Chapter 178

Sebastian

“I was thinking you weren’t going to make it. But I’m glad that you did,” Magnolia said, staring over at Sebastian with an oddly fond smile.

“You sent the invitation?” Sebastian asked, narrowing his eyes at his stepmother.

“Of course,” she answered. “You are my son after all, and I haven’t seen you in ages. I hated how we left things the other day and I wanted a chance to make things right.”

“Well, we are here,” Sebastian said, keeping his eyes locked on hers and his tone low. “Exactly as you wanted.”

“You have it all wrong, darling. I simply just wanted to enjoy some quality time with my son. Is that so wrong?”

Sebastian was anything but her son, but he couldn’t make a scene in the middle of this ball, so he kept his words to himself. Around her neck, he noticed, was a diamond necklace that he didn’t recognize. He frowned as he stared at it before bringing his gaze back to her icy blue eyes. She wasn’t wearing the crescent moon emblem like she usually does. Maybe she figured they would be there looking for it so she’s hiding it.

“I hope there are no hard feelings, darling. This was only business. You failed to protect this kingdom, so my son, Jack, stepped in and did it for you. Since Jack has been in charge, things here have been running much smoother. You’ll see just how wonderful my son is as a king. Royalty fits him nicely.”

Sebastian bit his tongue before he said something he was going to regret. It was taking everything he had not to speak the words that were lingering on his tongue. Hannah draped an arm through his arm; just her nearness brought him back to the present moment and washed him over with a sense of calm.

“I’m sure Jack will do a wonderful job as King,” Hannah said with a fond smile. “Congratulations to you both, Magnolia. It’s nice knowing that the kingdom has been protected in our absence.”

Magnolia seemed to have tensed at Hannah’s words. She wasn’t expecting this level of sincerity.

“Why, thank you…” Magnolia said, eyeing her carefully. “That’s quite big of you.”

“I know how to take a defeat when I see one. This surely was a defeat,” Hannah continued; her hold on Sebastian’s arm was tightening. He could tell it pained her to say this. She was acting the part to not draw attention to them. “If you’ll excuse us, we have some mingling to do. We haven’t seen these people for a long time. Thank you for the invitation; it was very kind of you.”

Magnolia nodded once, but her face was anything but pleased. If anything, that caused her to be even more suspicious.

“Mother,” Sebastian said, bowing his head to her.

The word “mother” left a bitter taste on his tongue, and he had to fight a grimace. He followed Hannah back to the dance floor and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a slow dance.

“That pained me to say,” she muttered against him.

“Did you see the look on her face though?” He asked, fighting back a laugh. “It was priceless.”

She smirked.

“She definitely wasn’t expecting it I’m sure,” Hannah agreed. “But did you also notice that she isn’t wearing the emblem? Where do you think it could be?”

“Possibly in her chambers,” Sebastian told her. “Maybe she figured out what we were here for, and she planned ahead. It could be guarded.”

“How are we going to get it?” She asked, giving him a worried gaze.

“I can get up the stairs and to her chambers on my own,” he said to her. “Meanwhile, you should see if you can get into the dungeon to find Dr. Davis. Kill 2 birds with one stone.”

She nodded at the idea.

“I can do that. What if guards see us though?” She asked.

“Use your old status as former queen to persuade them. It’s worked for me before, I’m sure it’ll work again if we use our words correctly.”

She leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips before pulling away from him.

“I’m going to use the powder room, now,” she said loudly. “I’ll return shortly.”

“I’ll accompany you,” Sebastian said after her. “I could use the restroom myself.”

They walked hand-in-hand until they were out of the ballroom. They walked down the narrow hall until they reached the main foyer. Everybody seemed preoccupied with the events going on around them to even notice Hannah and Sebastian were even in the area. There were a bunch of commoners attempting to storm the palace and some wanted to crash the ball. The guards were busy trying to keep them away.

Sebastian gave Hannah one last look before she disappeared down the hallway that led to the dungeon doors. He began his way up the stairs until he reached the top floor. By the time he got to the top floor, just as he suspected, gammas were patrolling the level outside of Magnolia’s bedroom door.

They paused when they saw Sebastian approaching.

“It’s you…” the girl said in front of the other guards; she stared at him in disbelief.

“Hello again, Adira.”

…

Hannah

I finally made my way down the dark stairs of the dungeon. It was like walking into a dark abyss. It seemed much darker than it used to be. They were keeping most of the lights off until the very bottom step when I saw one candle being lit in a lantern against the wall.

I was surprised that there were only a couple of gammas patrolling the door to the cells and they paused when they saw me approaching. Like everyone, they seemed shocked that I was standing before them. I couldn’t blame them; I was back from the dead.

“Your highness…” one of them breathed, bowing to me. It was nice to know they still thought of me as the queen. I smiled at them.

“It’s been a long time,” I said to them. “No need to treat me with such formality. I’m nothing more than a casualty now.”

“You will always be our queen,” the other one said, also bowing.

“Thank you for your loyalty. We are beyond grateful for that,” I said to them.

They looked at one another curiously.

“We?”

“Sebastian and me,” I answered.

“King Sebastian had returned to?!” They both asked at the same time, I could see the excitement on their faces.

“He has,” I told them. I knew they wanted us to take back the throne and I wasn’t going to disappoint them. But there was only so much I could say to them; they were working for Jack after all.

“We are pleased to see you. But you shouldn’t be down here, your highness,” one of the guards said worriedly. “King Jack would kill all of us if we disobeyed him.”

“I’m not looking to get anyone in trouble,” I assured them. “I was just heading to the bathroom when I saw that the palace was being stormed by a lot of commoners. They are requesting all hands-on deck.”

“That’s odd,” one of the guards said. “I didn’t get a mindlink notifying us of that.”

“That’s because they were a little preoccupied. I told them I would gather as many guards as I can. Sebastian is gathering the guards upstairs. I said I would grab the ones in the dungeon.”

They both looked alarmed and nodded.

“We will go help. Thank you for your help, your highness,” one of them said with another bow.

“Yes, thank you,” the other one said with a bow.

I waited until they disappeared up the stairs. I acted as if I was following them, but once they were through the doors, I went back downstairs and made my way into the cells.

I was shocked to find that each cell had somebody in it. There had to be over a dozen wolves locked away in the cells. They all looked malnourished and weak. None of them seemed to notice my presence. I didn’t recognize most of them, but they looked ill and sad. The entire area smelled of rotting flesh and mildew. It made me want to gag.

As I made my way through the cells, trying to shield my eyes from all the filth around me. I paused as I heard my name in a low and muffled tone.

“H… Hannah?”

I paused and turned. I saw a man sitting in one of the cells; he had chains around his naked body. He was bruised and beaten; he had a muzzle around his mouth, and it looked like it pained him severely to move.

“Dr. Davis…”