Chapter 183

[Third-Person’s POV]

Alexander was more than glad to know that Evelyn’s training had only managed to progress from that point on. Between hearing her own personal recounts of her sessions as well as checking in with either Erik or Thomas, he was satisfied.

With one less thing pressing on his mind, Alexander let his thoughts fall to a much more concerning area.

The King.

He knew that the test results on the Hemlock and Isabella’s deranged lab were due to come in any day. The case they’d built against her and Fiona was as good as won; but, that still left having to deal with Gregory.

The case file he’d been building up on him went as far back as a few years. Mainly around the time when he noticed Caroline wanting to take a particularly high interest in politics, did he truly begin to have the man watched.

Alexander knew he had to be slick about his movements. He’d hired and had trained a special team of people whose job it was to blend into the public crowd in order to stalk the King’s movements outside of the palace.

He knew the man was involved in several shady dealings but he was never able to close enough to capture any real hard evidence that could be brought to the public’s attention. That’s what needed to happen.

Alexander was set on having the public turn their backs on the Royal family and begin questioning their loyalty to them. But how?

Before Evelyn had come into the picture, he and Oliver had spent many nights mulling over the whole topic for countless hours. Now that his grand secret had been let out, Oliver was quick to remind him that the King may very likely try to orchestrate something again.

“We need to stay vigilant,” the Beta said. “The King is, no doubt, still highly pissed-off at the fact that you succeeded in avoiding that car accident.”

He had a point. Gregory was nothing if not persistent. He'd try just about anything to take Alexander out of the picture. And with someone as devious as Caroline constantly whispering in the man’s ear, there was no telling what the King would do next.

One step at a time...

To avoid getting himself paranoid, Alexander switched his thoughts over to Fiona and Isabella. He found it a bit strange that hadn’t heard anything from either woman. In a way, he was somewhat grateful that the two of them knew better than to try to talk themselves out of their crimes.

Knowing Isabella, she would have naturally tried to sweet talk her way and undermine her way out of the situation. But it was clear that she was wide enough to keep to the restrictions he’d placed on Liam’s pack.

Fiona, on the other hand, was a completely different story. No one actually knew where she was at the moment, which was mildly concerning. Granted, he was fairly certain that given her previous offenses and prospects, Fion was most likely living with Caroline.

Knowing Caroline, she would have gone ahead and filled Fiona in on everything Evely had said to her back at their meeting at the palace. Chances are, Fiona probably knew about the case they had against her as well as the fact that they had the most vital piece of energy which had been foolishly left behind.

Fiona wasn’t someone who would naturally sit still and wait to accept her consequences. She was someone whose resilience was about to pay a hefty price in the end.

“Has there been any word on Fiona?” he asked Oliver.

The man shook his head slowly. “You noticed it too then? I found it strange that she, of all people, hadn’t tried to pull something as a last resort. I mean, surely, by now she knows that the blade is in our possession.”

Alexander muffled a snort into his hand. It wasn’t something he wanted to think about. If Fiona knew what was good for her, she would leave well enough alone.

“That, I have no doubt.”

“Question is, is she stupid enough to try and find a way to get it back?” Oliver said with an even look.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Come in.”

Both he and Oliver turned their attention to Nina who came in with a large manila envelope.

“One of the teams just dropped this off,” she said.

Oliver graciously took the envelope to read the side label. “It’s from forensics.”

Alexander gave him the go-ahead to open the contents. He watched the Beta’s face shift from its stoic composure to that of deep satisfaction. The ball of nerves Alexander had been feeling for the last few days had finally unraveled.

“It’s exactly as you predicted,” Oliver said. “Isabella’s prints were all over everything.”

“And what about the Hemlock?”

“We had it sent to a professional to give us an estimated time of harvest. You said before that it was air-tightly sealed when it was discovered. It helped preserve a lot of its quality. In other words, their estimation has it dated back to no more than a handful of weeks.”

The fact that Isabella was caught having Hemlock in her possession alone was enough to convict her. Knowing that had been the exact same Hemlock that was used to poison Edward was just a special additive.

A satisfied smirk culled the corner of his mouth. “Well, it looks like Isabella Silverwood is going to have a lot to explain to the jury. Oliver, I want you to start typing up the request for a warrant on both Fiona and Isabella. Now that the results are in, I don’t want to waste any more time.”

While Oliver was busying himself with writing up the request, Alexander decided to head down to the campgrounds. Based on the time shown on his watch, there was a likely chance that Evelyn was still in the middle of her session with Erik and Thomas.

...

Alexander slipped into the training tent as inconspicuous as possible, wanting to get a real view of how her lesson was going. The second he spotted Evelyn on the mat, his heart swelled with an overwhelming sense of pride.

She was facing off against Erik this time. The two of them each held a wooden training stick in their hands. Erik was instructing her on how to keep her reflexes sharp. The two moved around the mat with grace as though they were dancing.

Evelyn was able to block most of Erik’s strikes with the exception of a few that were a little more advanced. He was glad to see her learning so quickly. One would easily have thought that she’d been practicing this her whole life.

In the midst of her turning on her feet, Evelyn caught sight of him and stopped which resulted in Erik taking an open swing at the side of her right shoulder.

Thwack!

“Ow!” she hissed.

Alexander flinched from watching the scene unfold. He stifled a laugh by covering his mouth with his hand.

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to distract you,” he said. “I see the training is going well. Erik, why don’t you take a break and I’ll step in for a little while?”

Erik gave a curt nod and politely ducked out of the tent. Alexander stepped onto the mat and gave Evelyn a smoldering look.

“Drop the stick,” he told her. “You’re going to show me what you’ve learned in hand-to-hand combat.”