Forged in the Flames

Chapter 67

“Alpha, are you alright?” I heard Qusack’s voice, which snapped me out of my deep thoughts. I was staring at the Photo of Aliana’s mother, who was currently in Snow as Fredrick’s slave.

“Do you know this woman?” I asked, handing Qusack the Photo? He looked at it and shook his head.

I wanted to know if I was the only one she served. It seemed I was the only one.

Seeing Aliana’s father’s condition, I did not want to raise any alarms. I might not get anything from him if I told him what I saw. He might end up in the clinic.

I figured Fredrick must have forcefully claimed her, and that was the severance Gabriel felt that made him believe she was dead. Only a Lycan of his breed could achieve stealing a mate of a lesser breed.

It was easier for Gabriel to believe his mate was dead than to think she had been claimed forcefully by an Alpha Lycan. It wouldn’t have crossed his mind since Lycans believed

Werewolves were beneath them, but Gwendolyn was a beauty like her daughter.

It should have crossed his mind.

I couldn’t control myself when I set eyes on Aliana, and it had nothing to do with our bond.

She might not look like her mother, but she was in a league of her own and did not have to make any effort to look the part.

I tried to compose myself while connecting the dots in my head.

If I was the only one she served, Fredrick wanted me to know he had Aliana’s mother.

Unfortunately, I did not know her, and he figured it out when he came to see me in the room.

All the talk was just to know how much I knew.

Apparently, I was clueless, hence his satisfaction.

The woman had referred to me as royalty and told me she was from Forest, but how could I connect the dots?

Gwendolyn was also the only person that knew of my legitimacy.

I began to suspect that Fredrick had grabbed the woman and kept her alive on purpose.

He grabbed her around the time of my conquest.

He must have known I planned to take Forest and did not want me to get my crown. How else can I prove my legitimacy when everyone in Forest, when I was conceived, had died in battle? My mother’s midwife was the witness and the only person that could vouch for me under compulsion. He knew what he was doing.

Gwendolyn was also Gabriel’s wife, so he will know everything I am about to discover now, which means he will constantly be ahead of me.

“Are you alright, Niko?” Qusack linked me, and I adjusted myself. There was no point raising the alarm.

The Photo was back in its spot, and Gabriel looked at me strangely.

I did not need to guess why.

I had asked Qusack if he knew her. Clearly, he shouldn’t, but I had asked him regardless.

The woman went missing around the period I was taking over settlements in Forest. I knew exactly what Gabriel was thinking.

“It is not what you think, Gabriel. My warriors have nothing to do with her death. I was just wondering because her face looks familiar. Also, Aliana looks nothing like her,” I said quickly, and he relaxed.

“I never killed women and children in my quest.

Just warriors that challenged me,” I added so he would know it wasn’t my thing.

The living room was silent, and I couldn’t help but ask him about his wife.

“I do not mean to stir up unwanted emotions, but can you tell me how you confirmed Gwendolyn’s death? I want to know if it was when they attacked them or later?” I asked to know if Fredrick had come by himself.

Gabriel shook his head and looked at the picture. “Aliana claimed she wondered beyond the imaginary border. She was pretty shaken up. I sent men there to see if we would see them, but time had passed, and they had taken her. I knew Gwendolyn would be killed because she would rather die than be a slave, so when the severance came a day after they took her, I knew the bastards that took her had finally ended her life,” He said with tears in his eyes.

“She was a wonderful woman. She helped your mother with your conception. You know. She monitored her heart and told her the time to be with the King. As mean as your mother was to werewolves, she was very kind to Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn begged that we send her with Queen Isabelle, but Isabelle refused. She said her brother was an a*sshole and he won’t be nice to werewolves. She would instead Gwen stays and have a life than follow her to be a slave in Snow,” He said in tears, and I decided I needed to talk with my mother and then find a way to get Gwen away from Uncle Fredrick.

I could not help but notice Fredrick was possessive of her too. Getting her from Snow would take a lot of work, and we did not have the might to do it. I hoped my mother would tell me the truth for a change.

“I was just wondering that Aliana looks nothing like her?” I said to justify staring at the picture intensely because I knew Gabriel was no fool. He would know that I was hiding something. He relaxed completely after that and nodded.

“She takes after my mother. Aliana is a spitting image of my mother. Gwen used to tease her about it. Aliana wished she looked like her mother badly since most girls looked like that around here; she felt she would have been mated faster that way…,” Gabriel said, but I growled before I could control myself. Bane had a way of embarrassing me at times, and he had just done it.

“Of course, it served her well,” Qusack added to calm my wolf down, and I smiled.

“Please ignore my wolf. He can get possessive sometimes,” I said, and the man frowned. It was as if he was trying to figure me out. I knew it won’t be long before he would realise Aliana and I were fated. Still, I intend to be silent about it for as long as possible.

I relaxed on the couch, chasing my thought about Gwendolyn aside and getting straight to the reason I had come.

“Gabriel, I am sure you are wondering why I have come here, and I am sure Beta Qusack has already informed you.

I want to know your account of what happened in the past leading to my father’s death. I want to know how you killed him and all that happened after,” I said, and Gabriel nodded.

“I swear to tell you the truth as I have experienced your, Highness,” he said respectfully. I knew it wasn’t a formality for him; he genuinely respected me as royalty.

Gabriel told me some pretty intense things that seemed to add up. By the time he gave accounts of my father’s death, I saw a man that had lost a friend.

It was clear that both he and my father were deceived, but what I did not understand was why my father would be extreme to the point of defunding the werewolf military and sending them to their deaths, knowing that the strength of a kingdom relies heavily on the strength of their werewolf army.

Could someone have been actively working against him and reducing his military force by systematically killing off the werewolves to leave Forest open for an invasion?

Could Fredrick or Aleksander be behind his demise because only a King could invade another King’s kingdom? Or could it be an average dreamer who felt he could achieve much by conniving with those closest to him? There were a lot of questions.

“After speaking with my uncle, I know it is possible that Leon planned to kill the King, and it is possible that Giles had to sacrifice so my father could live. Fredrick did not trust Leon either and had nothing good to say about him,” I said and leaned forwards.

“Is there anyone you suspected on my father’s cabinet that could have intercepted the letters, drafted the letters, and made decisions on his behalf that could have caused the ill-treatment of the werewolves that led to their massacre, forcing you all to revolt? I mean, someone with the authority to reply, send letters on his behalf, and give commands without cross-checking with him?

If my father was grieved stricken because of Leon’s death, he must have delegated the work to someone else,” I said, and Gabriel shrugged. “I thought as much, but I am not in the position to point fingers as I wasn’t in your father’s government at that time. He had new officers whom I did not know. Maybe your mother can shed light on that,” Gabriel said, and I chuckled drily.

“She is a liar, so I cannot believe anything she says. You left out the part where she made passes at you,” I reminded him, and he bowed his head feeling ashamed.

I believe he had left out that part to help her keep her dignity, something her brother was incapable of doing. The man was indeed modest. “I do not want to embarrass Queen Isabelle. She wasn’t in a good

place then. King Mathias wasn’t mentally well and did not give her the love a woman needed, so she sought comfort elsewhere.

I confess that she pleaded with me to let her be my mistress since I had taken over Forest. She wanted to do it for your sake. She was pregnant with you then, and I knew she feared being alone.

But I could not betray my friend even in death.

I did not want to have many things to be guilty of neither did I want your future tainted because if I accepted, you would be automatically disqualified from claiming the throne. We would have had to go to war to get you the crown. That was why I rejected her offer. Had I known that Fredrick would be mean to his sister, I would have found other ways to protect her and ensure you both had good lives here.

You need to understand, your Highness; I never planned any of this. I did not want to rule a territory or become a king. I did not want Mathias to die. I just wanted him to let us go to Woodland and live there in peace, away from the trouble that plagued us in Forest.

We hoped he would oblige because Woodland was poor with no resources but Timber, which could be found in other parts. We just wanted to be left alone, but he had to attack and force us to defend ourselves. I am sorry, your Highness,” he said in tears. The man was weeping.

“Because of this, my only child will have no honour. I beg you to do right by her. She does not deserve all this. The humiliation and shame are much even from her kind.

If you have to kill me, do it to balance the grudge but do right by Aliana.” He said, and hearing him speak, I knew it was a pain that weighed heavily on his mind.

I remember the words I said to him when I ripped Aliana away from him. I had said she would never have honour or bear my mark. I wished I could take it back right now.

Sometimes, I wonder what I thought when I said those words, knowing we were fated.

I planned to reject the bond I believed she was incapable of feeling and make her suffer, but all my plans had backfired, and I found myself eating my words.

I did not say anything to him regarding Aliana; I just stood up from the chair.

“I will be changing your doctor, Gabriel. I do not want a quack handling your health; you are all Aliana has. It is important that you survive. You can get help from any werewolf doctor you trust. I will foot the bill.” I said, and he nodded. “Are you leaving, your highness?” He asked me, standing up while Qusack stood up, and I nodded.

“Then I must add something important. It is based on a private investigation I launched looking into the death of the Lycan found in the woods. The murder that Gamma Ingham humiliated my daughter for.

I have to protect my people, and seeing my daughter suffer for it did not sit well with me, so I started investigating it to vindicate us,” He said, and I was attentive. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

I did not want to think of the painful things that Ingham did to Aliana that day, but I had to. It was indeed part of the event.

“Go ahead,” I said, sounding unaffected and uninterested.

I did not need him to know he had gotten to me. I wanted him to remain on his toes. I did not doubt his account of the past but did not trust his tensions yet.

We still had a long way to go in the trust department.

“A woman said she saw a brown-haired man shift into a black Lycan wolf and murder the man. It was as if the Lycan had caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. He ran away after,” He said and pleaded with me to wait.

I watched him walk towards his room in the tiny hallway. He entered a room on the left and returned with something in his hand. He had wrapped something in a piece of paper.

“This was a piece of his shirt, your Highness. Because he didn’t remove his clothes to shift, they shredded in his transformation,” he said and handed it to me.

Still, his eyes looked like he had already figured it out but wanted me to figure it out alone.

“And whose shirt is it?” I asked him, wanting him to get straight to the point. I wasn’t one for suspense.

“I am not trying to point f*ingers or anything. There is a possibility I could be wrong. Do not take my word seriously, Alpha, but when the doctor attended to me yesterday, he had the same scent as the shirt.

I wrapped it in foil so the smell would not dissipate. Underneath the old stale smell, you will pick traces of Doctor Newton’s scent,” he said, and I opened the paper and saw a folded foil paper in it.

I did not let any expression show on my face. I just thanked Gabriel and left his house.