Chapter 0141
Lex
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I had expected the court of Scarlett Thunder to be an unpleasant place to be trapped in, but I hadn’t counted on boredom. For all the whispers behind my back and the fake smiles, the courtiers do not have the gall to directly harm me. As often as King Peter likes to throw threats in my direction, he has kept his part of the bargain with my brother t to skulk through the dark hallways of his castle and hide away in
a comfortable suite instead of locked up in the dungeons with the other prisoners.
Opal vacillates between antagonizing me and pretending I don’t exist. Her morning sickness still makes it hard for her to do anything but be miserable in her room. I try to visit her to make sure she’s not dead, but she refuses to let me in. When she does decide to talk to me, it’s only to shout insults in my direction before shutting the door to my face.
King Peter has forbidden me from leaving the castle to take walks on the grounds, citing that he doesn’t want to give me the chance to run back home if the opportunity arises. As I feel cabin fever trying to settle into my bones, I find myself looking out windows and wanting to jump to my freedom several times a day, so maybe he’s right about the escape attempts. The gloominess of Castle Blackmoor makes me feeMike the literary wife trapped in the attic due to madness.
When I’m not bored, I’m lonely. It’s hard to be trapped in a place you don’t want to be in without an ally in sight. I can’t even find someone I can converse with without being treated like the unwanted stepchild. Even the castle servants avoid speaking to me or even making eye contact.
During meal times, which I have to take with the rest of the court in the dining hall, I sit at the other end of the table from where King Peter is. I’m a pariah. If I’m not being mocked, I’m being ignored. Remembering how I had treated others similarly in the past makes shame settle uncomfortably in my belly.
King Peter is in a terrible mood this morning. Everyone stands as he enters the dining hall, almost holding our breath in anticipation. He stops when he sees me and barks, “Everyone but Lex, get out!”
The courtiers scurry away like panicked mice running from a vicious cat. I stand still, knowing I can’t escape. King Peter looks murderous, and dread creeps up my spine. Whatever has made him angry, I am his chosen target for dealing with it.
When the last of the courtiers leave, the doors to the dining hall are closed by the footmen, leaving me alone with King Peter. He starts pacing like a tiger prowling the perimeters of its cage. If I had been in any other kingdom, with any other monarch, I would have said something witty. I would have tried to make him laugh, but King Peter is a notorious stick in the mud.
He stops and turns back to me, his red eyes gleaming with fury. “Did you know that your brother got that werewolf slut of his pregnant?”
The question makes me freeze. I truly had no idea that everyone else in the castle knew about Kane and Emory having a child together before King Peter. It was his own ambassador who came back with the news after all.
For whatever reason, he is outraged about this at the moment, so I decide to do what I do best and cover
AA
Chapter 0141
+25 BONUS
King Peter’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “Why wouldn’t Kane tell his own brother that he was having a child?”
“I would not dare question my brothe
cisions.”
“Is it because he doesn’t trust you?” He begins circling me like a vulture waiting on its prey to die. “If he
can’t trust his own blood, then what use are you to me? If he va
keeping you alive.”
you so little, then there’s no use in me
Chapter 0142
