Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 275

Chapter 275: Nothing to Me

Two Umbra guards came through first, dragging something between them. It took Kira a full second to understand that the something was a person, and another second after that to understand who.

Nana.

Her silver hair had come loose from its usual neat bob and hung in ragged strands around her face. Her cardigan was torn at the shoulder, one sleeve dark with dirt, and there was a scrape along her cheekbone that had already started to bruise.

She stumbled between the two of them, her wrists bound in front of her, and when they reached the middle of the floor, they shoved her down hard onto her knees.

The sight of Nana in that state went straight through Kira like a blade.

Viktor strolled in behind them with his hands in his pockets, grinning like a man arriving at his own birthday party.

"There we are," he said cheerfully. "Now. Are you surprised?"

Every Umbra around the table had turned to look at her. Kira could feel their eyes crawling over her face, waiting, hungry for whatever she gave them. So she gave them nothing.

She exhaled slowly and let one eyebrow lift.

"What makes you think I’d believe that’s Lady Genevieve Wolfe?" she said, her voice light, almost bored. "You lot wear faces the way other people wear coats. For all I know, that’s one of yours playing dress-up."

Viktor’s smirk widened into a grin. "Now, that’s just insulting."

"Is it?" She gestured lazily towards the kneeling figure. "You’re wearing Viktor. Half the people at this table are wearing werewolves I know. Forgive me if I don’t take your word for anything anymore."

Something ugly flickered behind his eyes, but he covered it fast. "Fine. Then pick her memories. Isn’t that what your kind does?"

Kira turned her head slowly and looked at Nana properly for the first time.

The old woman lifted her chin. Her eyes were wet, but there was steel underneath them, and when they met Kira’s, something passed between the two of them that nobody else in the room could see.

"The night of my wedding," Kira said quietly. "What did you put in my room?"

Nana’s voice came out broken and thin, but it came out steady. "Lingerie. A red one."

Kira’s heart slammed against her ribs so hard she was certain the whole table could hear it.

It was her. It was really Nana.

Everything she’d planned, every careful calculation she’d made walking through those corridors, came apart in a single breath.

She’d come here to play small and helpless, to sit quietly and learn their weaknesses and choose her moment. She could afford to be patient when the only life on the table was her own.

Now there was a rope around Nana’s neck, and Kira was holding the other end of it.

Let me out. Lux surged up beneath her skin, snarling, all teeth and fury. Let me out right now and I’ll tear his spine through his throat before he blinks.

No.

Kira, we are powerful enough to end everyone here.

I know, but remember we’re not just here to end everyone. We’re here to make sure the Shadow King goes extinct forever. So, we need more wit than brute for now.

Kira subdued Lux, forcing her own pulse to slow, dragging her face into something flat and unbothered. If we move now, they’ll know exactly what she’s worth to us.

Lux went quiet, seething.

Kira picked up a water glass, took a small sip, and set it down again.

"So," she said. "What exactly is this?"

Viktor spread his arms. "I think you know exactly what this is."

"Do you know," Kira said, tilting her head, "I actually thought you were clever. I did. All those times sitting across a desk from you, I genuinely believed there was something going on behind your eyes. But you’re even duller than I imagined, aren’t you?"

Viktor’s smile faltered, his jaw working, and when he spoke, all the cheer had drained out of his voice.

"Watch your mouth."

Kira didn’t so much as blink. "You think she’s leverage?" She let out a short laugh and jerked her chin at Nana. "You dragged that woman across half the packs thinking she’d make me sit up and beg? I’ve never liked her."

The words landed in the room like a dropped plate.

Viktor’s brow creased. "What?"

Kira folded her arms over her chest, and fixed Nana with a glare that could have stripped paint.

"Go on, then." Her voice went cold. "Tell them. Tell them how you’ve spent every day since I arrived pretending you could stand the sight of me. Did you think I couldn’t tell? All those months of pretending to care about me while secretly wishing Derek had married someone more suitable? You never liked me."

For a moment, Nana just stared blankly at her. Then something clicked behind the old woman’s eyes, and her face shifted into something twisted and bitter.

"Ungrateful!" Nana spat, her voice rising with fury. "You ungrateful little bitch. I took you into my home. I put you at my table. I defended you to my own grandson when the whole court said you weren’t fit to stand beside him."

"Defended me?" Kira barked out a laugh. "You tolerated me. There’s a difference, and don’t think I never noticed it."

"I was dragged into your family—"

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