Valtira.
I tore my hand free from hers as though her touch had burned me.
As though the accusation, even if it carried the weight of truth, had scorched straight through my skin and into bone.
The truth.
It scraped against my throat, raw and merciless, like something long buried there had suddenly clawed its way back to the surface.
How did she learn it?
There was no possible way.
No one knew.
Not even Draven’s Beta had the slightest suspicion.
Everyone had believed the same story, that I had conceived quickly after Draven and I mated. It had been convenient. Clean. Undeniable.
So how had she arrived at this conclusion?
It was madness. Utterly ridiculous.
Who did she think she was, letting such poison spill from her mouth?
“Do you realize,” I said, my voice low but trembling w
