Chapter Five

Ira~

My footstep and that of the guard echoed through the walls as I was escorted from the king's interrogation room through a succession of stone corridors.

I rubbed my throat slowly and winced in pain, as the memory of his fingers around it kept returning whenever I swallowed.

I mentally pat my head for surviving my first encounter with the Lycan King, but I also understood that surviving an interrogation was not the same as being safe in his territory.

I knew that there were harder challenges coming for me and I needed to be prepared for them.

“Where are you taking me to?” I broke the silence between me and the guard, hastening to walk beside him.

He didn't say anything, he didn't even spare me a glance.

“What's your name?” I asked again, pushing my luck. But I was answered with silence once again.

“Boring” I muttered under my breath, not loud enough for him to hear it.

“Princess Isabella” he finally spoke up once we stood in front of a door, which I assumed was my room. “The King has ordered you to be accommodated in the eastern wing. This will be your room.”

He stretched his hand towards the door, waiting for me to move or say something. But I didn't. I stood there, staring at the door as the name “Princess Isabella” rang in my mind.

That was a title I never possessed.

I finally snapped out of it and pushed the door open. The room awaiting me was large, furnished with a four-poster bed, a fireplace, a wardrobe filled with expensive dresses that felt soft beneath my palm, and a private bathroom.

It was more luxurious than anything I had experienced in years, but the windows were barred, the walls were thick stone, and the only door was guarded from the outside.

I immediately understood that this room was a prison disguised as royal hospitality. Planning an escape from such a heavily guarded room wasn't going to be a plan to pull off, but I wasn't going to give up without trying first.

I ran the tip of my finger over the furniture, examining them carefully. I checked the windows, and searched for anything I could use to defend myself if need be.

My knife was still hidden in my sleeve, I wondered why Kael didn't take it from me after I harmed him with it. I quickly pulled it out of my sleeve and concealed it inside the mattress lining before the guards returned.

I heard a knock from the door, and before I could ask whoever it was to come in, the door had already opened with a servant holding a tray of food on one hand and two dresses on the other hand.

“Princess Isabella, I brought you food” she addressed me respectfully but refused to meet my eyes.

“What happened to the previous brides?” I blurted out, letting my curiosity get the better of me, and not caring about the food she was talking about.

The servant dropped a silver spoon and the clank made me wince a little. The reaction was brief, but unmistakable. The way her eyes twitched, the way her hands vibrated as she picked the spoon up, I didn't miss any of it.

Before I could question her further, another servant entered and ordered the first woman away.

The sudden interruption confirmed my suspicion that the subject was forbidden, although I did not yet know whether the servants feared Kael, the royal household, or something else entirely.

Left alone once again, I picked up the dress that was brought in by the servant, and ran my fingers through the soft silk.

The dresses had been selected in Isabella's preferred style, but one has a small embroidered symbol that I didn't recognize: three interlocking crescents stitched inside the hem.

Then I remembered seeing a similar mark in the cloth wrapped around the body carried towards the gate.

Confusion and curiosity hit me at the same time, but before I could investigate further, a knock sound at the door pulled me out of my thoughts.

Kael walked into the room without waiting for permission.

Why did everyone keep doing that? Why did they keep barging in without permission?

“Not happy to see me?” He questioned, tilting his head to the side and staring at me with those pale eyes that showed no emotion.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but he beat me to it.

“Too bad for you, it's not like I care anyway. I'm here to inform you that you will attend dinner with me this evening and refusing will be considered an insult to the crown.”

I felt my brows deep in a frown.

He could have easily sent his guards to pass the information to me, but he came here on his own to tell me that. Was he trying to get a reaction from me? Was he trying to test me again?

I couldn't help but question myself.

“Is the dinner another opportunity to test my identity?” I finally asked, giving him a wary look.

“If I wanted you dead, you would not have made it past my interrogation room” he said, with a smirk on his face that made my skin crawl.

“You already tried to kill me once” I whispered to myself but I'm sure he heard it.

His expression barely changed, but he didn't deny it.

“The northern court is not forgiving toward liars and your survival depends on learning its rules” warning laced in his voice as he spoke.

“Do you intend to explain those rules or simply punish me whenever I break one?”

Keal studied me for a moment with an unreadable gaze, then he turned around and started walking towards the door.

“You must wear the dress bearing the three crescents.”

Those were his last words before he slammed the door. He didn't even answer my question.

I raised my fist and punched the air, while imagining it was his face.

After he left, I turned the garment inside out and carefully unpicked part of the hem. Beneath the embroidery, I discovered a narrow strip of paper sewn into the lining.

There were only six words written on it.

THE FIRST BRIDE WAS NOT HIS.

Someone inside the fortress had deliberately left me a message about the previous brides, suggesting that the official story about their death was a lie.