THE WITCH’S CONFESSION
THE WITCH’S CONFESSION
Freya
I wake up from a nightmare in which every member of my pack is choking on silverdew.
It takes me a moment to separate the dream from reality, and as the horror settles, Kade’s words cross my mind: I haven’t—I haven’t heard him very clearly for a long time, Freya.
That’s what he’d said, talking about his wolf, Emris.
I hadn’t connected it before, but now it suddenly seems obvious.
I shake my head, still, cursing myself for jumping to that conclusion.
I focus on Finn’s small, hot body pressed against my side, Ivy’s hair fanned across my collarbone—and then the dream claws back into me: shadows, black flowers, the slow, steady drip of poison into a cup. I bolt upright, heart hammering.
Nyx echoes, ‘You know what you have to do.’
Rising carefully from the bed, I wrap my cloak around me and make my way to the pack’s conservatory.
Brin is grinding something with a mortar and pestle when I stumble into the glass hall, slippers slapping stone. “Luna Freya,” he greets, bowing deeply. “You look worried.”
“I need those leaves, Brin,” I blurt out, breathless. “The ones that confirm silverdew poisoning.”
“What is going on?” he mumbles, but he moves, abandoning his work before crouching and tearing a few familiar leaves.
“What if it wasn’t just me?” I murmur, clawing at my chest. “What if this isn’t just about claiming Kade but something more?”
Brin’s lips curl into a frown. “You think Izel has been poisoning the Alpha too? But that’s not possible. Everything he eats is checked by the expert healer—”
“I don’t understand,” I tell him. “But I have to confirm. How do we know she wasn’t glamoring him as well? And not just my children?”
Brin gasps, but he doesn’t stop me when I turn and stride out of the conservatory.
They are at breakfast when I reach the hall—Kade and Rowan sitting side by side in a strange, formal ease.
Jax stands guard, arms clasped behind his back.
The sight halts me. Rowan’s eyes flick up and hold me steady; his face is a quiet refuge.
Kade’s jaw is a stone wall. He’s reading papers, his knuckles turned white from how hard he’s gripping them.
“This is a petition for the Luna Competency Trial,” he whispers with disbelief. “Signed by Izel and… Elder Thane.”
My breath slows. I watch the documents, then bring my gaze to Rowan. He doesn’t answer me, but he turns back to Kade.
Rowan slides another parchment across the table. “We intercepted more,” he says. “Correspondence between elders of the High Council. They discuss Freya’s identity as High Luna—and lay plans to use Silvercrest against Nightfell.” His voice is flat. “They argue the pack must be broken.”
My throat dries up. No, no, no. Why would he tell Kade about that? What is going on?
Kade’s eyes flick to the second page, then back to me.
For a moment, there is only stillness. Then his face tightens into something I don’t recognize.
“Forged,” he says too quickly. “It’s all forged.
” He stands up suddenly, his chair falling back to the ground with a loud clatter due to the force.
“Is this what you’ve been doing behind my back all this time, Freya?
You’re a part of this plot, aren’t you? Izel was right.
You’ve been colluding with the rogues! You’ve been having an affair with this man! ”
I scoff, suddenly feeling too empty and angry. If I could yield fire, I’d burn him to ashes right here. “You are accusing me?” I snap.
Kade’s jaw clenches. “Did you… set it up? The whole shadow attack?”
“Alpha,” Jax tries, but his voice is ignored.
There is an ache in my chest that is no surprise. I have been awake to the shape of betrayal for months. “Why would—” I start, and my voice is hot. “Why would I put my son’s life at risk?”
Kade looks at me like I have sprung a blade. “Do you—did you?” He stomps towards me. “Freya—”
“Do you still not see it?” My voice snaps. I am too tired to be gentle. I step forward until I can see the tiny white crescent on his knuckle where he always toys with his ring. “Then put these leaves on your tongue.”
He argues. “I won’t—”
“You will,” I command. Nyx’s voice threads through me, and the words move from thought to bone.
Kade’s fingers tremble; his breath quickens.
For a beat he resists—anger flaring bright and ugly—but then his movements go mechanical, like a man pulled by strings.
He takes the leaves and puts them in his mouth.
I count the seconds. Ten. Nine. Eight. One. His throat works, and when his mouth opens, the leaves come back blackened.
“She’s been poisoning you, too,” I gasp in disbelief.
Jax shakes his head. “It’s not possible. Any poison in his food will be discovered when the expert healer tastes it.”
Kade’s face unravels, a sickening comprehension taking over. “What—what is going on?” His voice is small and boyish, stripped of the Alpha’s armor.
I tell him about Nyssa: Brin’s recollection, the witch who survived the pyre and turned Draven’s last years into a map of rot.
I tell him about glamor and about Izel’s schemes and the way the servants obeyed her as if pulled by a hidden cord.
I watch Kade’s eyes narrow, then cloud before pooling with something that looks dangerously like shame.
“You know nothing of Izel,” he snarls, and the sound is wrong—muffled, like someone trying to speak through cloth. His words slur.
Rowan’s mouth curls. “Or perhaps she knows more than you think.” He rises to a confident stance.
I step forward. “What do you really know about her? Where did she come from, Kade? Who are her parents?”
Kade opens his mouth and speaks.
It’s all gibberish.
“Alpha?” Jax comes forth, trying to help him but he has no idea how to.
His eyes widen as realisation dawns. Kade coughs, clamping his mouth. He tries to speak again, of Izel, but it is still gibberish. “What is going on!” he growls in frustration.
Without awaiting an explanation, he storms out of the hall. I follow him, and Rowan and Jax tail behind me.
Izel is waiting in her chamber, sitting elegantly on her vanity chair, staring out of the window. She rises when we enter. Her lips spread into a hesitant smile.
Kade’s question slams through the air. “Who are you?” he says, voice shredded.
She reaches for him with practiced tenderness. “Kade, love—”
He grabs her shoulders and shakes her as if by force he can dislodge the lie. “Did you poison me? Did you—my children—”
Izel’s eyes flash. “I have done so much for you. Did you forget? I lied for you. I killed for you. Do you not love me anymore, Kade?” she coos.
“It was never love,” Kade spits. “You tricked me.”
Izel pauses, watching his face for a long time.
Her gaze darts to me and to Rowan before it returns to my husband.
She laughs. “Ah. So, you see the game finally?” She drops the sweet voice, and her next admission is a blade.
“It was difficult to poison your food,” she says, almost regretful.
“Healer’s tests. So, I—” she lifts her chin—“slathered it on myself. My body. Your hands couldn’t resist me. You couldn’t help but… touch me.”
My stomach folds in disgust as the thought takes form in my head.
Kade’s face goes hard. “How dare you?” He lashes out, his hands closing around Izel’s throat.
She struggles, fingers clawing at his grip for a beat, then she throws back her head and something like wind explodes from her palms. It slams Kade aside as if he were a reed. He topples like a felled tree and scrambles up, eyes dazed and furious.
Jax charges forward, growling, but Izel knocks him out with another gust. His head hits the wall and he falls to the floor, unmoving.
“Jax!” I scream, rushing to him.
“Thane is wrong,” Izel blurts, voice high.
“We’ve waited long enough. Your father used my mother, discarded her, and you, Kade—” she spits the name like a curse—“you would have done the same. You used my magic to your pleasure. Got rid of your enemies by deceit. Conquered all those packs easily. You got everything you wanted without as much as a blink. And now—now you strangle me, you fucker!”
Rowan steps in front of me, his sword drawn.
Kade roars a feral sound and launches himself at Izel. He moves with claws bared; whatever charm held him slackens now into raw rage.
Izel answers with witchfire. It erupts from her open palms, a blinding, burning green that hits Kade right in the face. He stumbles back, screaming.
The blasting heat engulfs me, shutting my eyes. My hands rise to cover my face, but then the warmth soothes. I force my eyes open and see Rowan holding his sword against the fire, throwing it back—creating an invisible barrier in between.
Izel groans, and another gust of wind rips through the chamber. When the dust settles, Izel is gone.
Kade drops to his knees where she had stood, growling like a beast. “I will kill her!” he declares with fury.
Jax wakes up, blinking, wincing as he touches his head. “Where did she go?” he asks, confused.
I stand there, stunned, still reeling from the confession. Kade used her for her magic. He knew.
“You knew she was a witch,” the words escape my mouth as my feet move backward on their own. I fall back into Rowan’s chest, and he steadies me. “I don’t even know who you are anymore,” I tell him, cutting the last thread that held us together.
Kade falters, rising to move closer to me, but I hold my hand up, stopping him. “No,” I say. “No.”
I leave him there with his burned hands and the taste of the ultimate betrayal on my tongue.