The Alpha King’s Broken Mate

A cut of trust

Caspian’s POV

There are few things I despise more than uncertainty.

Uncertainty weakens leaders. It splits judgment like an unhealed wound. In my young age, I was taught to kill doubt before it took root, because once it does, it grows like a parasite. It eats at clarity, at conviction, at trust, at just everything.

And now, I am facing the plague.

I sat alone in the war chamber, the fire burning low in the hearth. The walls, once silent stone, seemed to press inward, whispering things I didn’t want to hear. My hands were clasped before me, elbows braced on the table, eyes fixed on the silver crest embedded in the wood, a wolf devouring a snake.

But who was the wolf now? And who was the snake?

Namiko’s voice still echoed in my ears.

“I came to you for protection.”

“If you think I’m lying, then look into my thoughts…”

But I hadn’t. I didn’t look.

Because I was afraid of what I might see. Or worse, what I might not.

There was no reason to doubt Ariana. She had served me loyally once. She had risked exile and disgrace to bring this forward. Why would she lie?

And yet, even as I tried to build the case against Namiko in my mind, the memory of her soft expression and her trembling voice, made it all a pill too hard to swallow.

Was I being fooled?

Or was I just desperate to believe she was different?

My fingers curled into fists. No. I couldn’t afford softness. Not again. Not with my crown balanced on the edge of a sword and enemies lurking in every shadow.

A sharp knock shattered my thoughts.

“Enter,” I growled.

Ariana stepped in, poised as always, a roll of parchment in one hand and something small clutched in the other.

“My King,” she said, bowing. “I’ve brought what I promised.”

I gestured silently for her to continue.

She walked to the table and opened the parchment across it. It seems like a map of some sort, it's stained, torn, but very familiar.

“This is a strategic sketch of your palace,” she said. “This can only be drawn by someone with intimate access. Look closely. These details, guard rotations, weak points in the eastern wall, and patrol gaps during moon rites, they aren’t public knowledge. Not even to most of your council.”

I stared at it, the lines crawling across the paper like veins. My blood chilled.

“How did you come by this?”

Ariana lifted the small object she’d brought, a locket.

“She dropped this the night she arrived.”

“How would you know, Ariana? You were not here. You dare not be scheming, Ariana, I have lost my patience!”

“One of the maids found it buried in her blood-soaked cloak. Inside” She said softly as if fearing how the next word she said would affect me.

She pressed a catch, and the locket clicked open.

Inside, written in delicate ink on folded parchment, was a name.

A name I recognized.

Varek.

The Northern traitor. The rebel Alpha who had assassinated three southern lords and fled into hiding with his rogue kin. One of the reasons for my visits to the small packs. I have only put a hold on my visits because I have been told Valek has gone into hiding. Only strategic plans can fetch him out.

“She was meant to pass this along once she was inside,” Ariana said softly. “A message, this is the proof she had infiltrated your palace, my king.”

It felt like acid dripping down my throat.

“No one else saw this?” I asked, voice hollow.

“No one who would question me,” she replied. “I brought it to you first, as proof. She’s not who she says she is. She never was.”

I stared at the locket, at the name. My body sat still, but my mind raged like a storm.

It didn’t make sense.

Namiko had looked me in the eye and begged for me to see the truth. No hesitation at all, not even a flicker of guilt. Could someone that convincing really be a liar?

Or had I just wanted to believe her?

“Why now?” I asked. “Why come forward only after she’s begun settling down here? She is been here two weeks and now?”

Ariana didn’t flinch. “Because I was afraid of you. Of what you might do if I questioned her. You’ve always had a weakness for lost things, Caspian. For strays.”

I turned away, my jaw clenched. Maybe this was it. Maybe what I feel in my veins for her is because she looked lost, she looked like seine who needed protection. Someone like me.

“Leave me,” I said. “Now.”

She bowed again, gracefully, and left the chamber without another word.

As soon as the door closed, I slammed my fist into the table hard enough to splinter the edge.

“Damn it!”

The truth tasted bitter now. But it tasted real.

The locket, the map, and the name Varek. They all align. No one could fabricate that kind of detail. No one could access those schematics unless they’d studied the palace from within. Ariana wasn’t clever enough to forge military-grade documentation, someone had helped her, or it was real.

Which meant Namiko, was a liar. A spy.

And I’d let her into my bed, into my court, into my head.

I stood, the firelight casting a red gleam across my reflection on the polished war table.

I hated her.

I hated that I missed her voice already. I hated that I’d softened my grip when I spoke to her, that I’d found myself wondering how she slept when I wasn’t there. That her scent still lingered in my chambers.

It had all been a trick. I paced the room, each step ringing like thunder off the stone floor.

She must have studied me. Learned what I craved, softness, loyalty, and someone who didn’t see only my crown. She fed me what I longed to hear and filled the gaps in my soul with carefully chosen words. I’ll heal you. I’ll bear your heirs. I’m the only one who can. It was all calculated, all false. I would not let myself fall for it again.

From now on, I would be king before anything else, just like I have always been. Emotionless, merciless, just like everyone fears me to be.

And yet. . .

I found myself walking toward the eastern wing. I didn’t mean to. My legs just carried me there.

Two guards stood at the cell door. They stiffened as I approached.

“Leave us,” I commanded.

They obeyed.

I opened the door slowly.

Namiko sat curled in the far corner, hair a tangle of moonlit strands, her eyes lifting to meet mine. She didn’t stand, she didn't even try to speak. She just looked at me like she already knew the verdict. And maybe she did.

I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

“You lied to me,” I said, not needing a reply. “You played a part and I believed it. You made me forget who I was.”

Her lips parted, but no sound came.

“You came here carrying a locket with Varek’s name in it,” I went on. “A map of my palace’s defense routes. Ariana found them. And there’s only one explanation for how you got them.”

“I didn’t. . . I don't even know who Varek is”

“Don’t.” My voice was ice. “Don’t say another word.”

Her eyes widened, the rejection like a slap.

My chest hurts, and I'm consumed by fury, confusion, and grief.

“I should have killed you the moment you stepped through my gates,” I muttered. “But I let your tears blind me. I let you touch me.”

I turned away before I did something I would regret. My hands trembled with restrained wrath.

“You’re dead to me, Namiko. The next time I see you, it will be on your knees before a court that will show you no mercy. I won’t stop them.”

Silence stretched, then, her voice broke through, soft and trembling.

“If that’s what you truly believe. . . then go. But if there’s still a part of you that feels I didn’t do this, then fight for me. Even if it’s just for one more day.”

I didn’t look back. I closed the door behind me and sealed her fate. At least, that’s what I told myself.

Because anything else would mean admitting I could still be wrong and kings don’t afford the luxury of doubt.