Thorne walked into the room assigned to him and Adina, feeling conflicted by all he had seen that day. He had also spent a day in Silverwater and wanted to leave right away.

He stood by the doorway, his gaze landing on Adina who was standing by the window, her hair tied into a bun, and a touch shawl around her shoulders. She turned around when she heard the door open, her gaze falling on him, and a soft smile made its way to her lips.

"Your Majesty," she called softly.

Somehow, all the heaviness and conflict Thorne had in his heart faded away at the sight of her smiling.

"Don't call me that," he murmured as he stepped fully into the room, his boots leaving a trail of dirt on the floor.

Adina tilted her head. "What should I call you then?"

He reached her in a few strides, lifting his hand to brush her cheek, the dirt on his fingers stark against her clean skin. "Just Thorne. I only want to be Thorne when I'm with you."

She smiled softly. "You look… terrible," she said, and a laugh bubbled out of his mouth. The first in twenty-four hours? Forty-eight? Thorne didn't know anymore.

"I feel terrible too," he said, hugging her still. She didn't fight it, not even when he smelled like sewage water. She allowed him to hug her even then.

"You stink."

"I know."

"What happened? Why do you look and feel terrible?" she asked.

Thorne sighed, pulling back and began to unhook his boots. "This pack is a lie," he began.

Adina's brows furrowed. "A lie? What do you mean?" she asked.

"There are fifteen people missing in this pack, and all fifteen of them come from the side of the pack Jordan wanted hidden forever."

"There's a different part of the pack than this?" Adina asked, confused.

Thorne chuckled. "Oh, there's a totally different world. The part where Jordan wished didn't exist. The part where the people are rotten with hunger and poverty."

Adina blinked, clearly trying to process his words. "But… I thought Silverwater was one of the strongest packs in the East. That it was thriving."

"That's exactly what he wanted us to think," Thorne muttered. He yanked off his boots with a groan, setting them aside. His shirt followed next, mud and sweat clinging to it like filth. "He gave me a grand tour, streets paved with gold, officials with round bellies, warriors who look more like lazy lords than fighters."

"And behind all of that?" Adina prompted softly, her eyes tracking him as he moved.

"Despair," he said bluntly. "Past a row of average houses, he'd hidden them. The poor. Dozens of families crammed into moldy, crumbling buildings. No food. No warmth. No respect."

Adina shook her head, unable to comprehend the thought. "He's hiding them to keep up appearances."

Thorne gave a bitter nod, walking towards the bathhouse. Adina had prepared everything he'd need and even gone as far as to send out the maids provided to help him bathe beforehand. "Of course he is. He doesn't see them as part of his pack. They're numbers to him. All useless and replaceable."

He sank into the water, resting his head on the wooden tub. Adina rolled up her sleeve and took a bowl, lathering the foam with soap.

"Let me," she said, pouring the water on his body.

"And the missing?"

Thorne scoffed, "All of them from that area. All poor. Unseen. There are fifteen of them in total. All poor. He didn't even report them missing. He claims they often disappear to avoid responsibilities. If the number of missing people in the eastern district didn't increase, I doubt he would've reported them eventually. They would've all been forgotten."

"I hate that this doesn't shock me," she said quietly. "It's always the poor who are forgotten first."

"I've been alive for so long, and yet I still can't understand how he can lead his pack while forgetting his own people. He sees them daily, struggling to survive and pretends like they aren't dying each passing day." Thorne reached for her hand under the water, fingers curling around hers.

"It's what happens when people are in positions of power," she said.

"Even me?" he asked, locking gaze with hers.

She smiled. "Never."

Thorne smiled bitterly. "I have these alphas under my rule… making their people go through hell. I am responsible for their actions."

"You do the best that you can. You have more than enough packs under you. You can't possibly look into every nook and cranny, trying to figure out what is working well and what is not. That's why you have the alphas leading each pack. Now, when they fail their duties to their packs. To their people. That's not on you." She paused for a second. "Besides, you caught onto what's happening in Silverwater the very first second you arrived."

"That's the bare minimum."

Adina shook her head. "The bare minimum is pretending they don't exist. Turning a blind eye while they starve. That's Jordan. That's not you."

Thorne sighed, sinking deeper into the bath, water lapping at his chest. He hadn't realized how badly his body ached until now, and it wasn't just physical exhaustion.

Adina dipped the sponge into the water again, gently scrubbing at the grime on his shoulders.

"You always carry so much," she whispered. "Even when no one sees it."

Thorne's eyes fluttered shut at the touch, the warmth of her voice washing over him as surely as the water. "I can't afford not to," he muttered. "If I don't… who will? That's the responsibility of a king, and that's what I am. The king."

Adina didn't reply; there wasn't much she could say to take away the guilt he was feeling.

For a while, there was silence between them. It wasn't uncomfortable but peaceful. She washed him gently, her touch soothing. And Thorne, for the first time that day, felt like he could breathe.

"I'm going to place one of my own men here," he said eventually, breaking the silence. "To oversee Silverwater. Jordan doesn't get to play Alpha anymore. I'll cut his funding and send aid directly to the neglected families."

"That's why you aren't like them," she whispered, and he smiled.

"I can't stay here any longer. I need to know what else I'm missing. In the other packs too," he said, thinking back to how all those who had gone missing were poor.

He remembered a report Caelum had told him two years ago when Adina came into the pack. The rebels attacked those who were wretched in the poorer villages. They filled their heads and minds with nonsense to poison them against the king and join in their cult of worshipping Khaos.

He made a mental note to tell Caelum to make his findings…

"What's the plan?" she asked.

"We leave for Redmoon pack at dawn tomorrow."