Chapter 136

Maeve’s POV

Princess Mia was beautiful; she had to have been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and her aura was so strong that it nearly brought me to my knees.

I glanced up at Xaden and I wondered briefly how he could possibly look at her and not feel extremely attracted to her. She was meant to be marrying Lucas, but the way she walked down those stairs, staring at Xaden, left my stomach feeling unsettled.

Her smile lit up the entire palace and when she spoke his name, my stomach twisted even more. I could tell from the way she was looking at him that she wanted him… but I don’t think Xaden knew that information himself.

The moment she spotted me though, her smile dropped, and her eyes narrowed. I could feel the iciness from her stare, and it sent a shiver down my spine. She raised her perfectly trimmed brows before speaking.

“And who might this be?”

Xaden smiled and draped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side. The scowl on her face did not go unnoticed by me, and I wasn’t sure if Xaden was pretending not to notice, or if he truly did not notice.

“This is my mate, Maeve,” he introduced.

“And what exactly is she doing here?” Mia asked.

Xaden frowned.

“I wanted her to be here to meet you,” he explained. “I thought maybe we could all spend some time together and—”

“I don’t spend my time with those I don’t know,” Mia said, folding her arms across her chest. “I thought you were going to show me around the capital today.”

“I am,” he told her, his brows now pinched together. “But I wanted Maeve to accompany us as well.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“I see,” she murmured. “I guess we better get going then.”

She glanced over at her shoulders at her warriors who nodded at her and then they all started to walk towards the front doors. Xaden took hold of my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He told me that he thought I could one day be friends with her… but I wasn’t seeing that as a possibility.

It was quite obvious she already didn’t like me.

“Are you okay?” He asked me under his breath.

I nodded and bit my lower lip.

The answer was no… I was not okay… but I didn’t need him to worry about me as well, so I lied to him and nodded.

I just wanted to get this day over with.

……

Third Person POV

The last thing Princess Mia wanted was to spend the day with Xaden’s mate, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from getting what she wanted. She was going to get some alone time with him if it was the last thing she did.

Meanwhile, Alpha Kenneth arranged to meet with his daughter, Isabelle. She was still upset with him because she felt as if he was choosing Maeve over her. She didn’t understand the bigger picture and it was time for her to be clued in… at least just a little. He was going to need her help if he wanted to pull off his plan.

“I don’t understand why you wanted to come to the dungeons,” Isabelle said with her arms folded across her chest. They were descending the stairs into the dungeon, and she hated the smell; it was making her gag. The slime on the walls grossed her out and the overall atmosphere was just unpleasant.

This was not the place for a Luna Princess.

“Because we are meeting with someone,” Kenneth told her. “I told you that already.”

“But why here?” She complained. “And why are there no guards? Shouldn’t there be guards?”

“You’ll see in a moment,” he said through his teeth, losing his patience rather quickly.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and he continued down the dark corridor until they reached the cell block. He knocked on the wooden door, waiting until it creaked open and a familiar woman stood on the other side.

The only thing that Isabelle knew about the dungeon was that different types of criminals were kept in different sections. There should have been a guard outside and even some inside this section, but there weren’t any, and that made her feel uneasy.

What was her father up to?

Isabelle knew this woman to be Victoria, Alpha Burton’s wife and Maeve’s mother. Isabelle raised her brows as she glanced up at her father who only had a smirk on his lips. Victoria glanced around the seemingly empty halls before she took a step back to look at Alpha Kenneth.

“Were you followed?” She asked him.

“Of course not,” he murmured. “I was careful as I always am. I see you got rid of the guards.”

“They’ll do anything for a pretty penny.”

“Anything but release your daughter,” Kenneth retorted.

Victoria rolled her eyes as she stepped away from the door, allowing them entry.

They entered the room and shut the door behind them, only a flicker of a light guiding their way down the many empty cells until they reached the end of the hall.

Isabelle peeked into the large cell doors to see a young woman seated on the cot in the corner. Her clothes were once pristine and Isabelle would have loved the outfit, knowing that it was this year's design, except it was currently ripped and unwashed.

The girl lifted her gaze to meet Alpha Kenneth’s, and he could see how tired she truly was.

“Sarah, you remember Alpha Kenneth,” Victoria said, motioning for the Alpha.

“Yes,” the girl, Sarah, said nodding her head.

“And his daughter, Isabelle. The Luna Princess,” Victoria continued, motioning for Isabelle.

“Of course,” Sarah said, bowing her head slightly to Isabelle. “It’s an honor to see you again, Princess.”

Isabelle glanced up at her father with a frown.

“Why are we here?” She asked him, her eyes narrowed.

Alpha Kenneth smirked down at his daughter, his own eyes turning icy.

“Because we all have a common goal,” he said simply.

“And what would that be?” Isabelle asked, not fully convinced.

“We want Maeve out of the palace,” he shocked her by saying.

It was true, more than anything, Isabelle wanted Maeve to be gone. But she knew it wasn’t going to be possible. She’s tried everything but it always backfired on her.

Sarah sucked in a sharp breath and glanced up at her mother, both their expressions dark. They didn’t just want Maeve out of the palace, they wanted her to suffer and pay for what she had done. They wanted her to be locked away and tortured until she was no longer breathing. But first, they wanted to strip her of everything she had, which meant stripping her from this palace. If Alpha Kenneth had a plan, then they were going to hang onto every single word he spoke.

Victoria was shocked when Alpha Kenneth reached out to her and asked for this meeting with her and Sarah. He explained that he knew of a way to get everyone what they wanted. Victoria knew she couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

Isabelle had no idea about the dark thoughts that roamed through Victoria’s head; in fact, she was rather confused as to why Kenneth would be saying these things about Maeve in front of her own mother.

Wouldn’t Victoria only want the best for her daughter?

But then she said something that shocked Isabelle to her core.

“That girl’s existence had been nothing but detrimental to my family! I want to take everything from her!”

Isabelle’s mouth fell open as she stared at Victoria and then she looked up at her father who nodded at her words.

“I’m sorry, what?” Isabelle finally found her voice to speak. “Isn’t Victoria her mother? How can you trust her with this information?”

Victoria scoffed and folded her arms across her chest.

“She doesn’t know?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at Kenneth.

He shook his head.

“I hadn’t had the chance to tell her yet,” Kenneth explained.

“Tell me what?” Isabelle asked, feeling impatient.

“I’m not that bitch’s mother,” Victoria hissed, her aura turning icy. Isabelle was shocked and speechless once again. “Her arrival was the worst day of my life and there’s a part of me that’ll never forgive Burton for what he did.”

“I… I don’t understand,” Isabelle stammered. “What did he do? What are you talking about?”

Victoria rolled her eyes at the memory and then sighed as she turned to face Isabelle.

“Burton had an affair many years ago with a human,” she explained, making Isabelle gasp loudly. “When he brought Maeve home, I thought my entire world was ending. But he gave me no other choice but to keep her. We kept her as our servant… she’s nothing more than a mutt.”

“Maeve is half human?” Isabelle asked, glancing up at her father for confirmation and he gave her a hesitant nod.

“Something like that,” he murmured. “It’s a little more complicated. But for now, we will stick with that.”

“Nothing complicated about it,” Victoria said through her teeth. “Since the day she arrived, our lives have been hell.”

“She’s a jinx,” Sarah agreed, folding her arms across her chest. “Look what she did to me…” she motioned around the cell. “This is all her fault, and I’ll never forgive that useless mutt. I want her to suffer 10 times the amount we did.”

“And she will,” Victoria assured her daughter.

“All in do time,” Kenneth said to the ladies. “But first, we need to get her out of this palace. I’ve already tried kidnapping her, but that didn’t work.”

“You were the one trying to kidnap her?” Isabelle gasped. Henry had told her something about the kidnapping attempts and both found it comical.

“Yes, but I’ll need a new plan because that didn’t work and security around her is tighter than ever. So, I started to come up with something else,” Kenneth explained.

“What are you thinking of doing?” Victoria asked, her interest piqued.

“Maeve needs to leave on her own terms,” he told them. “She going to have to want to leave the royals… more importantly, she’ll need to want to leave Xaden.”

Sarah let out a laugh and shook her head.

“She’s never going to leave Xaden,” she told them, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, I’ve already tried to get her to leave,” Isabelle agreed, sighing. “It’s going to be impossible.”

“I don’t think it’s impossible at all. Especially with Mia now in the picture,” Kenneth explained.

“Princess Mia?” Isabelle asked. “Isn’t she marrying Lucas? What does she have to do with anything?”

“If things go according to plan, she will set her sights on Xaden and complicate things between him and Maeve,” Kenneth explained.

“So, you’re saying…” Victoria started.

“The only way to get Maeve to leave Xaden….” Sarah continued, deep in thought.

Isabelle looked up at her father, her eyes lighting up as she said, “Is to break her heart.”