_Rowena’s POV_

I was in the middle of reviewing the transport logistics when Virella came to find me again.

I heard her before she knocked.

Three steps in the corridor, a pause, then a knock that was just soft enough to sound hesitant.

"Come in," I said, without looking up from the paperwork on my desk.

She opened the door and stood in the frame. She was wearing something loose and comfortable, the kind of clothing that emphasized the pregnancy without seeming to try. Her eyes were slightly red, which was either genuine or very good timing.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

I set my pen down and turned my chair to face her. "Sit down."

She sat in the chair across from my desk, which was a different chair from the one in the sitting room, and took a slow breath like she was composing herself.

"I want to apologize," she said. "For the staff situation yesterday. I overstepped."

I watched her.

"I’ve been in difficult environments before," she continued. "Places where you have to establish yourself quickly or get pushed out. I think I.....brought that here when I shouldn’t have." She looked at her hands. "Your handmaid didn’t deserve that."

I was shocked. More than words could explain. What was she doing?

But I didn’t let the surprise show on my face. One thing I knew was that she had a plan going on.

It was well done. Very specific, without excessive emotion. If I hadn’t watched her work a room for three days straight I might have taken it at face value.

"I appreciate you saying that," I said. "I’ll let Velvet know."

Virella nodded. Then, as if it had just occurred to her: "I also wanted to say, I know this situation has been painful for you. I didn’t come here to hurt anyone."

"I know," I said.

She looked up, slightly surprised by the lack of resistance.

"You came here because Kaelen brought you," I said. "And because you’re carrying his child, and because he made you promises. I understand all of that." I kept my voice even. "My issue was never with your presence. It was with how it was handled."

She nodded again, slowly. Her eyes moved around the room, taking in the boxes in the corner, the transport labels Velvet had started placing on furniture, the general quiet efficiency of someone wrapping up.

"You’re really leaving," she said.

"Yes."

She was quiet for a moment. Then the softness in her expression adjusted, subtly, the way a painting changes depending on the light. "I hope you find what you’re looking for, Rowena. I genuinely do." A pause. "I just hope it doesn’t take too long. Women who leave their pack without a bond, without a mate — it gets harder."

There it was.

Not a threat. Just a small, smooth reminder of what I’d be without. Said gently, like concern. Designed to land in the place where fear lived.

"Don’t listen to her," Kyra said.

"I am not and will not."

"I’ll manage," I said simply, and picked up my pen.

Virella lingered for a moment, then stood. She was almost at the door when Kaelen appeared in the frame behind her.

He glanced between us. Read the room quickly, the way he always did.

"Everything alright?" he asked. Directed at Virella.

"Fine," she said softly. "Rowena and I were just talking." She touched his arm lightly as she passed him. "I’ll let you two speak."

She moved down the corridor and disappeared, and Kaelen stepped into the room. He didn’t sit. He closed the door behind him and stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the boxes in the corner with an expression I couldn’t quite name.

"You’re moving things out," he said.

"Yes."

"The fourteen days aren’t up."

"My attorney confirmed I can begin asset retrieval immediately," I said. "The decree doesn’t require me to wait."

He was quiet for a moment. Then: "I could contest it."

"You could," I agreed. "You’d lose, and it would cost you standing with Alaric’s office at a time when you can’t afford that. But you could try."

His jaw worked. "You went to him directly. Without saying anything."

"I tried to handle it within the family first," I said. "You said no. Multiple times." I looked at him steadily. "I found another door."

Something moved across his face. He walked to the window and stood there with his back to me, looking out at the estate grounds.

"The wedding is in three weeks," he said.

I waited.

"Virella wanted a formal ceremony," he continued.

"Pack witnesses, the whole...." he stopped. "I thought you should know."

I understood what he was doing. Not cruelty exactly, but more like a test disguised as information. Checking whether the word wedding still had purchase. Whether I would flinch to it.

Three weeks ago I would have. Honestly. But not anymore.

"Congratulations," I said. And I meant it in the flattest, most complete way possible, not sarcastic, just done and finished. The word a door closing rather than a wound.

He turned to look at me.

"That’s all you have to say."

"What would you like me to say, Kaelen?" I asked.

"That it hurts? It did. Past tense." I set my pen down again and looked at him directly. "You came home after three years and the first thing you did was tell me I had no say in my own marriage. You made that very clear. So I stopped having a say in it." I paused. "I found a different way forward. You’re finding yours. In three weeks, you’ll be married to a woman you love and I’ll be in my family’s house." I spread my hands slightly. "It’s the best outcome available."

He stared at me. Something in his expression was harder to read than usual.

"You’re not angry," he said. Like he couldn’t decide if that was better or worse than if I were.

"I’m not," I said. And that was the most honest thing I’d said in this room.

"Told you," Kyra said quietly. "Ground under your feet."

Kaelen stood there for another moment. He looked at the boxes again. At the transport labels. At the careful, systematic dismantling of three years.

Then he nodded, once, and walked out without another word.

I picked up my pen.

Three weeks. That was his problem.

Mine was already being solved.