When she was eight years old, she stood in front of a massive bear, screaming and swinging a lantern, to save two wolf pups cowering in the snow. She didn’t know they were shifters. She didn’t know they would become her entire world. Bane and Kais grew up with her.
Her best friends, her family, the two boys who never left her side. Now they were grown, tall, powerful, and no longer looking at her like a sister. They both wanted her. But she never had to choose.
Until Kais stepped closer and took his chance. He kissed her, and it felt right, inevitable. Until Bane came back. Not as the boy she loved, but as something far more dangerous.
Because Bane wasn’t just a shifter. He was the new alpha king. And he was furious that his brother touched her, that she let him. Now he had the power to decide her future, including who she married, and he had no intention of letting her choose anyone but him.
—
The riverbank in summer was Ivy’s favorite place in the world. Flat stones smoothed by water, grass soft underfoot, the sound of the river moving lazy and slow in the heat. Eighteen summers like this one, eighteen years of them coming back to her, teaching her things. The three of them were tangled together at the forest’s edge, but they didn’t look like they used to.
Before, they’d been boys, Kais bringing her flowers, Bane disappearing for hours and coming back with scraped knees. Now Bane stood at the water’s edge, his damp shirt doing nothing to hide the lines of muscle underneath, while Kais was shirtless entirely, grinning at something his brother had said. Golden brown hair catching sunlight, easy and warm. She looked away quickly.
Before, they hadn’t had shoulders like that. Before, her stomach hadn’t flipped when Kais smiled at her or at the predatory way Bane moved. “Ready? ” Kais asked, picking up one of the practice sticks they’d brought.
Ivy grabbed hers. “Ready. ”
They were supposed to be teaching her to sword fight. What they were actually doing was making it impossible for her to think.
“You’re dead,” Kais called out, making her stick fall. “Only because you cheat,” Ivy shot back, picking it up. He laughed, warm and easy, the sound curling around her like smoke. “How am I cheating?
”
“He doesn’t cheat,” Bane said, pushing off from the tree. “He’s just putting on a performance for you. ”
“I am not,” Kais said, offended. “You do everything like it’s a stage, Kais.
”
Kais opened his mouth to argue, then seemed to think better of it and just grinned instead. “Here,” Bane said, holding his stick out to Ivy. “Let me show you. ”
Ivy took it, fingers brushing his for just a second.
He pulled back immediately. “Feet planted,” he said, demonstrating. “Shoulders aligned, grip sure, like this. ”
She tried to mimic his stance.
He circled her slowly, adjusting her posture with quick, efficient movements, a hand at her shoulder, nudging her foot with his boot. “Don’t flinch,” he said. “I’m not flinching. ”
“You are.
” He raised his stick. “Don’t show your opponent your fear. ”
He attacked fast, controlled. She blocked, the impact jarring up her arms.
“See,” she said, breathing hard. “I’m not. ”
He deflected and came at her again, faster this time. She tried to hold on, but the stick went flying from her hands.
Ivy stared at it, dejected. And then Bane laughed. It was rare enough that it stopped her completely. He so rarely laughed these days, like the weight of the entire world rested on his shoulders and he’d forgotten how to put it down.
But when he did laugh, it transformed his whole face. “You’re a showoff,” she muttered. But she couldn’t help smiling. Then Kais was there, slipping behind her before she could react.
He reached around her to place the stick back in her hands, his arms bracketing hers, his bare chest pressed against her back. Ivy’s breath caught. She was staring at Bane, whose eyes had gone dark and dangerous. Behind her, Kais’s body was a line of heat she wanted to lean into.
“She’s learning,” Kais murmured, his voice low and warm near her ear. Across from them, Bane’s jaw tightened. “She’ll learn faster if you stop distracting her,” he snapped. Kais didn’t move.
“Am I distracting you, Ivy? ”
She couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, trapped between them, between Bane’s dark, possessive stare and Kais’s body pressed tantalizingly close. “Where did you two even learn to fight like this? ” she managed, desperate to break whatever this moment was.
“You’ve never said. One day you just showed up and you were experts. ”
Both of them went still. Then they exchanged that look, the one Ivy thought of as their secret look, the one that meant she’d asked something she shouldn’t have.
It had started when they were ten. Back then, they hadn’t been living with her anymore, not like they had for two years after she’d rescued them from the bear. Their father had come back and collected them, deeming it safe. Safe from what?
Ivy had never been told. But they’d still visited, and she’d started to notice things. Their vocabulary expanding too quickly, the fact that they could read now. They decided to teach her, too.
It was incredibly frustrating, how slow and behind she felt her progress was. When Bane corrected her reading, she’d snapped, “How do you even know all these words? How do you know how to read like that? ”
He’d given her that secret look.
“Does it matter? We’re here. We’ll teach you. ”
Ivy had forced herself to nod, but she’d been uneasy.
She still was. Whenever she was reminded of all the strange things they seemed to know that she didn’t, she was always trying to catch up, always falling short, like now with the sword fighting. Yes, she wanted to say. I want to know where you go.
I want to know who you are when I’m not there. I want to know why you’re looking at me like that. Why everything feels different. Why I can’t breathe when you’re this close.
The sun had started to sink by the time they gathered their things. Golden light slanted through the trees, stretching shadows long across the riverbank. They always left. They always came back.
But today, Bane’s face looked wrong, closed off in a way that made her chest tight. “What’s wrong? ” she asked him. He pulled her aside, away from where Kais was pulling his shirt back on.
“I need to tell you something,” he said, not quite meeting her eyes. “Bane, you look so serious. You’re scaring me. ”
He looked at her for a long moment, jaw working like he was trying to find the right words.
“Things are going to change,” he said finally. “Change? ” she repeated, confused. “We won’t be able to visit,” Bane explained.
“Not for a while. ”
Ivy took a step back. He might as well have slapped her. This was what she’d always feared.
That one day they wouldn’t come back. “Why not? ” she asked shakily. “It’s complicated,” Bane tried.
“Where are you going? For how long? ” Her voice rose despite herself. “Hey,” Kais was suddenly there, warm hands on her shoulders, turning her away from Bane and into his chest.
“Hey, it’s all right. ”
“It’s not,” Ivy said. But her hands fisted in his shirt anyway. “Of course we’ll be able to visit,” Kais said softly.
“At least I will. I promise. ”
“Kais,” Bane’s voice was sharp, warning. “She’s upset,” Kais said, still not looking at his brother, just holding Ivy, his hand stroking her hair.
“We’ll figure it out. ”
For a long moment, no one spoke. Then Bane’s voice came, flat and controlled. “We should go.
”
Ivy tried to pull back from Kais to look at him, but Kais held her gently in place. “Let him go,” he murmured. She heard Bane’s footsteps, heard him walk away without another word, disappearing into the trees with that controlled stride that meant he was barely holding himself together. “I have to go,” Kais said softly.
“But I meant what I said. I’ll come back soon. ”
Then he was gone, too, and Ivy stood alone at the forest’s edge, tears on her face. A month passed.
They didn’t come back. Ivy told herself she was fine. She worked in the garden until her hands were raw, helped her mother, gathered herbs by the river, kept moving, kept busy. It didn’t help.
At night, the hurt bloomed fresh. Bane hadn’t even said goodbye, hadn’t looked back. And Kais had promised he’d come back. “Before you even have time to miss me,” he’d said.
It had been a month. A knock at the door jolted her awake. Ivy sat up, gasping. The cottage was dark, empty.
Her mother was out, called away to help a neighbor birth her baby. Another knock, sharper. Ivy scrambled out of bed and grabbed her shawl. Kais stood on her doorstep.
Moonlight caught in his golden brown hair. His amber eyes were bright, locked on her like she was the only thing he’d come to see. “What are you doing here? ” she gasped.
He grinned and opened his arms. She didn’t think, just threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I told you I’d come back, didn’t I? ” he murmured against her hair.
She pulled back, hands framing his jaw. Then she looked past him toward the dark line of trees. No one else was there. Her chest tightened.
“I’m here,” Kais said softly. She caught the smell of him then. Alcohol and smoke and something sweeter, like celebration. “Are you drunk?
” she asked. “No,” he grinned wider. “Maybe a little. ”
“Where have you been?
” she blurted. His grin faded. Something complicated passed through his eyes. “Letting go of something I’ve wanted my entire life,” he said quietly.
She frowned. “What do you mean? ”
“It doesn’t matter. ” His thumb traced her cheekbone.
“It was never mine anyway. ”
“Kais, there’s something else I’ve always wanted,” he said, his voice dropping lower, his eyes holding hers. “And that I intend to have for myself. It’s only fair.
”
Her heart was racing. “Fair? ”
“Yeah. ” He looked at her like she was the answer to something.
Then he kissed her. Soft at first. Gentle, like he was asking a question she’d been waiting years to answer. When she didn’t pull away, when her hands fisted in his shirt and pulled him closer, he deepened the kiss.
It felt natural, inevitable, like something that had been waiting to happen since she was eight years old. “Ivy,” he murmured, her name rough in his mouth. He walked her backward into the cottage, kicking the door shut behind them. They stumbled toward her room, still kissing, his hands gentle but insistent.
When they fell onto her bed together, him bracing his weight above her, her pulling him down, she didn’t think about stopping. They kissed and touched and explored each other in the darkness. When his hands found the laces of her dress, she didn’t stop him. Helped him, even.
Let him undress her slowly, carefully, like she was something precious. She undressed him too, felt him shudder under her touch. “Ivy,” he breathed. “Are you sure?
”
She looked at him, at the boy who’d brought her flowers and fallen asleep in her lap, at the man who’d come back for her when his brother hadn’t. “Yes,” she said. It hurt at first, but he went slow, murmuring reassurances against her skin. “I love you,” he gasped.
“I love you so much. ”
“I love you, too,” she breathed and meant it. She fell asleep in his arms, warm and sad and happy. Dawn was just breaking when something woke her.
A feeling wrong and sharp and urgent. She blinked, disoriented, still wrapped in Kais’s arms. He was asleep. She turned her head slowly.
Bane stood at the edge of her room, pale eyes staring at them. For one wild, impossible heartbeat, pure joy flooded through her because he was back. So she smiled at him. But he didn’t smile back.
Then he turned and walked away. “Bane. ” Ivy scrambled up. “Bane, wait.
” She grabbed Kais’s shirt, yanked it on, and ran after him. He kept walking toward the treeline. Annoyance flared in her chest. He was the one who’d left without a word, who’d made her wait and worry, and now he was running away again.
She grabbed a pine cone from the ground and threw it at the back of his head. He spun around so fast she stumbled backward. The look on his face stopped her cold. “What do you think you’re doing?
” His voice cracked. She couldn’t speak for a moment. “I’m sorry about the pine cone,” she managed finally. “I just wanted you to stop.
You’ve been gone for so long. ”
“Yes, well. ” His jaw clenched. “You’ve been keeping busy.
”
She lifted her chin, defensive. “Well, it needs to stop,” he declared. Something in her snapped. “That is not up to you,” she said.
“Oh, no? ” He crossed his arms. “And what are you going to do when you become pregnant, Ivy? ”
Heat flooded her face.
“We’re… ” Her voice came out too small. “We’re in love. ”
Bane laughed.
“So what? ” He took a step toward her. “There’s no future there, Ivy. Kais isn’t for you, and you are not for him.
You can’t be together. ”
Something broke in her chest. “And why not? Why can’t I be with him?
”
“Because it’s impossible,” Bane yelled. Tears burned behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. He’d left her. He’d walked away without a word, and now he wanted to take Kais, too.
The only person who’d come back for her. The only good thing she had left. “Do you even know where he spends most of his time? ” Bane asked.
“Who he really is? ”
“Enough,” boomed a voice. Kais crashed through the trees, stepping between them. “How could you?
” Bane asked, his eyes locked on his brother. “How could you do this? ”
Kais flinched like he’d been struck. “She’s mine,” Kais said, his arm tightening around Ivy, protective.
“Ivy is my mate and my future wife. ”
All the color drained from Bane’s face so fast, Ivy thought he might collapse. He didn’t speak for a minute. Then, “And you think the king will allow it?
”
Kais flinched again, visibly. “He wouldn’t say no. Not to me. Not to her.
”
“The king? ” Ivy looked between them. “What are you talking about? ”
But Bane was already walking away.
“Wait. ” Ivy tried to go after him. “Please don’t. ”
Kais held her back.
“Ivy, look at me. ”
She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the trees where Bane had vanished, where he’d left her again. “Ivy. ” Kais cupped her face, turned her to face him.
“I meant it. I want you to be my wife. ”
She blinked at him, trying to process. “Say yes,” Kais said softly.
She opened her mouth, but he interrupted. “But before you do,” he took a shaky breath, “there’s something you have to know about who I am. About who we are. ”
Ivy waited, heart hammering, tears still wet on her cheeks.
And then he told her everything. —
Ivy was in a castle. She stood in front of a mirror taller than any tree she’d ever climbed and stared at a stranger. It had been less than a day since Kais told her.
“You’re a what? ” she’d said, staring at him like he’d grown a second head. “A prince,” Kais had repeated carefully. He’d explained it all in a rush.
How, when she’d saved them as pups, they’d been running from an attack, the one that had killed their mother. Their father, the king, had needed to hunt down traitors, root out whoever had orchestrated the ambush. So he’d hidden his sons with her and her mother until it was safe. “We were forbidden from telling you,” Kais had said, “to protect you.
If anyone knew where we were hiding… ”
“So it’s my fault? That you lied to me for eighteen years? ”
“No.
We should have told you. We wanted to, but we were also afraid. You were always so upset when we talked about our lives. ”
“Because you were leaving me behind,” Ivy had shouted.
“We weren’t. We’re not,” Kais had insisted, pulling her close again. Then he’d told her he wanted to marry her, that he needed to bring her to court to present her to the king to make their engagement official before his people. That had been yesterday morning.
Now she was here, in a palace, about to ask permission to marry a prince. Her hands were shaking. “You look beautiful,” Kais said from the doorway, dressed in deep green velvet, silver embroidery at the collar and cuffs. She touched the bodice of her dress.
“It’s itchy,” she complained. “You’ll get used to it,” Kais said, crossing the room. She wanted to believe him, but people were staring at her. She could feel their eyes following her down every corridor, could hear whispers starting up in their wake like wind through leaves.
“Is that her? The peasant girl? ”
“I heard she’s a nobody from some cottage in the woods. ”
Ivy’s face burned.
She kept her chin up and her eyes forward, but her hands were clenched so tight in her skirts that her knuckles ached. The throne room was vast. High ceilings soared overhead, and at the far end, raised on a dais of white marble, sat a throne. Empty.
Courtiers filled the space, dozens of them, maybe a hundred. They turned as Kais led her through the massive doors, and the whispers grew louder as they walked to the base of the dais. Then the room fell silent. Ivy stared up at the empty throne and tried to steady her breathing.
The king would be Kais’s father. She’d never met him. Didn’t even know his name. What if Bane was right, and he declared she didn’t belong here?
Where was Bane anyway? Would he come? Part of her desperately wanted him here, needed him here. The other part of her was terrified of seeing him again.
A herald’s voice rang out. “His majesty, the king. ”
Everyone bowed. Ivy looked around frantically, saw all the lords and ladies bending at the waist in perfect unison, and scrambled to copy them.
Footsteps echoed through the massive room, measured, getting closer. She straightened with everyone else, hands clasped in front of her to hide their shaking, and looked up toward the dais. Bane stood at the top of the marble steps, wearing a crown. For a moment, she couldn’t process it.
That was Bane. Bane with his dark hair and pale eyes and the face she’d known half her life, but he was wearing a heavy chain of office across his chest, and a crown sat on his head like it belonged there. The entire room bent toward him, like he was the center of gravity. Ivy felt like the floor had dropped out from under her.
Bane was the king. Not Kais’s father. Bane. Her Bane.
She felt suddenly, horribly small. “Your majesty,” Kais said, his voice formal in a way she’d never heard before. He bowed deeper this time, more carefully than he had when they entered. “I come before you to present Ivy of…
” He hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Ivy of the forest’s edge, my intended, my chosen mate. I seek your blessing for our union. ”
His words echoed through the massive space.
Ivy’s heart was beating so hard she could hear it in her ears. She couldn’t look away from Bane, couldn’t stop searching his face for some sign of recognition. There was nothing. He looked at them, at her, with complete detachment.
“No,” Bane said. The word dropped like a stone into water. “Your majesty,” Kais started, his voice tight. “No,” Bane repeated.
“I do not give my blessing. This union is not approved. ”
The throne room erupted in whispers, shocked murmurs rippling through the crowd of courtiers. Ivy’s mouth opened before she could stop it.
“Bane, you can’t. ”
The reaction was immediate. Gasps rippled through the crowd, sharp and scandalized. “Ivy.
” Kais tugged her hand hard. “But he can’t just—” Ivy protested, pulling against his grip, staring up at Bane. “You will address his majesty properly,” an older courtier’s voice rang out. “His majesty is being an ass,” Ivy snapped, her voice carrying across the throne room.
The gasps turned into something closer to shrieks. “Ivy,” Kais said through gritted teeth as he dragged her back down the aisle. “You can’t speak to him like that. Not here.
Not ever. ”
“Why not? ” Ivy tried to wrench free. Kais pulled her out of the throne room, through a side door, down a corridor, into an empty alcove behind a pillar.
“You just let him,” Ivy said, her voice rising. “You didn’t even fight. ”
“I can’t fight him like that. Not publicly.
”
“Why not? He’s your brother,” Ivy shouted. “He’s the alpha, Ivy. ” Kais’s hands gripped her shoulders.
“In a pack, that means everything. More than being brothers, more than anything. And he’s the king. Your king.
There’s who he is in private, my brother Bane, and who he is in public. The king, the alpha, the law. I’m not allowed to behave the same with both. Neither are you.
”
She stared at him. “You should have told me,” Ivy said quietly. “We didn’t want you to—”
“Not when we were children,” Ivy interrupted. “I understand that somewhat.
You were kids. Your father forbade it. But later? Kais, this morning while those women were lacing me into this torture device, you couldn’t have mentioned that I’d need to bow and scrape and watch every word I say?
That your brother is the king? ”
“I didn’t think,” Kais said helplessly. “Exactly. ” Ivy’s eyes burned with tears she refused to let fall.
“You didn’t think. ”
Footsteps echoed down the corridor. They both turned. Bane appeared around the corner.
No crown now, just him, looking tired in a way that made him seem older than he was. “You were a jerk out there,” Kais said immediately. “Careful,” Bane said, his voice low. Ivy looked between them, fury building in her chest like pressure in a kettle.
“May I speak to his royal highness now? ” Ivy asked, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “It’s his majesty,” Bane said, still not looking at her. “But you may.
”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Ivy said. She turned to Kais. “May I speak freely? ”
Kais nodded.
She turned back to Bane. “Why? ”
Bane didn’t answer her. Didn’t even look at her.
He kept his eyes on Kais. “Bane,” Kais said, his voice strained, pleading. “When can Ivy and I get married? ”
Bane crossed his arms.
“Never. ”
Ivy felt the air leave her lungs. “You can’t,” Kais started. “I can.
I’m the king, and I don’t approve of this union. ”
Ivy’s hands clenched into fists. “Why? Because I’m not a princess?
”
Bane’s gaze finally landed on her. “Yes,” he said simply. The honesty of it was worse than cruelty would have been. She wasn’t good enough.
Would never be good enough. “You weren’t raised for this world,” Bane continued. “You don’t know anything about court life, politics, diplomacy. You don’t understand pack hierarchy or royal protocol.
” He paused. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “Court will make you miserable. ”
Ivy frowned.
He didn’t believe in her. Of all the people whose approval she’d needed, whose opinion she’d wanted, he was the one standing in her way. “Give me three months,” she heard herself say. Both brothers looked at her.
“Three months to prove I can do this, that I can learn,” she met Bane’s eyes, held them even though it hurt. “If I can’t, I’ll leave. I’ll walk away and you’ll never see me again. ”
Bane stared at her.
“Fine,” Bane said finally. “Three months. ”
Then he turned and walked away, leaving her standing there with her heart racing and Kais’s hand warm in hers. —
The days at court blurred together into an endless parade of corrections and condescension.
Court was restrictive in ways Ivy hadn’t imagined. She couldn’t run, couldn’t laugh too loudly, couldn’t speak her mind or move freely or do anything without someone watching, judging, whispering. Every corridor felt like a trap. Every room felt like a stage.
She missed the forest with an ache that felt physical. Kais kept finding her in the quiet moments between etiquette lessons. He walked her through formal greetings again, patient. “Slow, graceful, like you’re doing it on purpose.
”
“And if I’m not? ” Ivy asked sarcastically. “Then I’ll still be here,” Kais said warmly. Ivy’s chest ached with gratitude.
Kais made court bearable. He made her believe she could endure it. But Bane was not the boy from the forest here. He was the king, surrounded by protocol like armor, courtiers at his shoulder, advisers murmuring, guards clearing paths.
Ivy saw him across rooms and felt something twist in her stomach, sick and sharp and wrong. She tried to approach him once in a corridor between chambers because she couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to talk to him. Needed him to look at her like he used to.
“Bane,” she began. A courtier moved instantly, cutting her off like a blade. “Your majesty,” the woman said, outraged. “How dare you address his majesty so familiarly.
Step back. Know your place. ”
Ivy’s face burned. She looked at Bane, waiting for him to intervene, for him to say, “No, she’s allowed.
She’s always been allowed. She’s my friend. ” But he didn’t. He looked through her like she wasn’t there.
It was worse than anger. It was nothing. After that, the palace felt colder. Ivy moved through halls like she was made of glass, fragile, about to shatter.
She started looking for him everywhere, scanning every room she entered, every corridor she walked down, searching for those pale eyes. At first, she told herself it was practical. She needed his approval to marry Kais. But as the days turned into weeks, it became something else.
An ache. She missed him. She missed his presence, his voice, the way he used to look at her. Now when she saw him across crowded rooms, he never looked back.
It hurt in a way she couldn’t explain. Bane wasn’t her fiancé, wasn’t her lover. And yet his coldness felt like grief, like losing something that was supposed to be permanent. She tried harder, positioned herself where she thought he might pass, tried to catch his eye during formal dinners.
Nothing. He was unreachable, and Ivy was drowning in the realization that she’d lost him. Not to distance or time or even anger, but to a crown. “He’s the king now,” Kais said quietly.
“Everything is different for him. ”
“I know. I just didn’t think that meant I’d lose him completely. ”
Three months passed like that.
Ivy learned the curtsies, memorized the forms of address, stopped using the wrong fork. But she didn’t stop looking for Bane, and he didn’t stop looking through her. —
The ballroom was a sea of silk and candlelight. Everyone glittered, jewels at throats and wrists, gowns in every color.
Ivy stood at the top of the grand staircase and felt sick. A herald’s voice rang out. “The Lady Ivy. ”
Heads turned.
Whispers started immediately. Ivy descended the stairs, trying not to trip on her skirts. Her eyes found Bane, dressed in formal black with the crown on his head. Their eyes met long enough for her heart to skip.
Then someone stepped into her path and Ivy stumbled, knocking into a servant carrying wine glasses. The glasses crashed to the marble floor. Everyone stared. “Tedious, isn’t it?
”
Ivy turned. A young woman stood beside her. Auburn hair, clever eyes, burgundy dress. “All this glimmering hypocrisy,” the woman said.
“People pretending to like each other while sharpening their knives. ”
Something in Ivy’s chest loosened. The woman introduced herself as Margot and started telling her gossip that made Ivy laugh. And Ivy, frustrated by Kais being called away, ignored by Bane, found herself confiding in her.
Champagne kept flowing. She talked about missing Bane, about not understanding why he was being so cold. “There’s a quieter terrace this way,” Margot said, leading her through a side door. “I have a friend who’s been wanting to meet you.
”
They wound through dimmer, emptier corridors. A man waited in a small sitting room. “Lord Garrett, this is Lady Ivy,” Margot said. When Margot disappeared, Ivy realized she was alone with a man she didn’t know.
She should have a chaperone. “I should get back to the ballroom,” Ivy said, taking a step toward the door. He moved to block her path, still smiling. “I’m not supposed to be alone with—” Ivy started.
“Alone? ” He laughed. “We’re in the palace. Hardly alone.
”
But they were. The corridor outside was empty. Lord Garrett stepped closer. “You’re even lovelier up close.
Prince Kais is a lucky man. ”
“Thank you,” Ivy said, trying to move around him. “But I really should—”
His hand caught her wrist. “Stay a moment.
Just to talk. ”
“Let go,” Ivy said firmly. “Don’t be coy,” Lord Garrett said, his grip tightening. “You came here with me.
You knew what that meant. ”
“I didn’t come here with you,” Ivy said, anger cutting through the haze. “Your friend brought me, and I’m leaving. ”
She yanked her wrist free and headed for the door.
Lord Garrett grabbed her arm, spun her back. “You little tease,” he snarled. “You followed me here, drank with me, led me on. ”
“I did no such thing.
I didn’t even know you existed until five minutes ago. ”
“That’s not how it looked,” Lord Garrett said coldly. “A young lady alone with a man in a private room. Everyone will assume.
”
“Assume what? ” came a voice. The voice was ice. Both of them turned.
Bane stood in the doorway. His shirt was partially unbuttoned, sleeves rolled to his forearms. He looked less like a king and more like a predator. His pale eyes swept the scene, Lord Garrett too close, Ivy pressed against the wall, and fury flickered in them.
Lord Garrett bowed. “Your majesty. I was just escorting Lady Ivy back to the ballroom. I found her wandering alone and thought it improper.
”
“That’s a lie,” Ivy said immediately. Bane’s gaze flicked to her. “Is it? ” he asked quietly.
“The young lady seems confused,” Lord Garrett said, his tone dripping with false concern. “Perhaps she had too much to drink. She came on to me rather insistently. ”
“I did not,” Ivy said, fury making her voice shake.
“She’s clearly not in her right mind,” Lord Garrett continued. “Perhaps your majesty was right to refuse the union with your brother. She doesn’t seem suited to—”
“Enough. ”
The single word cut through the air.
Bane stepped closer. “You found Lady Ivy alone,” Bane said. “And rather than immediately escort her back to the ballroom where she would be properly chaperoned, as any gentleman would, you brought her to a private room. ”
Lord Garrett’s confident expression faltered.
“I—”
“And then,” Bane continued, “knowing that she is my brother’s intended, you thought it appropriate to be alone with her, to compromise her reputation. ” His eyes flashed silver, wolf close to the surface. “I want you gone from court. And if I hear that you’ve spoken one word about this evening, about Lady Ivy, or what transpired here, I will make it permanent.
Do you understand me? ”
Lord Garrett’s face went white. “Yes, your majesty,” he whispered, nearly tripping in his haste to get away. Silence fell.
“Thank you,” Ivy said quietly. “I didn’t mean to—I shouldn’t have followed Margot. I should have realized—”
Bane turned to face her, and the look in his eyes made her words die. “You fell for an obvious trap,” he said coldly.
“This is exactly what I warned you about. ”
The gratitude in Ivy’s chest turned to anger. “I had the situation under control. ”
“Did you?
” Bane’s voice was scornful. “Alone with a man twice your size who was about to force himself on you. ”
“I fought off a bear for you when I was eight years old,” Ivy snapped. “I think I can handle one entitled lord.
”
“This isn’t the forest,” Bane said sharply. “I’m aware,” Ivy replied, chin lifting. “You are not. Because you’re moving through this world like you’re still in that other one.
”
Ivy’s chest tightened. “So what? I’m just supposed to hide? ”
“You’re supposed to be careful,” Bane said, his voice rising.
“And you’ve proven exactly what I said from the start. That court will eat you alive. ”
“So that’s what this is,” Ivy said, her voice low and shaking. “You looking through me for weeks, letting them insult me, letting them treat me like dirt.
It’s because you think I’m beneath this world. Beneath them. And you. ”
Bane’s jaw flexed.
“What? No, that’s not—”
“You hate that I’m here,” Ivy interrupted, tears in her eyes. “You hate that the poor forest girl is part of your precious court. That I’m tainting it with my presence.
Admit it. ”
Bane stared at her. “You not deserving him? ” His voice cracked.
“Is that what you think? That I—” He stopped. “It’s him who doesn’t deserve you,” Bane said roughly. His hand came up, thumb brushing her bottom lip.
“He never has. ”
Ivy gasped at the touch. “Neither of us do,” Bane added, his voice raw. “Stop,” Ivy said, but it came out breathless.
“Stop saying things like that. ”
“Why? ” Bane asked, his eyes dark and intense on hers. “Because it’s true.
”
His hand caught her jaw, gentle despite the fury in his eyes. And then he kissed her, furious and desperate, like he’d been holding himself back for years. And Ivy kissed him back just as fiercely, for she’d been starving for this without knowing it. Every time she’d searched for him in a crowd, every night she’d lain awake wondering why losing him felt like losing a part of herself, all of it spilled into this kiss.
The world narrowed to heat and breath and the taste of him, his hands in her hair, his body pressed against hers. Then reality came crashing back. This was Bane. She was kissing Bane when she was supposed to marry Kais.
“No! ” Ivy gasped, shoving at Bane’s chest. “No, we can’t. ”
Bane pulled back immediately, his hands releasing her.
But he didn’t step away. “We shouldn’t have done that,” Ivy said, her voice shaking. “We shouldn’t have. ”
“I know,” Bane said quietly.
“I’m supposed to marry Kais. ”
“You’re supposed to think me beneath you. ”
“I never thought you beneath me, Ivy. ” Bane caught her hands in his.
“Never. ”
“But I don’t—” Ivy tried to pull away. But he held on. “Do you know what it’s done to me watching you with him?
” Bane pressed her hand to his chest. “Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me seeing you in his arms? ”
“You’ve never said anything,” Ivy interrupted, her voice breaking. “How could I?
” Bane’s voice cracked. “How could I when I knew I’d inherit the throne and that you would absolutely hate it here at court? Hate everything about it. The customs, the etiquette, the hypocrisy.
”
“How do you even know I hate it? ” Ivy said, wanting to deny it but unable to. The truth sat heavy in her chest. “Because I hate it here,” Bane said quietly.
She stared at him. “You do? But you’re the king. Everyone looks up to you, worships you.
”
“They don’t even know me. And the people who do, I can’t be myself around. This place is a prison, Ivy. ” He met her eyes, and the raw honesty there stole her breath.
“One I’ve always wanted to spare you from. ”
His thumb brushed her cheek, catching a tear. “Otherwise, believe me, I would have told you long ago how I felt about you. ” He cupped her face.
“I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you my whole life. ”
Ivy stared into his eyes, those pale eyes that had looked through her for weeks. She was this close to kissing him again.
But she was already running down the corridor away from him, away from what they’d just done. She didn’t look back because if she did, she might turn around and go straight back to him. And that terrified her. —
Ivy spent the next day in her room.
She couldn’t face the court, couldn’t face anyone, could barely face herself. Because she was an idiot. A complete, utter idiot. Bane loved her.
He’d always loved her. And he hadn’t said anything because he’d known from the start that this life would destroy her, that court would make her miserable, that the crown he was trapped under would become a cage for her, too. So he’d stayed silent, watched her fall for his brother, and she’d been so blind. She remembered the look in his eyes when he’d found her and Kais by the river.
The way he’d walked away without a word. The coldness at court that she’d thought was disdain, but had actually been self-preservation. Grief. The two people he loved most in the world together.
It must have devastated him. But then there was Kais. Sweet, patient, wonderful Kais who’d brought her here. Kais who she loved.
Didn’t she? A knock at the door made her jump. “Ivy? ” Kais’s voice, warm and concerned.
“Can I come in? ”
She should say no. But her voice betrayed her. “Yes.
”
He entered carrying a tray, bread, cheese, fruit, things he knew she liked. “You didn’t come to breakfast,” he said gently. Ivy couldn’t look at him. “Did something happen at the ball last night?
” he asked. “Everything happened,” she wanted to say. “I drank too much,” Ivy said instead. Kais laughed.
“Is that all? I thought—”
Ivy’s throat tightened. “Did you know? ” she asked.
“That he was in love with me? ”
She forced herself to look at Kais’s face. He looked pained, but also resigned. “You mean you didn’t?
” he said. Her eyes widened. “We both knew we loved you,” Kais said, his voice gentle. “It’s impossible to hide between brothers who can smell each other’s emotions.
”
“And you kissed me anyway. ”
Kais’s expression crumpled slightly. “He has the throne, Ivy. I grew up as the spare, as the one who wouldn’t be king because his brother was going to be king, but who had to prepare and act and do everything just in case.
” He swallowed hard. “Bane always said this life, our life, wasn’t for you. That court would destroy you. And I believed him.
But then he became king. And I thought, if he can’t have you because of it, why shouldn’t I? ”
Ivy felt tears roll down her cheeks. “Soon Bane will be married to some princess,” Kais continued, his voice hollow.
“She’ll bear him an heir, and I’ll truly be free. ”
Ivy let herself be held. Let Kais’s warmth surround her. But inside she felt cold.
Bane, married to a princess, having children with someone else, building a life with someone who wasn’t her. The thought made her want to scream. She didn’t want that. Couldn’t bear the thought of it.
She also couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Kais. But now that she knew about Bane, now that she’d tasted him, felt what it was like to be in his arms, this wasn’t enough anymore. She wanted more. She loved them both, wanted them both, and that was impossible.
The next days blurred together into a waking nightmare. The tension between the brothers was impossible to miss. Bane’s jaw would tighten when Kais touched her. Kais would go quiet when Bane entered.
They spoke to each other with clipped politeness that fooled no one. And worse than the guilt was the longing. Bane was everywhere. Her body had developed some sixth sense, a prickling awareness whenever he was near.
That night, Ivy was heading back to her chambers when she turned a corner and collided with something solid. Him, of course. His pale eyes were almost silver in the dim light, bright and fierce and fixed on her with an intensity that made her knees weak. They stood frozen, his hands gripping her waist.
“Don’t,” Ivy managed. “Then stop being everywhere,” Bane said. He looked like he’d been pushed to the edge of something and was barely holding on. Bane’s gaze dropped to her mouth.
“Leave him,” he said, his voice low and rough. Ivy froze. “Leave my brother,” he repeated, pleading. “I can’t,” she whispered.
Bane’s jaw flexed like she’d struck him. “You can,” he said fiercely. His hands slid from her waist to her hips, gripping tighter. “It would break his heart,” Ivy said.
Bane’s eyes flashed. Anger and grief and something that looked like self-hatred all tangled together. “It’s either his or mine. ”
They were so close, barely an inch between them.
She could feel his breath on her lips, warm and unsteady. “I can’t,” she said again, her voice breaking. She jerked away and ran down the corridor, away from him. Her whole body was on fire.
She made it to her chambers and closed the door, leaning against it, trying to catch her breath. Kais stood by the window, silhouetted against the moonlight. “There you are,” he said. “I was beginning to worry.
” He stopped. His smile faltered. “Are you all right? ”
Ivy couldn’t speak.
Kais took a step closer, his eyes darkened. “You smell like him,” he said softly. Ivy’s face burned. “You want him,” Kais said finally.
Ivy’s throat was so tight she could barely breathe. “I didn’t know I did,” she whispered. “Not when you and I—I didn’t know about his feelings or mine. ” She forced herself to meet his eyes.
“I love him. And I love you. I love you both. I don’t know what to do.
”
Kais breathed out slowly. When he spoke again, his voice was firm. “I won’t share you, and neither will he. ”
Ivy’s stomach dropped.
This wasn’t something that could be negotiated. It was a choice, a final one. “If I choose you,” Ivy said, her voice small. “What happens to him?
”
Kais’s jaw tightened. “He will hate it. And probably both of us as well. ”
Ivy swallowed hard.
The safer shore was right in front of her. Kais was warm and steady and good. They were already engaged, already lovers. Bane was offering her what?
A throne she didn’t want. “I choose you,” she said quietly. Kais closed his eyes for a beat. Pain and relief collided on his face.
“Thank you,” he said softly. Then there was a knock at the door. A guard entered. “Your highness, your brother summons you.
Intelligence from the border. The enemies who killed your mother have resurfaced. The council calls for war. You are both called to arms.
”
Ivy’s stomach dropped. The attack that had sent two terrified wolf pups running into the forest. The enemies their father had been hunting within the palace walls. Kais’s jaw set.
“How long? ”
“At first light,” the guard said. —
First light came. Dawn at the palace gates was colder than it should be.
Ivy stood wrapped in a cloak, watching the controlled chaos of an army preparing to march. Kais approached first, still fastening his sword belt. “I’ll come back,” he said softly. He mounted his horse.
Before he rode toward the front, he looked back at her and smiled. Then she looked for Bane. He was already mounted near the front beside his commanders. Dark armor, dark horse, crown nowhere in sight.
She waited for him to look at her, to acknowledge her presence, to give her something. But he didn’t. Never once glanced in her direction. Ivy’s breath shuddered.
She had lost him entirely. —
Three months passed. They didn’t come back. Ivy moved through court like a ghost.
She picked at her food during meals, pushing it around her plate until the servants cleared it away untouched. At night, sleep came in brief, fitful bursts before nightmares jerked her awake. During the day, she went through the motions. She attended court functions because she had to, sat with the ladies and embroidered things she’d unpick later.
But inside, she was screaming. Then, on a gray afternoon in early autumn, the cry went up. “Riders on the horizon! ” a guard shouted from the watchtower.
Ivy’s heart stopped, then slammed into motion. She ran through corridors, down stairs, out into the courtyard where a crowd was already gathering. “The army returns! ” someone shouted, and the cheer that went up was deafening.
Relief flooded through Ivy so intense she nearly collapsed. She pushed through the crowd, not caring who she shoved aside. She had to get closer. Had to see them.
Had to know they were alive. Then a woman’s voice, quiet and shocked. “A black flag. ”
Ivy froze.
The relief drained out of her like water through a sieve, replaced by ice-cold terror. “A black flag. A royal has fallen. ”
Ivy’s vision blurred at the edges.
“Which one? ” a lord asked, his voice tight with dread. The column was approaching down the long road. And at the front, the black flag hung limp and heavy against its pole.
It was true. One of them was dead. The gate swung open. The army rode in.
Ivy stood at the front of the crowd, shaking so hard her teeth chattered. Soldiers dismounted. Horses were led away. She couldn’t see them.
Couldn’t find either of them in the mass of bodies and armor. “Ivy! ”
She spun. Kais stood a few feet away, muddy and exhausted, but whole.
“I’m here,” he said, moving toward her with open arms. She crashed into him, relief flooding through her so intense it made her dizzy. He was alive. Kais was alive.
But the pit in her stomach didn’t disappear. If he was here, then where was—
“Where is Bane? ” she asked, her voice thin. Kais’s face fell.
“No,” Ivy said immediately, shaking her head. “No. ”
“Ivy,” Kais said softly. She continued shaking her head.
“He can’t be. He wouldn’t—”
Kais’s expression twisted with something that looked like grief and resignation tangled together. “To tell you the truth, Ivy,” Kais said quietly, and his voice was so sad it made her chest ache. “I don’t think he wanted to come back.
”
Ivy gasped. An image flashed through her mind. Bane at dawn, mounting his horse, not looking at her, not once. Riding away with his back straight and his shoulders squared.
Riding away from her. The last thing he’d known was rejection. Her rejection. Gone.
He was gone. “Ivy,” Kais said, his voice distant. Her knees buckled. The world went gray at the edges, then black, then nothing at all.
—
Three months later, Ivy stood by the window of her chambers while servants fastened the endless row of buttons down the back of her gown. The dress was emerald silk, Kais’s choice. He said it brought out the green in her eyes. She felt nothing looking at it.
Bane had been dead for three months. She had stopped crying after the first week, stopped eating properly after the second. By the third month, she had learned to go through the motions well enough that people stopped asking if she was all right. A knock at the door.
“Enter,” Ivy said dully. Kais stepped inside, already dressed in his coronation robes. The servants curtsied and retreated. “You shouldn’t have come,” Ivy said quietly.
“It’s not proper. ”
Kais smiled, small and slightly crooked. “As if I’m going to let propriety dictate whether or not I come to find my future wife. ”
Despite everything, Ivy felt her lips twitch.
Their wedding had been set for a month after the coronation. Everything was planned. The dress was being made, invitations sent. Ivy wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
The ceremony was endless. Ivy sat in the front pew, surrounded by nobles and foreign dignitaries, and watched Kais kneel before the high priest. Watched the crown, heavy gold and ancient, be placed on his head. “All hail the king.
”
And Kais smiled, bright and genuine and happy. He was happy. Ivy realized she hadn’t seen him truly happy in months. He’d been grieving Bane, worrying about her, working himself to exhaustion to end the conflict, to stabilize the kingdom after his brother’s death.
But now, with the crown on his head and his people acknowledging him, he was happy. Ivy smiled too. Then her smile dropped, because she realized she longed to be happy again too, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had been. The coronation ball that evening was magnificent.
Ivy wore another dress, this one silver and white, fitted perfectly to her frame. She stood near the edge of the ballroom and watched Kais dance with the queen of the northern kingdoms, then with a princess from across the sea, then with another dignitary. When he finally made his way to her, offering his hand with a warm smile, Ivy let him lead her onto the floor. “You don’t mind this, though,” Ivy observed, meeting his eyes.
“The spectacle, the expectations. ”
Kais paused midstep. “When you first kissed me, you said you’d just lost something you’d been wanting your entire life. Do you remember?
”
Kais frowned. “It was this, wasn’t it? ” Ivy asked quietly. “The crown, the throne.
”
Kais’s expression shifted. “It’s not so much that I desperately wanted it. It’s just I didn’t really know who I was supposed to be once the crown had been given to its rightful owner. I’d grown up with a maybe.
Maybe you’ll be king. Maybe you’ll be needed. ”
“The night Bane was crowned,” Kais continued. “I felt lost.
”
“And how did he feel? ” Ivy asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “Your brother, the night he was crowned. How did he feel?
”
Kais laughed, short and surprised. “I never even thought to ask him. ”
“How do you think he felt? ” Kais asked, watching her face carefully.
Ivy closed her eyes, imagined Bane here in this ballroom, wearing the crown, surrounded by courtiers and expectations and protocols, trapped behind a role he’d never wanted. “This place is a prison, Ivy,” he’d said. “One I’ve always wanted to spare you from. ”
“He felt like me,” Ivy said, opening her eyes.
“Profoundly miserable. ”
The realization hit her like a wave. She’d been miserable here from the moment she’d arrived. The constant scrutiny, the suffocating rules.
Bane had known. Had tried to spare her from it. He hadn’t forbidden her from marrying Kais out of jealousy or spite. He’d done it out of love.
Because he’d understood exactly how she would feel here. Because he had felt the same. “Ivy. ” Kais lifted her chin gently.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she met his eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “But I can’t marry you. I can’t marry a king.
Not any king. ”
Not even Kais, who she loved, who was good and patient and deserved everything. Because being queen would kill her slowly, surely, the same way it had been killing Bane. Kais’s eyes filled with grief.
But then he nodded, resigned. “I thought you might say that. ”
They stopped dancing. Then Kais pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
Ivy hugged him back, and they did not let go for a long time. When they finally pulled apart, Ivy felt something lift in her chest. For the first time since she’d come to court, she could breathe. —
Ivy rode toward home, feeling not happy exactly, but free.
In the forest, summer had returned, bringing warmth that soaked into her skin. She breathed deep. That morning, she’d said goodbye to Kais in the courtyard, just the two of them, dawn light soft and forgiving. “I hope you are happy,” she’d told him, cupping his face.
“I will be,” he’d said. “When you get to the crossroads,” he’d said hesitantly. “Between your village and the northern lakes. You know the one?
”
She’d nodded. “Go left,” he’d finally said, resigned. “To the lakes. ”
“Why?
” Ivy had frowned. Kais had looked away briefly, jaw working. “It’s my parting gift to you,” he’d said quietly. “Be well, Ivy.
”
Now the crossroads appeared through the trees like a question waiting to be answered. Ivy pulled her horse to a stop, stared down the left path. She had no idea why Kais had sent her that way. And she’d go eventually.
Just not today. Today, she wanted to go home. She turned right, started down the familiar path. But something stopped her.
A feeling, a pull low in her chest. “Go left,” Kais had said, with that look in his eyes. That resignation. Ivy sat there at the crossroads for a long moment, torn between the comfort of home and the mystery of whatever waited by the lakes.
Then she sighed and turned her horse around. “This better be worth it,” she muttered. The path to the lakes climbed through forest that grew denser, wilder, more alive the higher she went. The lake appeared, still and perfect as glass, reflecting the sky like a mirror.
Then she saw smoke rising thin and gray from the treeline. The house was small and rough hewn, logs still pale and unstained. New smoke curled from a stone chimney. Ivy dismounted, tied her horse, approached the door, and knocked.
No answer. The door was locked. She stepped back, scanning the clearing. A figure emerged from the forest.
Backlit by sunset. She couldn’t see his face. Just a silhouette carrying firewood, moving with that particular grace that made her heart stutter. He stepped closer into the light, and Ivy stopped breathing.
Those eyes. That jaw. That mouth she’d kissed and mourned and dreamed about in the dark. “Ivy.
”
His voice, Bane’s voice, shook her. She couldn’t do anything but stare at someone who was supposed to be dead, but who was standing here impossibly real. Bane dropped the firewood and moved. And then she was moving too, closing the distance between them.
They collided. His arms wrapped around her, crushing her against his chest. Her arms locked around his neck, holding on like he might vanish. “You’re alive,” she breathed against his shoulder.
Bane buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. “I never wanted to be king,” Bane said, and it sounded like an apology. “And I couldn’t do it anymore, Ivy. Seeing you with him, I couldn’t.
”
She kissed him. Bane made a sound, broken and desperate, and kissed her back. Months of grief and longing poured into the press of mouth against mouth. “Wait,” Bane said, and it clearly cost him.
“What about my brother? ”
“He’s king now,” Ivy interrupted, cupping his face in both hands. “It’s what he wanted, I think. ”
Bane frowned.
“And I couldn’t be queen,” Ivy added softly. “You were right. I couldn’t. ”
Something in Bane’s expression softened.
“Yes, well,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips. “I’m very often right. ”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “You’re insufferable.
”
“It’s true. Name one time I wasn’t. ”
She kissed him again. Later, much later, they would lie tangled together in the dark.
She would tell him she loved him, confessed that a piece of her had died when she thought he was gone. He would explain how Kais had helped him fake his death, how it had been the only way to set them both free. Kais from being the spare. Bane from the crown.
She would realize Kais had known all along. Had kept the secret to protect them both. Had sent her here as a final gift, hesitant and resigned, because he knew what it meant to let her go toward his brother. She would forgive them both eventually.
In about a year, their first child would be born. They would raise her and her future siblings here by the lake, free and loved. And somewhere far away in a golden palace, a king would rule fairly and well, beloved by his people, happy at last in the role he’d not been born for but finally allowed to claim.
But here, in this small house by the northern lakes, two people who’d loved each other since childhood would build the life they’d always been meant to have together.
