Aria's POV
The cell door slammed shut with a sound like my heart breaking.
"Please," I begged through the bars. "Let me see Damien. Let me explain—"
"Alpha's orders," the guard said without looking at me. "No visitors until the trial."
Trial. The word made me want to vomit.
They were going to put me on trial for attempted murder. For poisoning Selene with my own tea blend, in front of three hundred witnesses.
I sank onto the cold stone bench, wrapping my arms around my stomach. Around the baby nobody believed in anymore.
"I didn't do it," I whispered to my child. "I swear I didn't."
But who would believe me? They'd found wolfsbane in my room. Everyone saw Selene drink my tea and collapse. The evidence was perfect.
Too perfect.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway. I jumped up, hope flaring stupidly in my chest.
Maybe Damien came. Maybe he realized this was wrong. Maybe—
Marcus walked into view, carrying a wooden box.
My hope died.
"More evidence," he announced to the guards. "Found in Luna Aria's desk."
"What evidence?" I gripped the bars. "Marcus, what are you doing?"
He finally looked at me, and his eyes were cold. "My job. Protecting this pack from threats."
"I'm not a threat! I'm being framed!"
"That's what guilty people always say." He opened the box and pulled out papers. "Look what we found. Letters. Written in your handwriting."
He held one up so I could see.
My blood turned to ice.
It was my handwriting. My exact handwriting. But I'd never written those words.
*"Selene doesn't belong here. She needs to disappear. Permanently."*
"I didn't write that!" I shouted.
Marcus pulled out another letter. "'If Damien won't reject her, I'll find another way to remove her.'" He looked at me with disgust. "Another way. Like poison."
"Those are fake! Someone copied my handwriting!"
"Very convenient." He pulled out more letters, spreading them on a table where the guards could see. "We found twelve letters total. All threatening Selene. All in your handwriting. All hidden in your private desk."
My legs went weak. I slid down the bars until I was sitting on the cold floor.
This wasn't just a frame job. This was calculated. Professional. Someone had been planning this for weeks, maybe months.
Copying my handwriting. Planting evidence. Building a case that I couldn't possibly defend against.
"Who did this?" I whispered. "Who helped you?"
Marcus's face showed nothing. "Nobody helped me. I'm just doing my job as Beta—investigating crimes."
"You're lying." I forced myself to stand, to meet his eyes. "I heard you. In the hallway with Selene. You were planning this together."
"Heard what, exactly?" Marcus crossed his arms. "Please, tell the guards what you think you heard."
The guards were watching me now, waiting.
"I heard you and Selene talking about driving me away," I said. "About destroying my garden. About finding something to use against me."
"When was this alleged conversation?" Marcus asked calmly.
"Last night. Outside her room."
"Interesting." Marcus pulled out his phone and showed the screen to the guards. "Because last night, I was at the southern border dealing with a rogue attack. I have twelve witnesses who can confirm I was there from sunset until dawn."
No. That was impossible. I heard him. I saw him.
Didn't I?
My mind raced, trying to remember. It had been dark. I'd been upset. I heard Marcus's voice, saw his shape in the shadows...
"You're lying," I said weakly.
"I have witnesses. You have paranoid accusations." Marcus put his phone away. "The evidence speaks for itself, Aria. You were jealous of Selene. You felt replaced. So you decided to poison her."
"I drank the same tea!"
"After building up immunity over weeks." Marcus gestured to the vials. "Small doses every day, until your body could handle it. Then you served poisoned tea to Selene, drank from the same pot, and thought you'd get away with murder."
It was brilliant. Horrible and brilliant. They'd thought of everything.
"How's Selene?" I asked quietly.
"Alive. Barely." Marcus's jaw tightened. "Dr. Pierce saved her. But she's not conscious yet. When she wakes up and confirms you served her that tea..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I'd be found guilty. Executed, probably. Or exiled to die in the Shadowlands.
Either way, they'd win.
"I want to see Damien," I said. "That's my right. I'm still his wife."
"You lost your rights when you tried to murder his fated mate." Marcus turned to leave. "The trial is tomorrow night. I suggest you use that time to think about confessing. It might earn you mercy."
"I have nothing to confess!" I screamed.
He walked away without looking back.
I collapsed on the bench, shaking. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real.
But it was. And I had no way to prove my innocence.
Hours passed. Maybe days. I couldn't tell anymore in the windowless cell.
Guards brought food I couldn't eat. Water I could barely swallow. And silence that slowly drove me insane.
I kept replaying everything. The destroyed garden. Marcus telling me to step aside. The photograph slipped under my door. Selene's smile as she collapsed.
It all made sense now. They'd been building toward this moment, making me look unstable and jealous, so when the poisoning happened, everyone would believe I did it.
Even Damien.
Especially Damien.
Footsteps approached again. Different ones this time. Heavier. More hesitant.
I knew those footsteps. I'd memorized them over five years of marriage.
Damien appeared at my cell, and my heart broke all over again.
He looked terrible. Eyes red from crying. Face pale. Hands shaking.
"Is she alive?" I asked quietly.
"Yes." His voice was rough. "She woke up an hour ago."
Relief and dread mixed in my stomach. "Did she... what did she say?"
"She said you served her the tea yourself. Smiled while you did it." Damien's hands gripped the bars until his knuckles turned white. "She said you told her it was a peace offering."
"That's exactly what happened! But I didn't poison it! Someone else—"
"Who?" Damien's voice cracked. "Who else had access to your private tea blend? Your personal chambers? Your desk where we found the letters?"
"I don't know! But Damien, you know me. Five years. You know I could never—"
"I thought I knew you." He finally looked at me, and the pain in his eyes was worse than hatred. "But the evidence..."
"Is fake! All of it! Can't you see this is a setup?"
"By who? Why?" He ran his hands through his hair. "Marcus has witnesses that he was at the border. Selene was in the dining hall all day with dozens of people. Who could have planted all this evidence without anyone noticing?"
"I don't know," I whispered. "But someone did."
Damien stared at me for a long moment. I could see him struggling, wanting to believe me but unable to ignore what he'd seen.
"The letters are in your handwriting," he said quietly.