Chapter 54: Is She Going To Be Okay?
By the time Agnes finished, Lilith had drifted completely into sleep.
Not the restless, trauma-filled sleep of before. But a deeper sleep. A sleep of exhaustion and surrender. A sleep where her body could finally begin to heal.
Agnes sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the girl who’d arrived here as payment and had become something far more complicated.
"You’re going to be okay," Agnes whispered, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from Lilith’s forehead. "I promise you that. You’re going to be okay."
She sat there for a long time, just watching her breathe. Just being present. Just offering the quiet comfort that only someone who’d lived a long life could offer.
***
Across the estate, in Lucian’s room, Sebastian returned to his brothers.
He found them exactly where he’d left them, Lucian pacing by the window, Nicholas standing motionless by the wall, both of them radiating tension and guilt.
"Agnes is taking care of her now," Sebastian said quietly.
Lucian turned from the window immediately.
"Is she going to be okay?" he asked. The question carried the weight of everything unsaid. Everything they’d done. Everything they couldn’t take back.
"What happened to her?" Sebastian added, his voice hollow. "You can’t possibly tell me she became like that because we fucked her. Because we’re not just fucking her, brother now. So why...."
He didn’t finish the question. Because they all knew the answer.
Nicholas turned to look at his younger brother, and his face was carved from stone.
"I think we broke her yesterday," he said quietly. "And we’re so fucked up for it."
His words landed like a physical blow.
Nicholas looked at his brothers again, and there was something broken in his expression. Something that suggested he understood the weight of what they’d done in a way that went beyond words.
"We have to make sure she fully recovers before we send her back to Shadowmere," he continued. "Or else that good-for-nothing Alpha will use it against us and make ridiculous demands."
Sebastian’s face twisted with anger.
"Is that what you’re worried about right now?" he demanded. His voice was raw. "She’s lying down there looking lifeless, and you’re thinking about political consequences? She’s broken, brother. What the fuck are we going to do about it?"
Nicholas was silent for a long moment.
"We’re going to leave it to Agnes," he said finally. His voice was controlled, but barely. "Agnes will take care of her. At least for today. I’ll speak to Agnes this evening and find out if she’s recovering. Agnes’s answer will determine what we need to do next. If we should bring in healers or not."
He turned away and walked to the window, looking out at the grounds below.
"But for now," he said, his voice dropping to something that sounded almost like a command, "no one touches her. No one goes near her room until she’s returned back to her pack. She’s off limits. Completely."
The words hung in the air between them.
No one touches her.
It was the only thing they could control. The only way they could protect her now. By removing themselves completely. By stepping back from the edge they’d pushed her over.
Lucian’s hands clenched into fists.
Sebastian sat down heavily in the nearest chair, his head in his hands.
And Nicholas continued to stare out the window, watching the estate grounds, watching the day unfold without them, understanding for the first time exactly how much they’d broken when they’d shattered the omega in this very office hours ago.
***
The morning continued.
The estate moved forward.
And in her room, Lilith slept the sleep of someone who’d been pushed past the breaking point and had finally, mercifully, been given permission to stop fighting.
Agnes sat beside her bed, keeping vigil. Keeping watch. Making sure that no one would disturb her recovery.
Making sure that at least in this moment, in this place, there was someone who cared more about Lilith’s wellbeing than about anything else.
***
The office had grown dark by the time Agnes knocked.
Not the soft, professional knock from this morning. This knock was hesitant. Uncertain. The kind of knock that announced bad news before the mouth could form the words.
Nicholas looked up from the paperwork he hadn’t been reading for the past three hours. Sebastian’s hand stilled at the window where he’d been standing, perfectly motionless, for longer than that. Lucian’s head turned from where he’d been pacing, a restless, predatory motion that had been going on since mid-afternoon.
"Enter," Nicholas commanded.
Agnes pushed open the door. She looked older than she had that morning. The lines around her eyes had deepened. Her shoulders carried a weight that hadn’t been there before. She’d changed clothes, the ones she was wearing now had small stains that looked suspiciously like Lilith’s blood mixed with water.
Sebastian turned from the window immediately.
"How is she?" he asked. The question came out rough. Demanding. Like he needed the answer more than he needed his next breath.
Agnes stepped fully inside the office and closed the door behind her. Her hands were folded in front of her, a gesture of respect, but there was something in her posture that made the air in the room shift.
"She’s not looking good, Alpha Sebastian," Agnes said quietly. "She hasn’t woken up since I started cleaning her."
The words landed like a physical blow.
Sebastian moved toward her immediately. "What do you mean she hasn’t woken up? It’s been hours. It’s been..." He stopped himself, his jaw clenching. "How many hours, Agnes?"
"Since this morning, Alpha," Agnes said. Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled slightly. I tried to wake her several times, but she wouldn’t respond. She’s....asleep. And she hasn’t woken up since."
Lucian’s head snapped toward her.
"What the fuck do you mean she hasn’t woken up?" he demanded. His voice was sharp. Feral. The golden tint in his eyes was becoming more pronounced, suggesting that Zev was rising closer to the surface. "It’s been hours already! Ten hours! More than that!"
"She hasn’t woken up, Alpha Lucian," Agnes repeated, and there was no fear in her voice. No judgment. Just facts. "She fell asleep while I was cleaning her body, and she hasn’t woken up since then."
