Page 114 of The Alpha King’s Hidden Mute Mate

My blood turned to ice.

Elder Alden. That goat-bearded old man with his fake smile. The one who five years ago insisted I be hidden away while Leah played Luna. The one who used "national interest" as an excuse in council meetings to back me into a corner.

It was him.

Always him.

My fingers dug into the armrest, knuckles white. Cold fury rose from my chest.

Him.

"Where is he?" My voice came out eerily calm.

"Already arrested. Waiting for you to decide what to do with him."

I stood.

"Take me to him."

The dungeon was damp and cold, reeking of mold and rust. Torches flickered on the walls, casting twisted shadows. My footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor, each one like a beat on some ancient, heavy drum.

Alden was in the deepest cell.

He sat on a pile of straw, hair disheveled, robes filthy, completely stripped of that superior elder bearing. When he heard footsteps, he looked up. Seeing me, his mouth twisted into a mocking smile.

"Oh, it's you," he said, voice hoarse but still carrying that nauseating arrogance. "Come for revenge?"

I stood outside the bars, looking at him.

"Why?" I asked, voice flat as still water.

He was silent for a few seconds, then laughed. Not repentant, not guilty, but righteously certain, like he'd grasped some truth.

"For the kingdom."

That word again.

"Your parents wouldn't hand you over," he said, tone casual as a weather report. "They'd rather run away with you than give you up. Your voice—the Siren's voice—if properly used, could have made us the strongest of the Four Kingdoms. But they refused. They chose to protect you instead of the kingdom."

"So you killed them?"

"I did what had to be done."

My fingers trembled. Not from fear—from rage. A cold, pure fury like fire igniting in my veins.

"What had to be done?" I repeated each word through gritted teeth. "You murdered my parents, destroyed my family, made me an orphan to grow up in that home—that's what had to be done?"

"For the greater good—"

"Fuck your greater good!"

My voice echoed through the dungeon, making the torches shudder.

"Alden, you've committed terrible crimes. You'll be sentenced to death."

A crack finally appeared in Alden's expression—seeing the killing intent in my eyes, he realized he might've gone too far.

"You... you can't kill me," his voice started shaking. "I'm an elder—I've served the kingdom for forty years—"