ASHEROnce Kane left the room, I changed into a pair of nightclothes and then went to bed. I dozed off quickly, but my sleep was quite light.So much so, that when a noise rang out from the corridor, I woke up immediately and began to look around in surprise. For a moment, I wondered if the sound was just my mind playing tricks on me, but something in my gut told me that wasn’t the truth. Something was amiss, something I couldn’t dismiss straight away without investigation.I rubbed my eyes and immediately rushed outside of the room and into the courtyard just down the hall. As I walked, the metallic scent of blood reached my nose at once, and I hastened my pace.I was the first to arrive, followed by Kane, Alpha Arthur, Kiara, Darwin, and a few soldiers. Everyone was outfitted in their nightclothes, and one by one, we each fell stunned at the sight before us when it was illuminated by the torches of the soldiers. My stomach twisted into painful knots and for a moment, I thought I was
CASSANDRAThough Lila couldn’t read my mind, it wasn’t difficult for me to prove that her abilities were real.At Finnick’s request, I met with the girl when Ms. Benn had dropped her off for a playdate. We waited until the head housekeeper was gone, and once we were certain the coast was clear, we sat down at the table and began an assessment.Lila seemed hesitant at first, as if she were worried that I wouldn’t believe her but after some light coaxing, she managed to relax and agreed to display her powers to me.She wasn’t able to read my mind at will, but she still displayed some form of clairvoyance. For example, she predicted quietly that Erika was going to go to the counter and turn on the kettle to boil some water. She could even specifically assess which cup she’d use, what tea she’d collect, and the very mannerisms she would display as she prepared the hot drinks.I stood there in complete shock as all of her predictions were proven correct. It took all of my effort to keep my
CASSANDRAThe information that Ms. Benn had told me about Lady Helene seemed to spread through the castle like wildfire. The stories from the maids traveled fast, and servants began to gossip and wonder if Helene had died. These rumors spiraled on and turned absurd by the time it was three days before the wedding. People suggested they were going to see a monster at the altar because surely, that was what Helene had turned into.So, when Ronald announced that he and his fiancee were holding a party at his residence two days before the wedding night, everyone was surprised.Before I had received my invitation that day, I was summoned by Kaleb and taken to the same meeting room we’d spoken in before. When Ms. Benn quietly escorted me from my chamber and dropped me off in the corridor, I heard whispers about Lady Helene and did my best to drown them out. I didn’t want to pay these awful stories any mind, especially if something really had happened to my friend. Lila had yet to disclose a
CASSANDRAHelene didn’t utter a word on our way to the ladies’ room but conducted herself very politely. Her pretty face remained smiling, and the expression was so fixed it was as if she had been born smiling. It was unnerving after a while, and I kept waiting for it to falter, but her face never changed.Once the door to the bathroom was shut tightly behind us, I tried to talk with her and attempted to coax her out of her daze.“Are you feeling better?” I asked. “I heard that you were ill with some sort of sickness.”“It was just a cold,” Helene replied nonchalantly. “It was nothing to worry about. I’ve fully recovered now.”I nodded my head and after a moment of pause, I tried again. “I heard about your maid as well-”“It was all just a rumor,” she cut me off before I could finish my sentence. “The maid resigned because her mother passed away. I suppose that someone wanted to use such gossip to demean my fiance, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth.”She turned to face the mir
CASSANDRAMy heart dropped suddenly in my chest as I stared at Lila in shock. Had I heard the little girl correctly?“What does that mean?” I managed to ask as my belly began to ache from nervousness.Lila shook her head and tugged at a strand of her hair anxiously. Her big eyes stared off in the distance for a moment and then she turned back to face me.“It could mean that Lady Helene doesn’t have any thoughts in her mind,” she mused, and then she took her head. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to read people’s minds when they have complicated thoughts. If there’s too much going on in their thoughts, the pictures I see are like a mosaic. But I’ve never seen complete darkness before, Miss Cassandra.”I considered the information for a second and then a thought crossed my mind.Mind control.A year ago, I never would have given the concept any of my time. It sounded so preposterous, so strange and fairytale-like that there was no reason to take it seriously. But now that I’d seen the magic-
KALEB Much to my surprise, Cassandra walked into my study with a smile on her lovely face. As she approached my desk, though, I could sense that there was nervousness beneath the surface, like she was cornered prey. She seemed prepared to run at any given moment, and the sight of it, as well as the very idea, made me feel strange. I remembered the first time I’d met Cassandra in the village square in Anemond, in the back alley behind the pet store. When I’d saved her from the kidnappers, she’d thanked me while wearing the same expression. Smiling, but nervous. “Take a seat,” I requested. Once she sat down in the chair opposite me, I cleared my throat and continued. “How was the part at Ronald’s residence?” She smiled politely. “It was quite lovely, thank you for asking.” My lips drew into a thin line. She was speaking to me as if she did not know me in the slightest, and I wasn’t a fan of it at all. Why was she behaving this way in front of me? Was she truly so scared of me that s
KALEBAfter my meeting with Cassandra, I escorted the healer back to her chamber, and once she was back there, safe and sound, I made the decision to pay Raven a visit. As I rushed straight to her laboratory in the prison tower, my hands balled into a fist at my sides. I was angry, more angry than I’d been in quite some time.I couldn’t let Ronald take my throne from me.I couldn’t let anyone take my power from me. Not after everything I’d been through to become the king of this country. I’d made too many sacrifices, shed too much blood, and cried too many tears in the quiet of my bedroom, to allow someone as terrible as Ronald to take my crown from me.No.This ended now.When I reached Raven’s laboratory, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see her goofing around. She was playing with a pair of blood samples, combining them with some unknown chemicals and potions, and seeing how they reacted. I wanted to swipe them off of the table and throw them on the floor. She was behaving like
BECKYBefore Rayden departed for the king’s cousin’s wedding in Yurene, he came to visit us in Anemond. When he arrived at the clinic, he was disguised as one of the businessmen who had swarmed the city in the hopes of attracting the attention of Oliver Moses. They wanted to show their loyalty to the Moses Family since they now controlled all of Anemond.In the Alpha King’s absence, they had taken over the capital of Wegalla, and much to my surprise, as well as Dickson’s everyone seemed to forget about the king. I wasn’t an optimist in the slightest, but to see the citizens of Anemond switch up their loyalty so quickly only added to my dislike of this place. While the Alpha King and I didn’t know each other outside of our interactions at the clinic, he seemed like a nice enough man, one who didn’t deserve any of this.We accepted Rayden into the clinic and then escorted him to the meeting room in the back. Dickson prepared us some fragrant tea, and once it was ready, we all gathered a