Day 3
Violet
Only seconds had passed, though it felt like minutes. Nate’s hand lifted to her face, still chained, his thumb brushing gently across her cheek.
He held it there, just looking at her while the softest smile reached his face. “Come on, say yes,” Kylan breathed, his voice low. I felt my lips curl into a smile, seeing him rooting for them.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to match you,” Nate said, smiling. “But I’d be honored to be your mate.”
A soft sigh slipped from her lips, her eyes glistening. She turned and faced the king.
“I do not consent to all of this.” Her voice was full of joy. “Charges are void. Now unchain him.”
Kaelis’s eyes met Kylan’s, and the two smiled at each other. This part was finally over, and she couldn’t have done it any better.
“I think it’s time to arrest him,” Kylan said, nudging his head toward the king. The guards didn’t move, but the two royal elders did. One from each side as they made their way up the stairs.
The king’s eyes went wide, and Camille took a small step back, her face pale.
“You cannot arrest me,” the king sputtered. “I am your king. In order to arrest me, you will have to—“
The elders drew closer, each pulling out some kind of glowing chains. They threw them in his direction at the same time, and they wrapped around his wrists.
The room gasped, and the king growled, his eyes flashing purple. He tried to shift, but nothing happened. It was the chains holding him back.
And the most satisfying part was seeing him get dragged down the stairs like the monster he was. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but it was all I could’ve ever hoped for.
Kaelis lifted a brow. “Just a princess,” she muttered. That would bother her for a long time, and I had no doubt she would do anything to prove herself even more while she didn’t have to. This was already amazing.
One of the elders looked at Kylan. “What do we do with him, Your…Highness?”
It was complicated. With the king in chains, it was unclear who held power now.
“They will do nothing!” The king thrashed against the chains. “There is still the royal ceremony, and it will happen!” His cold eyes found mine. “Violet!”
As his name left my mouth, a chill traveled through my veins. This was his final attempt to force me into opening the box. There was still the ceremony. “There were two others present when my son had sworn to me he would…”
“You can’t arrest him yet!” Kayden screamed. At last, he had made himself known. Camille shifted uncomfortably, looking for any escape as her eyes scanned the stairs.
“He promised me! He promised he would help me and find a way to get Violet to open that box! The box of ashes!”
My stomach dropped. Kayden suddenly had no problem naming names, which meant Kaelis had come at exactly the right time. He was losing his mind.
People whispered about the Box of Ashes. Everyone knew what it was, but no one would have guessed it was inside this palace. I had thought they might take him seriously earlier, but now there was no doubt they believed he was full of shit.
The king laughed tightly. “Kayden, you aren’t making any sense. The box of ashes is a myth.”
Kayden shook his head violently. “No…No, don’t you do this to me!”
He walked toward the center, and people backed away from him. “I am not crazy!” he shouted. “I made a deal with him to open the box so I could travel to the Veil, where the High Priestess and her daughter and the Alpha King and the Prince have been banished!”
People exchanged looks, and any credibility he had left faded completely. Kayden looked at the royal elders desperately. “Alpha King Eamon? Prince Alaric? You remember them, right? You have to!”
The elders traded tense glances, and Kayden just wouldn’t stop. “The king wanted to travel to the Veil and release Adelaide and Alaric!” he continued. “So he could make Adelaide his wife and kill Alaric in front of her so she would know never to cross him again!”
The king laughed, a breath hissing through his nose. “And I would be the one to take over both halves of the shadow!” Kayden’s voice cracked. “For the first half I would get the raven back! The one on Kylan’s shoulder!” He pointed out, everyone following his gaze. “One half of Baelor is already inside that raven!”
Kylan brushed his fingers through Thorne’s feathers. Kayden had just exposed the king’s lies. The whole thing about regretting his past mistakes, wanting to bring my parents back because of guilt…it had all been a lie.
“You need to stop talking,” one of Kaelis’s guests spoke. “And Alpha King Eamon went mad and killed everyone inside the palace. We do not speak of his name.”
Kayden pulled at his hair, growling as his foot kicked against a vase on the floor. “Do you not get it? That is not true. They are inside the Veil with Adelaide!” he shouted.
“My father has been planning this all along. He hid the box and wanted to disrupt the timeline, and now you’re helping by arresting him. His plan failed, and he knows we will never find it!”
The king sighed dramatically. “My son has clearly lost his mind. The stress of these proceedings,” he explained. “Maybe you should arrest him too.”
“No, Violet!” Kayden pointed at me.
“And Kylan!” His eyes were wild. “I know I haven’t been truthful to you, but you know I am not lying. You must tell them!”
As bad as I felt, I looked away, and Kylan did the same. Kayden had always been an issue, and was eliminating himself at this point. What more could we do?
From the corner of my eye, I saw Camille slipping away, and before I knew it, she was at the bottom of the stairs.
The king noticed too. “Where are you going? The mate ceremony!”
Kayden’s head snapped toward her. “She’s mine, and there won’t be a mate ceremony!”
He lunged, then grabbed Camille by her throat, drawing cries from everyone. My heart stopped beating for a second.
Would he kill her?
“Nerok…” Kylan breathed.
“What?”
“I can sense him…Nerok.”
Kayden’s Lycan? But that would mean he would… With what he had planned, Camille should have been wishing he would kill her instead. I couldn’t let that happen. I moved to help her, but Kylan grabbed my arm. “Don’t!”
The next second, there were gasps everywhere, and people scrambled back as Kayden’s eyes turned purple. Fangs appeared, a deep growl escaped him, and then he sank his teeth into Camille’s neck, making her scream.
Kayden had forced his mark onto her…
I thought he couldn’t shift anymore. I thought he wasn’t able to.
“Impossible,” the king whispered.
Guards rushed forward to restrain Kayden, but then the red streaks in his hair started glowing. Wind came out of nowhere, and nearly everything was blown back.
The royal elders reached for another set of chains, but even that could not help this time. I would be the only one able to stop this, but that would mean exposing my powers.
Kayden walked backward, Camille still in his grip, crying and bleeding. “I will leave now. I will take what belongs to me. I will come for my raven, and no one will be able to stop me.”
His voice came out deep. No one dared stop him. I shielded my eyes with my hand, squinting as the wind just wouldn’t stop. What did he mean, he would come for his raven?
His gaze found Lady Mona and Kahlia.
“Kahlia? Mom?”