THE PALACE SPY

A man in a brown coat and black boots laced with grey furs around the edges of the boots stood upright in front of a gentle stream. He had on a black hat that concealed his face.

Two men walked up to him, dressed up in shirts and pants.

"Our first mission has been accomplished," they both chorused and bowed as they salute.

"Lord Krepe!"

"That is exactly what I want to hear." The 6ft3 tall man turned towards the men, hands in his coat pockets.

"How soon are we going to strike?" One of the men asked.

"I hear he is named the devil prince and is difficult to kill. We will have to deal with him with caution. It's a pity in our attempt to kill him, his family members were so unfortunate to take his place." He clicked his tongue in pity.

"What do you propose we do my Lord?" The other one asked, eyes fixated on the man before him.

"It's quite simple. I want you both to study him. Find his weaknesses, penetrate him and make sure you keep an eye on our person living with him" He dismissed the men and turned back to his view of the gentle stream, his thoughts wandering back to the past when he went to the soothsayer to ask about his fate as the King.

The old man had said, "I'd advise you to put a stop to whatever evil you're planning to do to the successor to the throne. He is very powerful and will come like the devil in his most fearful form. The whole world shall hear of his name and tremble."

He had leaned closer to the man in the dark cave, ears opened. "Who are you talking about? Craig?" He asked wondering if his brother told him anything about Craig being a special child.

Laughter filled the dark place covered in dry bones and animal skin.

"Of course, not. He is yet unborn. But when he is born, he shall be like a thorn in your flesh."

Krepe flinched at this word. He did not like the sound of this at all. So he made to kill whoever the unborn baby turn out to be. In his attempt to do that, he killed the mother but Alex had somehow been saved by his father who later sent him out of the packs since he is royalty and cannot be thrown into the dungeon. Since then, he has made it his mission to kill the so-called devil prince and take over the pack.

He sighed as he let those memories flash through his head.

This time, there will be no mistake made.

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Sitting alone by her window after dinner, Cher's issue still lingering in her head, she heard someone walk in. Turning her head sideways to see who it is, she realized it was Amelia who is now in a flower-printed nightgown.

She took her seat just opposite Selena and they both stared outside the window, silent for a while before Amelia chose to speak up.

"I know how broken you feel knowing the one person you always thought you would marry is dead and now you have to marry another person chosen for you."

Not that the marriage mattered anyway to her but she was hundred percent sure her father would not take it lightly. Becoming an in-law to the Alpha is the biggest jackpot one could hit, and she isn't sure if her family will be willing to let go simply because she does not have feelings for the men.

However, getting married to Alex seem to excite her in a strange way she cannot explain. If there is any unpleasant thing she would like to be involved in, it would be to spend the rest of her life with him.

"It's not like I'm going to be a widow. I'm allowed to marry whoever mounts the throne, not someone in particular." She answered.

"Alex? Can you cope living with him?" Amelia twitched her lips.

"He's got a lot going on in his life right now and I don't think he would want to add having a mate to it."

"He didn't tell me that?" Selena bristled, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears.

"I believe he's just trying to make me see how he pities me."

"That's what he does now? Pity people? I don't understand him these days."

"Maybe you're the one misunderstanding him. He's trying to prove to everyone he's not as bad as how people portray him." She defended him again.

Amelia snorted and stared at her for a long time.

"You're talking like he's more of your brother than he's mine." She said.

"You think so? Amelia, you've known your brother for as long as you have been born. You both may not have the same mothers but it doesn't make you enemies, does it?

"Father had arranged a wedding for me even before I was born and you think I do not deserve to be hateful and think of him as a bad person. He is not a bad person. Fate is just being cruel to him."

Amelia sighed as she lowered her eyes and thought over her words.

"You're right." She replied. "But are you sure you want to marry him?"

"Do I look like I have a choice?" She chuckled nervously knowing Alex had already given her a choice.

"Alright. He doesn't seem like he is ready for marriage but I can always ask him I guess." She stood up and left the room after patting Selena's shoulder.

Sitting on the terrace outside, Alex saw Amelia coming to join him.

Although they always have their differences, she still seems to be the only sibling he can talk to after Craig, his brother. When his Mother died, leaving him in the hands of a cruel world, his loving stepmother, Ariana, tried all she could to give him everything he so much desired. But when she died as well from food poisoning, he thought the world was against him in general. Coupled with the rumor of him being a devil prince which to this day he had always tried to live up to.

Amelia sat beside him, her eyes glowing in the dark. There was silence between them for a while before Alex decided to speak up. He cleared his throat before asking her,

"What is it you want, Amelia?"

She flung her hair backward and looked down nervously. Her hands fiddling with her skirt.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Go on then."

"Are you going to marry Selena?"

Again the question hits his heart like a log of wood. The same question Selena had asked him got him worked up and he wondered if he wanted that now.

"Amelia," he sat upright and exhaled deeply. "I already spoke to Selena. Whatever contract was made for us to get married will be canceled. I'm the King now."

Amelia laughed dryly and smirked before dropping the bombshell.

"If it were that easy, Selena would in fact be licking your feet to change the will. However, you'd have to go through the process of breaking the oath by visiting the filament of questioning and go to the Kingmakers to sign an agreement and I'm sure not all of them will be cool with you changing the order. Finally, you'd have to convince the other party to give in." She explained to Alex whose mouth is now opened in shock.

"What!" He growled. he has been away from home for a long time so he didn't understand most of their stupid rules. 

"There's no but, Alex," she placed a hand on his arm.

"Just marry her. You both make a good match anyway."

"What?! No way! You've got to be kidding me!" He frowned in disgust as he chewed his finger thoughtfully.

If changing the decree is this hard, he will rather go with marrying Selena. Since he isn't ready for that, he can just get married to her and keep her in the palace to stop the gossip.

"Alright, you win, Amelia. I'll talk to her and arrange a wedding." He didn't sound convinced. He just knew inside his head that he wasn't ready.

"Thank you, brother." There was an awkward silence between them again before Amelia spoke up about their biggest enemy, Krepe.

"Krepe has a spy here, I'm sure." She started.

"Hm. Whoever it is, I hope he doesn't stay long because I'll fish him out soon." He was now rising from where he had been sitting and moving inside.

"What if it's someone close to you?" Amelia asked behind him and got a reply before he disappeared into the hallway.

"I'll figure him out."

She sighed and turned to look at the sky laced with millions of beautiful stars. The moon in its crescent shape and the wind playing with the grasses as they dance together in the vastness of the field. She turned as well to go but heard an argument coming from the guest room on the first floor.

She took a gentle stride towards the door and taking a peep, she saw a man dressed in a black coat and holding a phone to his ear. He looked furious.

"If you mess things up this time, I'll make sure I kill you. I asked you to leave things to me. I know how to handle it. Now you're sending someone to screw everything up for me. You sent your daughter you wimp!"

He stopped to listen for a while before talking again.

"If you touch my daughter, Krepe. I'll make sure I chop your bones and feed them to the vultures. Is that clear? Your job is to execute the King, not my daughter."

Amelia gasped in shock but was even more shocked when the man turned and she saw who it was.

"What?!" She said and wanted to turn but was too late as she felt a strong hand press cloth to her nose and mouth. She tried to struggle but couldn't anymore as she gave in to the blankness and passed out.