Page 76 of The Moonborn's Curse
He tilted his head slightly, his eyes on Hagan.
"If you can't see her worth, Alphason... there are others who will."
The words dropped into the room like a stone into still water.
Hagan stiffened.
His jaw clenched so tightly it ached.
Dain glanced between them, as if unsure about what just happened.
Veyr didn't look away. It was difficult to hold the gaze of an Alpha blood for long, but he didn't look away. He meant it. Every word.
And Hagan—
He hated it.
He hated the idea of someone else seeing Seren.
Touching her hand.
He hated how the image rose in his mind unbidden—Seren looking at Veyr the way she looked at him, with longing as if he had hung the moon. Those looks were slowly fading into the ether due to his indifference and cruelty.
Draken watched it all, silent and sharp-eyed.
He saw the muscle working in Hagan's jaw.
The way his fists curled at his sides.
The flicker of something dark and hot behind his eyes.
And he said nothing.
Veyr had been there outside the healer's building. He'd sat beneath the tree, unmoving, while they set Seren's bone. He hadn't meant to listen but he had heard. He'd heard every word, the way she refused to cry, even as her skin tore and the bone was pushed back beneath it, the sound of her breath hitching as they wrapped her arm.
Not a cry.
Not a sob.
Until the Oracle came. He'd heard her voice through the open window, soft and broken.
"Why, Seren? Why did you challenge him? He could have killed you."
Silence.
Then—
A whisper.
Almost too faint to catch.
"I wish he had."
"I wish I were dead... I want to go home. I want to see my mamma. I don't want to be here anymore. Everyone hates me."
Veyr had closed his eyes.
It felt like someone had placed a stone in his chest.
