Chapter 169

Maeve’s POV

I hadn’t noticed Charlotte slipping out of the room, but as soon as I turned around, I realized she was no longer standing at the doorway. I peeked up at Xaden who stared down at me with such sincerity that it made my heart skip a beat.

“You love me?” I asked him, my heart thudding violently against my chest.

He smiled at me and kissed the bridge of my nose.

“Yes,” he replied. “I love you more now than I did before.” He draped his fingers through my hair, letting it fall between his fingers, and I saw the desire in his eyes as he watched it fall back around my shoulders.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my lips to his; our hearts beating in unison. I felt something stirring with delight inside of me; it was a strange sensation, to say the least.

“I love you too,” I whispered against him.

He crinkled his nose as he smiled and he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, lifting me off the ground. I squealed and laughed as he twirled me around the bathroom. By the time he finished, I was dizzy enough that I nearly fell over. He lowered himself down to me and kissed me gently on the lips. I breathed him in, basking in his scent.

“If you two love birds are almost done in there, Maggie said dinner is ready,” Char said from outside the bathroom door. I took Xaden by the hands and pulled him towards the doorway.

“Good,” I breathed. “I’m famished.”

We walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Maggie was setting up plates at the dining table. She gasped when she saw me; her hands covering her mouth.

“Oh my,” she breathed, her eyes shining with something I couldn’t read. “You are stunning.”

I blushed at her compliment; I had never been called stunning before. I certainly felt a lot better having natural hair though. It was freeing to be who I truly was.

“I hope you are hungry; I made all your favorites,” she continued as she brought platters of food to the table. The scents alone made my mouth water.

We talked for a little while as we ate, but for the most part, things were pretty much silent. I kept noticing Maggie and Char before stealing glances at my hair though; I’m sure it was a weird adjustment for them.

When we finished, I offered to clean the dishes, but Maggie shooed me away telling me to go rest. She didn’t have to tell me twice; I was exhausted despite the fact that I’d been asleep for a week.

“By the way,” Char began as we walked her to the front door so she could leave for the night. “Mother and Father would like both of you over tomorrow for dinner.”

She hugged me as she spoke those words; she then turned and hugged Xaden.

“I hope to see you there,” she said and then she turned on her heel and quickly hurried out of the mansion.

…..

Third Person POV

The dungeon beneath the palace was cold and damp, it was no place for a princess. Isabelle was miserable, exhausted, parched, and starving as she sat on the old and dirty cot in the far corner of the dungeon cell. She was in an isolated cell, so there were no others around her. From her understanding, her father was also in an isolated cell, being tortured until he gave the King the answers he sought.

Footsteps drew Isabelle’s attention to the dark entryway; her heart hammered in her chest. Up until this point she had been left alone with maybe a couple of guards walking in and out, making sure she wasn’t getting into trouble. As if she could get into any trouble by being locked in a cage.

The person coming towards her came into view and she let out a shuddering breath of relief when she saw her husband. But that relief turned into worry when she saw the look on his face.

“Hen—”

“What the hell is wrong with you??” Henry shouted, a vein bulging at his temple as his anger flared. His wolf was at the surface, and he was stronger than ever.

Henry heard what had happened a few hours prior and he had to work hard to contain his anger. He knew that he couldn’t see Isabelle until he was calmed down, but the second he saw her, that anger returned with a vengeance.

“You promised me you would leave her alone!” Henry hissed, his eyes glowing with fury.

“Why are you choosing her side over mine??” Isabelle asked, tears filling her eyes. “It’s like as soon as Maeve arrived you forgot that I was your wife. You are supposed to be on my team, Henry. Not hers!”

“I was on your team!” He growled, nearly shaking the entire dungeon. “I didn’t want you to continue making a fool out of yourself. Do you have any idea how important our image is right now, and you fucked it up, Isabelle! I’m in the running to be the next Alpha King. These next few months are crucial, and you are making us both look bad with your antics.”

“You weren’t listening to a thing I was saying about her,” Isabelle said, folding her arms across her chest. “Maybe if you had listened to me—”

“What? You wouldn’t have done this? Get real; you and I both know that you’ll do whatever it takes to stay on the top.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Isabelle asked, stepping closer to the cell door; tears glistening in her eyes. “The last time I checked, you’d do just about anything to stay on the top as well, Henry. We are the same, you and I. That’s why we are married. That’s why we are mates.”

“When we have an image to protect, we need to make proper choices, Isabelle and you know that,” Henry scolded, shaking his head at her. “You could have cost me everything.”

“Your father isn’t going to blame you for this,” she stated. “You still have a chance, Henry. You can still beat your brother.”

“Thanks to you, I’m not so sure about that anymore,” Henry said, running his fingers through his hair, aggravation clear on his face. His wolf wasn’t surging forward anymore, and his eyes were no longer glowing though, so Isabelle knew that his anger was starting to subside.

“Thanks to me?” She scoffed. “If you lose, it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with that freak of a mate your brother has.”

Henry narrowed his eyes at her, his lips pressed in a thin line. He’s had enough of her talking poorly about Maeve; he might not be her number-one fan, but he knew when to call it quits.

“Isa—” He started to scold but she interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

“Do you even know what my father wanted with her?” Isabelle asked quickly. “Victoria isn’t her real mother, Henry. Her real mother was a human witch. There was a prophecy stating that her line would produce Enigmas.”

That piqued Henry’s interest; his brows raised at her words.

“Enigmas are extinct,” he reminded her. “That’s not possible.”

“They were extinct,” Isabelle told him. “But prophecies never lie. My father was there the day she was born. He knew that it was Maeve who would produce Enigmas. Now she’s only a few months pregnant with a boy and she’s already so big.”

Henry stared at Isabelle for a long while; she was serious. They truly thought that Maeve was carrying an Enigma.

“If you don’t believe me… go ask my father! Oh wait, you can’t. He’s being tortured right now because the King found out the truth. So, I guess that means you should probably ask your father.”

“My father?” Henry asked. “He knows?”

“Yes,” Isabelle said, shaking her head. “I’m pretty sure everybody but you know by now.”

An Enigma baby. Maeve was having an Enigma baby, which meant that Xaden was having an Enigma baby.

“I need to leave,” Henry said, his voice coming out unfamiliar as he turned away and started to walk towards the entryway.

“Henry?” Isabelle called after him. “Please don’t leave me in here!”

He didn’t have the willpower to face her right now; he had a lot to think about and comprehend. She threw a curveball at him and now he was more confused than ever. He needed to clear his head and figure out what his next steps were.

As he left the dungeon, he walked around the palace and pondered everything he had learned in the last few minutes. If Maeve was truly having an Enigma baby, that could be detrimental to Henry getting the crown. There was no way Father wouldn’t make Xaden the next King knowing that his firstborn son was going to be an Enigma.

The Enigma, by right and strength, would have to be the future King.

So where did that leave Henry? He refused to bow down to someone much younger than him. He refused to allow Xaden and his son to take away the throne when it should have been Henry’s long ago.

He clenched his fists as anger surged through him.

No. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He had to make sure that Maeve never had that baby.