DUSK.
I opened my eyes. Lucius had left, and when I heard his voice, for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to face him.
I knew he had stopped to look at me, but I couldn't tell what had been on his mind.
The lady who always served food came and passed the tray into my cell.
I opened it. It was a watery porridge made with low-quality ingredients and no side dishes.
I had no option anyway but to eat it out of hunger.
I took a spoon, and the guard watching me smirked.
"Yum! Such a nice bowl of porridge there. I'd love to have some too, but what do we do? There's already a nice plate of fried steak awaiting me up there." He said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Good for you." I replied, but he continued to talk.
"You're such an embarrassment. Your betrothed stepped in here, and with the expression on his face, oh, it said lots. I'd rather die than be betrothed to you. Just look at you, living in the dungeon; it's where you should always have been, but I really feel sorry for Alpha Lucius."
I let him rant on and on because my mind had gone back to the voice that had called me.
Why was I called, and by whom? Was the person watching me? What fear did I have in me?
What did she see in me?
~
LUCIUS.
It turned out the man before me was more of a fool; he'd forgotten who he was dealing with. I couldn't see him, but I could feel and hear his very being.
With my fast reflexes, I grabbed him by the neck and swatted the knife from his hand. I dug my claws into his belly.
"And what's the name?" I asked as I saw blood dripping in the place that I guessed was his mouth.
He groaned, and I twisted my nails further into his body.
"Axel." He grunted.
"Well, I'll be back for you, Axel; you're going nowhere. Where are your brothers?"
"I'm alone." He said, and I smirked.
"Nice try." I slashed him in the face and tied him securely to my bed before leaving for my father's quarters.
~
When I got to my father's quarters, however, I was shocked. The guards were all lying on the floor, groaning, and I immediately covered my nose. The air was filled with crushed wolfsbane.
My heart began to pound in fear, and I kicked open the door to my father's room.
"Lucius! Leave!!" My father called out; he had also been taken down with wolfsbane.
Then I felt a rush behind me, and I ducked.
I had to find a way to bring out the potion because in the dream the water had shown me, there were four, and all four couldn't be fighting me; one would go for my father.
It was tough fighting with three invisible people, and at one point, I watched helplessly as the bottle rolled to the floor.
They tried to spray whatever it was that almost blinded me, but I tried my best to avoid it.
"So you jerk want to be King?" I asked as I ducked yet another blow.
“I am already King." I heard, and when I managed to turn, I was shocked.
It was as though my father had split himself into two. I knew one was my real father and the other was the assassin, but it was hard to tell the difference because they both sat on the floor in the same posture with the same expression.
Then a knife cut me.
"Find out who's king, and maybe we'll let you live." One I was fighting with said.
"Live my foot. I'll watch you hang." I said, and he scoffed, and one came from behind, but I wasn't fast enough, and the heavy flowerpot came down on my head. The force sent me ahead a few feet before I collapsed on the floor.
"Yeah! That's more like it, Nate!"
"Quit babbling you two; Axel is yet to be back, and this fool is, what is he doing to him?" I heard my father say, and I stood up, staggering.
"Yes, yes, I tied him up. Want to save him?" I asked, and as the two fools made for me, I turned and sprayed the potion in the air.
The moment it touched them, their invisibility washed off like water.
They were my father's guards. I got angry.
"You lowly beings! How dare you covet the throne?" I said with my voice shaking in anger.
I ran right at them and hit their heads together, knocking them out.
Then I turned to the two Kings.
I walked to them, smiled, and, with my claws, slashed the guard deeply on the chest, but not enough to kill him.
He had forgotten the King was weak with wolfsbane; he, being a fool, forgot to act like he was weak.
"You indeed saved me. You were speaking the truth." My father said, and I raised him to his feet.
"You owe me one now, father." I said, and he shook his head.
"I need to clear my thoughts first in order for these men to be hanged. I seriously can't believe my lowly guards would do this." He said and left the room.
I smiled at them and left.
~
"This dusk again!? What the hell is the matter with her?" My father asked as I once again asked for custody of her with the favour he owed me from saving his life.
"I just can't stand the embarrassment."
"And I can't too. I can't stand her, so you know what's going to happen?" He asked. "The competition. If she wins that, she's free." He said, and I stared at him.
If it had come to this, then the rest was up to dusk.
The competition was a No. She was weaker than the average omega. It only meant my father was really intent on letting her rot.