************************Claire's POV I pretended to cough as I tried raising my head to sit upright to look at my dad, Adrian and the physicianAdrian came running to assist me to sit up. I was happy at the way he looked caring."Thank you," I said to Adrian "I am sorry for causing a reason for you guys to worry" I apologised "Oh no, Claire, this isn’t your fault," Adrian said, gently placing his hands on my shoulders."Claire, are you alright? Do you need to rest for a bit? There’s no need to rush," my dad said, his voice filled with concern."Yes, Claire," Adrian added, "it can wait until you’ve fully recovered. We’re not in any hurry.""Where's Lena?" I asked pretending not to know about what happened."Humm, Claire you don't need to worry about that now" Adrian said "What do you mean I don't need to be worried?" I said, feigning annoyance."What's most important is that you get better, don't worry yourself about her," Adrian said "She escaped," came Dad's voice from where he
**************************Ethan's POV "Please Your Highness, forgive my daughter, please you can't let them banish her forever, she's my only child" I was lost in thoughts; I was brought back to reality by Lauren's father's plea. Her mom was by my leg dragging my coat on her ķnees asking that I forgive their daughter.Honestly, I didn't care anymore about what happened to her; whether she was banished or not, I didn't give a fuck about it.Whether she's asked to stay in þhe Town, I didn't care, even if I was asked to still stay married to her, I wouldn't even try to oppose it. I just knew that there was nothing in this world that could make me see her as a wife anymore.Wife!!! That's even too much, nothing could make me see her as a woman anymore. I looked at them with disgusted eyes, as they were also part of the reason why I ended up marrying Lauren. FLASHBACK I was looking out the window from the down floor of the Palace when Lauren's parent came in with ĺauren to meet my fa
****************************Ethan’s POVThe words stabbed at me like a knife to the chest. As much as I hated to hear them, as much as they pained me, it was just the plain truth. The truth, they say, is always bitter.I felt an aching in my chest. Yes, I really did abandon her. I broke the mate bond, even knowing how much it would hurt after being severed. And still, I did it. Why? Love? No. That wasn’t love. It must have been infatuation, lust, or deceit. Whatever it was, I couldn’t call it love. Love isn’t deceptive."Do you know how to find her?" I asked."My lord, we do not know where she is. Please, my lord, I came for my daughter," Lauren's mother pleaded.I acted as though I hadn’t heard her. I was furious—at them, at myself. I regretted breaking the mate bond. Even if I could bring Lauren back to this palace, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t stand the thought of looking into the face of someone who had slept with my Beta. Not just my Beta—my friend. I didn’t even know what they did to
*****************************Ethan's POV**I paced impatiently across the palace halls, anxiety gnawing at me as I waited for my Beta to return with news. Deep down, I desperately hoped for good news. Something that could lift the heavy cloud hanging over my head, something to reignite the flicker of hope I clung to. Regret weighed on me heavily, my past decisions haunting me nI muttered under my breath, "How foolish I was."I couldn't help but question whether I should have gone along with my Beta, or perhaps done the investigation myself. The waiting was unbearable. Frustration bubbled up inside me. To calm my nerves, I decided to check on my sister, Sophia. I found her sitting up in bed, stretching gingerly. She looked a little better, but I knew full well that for her to truly heal, I had to find Lena. Only she could help my sister. I just prayed she wouldn’t let the past dictate her decision. Would she even consider helping after everything I had done?Yes, I know what you’re
**************************Adrian's POVI found it hard to believe everything Claire had said. I knew she could go to extreme lengths to get what she wanted, but the thought that she might have inflicted all those injuries on herself just to prove a point seemed far-fetched. Yes, she's desperate, but I don’t think she’s psychotic enough to nearly kill herself just to make me believe her. Yet, I couldn't entirely dismiss the possibility that she might be telling the truth.Where could Lena be? Deep down, I hoped Claire was lying. I hoped Lena hadn’t been dragged into this mess. I loved her, and I still believed we could have built a family together.What no one knows is that I’ve been holding Lena in a cell, waiting to gather evidence—evidence to prove whether she was actually a spy or if she really did steal Claire’s jewelry. But Ian went ahead and complicated things for me. You might wonder how Ian, with all his abilities, doesn't know what I’m thinking. Over the years, I’ve learned
***************************Lena's POV"We've been caught!" I exclaimed."I am not blind, Lena. I can see that we have been caught," she replied."So what do we do?" I asked."What do you think we should do?" She asked me back."Maybe jump?" I suggested."Are you willing to take the risk of dying?" She asked."Oh no, I was just being silly," I answered."So what do we do?" She asked again."Allow them to catch us, like you said. Adrian might not want to kill us, although his alter ego clearly wants to. But since he was able to control it back there in the holding cell, I am sure he's going to control it again.""Yes, he clearly needs the child to be alive.""Come with us now!" one of the guards' voices interrupted my discussion with Lyla."Hey, could you give me a minute to settle something first?" I said.The guard looked at me like I was deranged or something. He was about to come closer when I threatened that if he came any closer, I would just drop down from this cliff."We both k
*************************Lena's POVI couldn't believe Claire could go this far just to make sure Adrian hated me so much."Lyla, what have I ever done to anyone in this world to be treated like this? How did I get this way?" I cried."Most people don't have a reason to be wicked to anyone. They just behave wickedly because that's who they are - they're evil," Lyla replied."Claire is the most evil person I've ever seen in my life. She must have come from the devil himself," I said bitterly."That's not our problem now," Lyla chuckled."We're here in the holding cell, the best place we can be right now. Let's brainstorm on how I took control of your body for a while," Lyla said."Yes, that's true. We don't have much time anymore. I'm sure when Claire comes back and sees I'm still here, she'll hasten up her findings of the black witch just so she can destroy me faster. And we can't let that happen.""No, we can't. So tell me, what was on your mind that night?" Lyla asked.I began to s
************************Claire's POV"That omega slut......, how dare she" I was very angry about the way she twisted my hands.I know you might be imagining how I knew she was back. I was at my father's house when one of my maids ran in to give me the informationAfter hearing the news, I was so pissed off, the last part of the message infuriated me the most...no injury? No scars?. I hoped she was gonna die.Now, I had to find other ways to make sure she was removed from my way. I was pacing all around my dad's house thinking of the next step to take, but I was finding it hard to think of a quick and faster way to get rid of Lena.Dad was just watching as I was pacing around. I could see that he was worried about me, but right now, I couldn't care about his worry; I had my worries to care about.Finding a black witch won't be so easy; it's going to take a while, but I knew it would have been better.But I needed to find a faster way to get rid of her; Adrian seemed to be getting sof