The Dying Alpha's Unexpected Fated Mate

Carina POV:

The carriage ride was tense and silent after I finished my instructions. Holly just nodded, her face pale but determined. I could only hope she had the courage to follow through.

Suddenly, I clutched my stomach and let out a soft groan, letting my body go limp against the worn velvet seat.

"My lady?" Holly asked, her voice filled with practiced concern. She was a better actor than I expected.

"The bump..." I whispered, pressing a hand to my forehead where the cut was. "I feel... dizzy. Sick."

I began to breathe shallowly, my eyes fluttering. It was a classic presentation of a mild concussion, something they wouldn't understand but whose symptoms were undeniable.

The carriage soon lurched to a stop, not at a ceremonial site, but back at the manor's entrance. Mrs. Gable yanked the door open, her face a thundercloud.

"What is this now?" she demanded, seeing my pale face and the blood on my forehead.

"She's unwell, ma'am," Holly said timidly. "The blow to her head..."

"If the sacrifice is damaged before the ritual, the offering is tainted," I murmured, my voice weak but clear. I was weaponizing their own beliefs against them. "The Goddess will be angered."

Mrs. Gable's face shifted from fury to fear. A failed ceremony would be a disaster, and the blame would fall directly on Lady Cristen. And then, by extension, on herself.

"I need to rest for a moment," I said. "And... I wish to see my cousin, Kaila. To pray for her, and for myself. It will please the Goddess."

The request was audacious, but I'd framed it in the language of piety and ritual. It was a difficult request to refuse without seeming impious.

After a tense standoff, Mrs. Gable relented. "Five minutes. Then you go to the Alpha, conscious or not."

Victory. A small, cold spark in the darkness. I was led through the manor again, this time to a lavish bedroom on the main floor. I could hear faint, pained moans from within as we approached.

I entered the room. Kaila Carter was lying in the center of a massive bed, her blonde hair splayed out on the pillow. A doctor and her mother, Lady Eleanor Carter, were fussing over her.

"Cousin," I whispered, walking to the bedside, my expression one of deep sorrow.

As I leaned over her, ostensibly to smooth her hair, I discreetly pressed my fingers against the artery in her neck. Her pulse was thready, but her skin was clammy. My eyes scanned her face. A faint bluish tint to her lips. Dilated pupils. I smelled it then, a faint, almost undetectable trace of a plant I knew as deep bog nightshade. A paralytic toxin.

She'd poisoned herself to get out of the wedding. A dangerous, stupid gambit.

"I will pray for her," I announced to the room.

I took her hand in mine. As I did, my thumb pressed down hard on a specific nerve cluster at her wrist. It was a technique to induce intense, temporary pain without leaving a mark.

Kaila's body instantly arched off the bed with a strangled cry, her eyes flying open in pure agony before rolling back in her head.

The room erupted into chaos. "What did you do?" Lady Eleanor shrieked at me.

"I did nothing!" I said, my face a mask of shock and horror. "I was just praying! It must be the Goddess's judgment!"

While everyone was distracted by Kaila's convulsions, I used the opportunity to brush my fingers, now coated with a residue from Kaila's own skin, against the inner lining of the carriage driver's glove, which Holly had deftly stolen and passed to me earlier. I dropped the glove back into Holly's waiting hand unnoticed.

"Her condition has worsened!" the doctor shouted. "She's having convulsions!"

Mrs. Gable grabbed my arm, her face white with panic. "Get her out of here! Get her to the carriage! Now!"

I was dragged from the room, leaving a scene of medical pandemonium behind me.My revenge worked perfectly.

As I was shoved back into the carriage, the vehicle gave a sudden, violent jolt, far worse than before. I was thrown against the wall, and I heard a sickening crack from one of the axle supports.

The sabotage was obvious. Someone was trying to stop me from reaching the Alpha heir.