Chapter 221

Aiden’s POV

“The dungeon?” The King asked. “Why would you want to go there?”

I raised my brows at him.

“Have you ever been there?” I asked.

“Often enough,” he answered, folding his arms across his chest. “Is there something I need to know about?”

“I have a reason to believe that there is someone there who shouldn’t be there,” I told him. King Bennet stared at me for what felt like a long while before he turned his attention to Candance who blushed under his scrutiny and stared at the ground, twiddling her fingers nervously.

“And do you believe the same?” He asked Candance. “Was this a discussion before I arrived?”

She sucked in her bottom lip before lifting her gaze to meet his.

“I do believe someone is there and she shouldn’t be,” Candance finally answered softly. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I shouldn’t have kept this from you…”

“Kept what from me?” He asked through his teeth. I could tell he was getting angry with our back and forth.

“I think you might have another daughter,” Candance blurted, her face growing even redder.

“What do you mean?” He asked, his Alpha aura intensifying and darkening. She bowed her head because of the force of the Alpha powers.

“Her name is Raelyn, Sir…” she said softly. “She ran through the palace, and I found her. The guards took her away and later I was told she had died. But I don’t think that’s the truth. I think she’s still there.”

“And you think she’s my daughter because of why?”

“Because she had Carol’s face… I thought she was Carol at first. But she had a darkness that wasn’t in Carol when I last saw her,” Candance said quickly.

“Why can’t I see that in your past?” The King asked, his eyes glowing as he tried to use his abilities on her. He had the power to see into her past to see if she was telling the truth or not.

“I was given a potion to block my memory from your powers so you wouldn’t see it,” she admitted.

“Who did that?” He demanded to know.

She swallowed.

“Morgan…”

He stared at her with a shocked expression.

“Morgan was keeping a little girl in my dungeon? Why wasn’t I informed of this sooner? How did my guards allow this to happen? How is she still alive??” The King was growing increasingly angrier, and I could tell Candance was getting more nervous. She didn’t want to throw the queen under the bus knowing she could get in trouble for treason and face repercussions.

I glanced at Carol and saw that she was still sleeping peacefully.

“How about we go down there and find out for ourselves,” I suggested, pushing them towards the door.

The King continued to ask his questions until we made it to the front foyer of the manor, and he spotted a couple of guards walking through the vast space.

“You two, come with us,” the King ordered.

They both froze and looked at one another before nodding and bowing their heads at the king.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” they both said at the same time.

They were clearly worried that they were in trouble. None of us said anything more as the King made his way down the basement stairs and toward the dungeon.

“Unlock the door,” he ordered the guard who stood at the closed entrance of the dungeon. The guard looked shocked to see the King; probably never seeing him in the dungeon before.

His face immediately paled, and he hesitated before the King lost his patience.

“NOW!” The King roared, shaking the basement walls.

The guard scrambled to get his keys and then he unlocked the door, pushing it open for us to step through. He exchanged a worried look with the other guards that went unnoticed by the King, but I didn’t miss it. Even Candance was staring between them with a crease between her brows.

We followed the King through the dark and musty-smelling dungeon. The King looked disgusted as his eyes darted around at the place. He glanced at some of the prisoners in the cells and his face was shining with horror.

“Why are they here?” He demanded to know, addressing his question to the guard stationed at the dungeon entrance.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and kept his eyes fixed on the ground.

“Different reasons, Your Majesty,” he answered.

“I never made these orders,” the King said, turning his full attention to the guard. “I never let prisoners stay here for a long period of time. They are either put to death for their crimes, banished, or sent to the Empire Prison. Who permitted these prisoners to stay here long term?”

The guard was looking panicked, but he knew he couldn’t lie to the King. I almost expected him to lie, so I was surprised when he actually told the truth.

“The Queen, Your Majesty,” he answered.

The King’s brows furrowed together, and he glanced at Candance, who was keeping her eyes fixed on the ground as well.

Instead of replying to the guard about the Queen, he asked, “Which cell was Carol staying in?”

Carol was the one who mentioned Raelyn, so the King must have known that while she was here, they were talking. Which meant Raelyn was in the cell next to hers.

The guard walked past us and down the dark and cold dungeon halls; we rounded the corner, and he paused outside of the cell block. The door was open, which meant there was no one there.

“This one, Sir,” the guard answered.

The King glanced into the cell with a frown. I noticed that it smelled like cleaning products and my stomach twisted; it was freshly cleaned, which meant there must have been a reason for them to clean it. Her cell was towards the end, so there was nobody to the left of the cell; however, there was a cell to the right.

The king noticed my eyes scanning the closed door and his face darkened as he realized what I must have been thinking. Raelyn, his potential daughter was behind that door. He walked towards the door and poked his head through the small window to scan the area. He was quiet for a long while before he pulled back and turned to look at me.

“It’s empty,” he told me.

“What?” I asked, walking around him to look into the window as well. He was right; it was empty. There was some blood on the ground, indicating a fight, and the cot in the corner was unmade. But there was nobody in the cell. “Where did the person in this cell go?” I asked, turning to face the guard who still looked pale.

“I don’t believe there was anyone in this room,” the guard answered, lifting his gaze to meet my eyes.

I could tell he was lying and trying to make it look like I was making it up.

“There was a girl in this room,” I told him. “Carol was speaking to a girl named Raelyn while she was here.”

“I don’t know anyone of that name,” The guard said stubbornly. “Perhaps Carol was hearing voices…”

“Watch your mouth,” I said through my teeth, but the King shot up his hand, silencing my words.

“That’s enough,” he said, turning to face Candance and me. “I won’t be humiliated in my own empire. Clearly, this Raelyn girl isn’t here, and I don’t have any reason to believe that she ever was.”

“Your Majesty—” Candance tried to explain but he shot her a deadly look that caused her to clamp her lips shut. “This had gone on far enough,” he growled. He turned to the guard and narrowed his eyes. “I want a detailed report on what each prisoner had done. I will decide their punishment. I don’t want anyone in this dungeon at the end of the week.”

The guard swallowed and I could tell he was even more nervous now. He had to go against the queen and her orders.

“Yes, Sir,” he answered.

The King ignored his nervous tone and started to walk back towards the entrance with the guards following after him. I looked at Candance who was staring at the cell block door with a pale face.

“She was here…” she whispered. “I know she was.”

I nodded, believing her.

“We’ll figure it out,” I assured her. “She couldn’t have gotten far.”

She sighed and then nodded.

“We should get back upstairs,” she said and then started to follow the King and his men out of the dungeon. I remained a short while longer, examining everything that I could with my eyes before I retreated from the dungeon.

Back in the infirmary, I went to Carol’s bedside. When I walked into the space, her eyes flew open, and she darted over to me. I smiled at her and sat at her bedside.

“Hey,” I said to her, keeping my voice low.

“Hey…” she said in return. “Where did you go?”

“I just needed to get some air,” I lied; I didn’t want to tell her that we went into the dungeon to find her long-lost sister only to find the empty cell. She didn’t need that kind of stress while she was recovering.

“Oh,” she said softly, resting her head against my arm. “I was worried.”

I bent down to kiss her head, but my wolf immediately pulled me back, halting my movements. I froze in confusion to his sudden reaction towards our mate but then I caught the whiff of something that wasn’t there before…. Carol smelled… off.