COLEI frowned deeply as I took in the sight of the head servant before me. I had never seen Mr. Barrett look so horrified. He was known for his statue-like composure, so to see his eyes so wide and his chest heaving with heavy breaths, I knew something was wrong.“I-I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” he apologized as I rose to my feet. Alarm painted his expression, and his mouth trembled. “I-I didn’t mean to burst in unannounced.”“What happened?” I demanded, not out of anger but concern. Flynn stood too, flanking me with a hand on the sword he wore at his side. I glanced beyond him, but there was no one else there but Skyla Fox. “Where’s Aiden?”My King’s Guard should have stopped the servant and the lady before they reached my office, as was his duty.Why was he absent from his post?“M-Mr. Moran h-has gone ahead,” Mr. Barrett stammered as he pointed vaguely to the hallway. “T-there has been an accident in the garden, Your Majesty.”The head servant tried to maintain his composure, but it w
EVELYNI felt myself sinking rapidly.Darkness crept toward me, its tendrils of shadows reaching for me eagerly.At first, I could hear Skyla screaming, her shrill voice growing thinner by the second, but the sound of her cries quickly faded. Soon, it was as if the sound had never existed at all.As my lungs screamed in pain, I tried to free myself from the plants around me, but it was no use. I felt a strange force pulling at my ankles, dragging me deeper into the water.I kicked and fought, but no matter what I did, it was no use. No matter how much effort I expended, no matter how hard I tried, it was no use. I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was trapped, doomed to die beneath these waters just as I nearly did as a child.Water began to fill my nose and mouth when my lungs gave out, and just before I lost consciousness, the water around me seemed to warp. I knew it was nothing more than a delusion, but I could see a vision of my father rushing toward me, jumping into the river, and pulli
EVELYNI didn’t know what to say to Elsa as she stared at me with those large, doe-like eyes of hers. She was so innocent-looking, so sweet… it felt difficult to tell her anything.She seemed to sense my discomfort and spoke quickly.“It’s okay if you don’t want to say,” she assured me. “I’m not trying to pry. I just… I hope I can be of help to you.”I smiled at her weakly, acknowledging her kind offer. “I appreciate it, Elsa. You’ve been helpful enough already.”I paused for a moment as images danced in my mind.“In fact, I’m not entirely sure what happened,” I admitted.“What do you mean, Evie?” Elsa prompted me softly, reclaiming her spot in the chair next to my bed. She took my hands again as if to comfort me, and it soothed me more than I expected. She was warm and kind, something I hadn’t experienced much of since arriving in the palace a year ago. It was refreshing to feel like someone cared for me, and I was grateful to call Elsa my friend.“I was awoken by Mrs. Porter and Mis
EVELYNNo part of the royal crypt was dedicated to Mistress Claudia?Had I heard Elsa correctly?I frowned at her, unsure of what to think about all of this. Though it was no great secret that the late King Theodore had abandoned his first wife in favor of Sylvia, letting her die lonely of illness, it surprised me to think that the former Alpha King wouldn’t honor her in some way. She and King Theodore had two children together.Wouldn’t that fact alone warrant a place in a crypt, even if their marriage was in shambles toward the end?As for the rest of the tale, the idea of a ghost wandering the river sounded too ridiculous to be true. Though Elsa seemed to believe it blindly, I knew Melanie and her band of gossiping maids were no strangers to conjuring grand lies. I had been the victim of enough of them to no longer trust her words.Rather than crush Elsa’s spirit, I made some sort of excuse after releasing a yawn and mentioned that I was feeling exhausted after my ordeal. My friend
COLE“Nonsense!” Lord Marcel Fox roared. His eyes, uptilted and narrowed, made him appear more like his namesake than a werewolf, and I sat back and watched patiently as he scolded his daughter. His angular face went scarlet with anger as he stood over Skyla, who was kneeling on the ground, sobbing. Her face was pale and her light green eyes were bloodshot as she wept.Anastasia was perched on a settee beside them, a bored expression on her face. She gazed down at her long, perfectly manicured nails as her relatives quarreled.As Skyla’s wailing continued, I gritted my teeth in frustration and gripped the chair beneath me. The sound of it was grating and I wanted nothing more than to finish with this business. “I’m sorry, F-F-Father,” Skyla stammered and sniffled. “I just wanted to m-mess with her-”“Mess with her?” Marcel thundered. “Have you lost your mind, Skyla? Look at what you’ve done! You’re lucky that nothing more happened out there!”His daughter’s shoulders tightened as sh
COLEAt the mention of her name, all eyes in the room turned to Mrs. Porter. The head maid’s face blanched and for the briefest of moments, I almost felt sorry for the older woman.Almost.“Is this true, Mrs. Porter?” I asked her directly, and after the gray-haired maid nodded, I cast a cold glance at Skyla. The young woman wilted slightly, flinching at the daggers I shot at her, and I watched her swallow heavily as she steeled herself for my wrath.“Did my stepmother’s maid grant you such liberties?” I asked Skyla.She nodded hastily, tucking her dark red hair behind her ear. “Yes. It was Mistress Anastasia’s personal maid who permitted me to speak with the other maid.”“Why didn’t you speak plainly about it before?” I pressed. “Why didn’t you say anything when I asked?”“I was s-s-scared, Your Majesty,” Skyla stammered, tears starting to flow down her pale face again. “I didn’t expect a conversation with a maid would lead to such an accident. It wasn’t my intention at all.”My lips
EVELYNI didn’t know what time it was when I awoke in the middle of the night. My vision was blurred, and I couldn’t yet manage to move. I had curled up on my side, facing the door, and I was grateful that Elsa had braided my thick hair away from my face because my body was coated in sweat.This was the worst I’d felt in years, but I was grateful to be alive. I let out a whimper as I tried to stretch. I remained under the covers, as moving was too difficult, but I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. My thirst was all-consuming, and since Elsa wasn’t here, I decided I needed to get up and find water elsewhere.A small yawn escaped me. When I cast the covers aside, I caught a faint smell and realized I wasn’t alone in the room. Beside me, someone was sitting on my bed with his back against the headboard.In normal circumstances, I should have screamed at the sight of an intruder or at least been frightened, but I recognized his scent immediately.“You’re awake?” Cole asked, his voice soun
EVELYNAs I was cleaning a room the next morning as a part of my daily tasks, my mind wandered. Though physically, I felt much better than the day before, I was still quite tired and sore.Mrs. Porter had assigned me to a small room near the end of a corridor, a little guest room that would be occupied soon. She was a little less stern with me than usual but impressed upon me that the room needed to be spotless.After ten minutes or so had passed by, I began to think about the night before and my shoulders tensed.Why did Cole flee from my room last night at the mere mention of Aiden? Why did he behave so strangely? Was it not my delusion that it was the Alpha King who saved me rather than Aiden?I glanced out the window at the rising sun. Though I was in a wing far from the Alpha King’s, a small part of me wished he would rush in here and explain himself. Of course, that was a ridiculous thought. Cole wasn’t known for his apologetic nature, so the mere notion of him returning to fin