Chapter 123

Carol’s POV

My heart pounded heavily against my chest as fear and doubt consumed me. I could see that Aiden was working out whatever was happening in his mind. He was just as confused if not more.

“Are you saying that it was David who poisoned the Alpha?” I asked, my voice breathy. I didn’t know David; I’ve only seen him at parties.

He was an older gentleman who had taken care of Oliver since he was a teenager. Oliver’s mother died when Oliver was a baby, and his father died when Oliver was 16, during a rogue attack. His father’s best friend, David, stepped up as an active Beta while Oliver trained and he took care of Oliver.

The thought that he betrayed the Capital, and his own people confused me. I thought wolves were loyal to their pack. How could he do something like that?

“You don’t think Olver knew, do you?” I asked, peeking up at him.

“No,” Aiden said without hesitation. “He doesn’t know anything.”

“Why would David do something like that? I thought he respected your father,” I said, shaking my head.

“Maybe power,” Candance was the one to speak. “With the Alpha gone, the beta would be the one taking over.”

“But Oliver is the Beta, not David,” I said, still having trouble processing this whole thing.

“Maybe that’s the point,” Aiden said, lowering his gaze. “He wants Oliver, his prized possession, to be the leader.”

“Then what about you?” I asked. “you’re still alive so that’s not happening anytime soon.”

Aiden nodded.

“Which makes me think I was the next target. We would probably be having a different conversation if we hadn’t left the Capital,” Aiden said, shaking his head with dismay written all over his face. “David must have been planning this for a while.”

“Then someone here is helping him,” I said, shaking my head. “Who would do something like that? Did you know he had connections here?”

“No, I didn’t,” Aiden said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “How had this been missed?”

“Do you think your father knew?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said.

He took a hold of my hand.

“Someone helped him, and we need to figure out who,” Aiden said. He paused when he looked at Candace. “Thanks, by the way. You’ve been helpful and we really appreciate it. If you end up getting kicked out of the palace, you have a home in the Capital.”

She nodded.

“I appreciate that, but I have a feeling my punishment will be a little bit more than getting kicked out, “she whispered, glancing at the ground. “I went against direct orders and kept possession of something not only extremely dangerous but illegal. They aren’t going to let me off the hook for that.”

“But you didn’t even touch the stuff,” I complained. “You aren’t a dangerous person.”

She gave me a sweet smile and her cheeks grew pink at the compliment.

“You’re kind to think so,” she said honestly. “But I doubt the council will feel the same way. At the end of the day, they get the final say. They outrule the King when it comes to werewolf law and I had broken one of the big ones. It’s out of the King’s hands even if he does trust me.”

My heart ached for the girl; I knew she didn’t want to hurt anyone. She only created that poison for her sister. She kept it for emergencies; not that it made it right, but she didn’t deserve an ill fate.

“We will figure something out,” I assured her.

She nodded and gave me a sad smile.

We left the infirmary without another word. Just as we were walking down the hallway to go back up the grand stairs, Tilly appeared out of nowhere.

She looked flustered and her cheeks eyes were wide when she saw us. If I hadn’t known anybody, I would say she was nervous. She gave us a small smile and then bowed her head low.

“Hello, Your Majesty,” she said to me.

I blushed.

“I’m not a royal, Tilly,” I told her. “Just call me Carol. Please.”

She lifted her gaze and her brows furrowed.

“You are a royal thought; you are the King’s daughter,” she reminded me.

“Barely,” I muttered, folding my arms across my chest.

I couldn’t get the vision I had of her earlier out of my mind. It was so strange and it was my first ever vision; I wondered what triggered it and why I saw her and Beta Luca together. I almost wanted to ask her about it, but I didn’t want to pry. It wasn’t any of my business who she was secretly sleeping with.

But still, I had a nasty feeling about it in the pit of my stomach.

“Are you just leaving the infirmary?” She asked, peeking behind us at the infirmary door. “Are you unwell?”

“We were just speaking to Candace,” I explained. “It’s nothing major. We were talking to her on behalf of a friend.”

“Oh, I see,” she said, nodding thoughtfully. “I was just about to see her myself. I wanted to check on her and make sure she was okay. I hear the council is deciding her punishment and I’m worried for her.”

I furrowed my brows.

“I didn’t realize you were friends,” I said to her.

“Candace is one of the nicest women at the palace. We clicked a few years ago and we have been friends ever since. She’s kind of the only friend I have… we tell each other everything. She’s my best friend,” Tilly admitted thoughtfully.

I tilted my head to the side.

“You tell each other everything?” I asked. “All secrets?”

She nodded.

“Including the one about the poison?” Aiden was the one who asked, knowing exactly where I was going with this.

Her brows furrowed together, and she looked almost flustered again. She swallowed the lump that wedged in her throat and then she nodded slowly.

“I knew about it, yes,” she admitted. “I never said anything to anyone though. I kept my word to her and kept her secret.”

“Why would she tell you about it?” I asked, glancing at Aiden whose jaw was set as he glared down at Tilly.

She practically shrunk into herself under his scrutiny, but her eyes remained on mine as she said, “As I said, we tell each other everything.”

“Okay then,” I said, biting back my slight annoyance at her vague answer.

I wondered briefly if I would be able to have another vision if I touched her like I did earlier. I knew it was ridiculous to attempt that now, but before she could brush past me and walk into the infirmary, I grabbed her arm.

She froze and whipped around to look at me, startled by my approach. Just as her eyes met mine, I was transported into a different place. Like before, everything around me was hazy like I was standing in the middle of a dream.

I was standing in the infirmary, and it was empty. I furrowed my brows together, wondering where Candace was.

I turned around when I heard the door opening.

“Candy, you in here?”

It was Tilly. She looked around for a moment and she appeared to be nervous about something.

She stepped further into the room.

“Candy?” She asked again, a bit louder.

When nobody said anything she walked over to the desk across the room and looked around it for a moment. On her desk, there was a piece of paper that Tilly read out loud.

“Till, be back soon. Had to make a home visit. I won’t be long. Then we will get lunch like planned.”

She sighed and put the note back on her desk. She sat down for a moment and spun around the desk chair as she waited.

I wondered why I was seeing this, but after a few minutes of nothing going on, Tilly stood up and her eyes wandered over to the cabinet across the room. I could feel her nervousness as she processed something.

She slowly made her way towards it and opened it. It wasn’t locked or anything; it was the same cabinet that had all the healing potions Candace had rummaged through earlier. Tilly pressed a couple of buttons in the back of the cabinet and then a secret door opened.

I gasped and covered my mouth as till took out a metal case with a padlock.

she stared at it for a long while; I could practically hear the thrumming of her rapid heartbeat.

“No…” she whispered. “I can’t. Candy would never forgive me…”

She paused again and for a moment, I thought she was going to put the case back. But she didn’t.

She inserted the code on the padlock, and it was unlatched. She opened the case her a small light turned on, lighting up her pale features as she stared at the potion in front of her.

My heart was heavy in my chest. I knew exactly what the potion was, it was poison…

But why would Tilly take it?

“This is a bad idea…” she whispered. “But I would do anything for love…”

She was talking to herself, and I could hear the tremor in her voice. She placed the case on a table and went to grab an empty vial. She poured half the poison into the vile, corking it immediately. I didn’t miss the fact that she held her breath while she did so and I wondered if that was enough to keep her from exposure.

She then proceeded to add a different, similar colored, potion to the poison to make it look untouched before locking it back up and returning it to the cabinet. She shoved the poison she had taken into her pocket.

I was transported back to the hallway, and I quickly released Tilly’s arm. Her eyes were wide with alarm; not sure what had just happened or why I grabbed her like that.

I stared at her blankly.

“Sorry, Tilly,” Aiden said, grabbing my hand and pulling me against him, also confused. “You can go now.”

She looked uncertain but she nodded. She gave me one last look before going into the infirmary and closing the door behind her.

Aiden turned me around to face him; both hands on my arms as he looked not my eyes.

“What happened?” He asked. “Are you okay? You kind of just froze on me.”

I stared at him, tears filling my eyes before I could stop them; I was so confused and terrified but I knew what I saw and that was a vision.

“It was Tilly,” I whispered, my voice cracking slightly. “She took the poison.”