A CROWN OF DIAMONDS AND DEATH

13. Shattered Mirror

tw: allusion to self-harm and suicide attempts

please proceed this chapter with caution. in the us? message 988 if you are experiencing mental distress or having suicide ideations for 24/7 care.

stay safe, loves. also, feel free to dm me if you ever feel alone.

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The walk to Silas's mansion was silent.

Not a word was exchanged between Rebel and the large male. Some members of the Hellsgate community tried to approach the Alpha during their walk, but they were all sent off with a cold, quick response about meeting sometime later.

Silas opened the front door and stepped aside. "Go in. My office is to the first left, and take a seat." No emotion, not even a glance in her direction, and his body was rim-rod straight.

Hell. . .

Rebel did as Silas told (it wasn't like she could do anything else), and sat on a dark leather couch across from his desk. She found the surprisingly large office spaced dressed in mahogany and black furnishings. Silas's house's interior had more of a contemporary rustic feel contrary to the Victorian outside of the mansion.

As she waited for him, she took some time to look at his office's decor. Behind his desk, he had a built-in bookshelf. Rebel recognized a few titles from his collection, some supernatural tomes, and the other books were literary classics like War and Peace, Beowulf, and The Count of Monte Cristo. She even spotted a copy of Pride and Prejudice tucked away at the end of one shelf.

It was probably all for decor, she thought rolling her eyes. Rebel couldn't imagine such a hyper-masculine man reading what was debatably Jane Austen's magnum opus, especially a romance story at that. Or any of the other books on the shelves.

Silas seemed like a hard-headed, by-the-books type of guy, and the only reading he must've done was when he was a young boy in school. A brute with no brains, or heart.

Besides the books, he had pictures taken capturing the wilderness's scenery. Such as a close-up of a tall pine tree, fog surrounding a mountain ridge, a crescent moon with stars, and a picture of a doe and her fawn in the forest.

Surprisingly, he had no pictures of himself or anybody else. Not even the members of his Inner Circle.

But the mansion's interior overall? It was nice, charming, even.

"I got you a water bottle." The sound of his voice pulled her out of her thoughts as he entered the space and gave her the bottle. There hadn't been a trace of anger on in his golden eyes, the heat in them had seemingly dissipated from earlier.

"Thanks," she said, watching as his body rounded the corner and took a seat on his leather chair behind his desk. At this, he nodded his head.

"Um, it seems like quite the cozy space," she tried as she undid the cap on the bottle and took a swig. Her eyes didn't break away from their sight on Silas.

"Thanks. I designed it with Theon years ago."

"Azura tells me he's the pack's lead architect."

"He is, among other things. Theon also serves as the pack lead engineer and invents new gear for us. He's very gifted with mechanics and turning anything on a blueprint into a physical thing."

Since Silas wasn't much of a talker and Rebel didn't know much about him, their conversation died quickly. During the silence, as he looked at a file on his desk, Rebel prepared herself for what was coming. Silas didn't bring her here on pleasant terms, after all.