Stepping out of my room, Darius is waiting. I know I said we would go in together, but I just assumed he would go in alone and see me there. He's meant to be with Lyra, not me. Has he forgotten that part?"How are you feeling?" I glance towards him."Foolish." I stare at him. "Not so much about my dad and him killing our mother. More the fact I never noticed William, I need to find out if he knew.""Surely he wouldn't." I can't see William ignoring that."He vowed to our mother over and over that he would watch over Kellan and me. So, he would stay and ignore what our father did." He stops and looks at me. "See, that there. How didn't I realise? He didn't say it like the other guards. He said it like he fucking loved her.""You can't kill him, Darius." As much as he feels like he wants to, he can't do that."His affair with my mother led to her death."I stop walking and grab him. "Don't blame him. Yes, it was wrong, but that letter said they were mates. He already no doubt blames him
As I finish the dance with Kellan, he smiles at me."Don't! If you kiss me, people will talk. Let's not cause more riots."I watch as he pouts at me."You spoil all my fun.""Wait, I spoil your fun? I'm sure when I try to fuck you, you're the one to say no and spoil my fun.""I made a promise that I wouldn't fuck you until this ends. I want to prove this isn't just sex.""How can it be just sex when we haven't had sex?" I smirk at him."You know when you get your wolf. I want to switch roles. You will need to be the one to say no, and I taunt you." His eyes darken. "It's not as easy as you think to ignore your taunting ways.""You make it look easy." He doesn't, even though I notice his struggle to say no and push me away. Even though he shouldn't, I agreed. This isn't like he's going to turn around at the last minute and pick someone else."I make it look easy? A few times, I ran because it was clearly that easy." He leans forward, his mouth stopping next to my ear. "I want to, but I
I stay with Sage, and slowly, the guests begin to leave; William has left as well.The other contestants are glaring towards me. I feel like this is going to be an argument. I wait and watch as they step towards me. So they are going to blame me. It seems like they look at me as the reason for every issue that happens."Is your plan to destroy everyone's events just so you can be sure to win!" Lyra glares at me."I have done nothing wrong."Selene laughs. "Really? This person seems to be doing things that ruin everyone else's chances! Are you sure it's not one of your slave friends?""Ladies' I don't think it is right that you're blaming Elara for something she didn't do." Yori looks at them."How do we know she didn't? She could have planned it all." Lyra steps closer to me, and Yori puts his arm between us."Wait, don't tell me you slept with their Betas as well." Selene laughs. "You wanted something to sell to the papers when you leave, right? Finally, earn a penny or two, so you'r
Kellan and Darius come back a short while later. Darius advises that we go to our rooms and stay within them until further notice. He made it sound important and like it wasn't safe to leave to our rooms, so now I'm wondering why? Something must have happened.I walk up with Sage whilst Beta Ash follows us. Sage leans into me."So, you and Kellan are looking cuter together." She turns, grinning at me. Kellan is cute, I won't deny that. Yet I can see by her face she means something totally different."We haven't had sex. We've done other things, but he refuses until this ends."She stops walking and laughs. Everyone turns and looks at us."Oh, just Elara telling me a joke." She grins and starts walking again. "Sorry, but Kellan turning down sex is funny." She continues to laugh as we walk to the room.Hugging her goodnight, I go to step into mine, and Ash stops me."You're needed downstairs."My eyes roll. "They waited until I got to my room to say?""No, they knew, but having you walk
I watch as Darius orders everyone to leave. Moving, I go to stand, and his head shakes. Something has happened."What has happened?" Kellan looks at him, and I listen, Darius is going to tell Kellan about their mother and William. I'm not sure how he will take this. Darius took it badly, so will Kellan?"I was searching places today. Trying to find where dad would hide things that might answer why he ordered those murders.""You found it! Show me then." Kellan moves closer."I found something, but it isn't about that." I watch as Darius places the ring down on the desk. Kellan looks over at it, confused."You found a ring?" He laughs slightly. "That was mum's ring from her mother.""That was a lie. The ring didn't come from me." Darius hands him the letter. "Mum and William were having an affair. Apparently, they were mates."Kellan laughs. "I know."Darius' eyes widen. Oh no, this won't go down well. "How long have you known?""About a year before she died. Dad had left, travelling t
After telling the brothers my plan, I went to bed. Exhaustion had taken over me, and I fell asleep far too quickly. I've not seen Kellan, Darius, or even William today.I woke up alone, had breakfast, and have spent most of my day with Sage now. Later today is Callista's banquet, which I'm not looking forward to. It can't be any worse than Lyra's Ball, though; at least today, there are no masks.Sage is currently painting her nails. Something which she insists she does herself. Where as Lyra and everyone use the maids, who are trained to do it."Are you doing yours?""No! My toes won't be on show." We both laugh at that."Has May sorted your dress for tonight?""She has. It's a very tight-fitting gown. I think she's trying to help me taunt Kellan." It won't help, as I'm not seeing Kellan tonight. Not that anyone knows that."Go get ready then." She points to the door. Hugging her, I walk out and bump into Callista."What are you wearing?"I step back away from her, confused. "A dress.
DariusTonight is painful. Callista won't stop talking, and because she is between me and Kellan, it means I have to talk to her because Kellan is focused on Elara.Solely Elara, which means I have to deal with Callista alone, and my head hurts. While listening to her yattering, I am also trying to remember not to act too friendly with Elara.I'm meant to be pushing her out, not caring, whatever.Lyra's masquerade ball wasn't as painful as this. Sure, I spent most of my time with her, but we moved around the room. Constantly talking to people, new conversations. Away from her own agenda.No, Callista keeps talking about how much she has trained for this. How she has practised her routines for situations the queen may find herself in.Things like this are meant to be fun and relaxing. It is not so tense. Everyone else is laughing, so I can only imagine their conversations are better."It's amazing, Alpha Prime Darius. A perfect example of how a queen would help.""I think my brother ha
I'm not sure what happened that night, but for two days, I have barely seen Kellan or Darius. William has told us they were busy with issues. Issues, I apparently can't know as when I ask, I get told he's not allowed to tell me. "Something is happening." Sage looks at me and I nod. "I agree, and no I don't know. Neither Darius nor Kellan have told me. I've barely seen them." She looks across the room. "What I don't get is why are both Beta Ash and Yori watching you?" That, I don't know. "We can make up our own ideas?" I laugh slightly. "All Yori told me was that the brothers are busy and can't check in on me as much. They are together so Kellan doesn't need his Beta's." I feel that's a lie. I've no idea if they caught Aurora or if it was even her. "Maybe this has something to do with the people outside the wall?" I turn and look at Callista. "You didn't know? I left something in my old room and went to get it. There are banners and such calling both the king and prince murderers
Asher POVI look down at Katla. She's only a few days old. After speaking with Zyra, she decided that the space in the mountains would be a retreat—a place for us to escape to, somewhere Katla could get used to what it is like to live in the Dragon Kingdom.We have spent a few days there, but not many. Apparently, she wants to be in the palace close to the others. Part of me feels like that's because they were her support while I was hiding away.It's shown her what having a family around can do. We're close, minus Aurelia. She seems to be thriving with the Bears and keeping her distance. Other than returning that day when I was going crazy and needed help, she rarely came back. We've adjusted and got used to that, however.She wants her life away from here; she wants her own life, not one that is connected to us. She should have that if she wants it."Hey."Turning, I see Elijah walk to me.He laughs slightly and takes Katla from my arms. "You look exhausted; fun night?"It's only 4
Asher POVI walk out of the room and go to where I know they will be. As I step into the office, they turn to face me.Darius shakes his head. "You should be with Zyra.""I was, but considering this is brought on by the Dragons, I should be helping." I walk further in and look at the papers."Nothing to help with," my dad shrugs. "His son is clean, Seraphine can tell. Things were explained to him. He had no idea about the arranged marriage and, to be honest, was shocked, as he apparently had a mate."So the son won't be an issue. Is that what he's saying?"Look, both Eliphas and Durnalin are in the cells, away from each other. The son has gone. Apparently, he has a whole life with his mate. His dad told him the dragons had requested their presence at events." Darius explains.It makes no sense, though. "Why? Why would the dragons want the warlocks there?" How didn't his son question it?"Apparently, because Eliphas and his son are the strongest warlocks, they invited them to make a un
Asher POVI wait and watch."Prince Asher, soon to be King, tell me something." He walks to the bars and leans against them. "Where do Warlocks belong?"My head tilts; they belong wherever they want to. I don't understand his question."See, there is no answer as we don't belong anywhere. There is the werewolf kingdom, fae, dragons and everything else. Witches and warlocks are forced to live in one of those kingdoms, with no real power."So this was all about getting power? My body is pushed back, and my eyes widen as I see King Drakon reach through the bars—his hand clamps around Eliphas' neck.I guess he's fixed, and his curse is gone. My dad and Darius drag him away, and I watch Eliphas drop to the floor, clutching his neck. The blood runs down from where King Drakon's nails dug in."We need answers; killing him won't get them." My dad turns and faces Eliphas."Apparently, this was all for power." Which still makes no sense."It wasn't just for power. We wanted our own kingdom, our
Asher POVI'm anxious. It's been two days since the curse was lifted, and I'm glad to be back to normal. All that is at risk, though. Tonight, I have to be close to whoever is pretending to be King Drakon. That then risks it happening again, and if it does, will it start slow again or begin where it was removed?I've noticed Elijah, Storm, and Aurelia are quiet. Whatever was done has worn them out, which I didn't want."Are you ready?" Zyra hugs me, and I nod. I'm not. We need answers and to figure out who it is."Be careful, okay?" I don't like that I'm not going to be there."It's you who needs to be careful. You will be in a confined space with him. If anything goes wrong." She looks at me worriedly.Wrapping my arms around her, I smile. "I'll be fine; once he's in the cell, he can't do anything." I kissed her and gave her a final hug before walking away.Getting to the cells, I sit in one and wait. I'm hoping the plan works. If we can get him in the cell, then his magic and power
Asher POVI can see Zyra is struggling, and I don’t blame her either. She just found out her brother is missing.“Look, when Seraphine checked trying to find out the issue with him, she saw King Drakon, but it wasn’t him. Whoever it was is who we believe Cursed Asher.” My mum grasps her hands and smiles. “We’ve got people tracking down where your brother really is. There’s a reason for this, and it’s you, Zyra. Seraphine could sense the curses were put on Asher and Elijah to try and push you to return home.”Zyra looks around the room and seems increasingly worried. “What about Ryker? Is he okay? Does he know?” She waits, and I don’t know the answer to that.“I’m sorry, we don’t know. You need to stay here, Zyra. We have a plan, and we’re hoping Seraphine can uncover more when the person comes here.”She nods and sits, looking lost.“We are expecting Seraphine to return late tonight or early tomorrow. If they can’t fix the issue, then we will keep working to.” My mum smiles and hugs h
Asher POVAfter about an hour of sitting in the cell with Zyra, I ordered her to leave. I wanted to spend time with her, but she shouldn't have been sitting in the cells with me.So, I've been alone for hours, waiting to find out their plan. They hadn't thought this through. I need to leave the cell to go to the room. As soon as I step out of this cell, it will come back. Then what?I'm willing to agree to anything right now if it gets me out of this cell and back with Zyra. The footsteps have me standing, and I watch my dad and Darius walk towards me."What's your plan? How am I to do this?" They haven't thought it through."You need to shift." Darius looks at me.I laugh at him. Is that some kind of joke? "You want me to shift, so that what? I can kill people easier?"My dad sighs and steps forward. "Please do as you're told. You won't understand why we're saying you can shift, but shift. Into your wolf, not dragon."Of course, I won't understand; they haven't explained it to me. If
Elijah POVI sit in the office; Seraphine has left. She's meeting her family halfway in the hopes they have something that can help. Merfolk are powerful creatures with extraordinary abilities.Curses and such are something they specialise in."We're going to request that King Drakon attend a celebration for Zyra's pregnancy. It means we can get what we need and figure out who it is and what their aim is." My dad looks at me, and he makes it sound so simple. This isn't simple."He's going to ask why Asher isn't present, then what?" We can't lie and hide him. "It will look suspicious.""Not if Zyra invites him, she won't know, remember. She can invite him, and whoever is portraying King Drakon won't suspect anything. We're going to be honest and explain something is wrong with Asher, and he's not well."So we're not hiding the issue."He could be in the cell for weeks, so we've had things moved down there for him. The plan is later to test how he is with someone in the cell with him. T
Asher POVI watch as Elijah glares at everyone and backs up more."Elijah, we need to know." My mum steps towards him."I saw him once, just once! You all need to focus on Asher, not me! He's the one that is cursed, not me!" He shouts and steps back. He backs into my dad, and he grabs Elijah as Seraphine steps forward and grips his head.His screams echo around the cells, and it's all over just as quickly as it starts. His body falls to the floor, and he cradles his head."Well?" Darius looks at Seraphine."You're going to need a warlock, or I'll need to contact my family and see if they have something to clear the curses." Her words make me look towards Elijah. So, he is also cursed."Asher's curse is to make him push everyone out and make him think he has a mad wolf so that Zyra leaves. Elijah's was to hate Asher, likely to intensify it." Seraphine smiles slightly. "There's no mate, Elijah. The curse is what's stopping us from having a baby. There's no third mate." Her words have hi
Asher POVNo one speaks, likely because they know what I said is the truth. I need to die; there is nothing they can do to change that."Explain the process, what happened, how it started, when it happens." Darius pulls a chair over and sits outside the cell.I laugh. "Why do I need to talk? Why do I need to explain? You're proving you believe me by keeping me locked in here and being too afraid to come near your own son."Nothing I say can change that."Asher, I'm not opening the cell because I don't trust you to try and run. So explain it to me, tell me how it's progressed, and let's be sure that is what is happening." He waits, and I watch my mum, Elijah, and dad sit with him."It began with whispers. The words were barely audible, but I heard whispers in my ear. They got louder and began to sound like words. Whispers were one thing, but then I began to see people dead and my wolf above them." It was a warning to me to hide, to push them away, and not let them close to me."When do