Chapter 6

Berrilyl's POV

I lay on the diet filled floor, thinking about my already half damaged life. 

 While still in the thought, the huge sound of the door slamming against the wall startled me from my restless thoughts. 

Cage stood there, his presence commanding as always, filling the small, oppressive space with a suffocating weight. 

His sharp gaze cut through me, daring me to challenge him. 

I didn’t wait for his permission to speak up.

 The words spit out from me like a dam bursting, fueled by days , no , weeks, of torment and unanswered questions.  

“Why did you kill him?” My voice cracked but carried the fury I’d been swallowing through the time of heavy thoughts and pain. 

“Why did you kill my husband? He was innocent!”  

Cage tilted his head, his lips curling into something between a sneer and a bitter sweet smirk.

 “Innocent? Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night, Berrilyl?”  

“Don’t twist this around, you coward!” I shot back, standing despite the ache in my legs.

 “He actually did nothing to deserve what you did to him. Nothing!”  

Cage took a deliberate step into the cell, his boots echoing against the dirty stone floor. He was close enough now that I could see the flicker of something that plays in his eyes, it look like something dark and dangerous, but not entirely devoid of emotion.  

“You want the truth, don't you?” His voice was low and urgent, almost gentle, which only made it more menacing and Strong. 

“Your brother, Alpha Williams, provoked me. He practically begged for this war. Your precious husband just happened to be the pawn he sacrificed to save his own skin.”  

The words hit me like a sharp blow to the chest. I staggered back, gripping the wall for a firm support.

 “You’re lying,” I whispered, though even as I said it, doubt crept in.  

Cage’s smirk deepened. 

“Am I? Think, Berrilyl. Why was your husband in the middle of it all? Why would an innocent man stand in my way unless someone else put him there?”  

" Huh...?" 

I clenched my fists tight, my nails digging into my palms, with my anger and frustration rising to the top. 

“You’re just trying to justify your day own cruelty. My brother might be a lot of things, but he wouldn’t use us like that. He wouldn’t.."  

“He wouldn’t?” Cage interrupted, his tone mocking with his slow laughter.

 “You’ve spent your whole life believing in fairy tales, haven’t you? The noble brother, the perfect husband you thought about. But the world isn’t as simple as you want it to be for you and everyone else.”  

I hated the way his words made sense to my ears, hated the seed of doubt he was planting within me.

 But more than that, I hated myself for considering it at first.  

“Even if what you’re saying is the noble truth,” I said, my voice trembling with barely contained rage, “that doesn’t explain why you did it. You could have spared his own life. You could have..”  

“ You just said I should have spared him?” Cage’s voice rose, the calm veneer cracking up.

 “Do you think I wanted his blood on my hands eithers? Do you think I enjoyed ripping apart your perfect little world for you or another? No, Berrilyl. You and your brother made sure there was no other option for me."  

My breath hitched at this point.

 “Me?”  

His expression shifted, and for a moment, I saw something raw beneath the surface already.

 Pain? Regret? It was gone too quickly to tell.  

“You married him,” Cage said, his voice quieter now but no less sharp and hitting. “You aligned yourself with a man who stood against me. You didn’t just stand by him, Berrilyl,you became part of the enemy’s strategy. Whether you realized it or not, you gave them reason to think they could win.”  

I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes already with his words.

 “You’re twisting everything around. I didn’t ask for this either. I didn’t choose this war for anyone!”  

“But you chose him for yourself,” Cage said, taking another step closer to me.

 “And in doing so, you sealed his own dear fate.”  

His words cut deeper than any sharp blade. 

I wanted to scream at him, to claw at his face, to do anything to make him hurt as much as I did. But I couldn’t move an inch. The weight of his accusation, of his twisted logic, pinned me in a single place with hundred of thoughts.  

“Do you think that justifies what you did?” I finally managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Do you think that makes you any less of a monster your are?”  

Cage’s jaw tightened, and for the first time, he looked away. 

“I never claimed to be a hero, Berrilyl, or have I ever done that. But monsters are made, not actually born. Remember that, little one.”  

The room fell into a heavy silence, broken only by the sound of his footsteps retreating. He stopped at the door, glancing back at me with an expression I couldn’t quite crack up.  

“Believe what you want,” he said, his voice cold again. “But the truth doesn’t care about what your feeling is. It just is.”  

And with that, he was gone, leaving me alone with the unbearable weight of his words.  

As the door slammed shut, I sank to the floor, my hands and feet trembling with fear.

For the first time, I wasn’t sure who I hated more, Cage for what he’d done or myself for not knowing if he was right or wrong.

All I could just say is.

My life was about ending but without a happy ending, and it has never been in my plan for that to happen.

No Owen. No husband. Now caged by Cage.

“ What really happened between my brother and him?” I asked myself at this point, looking at the floor.