Chapter 75

Sienna’s POV

I’d had every intention of going down to the palace the day before, having spent hours choosing an outfit, making my room a mess in the process.

And then I didn’t go, and I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly I didn’t.

Fear, maybe? Because the thought of speaking to Alaric, face to face, made my stomach turn. I had no way of knowing for sure that I wouldn’t wrap my hands around his neck and watch the life fade out of him like it had in my parents.

Or, it was the fact that a small part of me was terrified of the truth. What if Alaric revealed some other horrific truth to me, something worse than the one I’d been told?

Right now, I was safe. Alaric had been the reason my parents were dead. All of my anger could be directed at him.

It was simple and easy that way.

“Sienna?” Simon’s voice came drifting to the back of the house from the dining room.

“Yes?” I came out of my room, my eyes going straight to the official letter he held in his hand.

My heart leapt into my throat.

“Is that the royal seal?” My stomach was starting to twist and turn, that damned nausea taking over in a heated wave.

“It is. It’s from the King.”

The blood drained from my face, leaving me cold and clammy.

“And what does it say?” I asked in a whisper, hardly able to push the words out.

“The King would like to see you.” Simon gave me a sympathetic look, and I couldn’t bear to see it, so I glanced away.

“When?”

“In an hour.”

“An hour?” I scrambled to see the letter for myself, not believing it for a moment.

There it was — a summons for an hour from now. That was barely any time at all, and I was suddenly thankful I’d ripped apart my closet the night before. At least now I had an idea of a suitable outfit.

“I’ll accompany you there when you’re ready,” Simon nodded, setting the letter down on the table. I ripped my eyes from it, nerves pumping through my body with every beat of my heart.

“Right. I’ll hurry.” I ignored the growing coil of nausea in the center of my gut, rushing back to my room, tripping over my own feet on the way.

Twenty minutes later, Simon and I were headed down to the palace in silence, my throat closed up from the anxiety of it all.

At least I was finally going to the palace with absolutely no choice in the matter. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever have gone on my own accord with the turmoil I’d been feeling over it all.

Simon left me at the gates, saying he’d be there waiting for me if I needed him. All I could do was nod, shuffling my way in through the front, trying to keep my breathing steady.

I failed, despising how nervous I was letting myself get. I had to present a strong front, the young and capable Alpha that no one believed I was.

A guard led me to a conference room, telling me to wait, that the King would be there soon. Then I was left alone in a huge, empty hallway, a few people passing by every now and then.

At the end of the hall after a few crippling minutes alone, I caught a glance of the last person I expected to see down there.

“Asher?” My shock bounced off the empty walls, and his head jerked towards me, his eyes widening.

He wasn’t in his usual casual Nightwind attire. This was something more…royally casual.

“Sienna?” He closed the space between us, his voice tight. “What are you doing here?”

“The King summoned me,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. “Why are you here? You look like you’re quite comfortable in these halls.”

“I spent a lot of time here,” he said gently, glancing to the doors of the conference room I was waiting to enter. He seemed too nervous, and I didn’t like it.

Asher didn’t get nervous, so if he was, then something was very wrong.

“Don’t believe what he tells you,” he warned, setting my nerves right back on fire. “Don’t trust him.”

“What are you talking abo — ” Before I could get the words out, he was gone, brushing past me and disappearing around the corner.

My stomach sank through the floor, but I didn’t have time to think about it, because the conference room clicked open, a gruff faced guard motioning me inside.

The King sat at a large round table, a single chair on the opposite side set out for me. There was no smile on his face, no joy to see me.

He looked angry.

“Your Majesty,” I nodded before I sat, doing my best to control the obscene pounding of my heart. Surely, the King could hear it too.

As I met the King’s eyes, I saw a smugness there that scared me to my very core. I didn’t like that look one bit.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here, no?” he chuckled, drawing out the moment of truth longer than he needed to.

“Yes, sir, I am.” I kept my voice steady and mature, never allowing him a chance to bury more fear into my veins.

“I assume you’ve heard of Alaric’s great return.” He didn’t bother to hide the scowl that shadowed his face, clearly furious about it.

“I have,” was all I said back. I wasn’t going to ignite the fire in him that was so desperately searching for fuel.

“Many secrets have been kept from you, Sienna,” the King drawled, knowing he was amping this up unnecessarily.

I was falling for it though, leaning closer to the table, eager for more.

“I had a feeling,” I murmured, keeping my eyes on his dark ones, the edges of them crinkled from age.

“Oh, you have no idea of the depth of secrets kept from you, my dear girl. You know of Alaric’s return, but you aren’t aware of who he really is.” The King smirked slowly, dragging the moment out once again.

“I’d hoped you’d find his insiders within your pack, but you failed to do so. If you had, you might have figured out who he was. How close to you he was this entire time.”

My heart beat faster with every word he spoke.

“Alaric is someone I know?” I whispered, not wanting to believe it. Surely I didn’t know them very well?

Don’t believe what he tells you. Asher’s words echoed in my mind, and I couldn’t help but think the same about him.

All the secrets, the times he was away, doing who knows what. How it always seemed like there was something he wanted to say, something huge, though he never did.

“You’re realizing it, aren’t you? He was floating right in front of our faces this whole time, deceiving us.”

No, no, no, it’s not true.

“You don’t want to believe it,” the King chuckled. “I was shocked to find out, too. I thought I’d have recognized my own nephew, but alas, he was too smart for even me, disguising himself so incredibly.”

He hadn’t said it yet, so maybe it wasn’t real. Maybe he was talking about someone else.

“It’s a lot to find out that Asher, your dear husband, is really Prince Alaric, hmm?”

The King knew exactly what he was doing, how this would affect me.

My world crumbled in an instant.