The Lycan King's Defiant Surrogate
Defiant Surrogate 59

Chapter 59

Soon, Caleb is called away and Bethany returns to the room to help me get changed. Surprising to me still, Caleb left the knife in my possession. I covered it with the jeweled sheath and hold it, even as I follow Bethany into the closet to pick out the day's outfit. "I have news," she says,

"oh"

The handmaidens, we all talk," Bethany says. "Almost all of the other harem members don't pay us any mind. They treat us like pieces of furniture, or that we can't see and hear. So when we get together, we share what we know." Clearing her throat, she looks away. "Please don't tell anyone I told you that."

"I owe you my life, Bethany," I say, "But even if I didn't, your secret is safe with me

Bethany nods. "I figured as much. You've been consistently good to me." She plucks one of the dresses from the closet and holds it up for me to see. I nod. It's as good as any other. Caleb seems like he might give me the day off to rest and recuperate, so I might not even have cause to leave this room.

What's the news?" I ask, more eager to hear about that than to worry about my wardrobe.

"Madeline's absence left a hole in the hierarchy," Bethany says. She helps me out of my robe and into the new dress. She eyes the closed dagger in my hands but doesn't mention it. "Gwen has instantly stepped forward to fill the void."

I suspected she might. She took orders from Madeline, but seemed to be in her own mind about everything else.

That, and her dagger skills meant she was a force to be reckoned with. Most of the other girls are probably afraid of her. I'm even afraid of her a little, though not as much with my own means of self-defense.

"At least, that's what the harem thinks on the surface," Bethany says. She seems more excited now, leaning in closer. I'm sure I'm about to get the juicy part of the gossip.

"The truth is, everyone's sort of scrambling. Gwen may be the top of the pyramid now, but no one actually believes she is most favored by the King."

"Who is most favored?" I ask.

Bethany gives me a look.

"You can't mean me!" I scoff in disbelief. "He hates me. He's only keeping me around because he thinks I know some secret. Else, I'm sure he would have killed me by now." "Are you so sure?" Bethany asks.

"I'm positive," I say, unwilling to hear any more. "Any special treatment I get is an attempt on his part to fool and bribe me into giving him what he wants."

"But, Harper...

"I appreciate what you mean, Bethany, and I won't stop your fur But I'll never believe he actually favors me." Shaking my head, I add, "At least, not for any selfless reason." Bethany looks like she wants to argue, but instead she closes her mouth.

I don't mean to cut her off. She's always free to speak her mind th me. I'm sorry," I start to say, just is a knock sounds on the door. 15:09 Wed, Nov 20 D.

Chapter 59

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"You don't need to apologize." Bethany says, giving me a small smile, before she slips out into the main room and answers the door.

A royal messenger steps through. "Consort Harper. You are requested in the King's personal chambers."

My eyes go wide. Bethany's do too. We look at each other.

It's my understanding that no one is permitted to enter the King's personal chambers, except perhaps Tristan and his other attendants. None of the harem, certainly. When he wants to spend time with them, he goes to them. Not the other way around. Still, I would be foolish to turn down a summons from the King

"I will be there at once, I say to the messenger, who slips back into the hallway. As he goes, he leaves the door open behind

hin

Bethany starts to close it, yet before she can, a pair of feminine hands grips the door and pushes it back open from the other side.

Four different harem members step uninvited into my room.

-What's the meaning of this?" I snap..

I'm still achy from the previous day's events. Caleb let me sleep in, it's well into the afternoon know, but I am sore and tired, unwilling to deal with more of their drama today. I've had quite enough, thank you, from now well into the foreseeable future.

"You think you are tough shit," says one of the girls,

"You think the King is at your beck and call, just because he likes your pussy," says another.

"You think you deserve a spot above us in the harem," says the third.

"Reconsider," says the fourth.

They sayit in perfect synchronization. I wonder if they practiced this attempt at intimidation.

"The King is waiting for me," I say. "Let me pass."

"The King will keep waiting," says the second girl, the one with a small gap between her two front teeth.

"We're not done talking with you," says the third, the tallest.

"I don't know what you want me to say," I admit. "I have no interest in your hierarchy."

"Yet, it is because of you that Veronica, Nina, and now Madeline are all gone from the harem," the first one says. Her blue eyes are piercing.

"It is because of them that they are gone," I say. "Each attacked me. I never once made the first move."

"You failed to fall into line," says the first again.

"What did they expect me to do? Push King Caleb away?" I ask.ve tried that. It doesn't work. He takes whatever he damn well pleases."

Bethany circles around the woman, coming to my side in a show of support. We're still outnumbered, but I feel better about my odds, knowing I'm not alone.

"You need to back off and give other girls a chance," says the second girl,

15:09 Wed, Nov 20 u

Chapter 59

"I can't." I tell her. "You aren't listening to me. It's like you don't know the King at all"

The second girl blushes and I realize with a start that she actually doesn't know the King at all. Even as a member of the Suret, has he never laid with her? She's blushing like a virgin. "Don't you insult us," snaps the third. She takes a step toward me.

11

By now, I feel as if I entertained this enough. Maybe if they had caught me on a better day, in a better mood, I wouldn't feel

> damned tired and angry.

As is my wrists and ankles are sore and swollen and every time I close my eyes, I inadvertently imagine myself trapped in the dark under those floorboards again.

All of it builds up inside of me.

I'm tired of being nice. I'm tired of letting myself be walked all over.

So I lift my new knife and click open the top, pulling the blade free.

"If you want to fuck with me, then come closer," I say. "Else stay the hell out of my way

The girls seem surprised, like they didn't expect me to fight back

"Im done playing nice with people who want to kill me," I tell them, the threat honest and clear in my voice.

The four women look at each other, then one by one, starting with the fourth and going back to the first, they stand to the side to let me pass