“Our best course of action for now is not to alert them; they shouldn't know we know what they know,” said Theo. He was right of course, it would be foolish to reveal our hand just yet. “What do you think they're trying to steal from the palace?” I asked. I did not think they were trying to end my life in my sleep. I felt that they wanted something much more than that. “Perhaps it's Agnes; your care for her has become a cause of concern amongst your subjects…” “Theo…” “Let me finish, Cyrus, please. You care for her greatly. If she is kidnapped your reaction might help your enemy usurp the throne quicker as your people will not support you. Already there are talks of dissensions amongst your warriors; they question if it is worth risking their lives for you in a war if you are going to choose a human over them,” what Theo had just said made perfect sense. Whatever strategy I employed to take care of this I had to ensure that I had the trust of my people but I could not afford to lo
I arrived at Belfast with Theo and some councilmen who were responsible for searching the house. After hours of searching and coming up with nothing, Altid stood outside the house, his hands on his hip and a look of genuine confusion on his face. It was hard to tell if he was faking or if indeed he was frustrated with the futile search. “It seems like there is nothing here,” I said, watching him to see his reaction. “My tip mentioned a vault,” he said, he looked to be deep in thought. “Your men have searched six vaults and found nothing. Whatever gold has been found so far does not belong to Ghysem but is the man's personal property,” I said. I had stopped them from taking the gold they had found in the house because when it had been valued it had been the exact amount Salmon had listed it as in his record of wealth. “Your Majesty, I believe the gold here is…” “It is not. These bars belong to a very old time; much older than your parents, Altid. It is gold that has been passed fo
We were thirty minutes into our trip and all was quiet in the carriage. I wondered what Simeon's strategy would be in stealing the plans from me. “Your Majesty, you have had nothing to eat, please let me buy you some food. There is an inn nearby,” Simeon broke the silence in the carriage. I wondered if this was his plan; to drug me and then steal from me. “We should stop at the inn and perhaps spend the night. It has been an exhausting day for all of us,” replied Theo. “But… I don't know Theo. We have… we need to get to the palace tonight,” I expressed dissatisfaction about this plan. “Your Majesty, I will guard it… you all night. You have nothing to worry about,” Theo said. “I can stand guard too… I…” “No one would be guarding anything or anyone. We are not making a stop until we reach the palace. We continued in silence and then a few minutes later, Simeon's stomach let out a loud growl indicating he was hungry. He gave an embarrassed smile and said, “I have had nothing to ea
It was Simeon alright. He was lying there pale on the ground with an open wound on the back of his head. No one needed a crime specialist to know how he had died. A blunt object had been used to knock him out and the bruises on his neck were indicative of being strangled. Someone had murdered him in cold blood and daylight. Who was with the Alpha then? My blood ran cold; I had told the Alpha that it was alright for Simeon to follow him. The man with the Alpha was not Simeon, he was an imposter. I had heard of shapeshifters before and there were rumors in fact of a shapeshifter appearing in the palace but this… this was surreal. “Wrap him up. His family will give him a proper burial,” I said, my voice heavy with sadness as I bent down to shut the man's eyes. “Timothy, I want you to go to the palace and deliver the news to the king. It must be fine with the utmost discretion. You have to ensure the imposter is not aware that his secret has been found out. If you have to bed its li
Cyrus' POV My decision to use the men that were present with me had not been out of instinct alone. When I had arrived last night I had seen Agnes painting and when the paint was done there was a group of men scattered on Lord Salmon's orchard with a look of despair on their faces. Underneath the drawing was the inscription, Fidelis.Loyalty.The message was clear. The men could be trusted. It did not mean however that I was going to trust them blindly but I was going to ensure that they could be trusted first. “I want to know the anonymous tipper. It would be your duty to find this person for me, I believe this anonymous person has more to tell us than he/she is letting on,” I believed that the tips were coming from the very person who wanted to usurp my throne. “We shall do our best to find this person,” Altid commented.“Henceforth, you will report directly to me and not to Larog,” I scanned their faces for a reaction; they looked confused. “Your Majesty, Larog is the counci
Larog's POV“What did you tell him?” she asked. “What else? Other than that I am grateful to take the opportunity, that; it is an honor?” I was angry and very much so. I had put in too much work in carefully planning my ascension to the throne and yet I had not foreseen Cyrus taking a decision such as this one. “We need to act fast then.” “It will ruin our plans. If we move too quickly we will…” She placed her hand on my chest and smiled at me with her clear gray eyes. “You need to calm down, Larog. The only way we can make a mistake is if you decide in your agitated state,” her words were calming, like a soothing balm. “I… I should sit,” I said. “I will have the servant fetch some refreshments, you must be hungry,” she said, guiding me to a comfortable chair. “Not hungry, just angry and…” “Relax your mind, Larog.” After I had been seated for a while, drunk enough water, and eaten some biscuits she said, “Have you decided on the appointment?” “I have to take it. If I refuse
“Their plan is in motion,” I said the moment I saw him. “Are you sure about this?” he asked. “Yes.” I had earlier discussed my suspicions with me and my plan for dealing with them. I planned that this did not escalate into a full-blown war but at the moment nothing was certain. They had kidnapped Agnes and replaced her with a shapeshifter. I had known the moment I had walked into my room earlier that the girl gazing lovingly into the painting by my bedside was not Agnes but someone else. I had to credit them for picking a good actress but no matter how good I was not fooled.Theo was going to go to the South to look for Agnes. I believed that if he did, he would be able to find Lord Salmon. Agnes would also lead us to the persons responsible for the confusion thus far. I was hoping for Altid to find his anonymous source but if he could not do so in time then Theo would find them. I did not want to return to my living quarters, not with an imposter living there. At the same time, i
Agnes' POV I woke up exhausted. It was strange because I did not remember doing anything extraneous. What was even stranger was the fact that I could not move at all and everything seemed pitch black. My heart rate spiked. Has it happened already? Had Audrey's friends succeeded somehow in kidnapping me? The blindfold around my eyes was suddenly torn away and staring right into my eyes was the pair of eyes that filled me most with dread. “You do not look happy to see me, that saddens me. I am happy that we can be reunited like this,” she was smiling and her eyes brought back memories of the torture she had put me through. “I see you can remember the fun we had together the last time, we are going to have so much more this time and you know the best part? Daddy is in his palace comforted with an image of you. He would not miss you.” She cackled and couldn't seem to stop herself from laughing and I shuddered in fear as I imagined just how much damage she could wreck on my body an