ISOLDE
"I didn't do it, my king!" I choked out, my voice shaking as tears blurred my vision," I swear with the moon goodness! I didn't kill her son!"
The guards gathered around me, their boots scratched the floor as they looked at me disgustedly. I lowered my body under their deadly glare. The scent of the blood still lingered.
Velin staggered on her butt with tears rolling down from her eyes, her scream filled the throne room as she collapsed to hug her small, lifeless son's body on the floor, his lips pale and his golden eyes closed against their wish.
"You must kill her, Rowan!" She wailed in pain," She did it! That wicked witch killed my baby!"
Alpha King Rowan bent beside her, his hand trembling as he brushed her shoulder slightly. I feel his aura seeking something…I didn't know yet but his look cut something deeper in me.
Pain. Rage. Disgust.
His gaze went back to Velin as if he was warning me," Stop crying, love. I'll ensure she speaks the truth…and pay for it!"
"No Rowan! Do it now!" Velin disagreed, wailing," She has destroyed my life completely. She couldn't give birth and doesn't want anyone else to! She doesn't want anyone to replace her in the palace."
My heart ached.
Velin held Alpha King Rowan's royal robe, her fingers dipping into the thick fabric, hot tears gushed out of her eyes carrying the weight of her pain.
My knees gave way as I collapsed on the floor uncontrollably, and guilt rushed through me. Not guilty of murder, but guilty of allowing the boy into my chambers in the first place.
I should've slammed the door in his face, but I couldn't ignore a sick child, holding his stomach as if he hadn't eased himself for a week.
How could I ignore him? Not when I loved him like my own, even with his mother's hatred for me, like Venom, which I still don't understand why.
He would come asking about my magic, and he would smile every time I lit a light in the air. He would laugh anytime a flower bloomed with my power.
He was brilliant, lovely, and had a special light in him. He would play with me before his mother would beat and drag him out of my garden, screaming," How many times do I have to yell at you not to get near the fruitless witch!"
More tears ran away from my face as I remembered that the lovely boy was the one lying lifeless on the floor now
I didn't know he was poisoned when he came, while I was simply looking for an herb that would heal his stomach ache, as he had told me.
"My…king," I stammered, not knowing what would happen to me next. His eyes turned red as he stalked towards me. I swallowed, and I was on the floor.
I knew my eyes were red as a result of the hot tears and pain of losing a friend, an acting child, even though I couldn't give birth to one since my five years of marriage.
Suddenly, I felt a strong hand over my neck," My King…please," I struggled as I looked down, facing Alpha King Rowan, and saw him moving me backwards, my hands clawing on his arm.
The guards paved the way for him as if it were war and bowed to avoid his red eyes.
"My…King…please, I don't…" I tried to plead once again, but there was no way I could prove my innocence.
All the evidence pointed at me, even though I didn't do it, no one believed me. The boy died in my care, in my room. A witch who lived among werewolves.
He successfully slammed my back on the wall at the entrance of the king's room, the stone biting into my spine, and I gasped, tightening my hold on his arm.
"Why Isolde?" He roared," Why did you do this?! Why did you kill my only heir?! My son! The next Alpha King!"
I struggled to speak," I swear my kin…ng. I didn't do it," he tightened his grip and I felt my life almost slipping out of my body.
"Liar!" His voice was thunderous, "After everything I did for you! Still loved you after seeing my mate! You want to repay me with murder?!" he roared, and my heart stopped at his aura of pressure over me.
Rage replaced the raw pain that flashed through his eyes. I could feel my soul turning against my body.
"Alpha King! You're going to kill her! What if she's innocent? Don't let your anger overpower your judgement!" A loud and pleading voice came to me like a faint noise.
Felda.
Our third wife.
Quiet. Always studying everything going on.
But Alpha King Rowan didn't move; instead, he returned his deadly glare to me.
The suddenly…everything was still.
A dark and angry aura walked into the hall like a wind breaking into hard walls, coming straight into the King's room.
My witch senses rose as I felt something that was more than death coming towards me.
The werewolves made an uncomfortable grunt as they felt the same dark aura.
But the life left in me was five percent, my hands slipped away from his arm, my eyes closed against their will, my mind closed as I finally gave up the ghost.
There was nothing I or anyone could do for Alpha King Rowan to have mercy on me or even to investigate this matter.
I slumped to the floor as he released his arm from my neck and drove into darkness.
~~~
"No. No. No! Don't kill him," I gasped to the earth, my heart pounding heavily, and looked around with fear.
What was happening to me?
A dream.
I just had a dream about the dead heir.
But where was I?
Was I still alive? Because everywhere looked so dark.
Where in hell was this place?
I tried to stand up, but I couldn't. Instead, I felt my skin sliced beneath a silver chain that hugged my wrists and ankles.
I bit my lips as the tears that fell from my eyes were uncontrollable. The only light that was here was from the silver chains, I staggered as I forced myself to stand on my feet, then the realization dawned on me.
A dungeon.
I was thrown into the palace dungeon, the cursed dungeon.
The one where spirits fed on the forsaken souls.
The one where any living soul trapped in, never comes out.
My heart began racing as I clutched the dark, cold wall, fear roaring inside me.
He should have just killed me instead of throwing me into the dungeon, feeding my soul to the hungry evil spirit.
He hindered my power with the silver chains, if they weren't on me, I would have been able to take down any spirit with my power
But why?
Why would Rowan do this to me?
Why would he think I would kill his only heir after everything we had gone through, after all the promises, war, and sacrifices?
I let my head fall against the dark wall, cold burning through my skin.
I thought we were going to be together forever.
I still remember the first day I saw Rowan, coming from the coven to see my parents.
His tall and dazzling figure got me grounded as I set my eyes on him, his deep blue eyes almost drafted out my brain while I felt like eating his pink lips to my satisfaction.
I felt goosebumps now and then, any time I saw him. We didn't talk the first time, the second time, or the third time he met me at home instead of my parents to collect an herb for his father, who was the Alpha King.
He asked about my flowers, and I told him their names and he smiled.
We were all one, some of the witches were under the Red Hollow pack, including my parents and me.
Rowan summed up the courage to ask me out and I accepted him without thinking twice because I fell faster for him than magic could cast.
He courted me quietly like a storm in disguise, and I knew he loved me. He stood by me when the elders were against us, saying," Werewolves for werewolves. Witches for witches."
We didn't care.
He promised me he would reject his fated mate whenever he came across her and I believed him.
We married and he became the Alpha King of the Red Hollow pack.
But peace didn't follow.
Wolves were being attacked, and children were being kidnapped. Wives ran away from the pack.
The elders said it was because he had turned against the moon goddess's will.
I beseech him to look for his mate not for love but for survival.
I thought it would help me conceive when I hadn't given him an heir since our three years of marriage. He accepted and promised to love me still no matter what.
Luckily for him, he found his fated mate within six months.
Velin.
A daughter of his father's best friend. Surprised she had been right behind us all this while.
Velin was pretty, sexy–a woman every wolf in the pack could die for.
She was perfect.
She was everything I wasn't.
Then Rowan married her almost immediately.
He said it was for the pack. For the duty.
That was the day I saw him do what he had never done to me before.
Lie.
A wicked lie