Chapter 105: Agony.
July 17 2026, 2:50pm.
They arrived at the pack in record time, and even though Rowan knew that there was absolutely no way he could ensure that her request was met, he still tried his best.
He made her wait in his car and went into the throne room first to check if Nyx’ara was present, and after discovering that she was not, and that there was absolutely no way she could make it there, especially with her current health situation, he returned to his car to fetch Berlin, leaving her extremely sleepy mother behind.
Berlin was ecstatic when she discovered that Nyx’ara was nowhere near. However, as soon as she stepped into the mansion and was hit with a kind of silent wealth that she had never seen in her life, she slowly became more anxious.
Her legs wobbled as she made her way through the grand halls that looked like the type of heaven she’d only seen in movies, and her heart roared against her chest and ears as she—
"Snap out of it!" Rowan snickered, snapping his fingers in her face. His actions made her face stain a bright shade of red. She blinked up at him then lowered her head.
Her voice was raspy when she spoke next. She muttered; "It... is... is beautiful here!"
Rowan knew exactly what she meant by that but he said nothing. His lips only twitched upwards into a mini smile and he continued to lead the way into the house.
They arrived at the throne room a couple of minutes later and as soon as Berlin staggered in, her breath caught. It was insane!
But not just that, the four men sitting at the throne looked like boogeymen straight from the most gory nightmare possible.
They were handsome— devilishly handsome if she must add— with beautiful hair and striking features that made them look like they belonged at the back of a magazine cosplaying Greek gods.
They were also built and muscular, but their physical appearance was not the reason her breath was stolen. It was their aura— their magnificent aura pressing down on her neck.
She instinctively stepped back when one of them stood up. He was a tall person standing above 6 feet tall. His eyes glowed a fiery gold, like the colour of melted gold, and as he stalked closer, Berlin found herself shuffling backward... and backward... until her back hit the wall.
"Al...alpha."
"You are Berlin, am I right?" He asked, but something in his tone suggested that he was not asking. He was clarifying. His eyes bore literal holes into her skull and his aura pressed down on her windpipe until she could hardly breathe.
"Y...yes!" She rasped,
He nodded once then turned away. "While I understand that you’re here for one reason, it is only right that I should use this opportunity to ask a few questions as well."
His words sounded like scientific jargon to her. They were meaningless. Complex. They made her brain hurt, and without realising, a frown formed on her face and she snorted; "Huh?"
The sound of her voice made Rhys turn around so quickly, she almost had a whiplash. His eyes thinned into fierce slits and his nostrils flared in irritation. From where he stood, he felt as though this girl was making a mockery of him. It felt as if she was actively trying to shy away from his words, and pretending to be clueless to avoid interrogation.
His hand closed around her wrist, and when Rowan stepped forward in a bid to perfect her, Rhys flicked his wrist, forcing the latter to his knees with a thud.
Berlin had heard of just how powerful the quadruplets were. She’d heard stories about them that kept her up all night. She used to think that most of those stories were false until she watched him bring a man to his knees with a flick of his wrist.
A gasp slipped past her lips and she crashed to the floor with a thud, holding her head between her hands as tears streamed down her face.
But none of the brothers cared about her tears. They didn’t even flinch.
"I need answers!" Rhys suddenly bellowed at her, his tone grave. "I do not care about tears or sentiment. All I need to know is the truth about my sister’s death! So I’ll ask this once, did you see the person who pushed Princess Leilani off the rooftop?!"
His voice sounded like it had been scraped raw. Like he was on the very edge of madness and was only being held back by some strangely magnificent amount of self-control.
His eyes locked on her like she was his prey, and that look... goddess that look made her so scared that a little bit of urine dropped in her undies.
She covered her face with her hands and nodded quickly. "I... I saw when your sister was pushed from the... the rooftop!" She cried.
She was not lying. She had indeed seen it happen.
Rhys paused after hearing that. He took a step back as something so raw... so painful lurched wildly in his chest. His breath shook just enough for his brothers to notice the change in his voice when he began to speak again. He asked; "Was it Nyx’ara? The person who pushed my sister... the person you saw... was it Nyx’ara, our wife?"
The moment those words echoed through the room, silence fell. Berlin felt as though her heart had been ripped right out of her chest and shoved deep down her rectum. Her eyes brimmed with hot tears that burned at her corneas before falling to burn her cheeks.
And goddess, she felt like a piece of shit.
She felt disgusting and pathetic. She felt like an idiot because even though she wanted to tell the truth, she knew she could not.
After a moment of internal conflict, she finally cried out with a hoarse voice; "I... I didn’t see who it was clearly due to how dark it was, but everyone else was sure that it was Nyx’ara. She was also there at the time, and she had only been recently convicted of that same offence... so—"
"So you’ll lie against your friend to save your life?" Azriel finally chirped in from behind Rhys, making the rest of Berlin’s sentence die in her throat.
She shook her head, her tears falling quickly now as she rasped; "I am not lying! Nyx’ara really killed Princess Leilani. She had every reason to! She was mad at Chalice for stealing three years of her life... which was more than enough justification—"
"Do you know that the only reason you’re here right now is because that same Nyx’ara feared that you might be in danger back at your pack? She begged us to save you... to help you and your family and this is what you have to say? This is your way of thanking her for worrying about you even at a time like this?"
Those words made Berlin gulp as an overwhelming feeling of shame and guilt rammed into her tiny frame. She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Tears fell free but she did not attempt to wipe them off.
She was tired and sore.
Goddess, she even wanted to die.
She mumbled; "Nyx’ara is my friend. My best friend. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t tell the truth... she killed Princess Leilani in cold blood because she thought that it was Lady Chalice standing there... not your sister."
As soon as she finished talking, Rhys lifted his head to look at something standing by the door. He then smiled and spread out his arms as he drawled;
"Can you see now? This is the same girl you were so desperate to save. This is what she has to say about you despite all the troubles you had to go through to get her here. When we asked who you wanted to invite to our wedding, you mentioned just her... and when you wanted to tell us the truth, you stated that you would not say a thing until you were sure that she was saved. See her? She’s saved now..." he rambled on, his tone dripping with mockery and a palpable amount of disgust.
Berlin, who had not expected to hear that or for this to happen, spun around quickly, and when she saw a familiar figure standing by the door with her hand pressed to her chest and her eyes brimming with tears, her heart broke.
She shuffled backwards, her body shaking with sorrow and then she fell to the floor, wailing in agony because truth be told, that was all she felt at the time.
Pure agony.