*Isla*“Lift the curse?”I can’t help but repeat the phrase Commander Pepelos has just said to me. Confusion washes over me, not for the first time. “What are you talking about?” I ask him. “How do you know all of this about Maatua?”He shakes his head. “I don’t think this is the right place to discuss this, Your Highness. Why don’t we go inside, into your private chambers, and we can discuss it there.”“My private chambers?” Nothing he has said makes the statement sound suggestive at all, but I am wondering what people will think if they find out I have some strange man in my room, not a half an hour after Maddox has left the castle to go find out what is happening with the war.“Or the library. Whatever room you think is most secure.” He walks to the exterior door and pulls it open, gesturing for me to walk inside first.I do and nod my thanks, and the two of us are relatively quiet as we walk down the hallway.I am leading him to my room. Not on purpose, but I’m considering everyth
*Maddox*The drive to Cliff’s Edge pack will take several hours. If so many of the packs between our territory and Alpha Charlton are hostile right now, it’s best if we take our troops around them. The last thing I want to do is give the impression that we might be moving in, planning an invasion, because some of these packs have been rumored to be aligned with Beach Front.As we meander through the countryside, my long convo of military vehicles following along in parade order, my mind goes back to the information I’ve gotten from my commanders in the field. Both Commander Vember and Commander Givens have supplied me with plenty of information. I need to make sure that my alliances are strong in the few packs that are closer to Beach Front that might still might be willing to help me.“We are expected by Alpha Charlton, but he is a bit leery of our arrival,” Seth says from his seat next to me in the second row in the SUV. “He’s afraid that the other packs in the area might decide to
*Maddox*Alpha Charlton hasn’t changed that much since the last time I saw him—at the funeral.He does have bags under his eyes that were not there before, back when he had no reason to lie awake at night and stare at the ceiling, asking why.Back when we were all happy and full of light and hope.I can tell when he shakes my hand he does so with reservations, and I can’t blame him. He still has unanswered questions, as do I. But from his perspective, someone who wasn’t there when everything happened, he is not only relying on what he knows of me but the rumors and whispers that began coming out of the castle right after the incident, whispers that continue to come from the castle still.I’ve never blamed him for not fully trusting my side of the story. I still have moments when I don’t trust it myself after all.Now, as he welcomes me back into his home, I am reminded of the feeling of excitement I had the last time I stood in the ballroom, waiting.Waiting for her.I follow a servan
*Maddox*Trying to concentrate on the discussion around me is difficult when I’m standing in this particular room—this ballroom. I have several Alphas in front of me mentioning what it is that they need from me in order to be confident enough to send warriors to support our cause, and all I keep thinking about is the first time I was here.“You know, if you really want all of us to come in on your side, there’s one thing that would do it for certain,” one of the younger Alphas says. He’s in his early thirties, and apparently he’s had enough to drink that he’s a little loose-lipped because the other Alphas try to get him to shush. But Alpha Evan will not yield.“What’s that?” I ask him.“Simple. Give our daughters a chance.” Evan takes another swig of his champagne, and some of the other Alphas clear their throats or shuffle their feet. It’s a sign to me that they agree with whatever he is getting at, though they don’t want to vocalize it as has.“Your daughter?” I ask, confused. I kno
*Maddox*“What the fuck?”I can’t believe what I am seeing. I feel like I’ve been transported back in time. I blink a few times, trying to figure out if what I’m looking at is real.There are subtle differences. I can see them even at a distance. She’s a little shorter, a little thinner, not as muscular that is. Her hair is a slightly different shade of red, and her eyes are not quite the same shade as her cousins.But from my perspective, this woman looks as near to my dead wife as anything I’ve ever seen.And now I know what it is that Alpha Jason wants to speak to me about.And I know what it is that Alpha Charlton was thinking when he planned this ball.Fury builds up within me, and I squeeze my hand so tight, if I was still holding the glass, it would’ve broken. Instead, I take a deep breath, grab a glass off a tray held by a passing servant, down it, turn around, and walk right out of the ballroom, headed back to my room.I hear people shouting my name as I walk out, but I don’t
*Maddox*Taking hold of Trinity’s wrist, I force her to let go of the knife. It falls from her grasp, and I catch it with my other hand, ready to turn it on her.“Whoa! Whoa!” she says. “I wasn’t trying to stab you, Your Highness!” she tells me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was only trying to show you the blade.”Her eyes are wide, and she seems genuinely scared. Perhaps she’s even telling me the truth.But I don’t know that for certain. Why would anyone pull a knife on me in the dark in a garden if they didn’t intend to stab me with it?I can feel her entire body trembling beneath my hands, though, and I am starting to think perhaps she is telling me the truth.It might not make any sense, but I actually believe her. Perhaps her father had told her to go ahead and try to kill me now, so she wanted to be able to say that she did try but I foiled her.It would make more sense for her to have waited, though. Get to know me better. Catch me off guard. Even see if there
*Isla*Sleeping had been nearly impossible. I’d tossed and turned for much of the night, not sure how to proceed with my alleged cousin, Antony Moon a.k.a. Commander Pepelos. I kept thinking about his mother, how awful it must’ve been for my Aunt Mary knowing that her own husband had killed her to strengthen her powers, how she’d tried to stay loyal to him until he started a war, making my family leave the island, and so many people died.Then… apparently, my aunt had something to do with the awful earthquake that rocked the island and made it uninhabitable for many people.And then there is the curse….Antony seems to think that I can somehow break that curse, and that I’m the only one who can do it, but I have no idea why he thinks that or how I would even begin to do it.I’m sure he will use my uncertainty about my baby to try and manipulate that situation. He will do whatever he can to get me to the island, and then, who knows what might happen?Mystica is right when she says I sh
*Maddox*Breakfast is awkward. Sitting across the table from Alpha Charlton and Alpha Jason, I can’t help but think about everything Trinity told me the night before. I want to kill both of them, but I must abstain from doing so. After all, at the moment, they are pretending to want to be on my side. Both of them are talking like they want me to win the war, as if they are prepared to help.But if what Trinity told me is the truth, that means it will come at a price. I am eating my eggs, waiting for one of them to bring up the topic of a queen consort again. Since all of the other Alphas are having breakfast elsewhere, and this is just Alpha Charlton, his extended family, Seth, and I, no one has mentioned it yet.That doesn’t stop Jason from bringing up another touchy subject. “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to warn you last night,” he begins, broaching the subject carefully. “Trinity has certainly begun to look a lot like her older cousin these past years.”I am not sure how I’m mea