27. All Good Things （Come to an End）
ALL GOOD THINGS (COME TO AN END)
When I woke up, it was already the next afternoon. I couldn’t remember the last time I had slept half a day away.
However, I didn’t feel rested or refreshed, quite the opposite. My eyelids were puffy and swollen, and my head was heavy and groggy. Even after the most brutal battle, I had never been so exhausted, even moving a finger felt like too much effort.
The sunlight that leaked through the curtain drew golden lines on the mosaic floor, and the air was warm and balmy.
Jovial clamours echoed in the distance. Some courtiers or servants were probably playing games in the garden, having the time of their lives.
Yet all this bright, hopeful merriment was irrelevant to me.
It was as if an invisible chasm had been carved around me, draining away all the joy in the world and isolating me in a shadowy land.
How I wished yesterday had been just a bad dream, but no, it was real. It really happened.
I sighed, sat up, and rubbed my face. My departure from the middle of a fight meant I’d lost to Rydel and been eliminated from The Games. Even if I hadn’t been eliminated, I doubt I would have the courage to continue.
I wondered if Damien was still planning to lose intentionally.
It wouldn’t be wise, especially now that I was no longer his opponent.
His plan to join me in the North afterward had likely been abandoned, too.
No alpha in their right mind would want to have anything to do with me right now, lest they be suspected as the one who gave me the mark.
Someone knocked on the front door. I hesitated for a moment, pondering if I could just pretend that I wasn’t here. But then I heard Johnathan’s voice.
“Fenris, may I speak with you?”
I climbed off the bed, hastily put on a pair of breeches, and pulled the door open.
Johnathan entered, wearing a rather ceremonial tunic. He had probably just come from the stadium.
“How are you?” Johnathan asked, inquisitive eyes scanning me as I locked the door.
“Alive,” I grunted. I know I must have looked terrible, with my hair all tousled, wearing only a loose night shirt and a pair of dirty breeches from yesterday.
He stepped closer, tilted his head slightly, and focused his gaze on the mating mark.
I turned away, trying to shield it, but he placed a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to hide it from me.”
“I know ...” I still didn’t want him staring at it. I sat back on the couch, gestured at the room’s mess, and said, “Sorry, didn’t expect any visitors.”
Johnathan sat next to me, placing the bottle I had given Damien the night before on the tea table.
“You were right, it has been tampered with. I had the vendor check it this morning. Someone added murkwort to it, which will destabilize the formula.” John gave me a grave look. “Someone knew you had the mark and set you up. Tell me exactly what happened yesterday.”
I then told him about meeting Cassandra, then talking to Damien on my way, and eventually finding the page in my room.
“The page, Andy, right?” Johnathan rubbed his chin, seemingly trying to match the name with a face. “I should look into him. But I’m almost sure Cassandra is behind it.”
“How did she know? I barely even spoke to her before yesterday!” I threw my hands in the air, angry at myself for walking right into the trap.
“Well, she knows about Damien’s ... tendency, and she has always been observant.” John glanced at me cautiously. “Damien has told you about Eric?”
The way he said it was more of a statement than a question. I nodded wordlessly.
“We suspected Cassandra was the one who told the king and the queen about them.”
“What?!” I gaped at him.
“We didn’t have real evidence, and she was only a child at the time. But she seems to enjoy wreaking havoc in her brother’s life.” John shook his head in resignation. “Honestly, I don’t understand her, but maybe it’s a form of attention seeking.
“Damien used to pamper her a lot when she was a little girl, but then, he got ‘distracted’ since the queen took Eric in. She might have been jealous, feeling neglected. After Eric’s death, their relationship worsened further. Now she simply enjoys causing trouble for no reason.”
What kind of fucked up attention seeking was that?!
Suddenly, Damien’s reaction after learning that Cassandra had talked me into challenging Allan and Rydel made sense.
Great, Damien not only had an older brother who might have planned his assassinations, but also a crazy sister who seemed to set out to destroy his life. And unfortunately, I became collateral damage in the process.
“I told you it would be hard, didn’t I?” John gave me a typical “I told you so” look.
“So ... do you think she’ll tell everyone Damien is ... involved with me?” I asked, a dreadful feeling sizzling in my stomach. If Damien were exposed, the king would surely punish him severely, since this was not the first time ...
“She hasn’t yet, but it doesn’t mean she won’t. Which is why I came to see you ...” Johnathan took a deep breath, as though he didn’t really want to say what he was about to say. He looked deeply into my eyes and said, “You need to leave Erevos and stop seeing Damien altogether.”
I wasn’t surprised at such a request. I’d been thinking about it myself.
Though John probably read my silence as hesitation, he continued to explain, “Today, Damien had a match with Rydel. He beat him so badly that by the end of it, Rydel was rushed to the infirmary, and he will probably be bedridden for the next month. Rydel is his companion. To beat his companion to such an extent without an obvious reason, it is ... unheard of. There are already rumours that he may have done it for you ... I tried my best to quash them, but I can’t keep track of what people are saying to each other all the time.
“On top of that, Lord Gillian of Eclipse is enraged. He wants your head for his son’s severed arm.
The king has pressed it down for now, since it happened during The Games, but the longer you stay here, the more likely it is that Eclipse will try something.
It’s no longer safe for you here. And even if you are not scared of retaliation, how about Leif’s safety? ”
Johnathan paused for a moment, studying my face, as though trying to read my thoughts.
I wasn’t sure if he could read anything.
He continued with a weighted tone, “The king is likely going to announce his heir right after Damien’s mate selection, and I’m almost sure he intends to choose Damien.
If the king suspects Damien is having an affair with another alpha ... ”
“I understand,” I said quietly, staring at a spot on the floor. “I’ll leave.”
Johnathan’s shoulders slacked in relief. Then a thin veil of rue was cast over his emerald eyes. He placed a hand over the back of my right hand, which lay languidly on my lap.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be. You told me not to enroll, I didn’t listen.”
“I ... I know it will be hard for you. The mark is fresh, and from the look of it, the bond is strong. Lovelorn symptoms will be very painful, and they’ll last for a long time ...”
“I’ll handle it,” I said. My voice was flat from a numbness in my head. What else could I say?
“I heard that in the North, people are even more ... old-fashioned than here. I don’t want you to suffer alone.” His gaze was gentle and heartfelt, and the care was sincere. “Once things are settled here ... does your offer to show me your hometown still stand? I’d like to visit.”
His touch and look both carried a tender warmth, quiet and patient, nothing like Damien’s intense and demanding passion.
I wondered if I hadn’t had this ... secret desire, hadn’t had that incident with Damien in the bathhouse, and if I had pursued Johnathan as I initially planned, would everyone have been happier?
Who knew? Perhaps Damien would have chosen Leif, and Leif wouldn’t have been hurt by Allan.
Perhaps we would have had two powerful allies by now.
What if it was all my fault?
“I’m not sure if you’ll find me in Winterthrope when you come. My father may disown and exile me for the damages I’ve done.” I smiled bitterly. “But if you come, I’ll try my best to be a good host.”
“It’s a date, then.” He beamed at me beautifully.
I planned to leave tonight or early tomorrow morning, when most werewolves had retired into their chambers. I packed almost everything, except for some clothes and several pieces of armour, which were left in the training yard’s arming chamber.
I decided to make a quick trip to the training yard to gather all my belongings. There would be a feast for all the royal guests, since The Games had concluded today, so I was hoping I wouldn’t run into many people.
Thyra told me Damien had won the championship title, which wasn’t a surprise. It also meant he would have to attend his Mate Selection Ball and choose a mate tomorrow.
It was probably for the best, considering the situation. But it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. The dull ache stuck in my throat like a fishbone, one that couldn’t be swallowed or spit out.
As I expected, most courtiers and servants were gathered in the banquet hall, and the training yard was mostly deserted. I went into the arming chamber and started cleaning out my chest, gathering my changing clothes and armour into a satchel.
“Look who has decided to grace us with his presence?” A gruff, malicious voice disrupted my momentary peace.
I grunted in annoyance before turning around, seeing a couple of familiar faces and three members from Eclipse.
The one who spoke was Hugo, a massive alpha warrior whom I had fought with the first day I arrived at Nocturne, right after I knocked Rydel out.
He was one of Rydel’s most loyal lackeys, and since Rydel was now indisposed, I supposed he had assumed the role of leader of their little pack of bullies.