The Alpha King's Princess
The Alpha King’s Princess – Chapter 62

It was a trick question. I knew that he didn’t want me. He’d said it as much, but as I met his gaze, I couldn’t help but answer. Candido had always been so important to me. He always would be.

“I know you don’t want me,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “I’ve… made my peace with it, but that doesn’t mean you have to marry Sibyl.”

He bared his teeth, his eyes glinting with anger. “Hedy, you—”

I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say about it, but I was lucky that I didn’t have to.

“Your Majesty!” Someone called from down the hallway. “We have an update. One of the vampires is still alive!”

My heart lurched. How had a vampire survived that fire, let alone get caught? Was it just one? I met his gaze, daring him to delay going to go see what the man had to say. He huffed and pulled back, stepping away from the still sizzling door.

“You have no concept of politics. With everything at stake, it has nothing to do with me being honorable, and everything to do with this is what has to be done.”

Then, he vanished from beyond the hole in the door. At least for now, he wouldn’t try to take the book back, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before we had this fight again. I found something to cover the hole in the door, but I left the dresser in front of the door since it wouldn’t close again until the frame was replaced or repaired.

I turned away from the door, putting the book aside and logging into my laptop to try and see if I could listen in to the interrogation. My mind strayed to what Candido said, yelling at me as we ran through the forest.

Maybe it had been childish to just take off, but I hadn’t seen any other option at the time, and how was I supposed to know that there had been an ambush waiting.

I worried my l*p. It wasn’t as if they could have known that we were going to be outside.

As far as I knew, I was the only person taking night runs recently.

Had that ambush been for me? Was it because of Moon Shadow or Candido? Had they planned to do to me what they’d done to all those other women?

After all, there had only been men out there.

I shuddered at the thought. My mind swung back to those men Bella had sent to attack me in the locker room. The man that had attacked me in the forest had seemed too interested in me. Rather than lethal, he seemed to be leering at me as if Sibyl had no chance of holding his interest, but I did.

I pulled my mind from those thoughts and went to replace some electronic device with a microphone near the interrogation area. It took me a while to replace something nearby to hack into and listen to, but soon, I heard the vampire crying out in pain. Wherever they were, they weren’t somewhere with cameras, so I guess it was the dungeon beneath the estate.

“The children of the new moon will rise again!” He cried. “The goddess has not forsaken us, filthy, mangy wolves!”

“He’s been spewing the same nonsense since we brought him here,” someone said, a guard, I was sure.

“How did you get onto the Estate?” Candido asked. His voice was cold. “Why were you here tonight?

The vampire laughed. “You think your ancestors forced us into the darkness because you are stronger? Do you think you are king because you can fight? Do you think simply moving from the original seat of power would be enough to hide you from us? Because your father could fight?” He laughed loudly. A sharp and horrible cackle. “Because your mother could fight?”

Candido growled, “You are enticing me to kill you.”

“The princes will drain you and all of your pathetic retinue dry.” He laughed, “Werewolves will be back in their proper places! On. Their. Knees!”

There was a sharp, wet sound. A splash of something and the man’s voice went quiet. No one spoke.

“…in an hour. Reattach his head and if he sees fit to go on about his religious fervor, separate it again.” Candido said. “You have permission to feed him b***d from b***d banks to keep him on the edge of life for as long as it takes.”

“… As you wish, Your Majesty.”

I shuddered, imagining what had happened and feeling my stomach turn. I exited the phone’s microphone I’d accessed and tried to think.

Candido knew a lot about vampires. He had to know that you could attach and reattach their heads. What did that even mean? I wasn’t sure.

My gaze drifted over to the book. There were a few singe marks on it, dirt was streaked across the cover, but it was all intact.

My lips twitched, then my eyes started to burn as my mind tumbled through everything that had happened, everything I’d said and done.

Everything that had been done to me.

I felt sick.

I felt nervous.

But more than that, I was just overwhelmed and sad.

Candido didn’t want me. He was going to marry Sibyl.

The man, the vampire that Sibyl was seeing, was after me for some reason.

And… And I couldn’t focus on any of it right now. I tried to open the book to read, but the words seemed to swim and evade me. I tried to review the investigation notes, looking for something that would tell me how to replace the vampire after me, but I couldn’t think enough to parse through everything that had been reported and try to replace a connection.

When I couldn’t see past the tears welling in my eyes, I turned my last hope to my chat window, hoping that Armageddon was online and I could talk to him.

His icon was dark. I logged off, shut the laptop, and threw myself onto the bed, curled up. I could still smell ash and smoke, the scent of the forest, and panic.

The fear was there, making it hard to breathe, making it hard to think. I was nervous and shaky, but all I could see in my mind’s eye was the mark on Candido’s chest.

The tears rolled hot and heavy down my cheeks. I smothered my sobs with the pillow.

In the morning, I would pull it together. In the morning, I would deal with his, but right now, I just wanted to cry.

I woke up what felt like days later. Using my powers so much, the adrenaline and everything had worn me out. I sat up and realized that the dresser had been moved back into place, the door had been replaced as well, and there was a shiny new key on my nightstand. I had been tucked in and cleaned up too.

My jaw trembled as my phone chimed from my bedside. I picked up my phone and checked the date. The pack calendar notification was as clear as day.

Today was Candido’s wedding day.

I forced myself to sit up, staring at the notification. Everyone would be getting ready to head to the temple and watch him.

But I couldn’t do that.

The thought burned me and made my chest tight.

I’d die.

There was no way in hell I was going to watch him marry Sibyl.

And I definitely couldn’t be here when they got back. I got out of bed and crossed the room to pull out the rugby team bag and started packing.

I could hear that vampire’s voice in the back of my head, but I pushed it away. I had to think about anything else. I couldn’t let that man stop me from doing what I had to or living my life.

I was mostly packed when my phone chimed with a Moon Shadow notification. Then, my laptop chimed with the same notification.

I pulled it towards me and opened it, logged in, and scanned the warning page.

I gasped as the photo appeared of him stating it at a 90% match. The vampire had been spotted.

I scanned the photo and pulled up the location information. He was here in the capital earlier today at the mall.

It hadn’t even been an hour since he’d been spotted. With any luck, he was still there. I threw my bag aside, logged out, grabbed my phone, and got dressed in something plain before rushing out of my room and down the stairs.

It would be dangerous to try and follow him, but in the mall, surrounded by people, it was unlikely that he’d try to do anything to me.

But maybe, I could get some information about what he was planning. At the least, I wouldn’t have to think about Candido marrying Sibyl.