The Alpha’s Cursed Queen (Eternal Oath Saga #1)

Chapter 26

Darian

“I didn’t expect the archive keeper to be so young,” I say.

“It is my curse and my people’s gift to fulfill the prophecy,” Nara responds quietly. “I am thankful that my time is to come to an end before long. The next archive keeper will soon take my place.”

“Prophecy?” I clutch Mira warily. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t sound all that surprised,” Nara murmurs. “Perhaps you have already heard of it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She studies me for a long minute and then states, “You will get your answers, my king, but not right now. It would be best if we leave this place. The spell I cast thirty years ago has been broken. We don’t have much time before the others arrive.”

“What spell? What others?”

But she’s already walking away. I have no choice but to follow her. First, I look at the Black Arrows. “Clean this place up. Leave no trace.”

“We cannot leave you alone with her,” one of them says gravely, but I shake my head.

“There’s nothing you can do to her. If she’s as old as I think she is, nobody would stand a chance.”

Jimmy lifts a hand. “I’ll go with him. It’ll be okay.”

I cast him a half-worried, half-amused look. “You’re clearly in top fighting shape.”

He gives me a weak grin. “They ambushed me. The fuckers.”

I growl at him. “Watch your language.”

Mira turns her head to look at Jimmy, momentarily distracted. “What’s ‘fuckers’?”

I glare at her. “Don’t use that word. It’s a bad word. Your mother will kill me if she hears you saying it.”

Clearly, that was the wrong thing to tell her, because she wraps her arms around my neck and bursts into tears. “I don’t want you to die!”

I pat her back, feeling like an idiot. “That’s not what I meant. I was just trying to—It’s a bad word, Mira.”

She sniffles. “Where’s Mama? I want Mama.” Her voice breaks as she clings to my neck.

“You’ll see her soon. Mary is with her.”

Fear fills my daughter’s voice. “Is Mama hurt?”

“No!” I lie. “Of course not. Why would you think—”

“Because Mary is a healer!” Mira is hysterical now. “What happened to Mama? I want to see her!”

I’m so focused on her that I don’t notice Nara approaching us. Mira suddenly slumps in my arms, and I see Nara’s finger touching her back just before she pulls it away.

“What did you do?” I snarl, pulling my daughter away from her.

“You shouldn’t expose a child to such violence,” the dark witch says calmly. “I put her to sleep for a while. When she wakes up, she won’t remember what happened. It’s for the best. Children her age are easily shaped by the experiences they undergo. This girl is a happy child, and her path in life is already set. She needs to hold onto her happiness.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The gift of prophecy is in her blood. You should not let darkness taint her.”

“Prophecy?” No matter how tightly I hold Mira now, I can feel her slipping away from me. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Her bloodline,” Nara replies, starting to walk away. “The gift of prophecy is a rare one. One that archive keepers usually wield. Like me, this child bears that gift.”

I stare at the woman’s back. If I’m freaking out this much, Alice is going to blow a gasket. But then, the drawings and what Mira said all come back to me. We already assumed it might be a prophecy, but we were just throwing out ideas. Finding out it’s true shakes me to my core.

“I have to take her to her mother,” I tell the woman, feeling the need to see Alice.

Nara comes to a stop and turns to look at me. “A war is about to break out, King of the Wolves. To prevent this war, you will have to accept the inevitable. You will have to give up control. The true heir will have to step up.”

“The true heir?” I glance at Jimmy, who looks bewildered. “What are you saying? There is going to be a shift in power?”

Nara is watching me closely. “I cannot tell you more. If you let the war break out, the damage will be such that every world will be drawn into it. The white witches started the war before, and they made my kind suffer. They will do the same to your kind. Their greed has grown. This war is inevitable. The only way to stop is for the true heir to take control. For that to happen, the King of the Wolves has to step down. Can you do that?”

I stare at her. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She gives me a mysterious half smile. “You wish to have access to the archive room. Tomorrow night, I will come to you. I will show you the archives.”

She walks away, and I don’t stop her, trying to absorb this information.

A shift in power? Who is the true heir?

I hold Mira to me, my resolve strong.

No matter what happens, I will not let my family get hurt again.

*****

When I arrive at the royal residence, Katherine and Holly are sitting in the living room, heads together, discussing something. When they see me, Katherine gets to her feet. “Mary took Alice to one the bedrooms. She’s awake and asking for Mira.”

I nod at her and hurry up the stairs. When I find her, Alice is lying in bed, her shirt gone and bandages covering more than half her upper body. She’s propped up against the headboard, and when she sees me, she tries to sit up straighter. “Is Mira—”

“I put her to bed in the next room. She was already asleep.”

“I want to see her.”

Mary, who is sitting by Alice’s side, comforts her. “I’ll go stay with her.”

“Thank you,” I say to the healer as she leaves the room. “We need to talk, Alice. Something happened.”

“Is my baby alright?” she demands, her voice scratchy. “If there’s even one hair on her head missing—”

“Mira is absolutely fine,” I reassure her, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside her. “The white witches have discovered that she exists. Whatever the reason was for them not being able to find you all this time, it’s gone now. They knew exactly where you were. Willow was sent to you as a distraction, most likely.”

Alice frowns. “But Willow had no idea about Mira. The shock in her eyes was real, Darian. She had no clue. She lost her mind when she saw the picture on my desk.”

My brow furrows. “How can that be? The white witches ambushed Jimmy. They were there for Mira. So was Thomas.”

“It could be that Thomas knew but never told Willow,” Alice murmurs before looking up at me. “If the white witches know about her, what do we do? Should I take her somewhere far away?”

“No.” I hold her hands, trying to warm them up. “Running away isn’t the solution. They will never stop looking for you. For the time being, I want you to stay here in this mansion where nobody can get to you. The white witches who came for Mira are dead, but Thomas escaped. I have the Black Arrows looking for him as we speak, but he’s going to tell the others, and a war is going to break out. I think it’s time we made a stand against the white witches.”

Alice doesn’t look too pleased about this. “Darian, I’m not willing to take risks where Mira is concerned.”

“You think I don’t understand that?” I growl, unable to contain my own frustration. “They knew exactly where she was, Alice. Wherever you take her, they will figure it out. You’ll be safest in the royal palace. After what Willow has done and what her father attempted to do today, he’s going to try to twist things in his favor.” I let out a gust of air, trying to calm down. “Thomas has a lot of backing, Alice. We need to do damage control, and I need to introduce Mira to the Wolf Kingdom as a member of the royal family and heir to the royal throne. We need to make her untouchable. It will be far more difficult for the witches to go after her when the entire Wolf Kingdom is aware of her existence. If you take her and run, you will not be able to stop them from taking her from you. In fact, you won’t be able to stop them from taking you, either. Nobody will even know what happened, and the white witches will continue on as they have been.”

“Can’t you get rid of them somehow?”

Her question is naive and fueled by helplessness. “It’s not that easy. They are rooted in every aspect of the kingdom. The best course of action is to give Mira and you strong support while I weed them out. I will have to introduce you as my mate before we do any of that.” I study her, wishing I could erase the fear in her eyes. “I made contact with Nara, the archive keeper. Tomorrow night, she will take me to the royal archives. I’ll try to find some weakness of the white witches to use against them. But whether I find something or not, Alice, I will not let them touch you or Mira. You have my word.”

My mate looks at me, her expression drawn. “My only aim in life has been to protect Mira, Darian. I never wanted to expose her to the Wolf Kingdom. After what I went through, I know the risks.”

I gently pull her into my arms. “You have to trust me, Alice. I know it’s a hard thing to do, but you need to now. I will not let anything happen to either one of you. If I thought for even a moment that running away would keep you safe, I would abandon everything and go with you, but I know that nothing good will come out of it. Tomorrow, when I go to meet the archive keeper—”

“No.” Alice meets my gaze, her jaw set. “I want to go with you. I have to be there. I need to find a way to keep Mira safe. If this archive keeper has information that we can use, I want to be right there with you.”

“Of course.” I kiss her forehead. “It will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

She gives me a tired smile. “You make it sound as if everything is possible.”

“With the two of us together, it is.” I smile back at her. “I want a long life with you, Alice. I want more children with you. I want to grow old with you. Seven years without you has given me perspective, enough to know that there isn’t anything I would not do to get that life. I’m willing to bend whichever way you want me to for you to be happy. Anything you need—”

Her eyes are glistening with tears. “Stop making it sound as if I’m trying to hurt you.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re leaving everything behind for me, making so many compromises. I have to do something.”

She lifts her arms with some difficulty and cups my cheeks. “These are not compromises, Darian. This is me trying to build a new life with you. Every decision I make is thought out and planned. I’ve been happy these past seven years, but not in the way I wanted to be happy.”

I cover her hands with my own, my heart aching at the idea that she was able to be happy without me.

“I had my career and my daughter,” Alice sighs, “but there was a hole in my chest, something that I couldn’t fill no matter what I did. When I saw you, when you came back into my life, I realized what I needed to fill that emptiness within me. I resisted it as much as I could. There’s no point in resisting now, when I know what I need. I need you. These aren’t compromises or sacrifices. You cannot walk away from the Wolf Kingdom. I understand that. But I can practice law wherever I want. I want you in my life, and I want Mira to have a father. So, stop considering it a compromise. This is my decision. If I for one minute had thought that you couldn’t make me happy, I wouldn’t have stuck around this long.”

I rest my forehead against hers. “It didn’t take you long to forgive me, Alice, but it’s going to take a long time for me to forgive myself for what I put you through then and what I’m putting you through now. I wish I could protect you from all of this, but the white witches have so much control within the Wolf Kingdom that I have to step very carefully. But don’t worry; I will have several contingency plans ready. If I think, or if there is the slightest hint, that things are going to fall apart, I will have a plane ready with passports and a pilot who will take you to the safest place I can think of. I will not bring you to LA without having safety measures in place. We’re not going into the situation blind.”

Alice pulls her head back to smile at me, her eyes penetrating mine. “I would not expect anything less.”

I have to tell her about my conversation with Nara next, which is not easy. Her reaction is what I expected: outrage, fear. But under it all, I can tell that Alice is gearing up for a fight.

“We’ll find out what this archive keeper has to say tomorrow,” she says. “In the meantime, if we’re staying here, we’ll have to figure out a way to explain to Mira what is happening. She’s a smart kid, but she’s only six, Darian.”

“She was sleeping quite heavily when I put her to bed,” I tell Alice. “When she wakes up, let’s talk to her.”

I get up, and she grabs my hand. “Where are you going?”

I meet her gaze. “I have to talk to Willow.”

“Not without me.”

The anger in her eyes has me smiling. “Jealous, Alice?” When she doesn’t say anything, I realize that I might have hit a nerve. “Alice?”

Her eyes are burning now, and she scowls. “I don’t have a reason to be jealous. I’m your mate. But I don’t want you or Mira anywhere near that woman. She said she would kill our daughter, Darian. She said horrifying things. I want her dead. As vicious as it may sound, I don’t feel safe with her still around.”

I can see that Alice would not be willing to discuss every little detail of the conversation she must have had with Willow, but I’m sure Katherine will be more than happy to repeat it.

“I’ll just be interrogating her, Alice. Don’t worry. She won’t escape, and she won’t go anywhere. But if you don’t feel safe having her under the same roof as Mira, I can transport Willow to the Black Arrows’ quarters.”

Alice looks away from me, her hands clenched into balls, her knuckles white. “I would appreciate that.”

I see spots of blood on her shoulder, and a fresh wave of anger for Willow sweeps through me. “Your wound is bleeding again. I’ll send Mary back in.”

I leave the room, trying to think past this burning fury. Mira is next door, with Mary sitting by her side. When I enter, my daughter is lying under the covers, sleeping peacefully. Mary gets to her feet. “Is everything—”

“Tell me the truth. How bad are Alice’s injuries?”

“Bad.” Mary runs her fingers through her hair, her expression tense. “It’s a miracle she’s alive, Your Majesty. The blood loss was too much. She’s healing quite nicely, but if I had some help from the white witches that I work with, it would happen faster.” When I narrow my eyes at her, she says quickly, “I’m not saying we should call them. I’m just reminding you that my healing powers are limited.”

I study her, my hands in my pockets. “I plan to eradicate the white witches, Mary. They are no longer working in the interest of the Wolf Kingdom.”

“All of them?” Mary asks hesitantly. “The white witch healers I’ve worked with are not the same as the leaders of the coven. Some of them simply want to heal.”

“You’re suggesting—”

She shakes her head. “I’m not making any suggestions, Sire. But just because a plague has been cast upon an orchard, it doesn’t mean every tree has been tainted. There may be some that can be salvaged.”

“Perhaps,” I murmur, considering her words. The deaths of the white witches are not going to go unnoticed. I may not wipe out all of them, but a majority will have to go. I still have to figure out the link between Thomas and the witches, though. How did they discover Alice’s location after all these years? “I’ll think about it. Go to Alice. She needs you.”

I wait till Mary is gone to sit down beside Mira. Stroking her hair, I look at her peaceful features. Her breathing is normal, and when I pull down the covers slightly, she mumbles something in her sleep and yanks them back up. I let out a sigh of relief. She’s okay.

There’s a soft knock on the window, and I lift my head. One of the Black Arrows is perched on the ledge outside, and I gesture with my head, motioning for him to come inside.

He opens the window and enters. “Thomas had a car waiting for him. We suspect he went to a private airfield nearby. It’s human-owned, so we don’t have access to any of their flight records. We’ve put people in place to watch the local airfields in and around Los Angeles. His house and properties are all being watched. If there’s any sign of him, we will be there.”

“Freeze his bank accounts and his credit cards. In fact, get a rumor started that Willow Elvin attacked a human and revealed her wolf form to humans. Then, make a packet of all the information we have gathered about Thomas’s siphoning of royal funds with his daughter’s help and have it sent to our local news. I want to cut off every way out for them. A trial will be held, but it will be a closed court.” A cruel smirk forms on my lips. “Word it like this: ‘The king of the Wolf Kingdom is trying to preserve whatever dignity his ex-wife and father-in-law have left, so he will be initiating a closed trial.’”

The man in the black garb nods his head and departs just as quietly as he arrived. Alone in the room with the sleeping Mira, I think over my next steps. I cannot let Thomas reach his contacts; I know he’s been getting support over the years. And the fact that the white witches seemed to be under the impression that they could change the leadership of the Wolf Kingdom has me baffled. For them to make such a claim and then attempt to kill me goes to show that there has been something brewing behind my back.

I’ve had my suspicions that something was going on, but treason was never on the list. I didn’t think Thomas would be so foolish as to try this, but he probably became desperate after his daughter’s very public divorce. Trying to overthrow me, though? That was either a very ambitious decision or one fueled by sheer desperation to hold on to some level of power.

My insides burn with anger. But Thomas won’t run away. Not as long as I have his daughter.

I click my tongue, and the door immediately opens. One of the Black Arrows enters.

“Watch over her.”

The man nods, positioning himself beside the door.

After leaving the room, the first person I look for is Katherine. She’s standing in the kitchen, preparing a cup of coffee. None of the maids are anywhere to be seen.

“You could’ve asked somebody to make your coffee.” I stick my hands in my pockets and lean against the door jamb.

“I needed to do something with myself.” She frowns. “Holly is convinced that you’re going to kill us. I told her I’m certain Alice will kill you if you kill us. I can’t take much more of her hysteria. I had to get away from there.”

“I won’t do anything to either of you,” I assure her. “But you will be watched for a long time, until I’m certain you won’t go blabbing to anybody.”

“Sure.” She sounds amused. “Tell people I’ve seen humans change into wolves. That’s the fastest way for me to lose my seat in my family’s company. They don’t like crazies sitting on the Board of Directors.”

My lips twitch.

“So, what are you?” She turns to look at me, a curious look in her eye. “Werewolves? Aliens?”

I scoff. “Werewolves were born from the human imagination. We are shifters. We are able to hold both human and wolf form and change at will. We have always existed alongside humans.”

Katherine holds up her hand. “I think that’s all I need to know. I have a feeling the more I know, the more danger I will be in.”

I give her a wry smile. “Alice did tell me that you’re smart.”

She stirs her coffee. “That’s me. And I’m sure you didn’t come here to give me a one-minute history lesson. Did you need something?”

“I’m going to send you and your friend home. Before I do that, though, I want to know everything that happened in Alice’s office today. Including the exchange between Willow and Alice, word for word, if you can.”

Katherine blinks at me. “That’s all?” She sits down on one of the stools, sips her coffee, and begins. “I saw the woman in the lobby when I was coming in. She was screaming, demanding to see Alice.”

As Katherine continues, my blood turns to ice.

I already had an idea from what Alice had told me, but Katherine includes some details that my mate left out, the ones she knew would infuriate me. Once Katherine is done and both she and Alice’s assistant are on their way back home, I finally head down to see Willow.

The royal family has residences in every city. Beneath those mansions are dungeons meant to hold criminals or trespassers. This one is no different. The door to the dungeon is in the cellar, and as I walk down the stone steps, I hear the shrieking.

Willow’s voice grates my ears, and after learning of the threats she made against my daughter, I’m ready to rip her throat out. But I won’t touch a hair on her head. I won’t give her a private death. Willow will face the executioner. She humiliated Alice in public seven years ago, so her death will be open for all to see.

Alice may not be fueled by revenge, but I am. Willow ruined my life, traumatized the woman I loved, forced her to raise our child in secret for all these years. The list of crimes I can pin on her are endless.

She and her father will suffer. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll grind their pride into dust, and then, I’ll have their heads.

Two of the Black Arrows are guarding her cell. Her usually well-coiffed hair is tangled, her dress is dirty, and tear stains streak her face, spoiling her normally flawless makeup. As soon as she sees me, she leaps forward, a desperate gleam in her eyes. “Darian! Darian, look at what they’re doing to me! They hurt me! Get me out of here! They have no right to put me, their queen, in a place like this!”

I just stare at her.

When I don’t respond, she grabs the bars and begins rattling them, her voice rising in tempo and volume. “Why aren’t you doing anything! I’m your wife! I’m queen of the Wolf Kingdom! Why are you letting these people hurt me?!”

Disgust fills me as I look at her. “Are you for real?” I finally ask. “You exposed your true form in front of humans today.”

She goes still, and I see the sly look in her eyes before she starts backtracking. “That was a misunderstanding, Darian! I had no choice! I was threatened! I had to protect myself!” When she sees that I’m not reacting, she becomes even more frantic. “What’s the problem? We’ll just kill them! There were only two humans, and we can get rid of both of them. Problem solved. I have a right to defend myself, Darian. I was in danger. I had to shift!”

She’s repeating the same rhetoric, and I ask her calmly, “Why were you in that building in the first place?”

She freezes. “I–I was called there.”

“By whom?”

I see the nervousness in her eyes as she says, “It was all Alice’s fault. She lured me there. She came at me. She tried to hurt me. She has become a monster, Darian. She has dark magic, and she tried to kill me! I had to defend myself!” She reaches out toward me through the bars, trying to grab my shirt. “I forgive you. I forgive you for everything. We can go back to how we were. I’m a good queen. I’m a good wife. Whatever dark magic she has cast on you, the white witches will help us get rid of it.”

“Have you completely lost your mind?” I spit out. “The white witches? You and your father have been colluding with them for a long time, haven’t you?”

She flinches. “Of–Of course not! I’m loyal only to you, Darian! I love you. I’ve always loved you. You just can’t see it. Look, look.” She is stumbling over her words, her eyes darting here and there. “Alice has dark magic in her. And she has a child who’s also a dark witch. We have to get rid of them. Once they’re gone, you and I can finally be happy. I forgive you for sending me those divorce papers. We’ll forget it ever happened.”

“Pathetic.” I shake my head at her. “You went after Alice today because your father told you where she was, didn’t he? The plan was to kill her and kidnap my daughter.”

“Daughter?” Willow stares at me. It takes a second for her to explode, screaming hysterically. “That thing is not your daughter! Alice cannot have had your daughter! I am the only one who can bear your child! I am the queen. I won! I’m the only one who can give you a child. That thing isn’t your daughter! We can kill her, and then I will give you a child!”

She has gone insane, I realize. When did that happen? Or is it just an act?

“I am the queen!” Willow shrieks. “I’m the only one allowed to bear your child! That bastard child is not yours. It cannot be the heir! I’ll kill it before I let—”

Without thinking, I grab the front of Willow’s dress and pull her up against the bars, baring my teeth at her. “Never insult my daughter again. I told you that day that you may be the queen in name, but that is all you will ever be. My heart has always belonged to Alice. Despite everything you did, you never succeeded in ripping us apart.”

Willow’s eyes fill with tears. “You don’t mean that. You love me. I know you do. No matter what you do, I know a part of you will love me. Father said so. Father said you will love me.”

“Your father lied,” I growl at her. “Did you think I would give another female my heart and my body when my fated mate was alive and well?”

I see the flicker of hatred in her eyes, the madness tainted with pure loathing. “Your fated mate? That bitch is a dark witch! She’s not worthy of being queen! Don’t you dare give her my place, Darian! Alice deserves to be put down like a dog! She’s not better than me! She can never be better than me! Don’t you dare make her the queen! I’ll kill you all! I’ll kill her and that bastard child!”

Enraged, I shove Willow backward into the cell. “She is better than you. And she will be my queen. You and your father will pay for your crimes. I know Thomas sent you to her office. I know the plan was to distract me and get to my daughter. Whether you knew about our child or not, I can’t say for sure. But you were part of the attempt to kidnap a member of the royal family. And that is a crime punishable by execution. You are no longer the queen, Willow. You are nothing. You tried to take Alice’s rightful place for seven years, and your hands were still empty. They will remain empty.”

She stares at me for several seconds, her eyes wild. “No. No! You cannot make her the queen! She can’t be queen! Not that orphan bitch! She can’t be better than me! I’ll kill you first!”

She launches herself at me, but the bars get in the way, not that they stop her from trying. Her arms extend through the bars as she tries to reach me, her mouth frothing. “She can’t be better than me! She can’t be!”

I take a step back, pitying her and repulsed by her. I don’t know when she began pitting herself against Alice, but it has consumed her. This desire to outdo Alice has driven Willow into madness.

One of the Black Arrows approaches me. “What should we do with her, Sire?”

“Alice doesn’t want her in the mansion. Remove her to another location. Guard her.”

As I walk away, I wonder if Thomas fueled his daughter’s madness. What kind of father does that?