes merged with her mother’s eyes in her memory—two people she’d failed despite all her knowledge, all her desperate determination to fix what was broken.
The cruel timing made it worse. They’d been on the verge of potentially exposing whatever had been slowly killing the king, and now he was gone. Dead before they could prove whether Varix had been healing or harming him all these years.
We were so close. We almost had answers.
But beneath the professional failure burned something even more devastating—the way Korran had looked right through her as he delivered his dismissal.
Not like she was his lover, his partner in investigation, or even a colleague whose efforts deserved basic respect.
Like she was nothing more than an inconvenient outsider who’d outlived her usefulness.
After everything we shared, everything I felt…
The memory of his hands on her body, the desperate hunger in his kiss, the safety she’d found sleeping against his chest—all of it felt like a cruel joke now. Had she imagined the connection between them? Misread his protection and passion for something deeper than physical attraction?
You’re being ridiculous. You knew this was temporary. You knew you were leaving in two weeks anyway.
But knowing something intellectually and having it ripped away without warning were entirely different experiences.
Time became meaningless as she knelt on the carpet, letting years of carefully controlled emotion pour out of her.
The grief for her mother that she’d buried beneath work and determination.
The loneliness she’d denied by keeping all relationships superficial.
The fear that she’d never be enough to save anyone who mattered.
When the tears finally subsided, leaving her drained but oddly clearer, Tess pushed herself to her feet on unsteady legs. Her reflection in the sitting room’s mirror showed red-rimmed eyes and blotchy cheeks—evidence of the breakdown she’d fought against for so long.
Get yourself together. You have a choice to make.
She walked to the massive bathroom, and splashed cold water on her face, washing away the last of her tears and forcing her to confront reality.
The woman staring back at her from the ornate mirror looked fragile, defeated—everything Tess had sworn never to become again after her mother’s death.
Red eyes told the story of her breakdown, but beneath the evidence of grief, something else flickered in her green gaze.
I was standing so close to something great.
The thought came unbidden but rang with truth.
Not just the potential relationship with Korran.
But the investigation itself—the chance to solve a decade-long medical mystery, to expose potential corruption, to finally use her skills to save someone instead of watching them slip away despite her best efforts.
I could have saved King Voran. I could have allowed myself to get closer to Korran. I could have seen what developed between us.
But now what? Did he even want her here? The bear shifters had made their prejudice clear from the moment she arrived. She could simply leave, return to her safe but precarious life on Earth, maybe manage to keep her job despite failing to achieve what she’d been hired to do.
The easy choice. The safe choice.
She studied her reflection more intently, looking past the tear damage to the woman beneath.
There—in the set of her jaw, the straightening of her shoulders—she caught a glimpse of the fire that had carried her through graduate school in a male-dominated field.
The determination that had landed her the research position despite being one of a hundred applicants, most of them men who assumed they deserved the role more than she did.
I proved I belonged when everyone said I didn’t.
The memory of those battles sparked something fierce in her chest. She’d handled discrimination, condescension, and outright sabotage from colleagues who thought a woman had no place in serious scientific research.
She’d pushed forward after her mother’s death when grief threatened to destroy her career entirely.
I’m not about to give up now.
The decision crystallized with sudden, blazing clarity.
King Voran deserved justice. Queen Lysia deserved answers about what had truly killed her mate.
And if there was corruption or conspiracy behind the king’s death—if someone had murdered him while hiding behind medical authority—they needed to be exposed and held accountable.
The stolen vials are still in Korran’s mini-fridge.
Her scientific mind seized on the concrete lead, grateful to have something tangible to focus on rather than the emotional devastation of Korran’s rejection. Those vials contained potential evidence of what had really been happening to King Voran for the past decade.
I’m going to stay here and fight for the truth. I’m going to finish what I started.
The woman in the mirror looked different now—not the broken, dismissed failure, but the brilliant scientist who’d never backed down from a challenge. Her eyes held the same fierce determination that had carried her through every obstacle life had thrown at her.
If it’s the last thing I do on Nova Aurora, I’m going to expose whatever or whoever was behind the king’s illness.
A soft knock interrupted Tess’s fierce resolution, pulling her from the mirror and back to the immediate reality of her guest suite. She crossed the room and opened the door to find Gabrielle waiting in the corridor.
The attendant’s gentle brown eyes searched Tess’s face with careful concern, taking in the evidence of her breakdown with intuitive perception.
“Dr. Holt, I hope I’m not intruding.” Gabrielle’s voice carried its usual soft cadence but underneath lay genuine worry. “I wanted to check on you after... everything.”
Tess stepped aside, gesturing for Gabrielle to enter. “Please, come in.”
Gabrielle moved into the sitting area with her characteristic quiet grace, her hands clasped in front of her simple but elegant dress. “Gerri just called. She heard about the king. She said she could take you back to Earth as early as tomorrow morning.”
The words hung in the air between them. Tess could picture it—slipping away before the funeral, before facing Korran’s continued rejection, before having to confront the failure that seemed to define her relationship with death and loss.
But the woman who’d stared back at her from the bathroom mirror wouldn’t take the easy path.
“Actually, I’m staying.” The words emerged with more strength than Tess felt but saying them aloud solidified her resolve. “I’m going to finish what I started. I owe it to the king.”
Relief flickered across Gabrielle’s features so quickly Tess might have missed it if she hadn’t been watching closely.
“The queen will be pleased to hear that,” Gabrielle said carefully. “She’s back now, and I think... well, I think she hoped you wouldn’t leave just yet.”
Tess felt her pulse quicken at the mention of Queen Lysia. The woman who’d shown her nothing but kindness despite the prejudice Tess faced from others in the territory. The woman who was now facing the same devastating loss Tess had endured three years ago.
“Can you take me to her? I’d like to tell her myself.”
Gabrielle nodded without hesitation. “Of course. She’s in her private chambers.”