Chosen as the Cursed Alpha's Seventh Bride

Emilia’s POV

I was grateful for Sebastian’s understanding. I truly was. But gratitude didn’t change the fact that the two of us were boxed into a corner with no clean way out.

We’d passed the point where the truth would fix anything. Once, all I’d needed to do was tell him and let the chips fall. Not anymore.

I couldn’t carry a child. And Titus, for the good of the pack, seemed ready to set me aside like a chipped plate.

All I could do now was wait for the axe to fall.

Eve stirred, low and quiet. "We don’t beg. Whatever comes, we meet it standing."

I knew that. It just didn’t make the waiting any easier.

A few days later Lily rang and demanded I come out for lunch that weekend. So at noon on Saturday I showed up at the little café we’d picked, and the second she laid eyes on me, she just stared, dead-on, until my skin crawled.

It set my teeth on edge. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because every time I see you lately, you look so wrecked I can barely stand it."

"If you can barely stand it, then stop gawking at me." I dropped into the chair across from her. "You’re no prize yourself today, sweetheart."

Her eyes flicked away. She lowered her voice. "So. Still nothing? Even after Zurich?"

"Nothing."

I nodded at the tabletop, picked up the coffee in front of me, and took a sip. Bitter. Bitter enough to make my back teeth ache, and still it didn’t touch what was sitting in my chest.

"Emilia, it’s going to be fine. It’s really not the end of the world. Think about it, plenty of couples choose not to have kids at all and they’re perfectly happy."

"Easy for you to say." I set the cup down. "Is Sebastian’s family the childless-and-happy type?"

That shut her up for a second. "Okay, fair. An Alpha family like his is going to want an heir. Even regular people struggle with that. A pack that size? Forget it."

"So we agree it’s a mess."

Lily leaned in, careful now. "What did Sebastian say about all this?"

"He doesn’t know yet."

I pressed my fingers to my forehead. "I don’t even know how to open my mouth and get the words out."

"You can’t sit on it forever."

"I won’t. If there’s genuinely no cure, I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him everything."

"And if he wants a divorce?"

My whole body went stiff. I hadn’t let myself walk that far down the road, and Lily, bless her blunt heart, said it out loud like she was reading a weather report. The words landed somewhere under my ribs and twisted.

"Then we get divorced," I said.

Her face crumpled. She looked at me, saw whatever was in my eyes, and clearly couldn’t stomach the topic another second, because she straightened up and blurted, "So. I’m getting married."

My head snapped up. "You’re what? To who?"

"Scott Hanson."

I stared at her, certain my ears had malfunctioned. "Say that again. Who?"

"Scott Hanson," she repeated, chin up.

"Hold on." I sat back. "What is happening here?"

"Nothing’s happening. He proposed. I said yes."

Something about it sat wrong with me. My mind went to that night I’d confronted Scott on his doorstep, and I couldn’t shake the thought that it was the reason he’d turned around and proposed to Lily.

"It’s wonderful that he proposed, Lily. It really is." I chose the next words like I was stepping across a frozen lake. "But does he love you?"

"No. He doesn’t."

"Then why on earth would you—"

"Because I love him. That’s enough." She met my eyes without flinching. "Not every marriage has to start out like yours and Sebastian’s, you know. Honestly, it’s you two who gave me the guts to do this."

"Me? How do you figure that?"

"Did Sebastian love you when this started? Did you love him? The two of you couldn’t stand to breathe the same air. And now? You love each other more than any couple I’ve ever seen. So don’t sit there and tell me it can’t grow."

I didn’t have a rebuttal. She wasn’t wrong, and that was the maddening part. Whatever unease was crawling around in me, I had no right to pour it on her.

"All right," I said finally. "If your mind’s made up, then I wish you every happiness. I mean that."

We parted outside the café. I stood on the curb a long while, turning it over, then pulled out my phone and texted Scott.

[I don’t know why you proposed to Lily, and I’m not going to ask. But I’ll say this once. She’s one of the good ones. Since you’ve decided to marry her, you’d better treat her right.]

Eve murmured, low and dry. "Lily is braver than we are."

Maybe she was. Maybe loving someone who didn’t love you back was its own kind of courage.

I slid the phone into my pocket and started walking, the city noise closing over me, and I tried not to think about the axe still hanging over my own head.