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Chapter 15 - Father and Son
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The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 16 - More Lies
Auden holds his breath, hoping that his little gamble here has paid off – that Margot did as she promised and successfully distracted Mahl last night. He hadn’t had time to receive any reports from his men, or speak to Margot herself, but…When Mahl turns away, a little scowl on his face, Auden’s smirk deepens.Mahl begins to pace the room and Auden waits for his father to pull his thoughts together and plan his next move. Would he continue to berate his son for some tiny, innocuous lies? Or would he move on?As Auden waits for Mahl to decide, his mind wanders despite his determination to concentrate on the situation at hand. There’s just so much he has to do. Where are the children now? Time is getting short – the cart will arrive soon if it hasn’t already, and he wanted to be there when it did –“Enough of this,” the King snaps. Auden raises his head again to meet his father’s eyes, pleased that the King has finally decided to weigh this in his favor. “You will keep no more secrets
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 17 - Garden Party
I’m late to the garden party, which means that by the time I get there I can barely see the garden itself, so full is it with pressing bodies. I don’t enter the gardens through the ballroom as I did last night, but instead via the more intimate and discrete Royal entrance, which opens out into a wide square clearing surrounded by benches. A delicate fountain sprays in the middle of the clearing, though I can only see the top spout of the water right now.I’ve been here before, of course – but it’s unrecognizable as the quaint and peaceful courtyard it usually is, instead now packed and humming with conversation. My eyes go immediately to Mahl, standing above the crowd across the courtyard on the painted wooden dais constructed for these sorts of events.I sigh, knowing I have to get to his side and realizing that getting there means I have to run the courtier gauntlet.As soon as I step from the entrance, eyes turn to me and a thousand different expressions cross people’s faces. Some
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 18 - The First Test
I suddenly feel very awkward about the intimacy of our seating arrangement, so I quickly turn away and raise my wine to my lips, taking another big sip. Mahl, amused, gestures towards a Gamma who quickly comes over to give me a refill.“Oh –“ I say, surprised as the wine fills my glass. I quickly thank the Gamma before Mahl dismisses him with a wave. “I’m sorry,” I say to Mahl, a little embarrassed. “I don’t mean to get drunk –““Do it,” he says, raising his eyebrows. “If it pleases you.”I cock my head to the side a bit. “Surely,” I say quietly, with a little smile, “you would not want to present a drunk Queen to your court on her first day?”“What I want, Everleigh,” he says, leaning closer to me and making my muscles tense, “is for you to be comfortable. If that means drinking your weight in wine, then do it! If the Queen is drunk,” he whispers, as if it’s our little secret, “that merely means that everyone else is too sober.”I laugh a little despite myself, a little undone by Mah
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 19 - Vivianna and Niall - A Blessing
“Father,” Auden says, pitching his voice so that everyone can hear. “I hope that you will allow me to introduce you to two important young people,” he says, nodding to my kids. “Vivianna and Niall. Your grandchildren.”The court goes mad at these words, a flurry of gasps and whispers rippling through the crowd like wind through a field of wheat. I barely blink as I watch people turn to each other, wide-eyed and delighted at the scandal. I watch my son flinch and gasp, shocked by the sudden noise; watch Auden’s hand land comfortably on the back of Niall’s head, stroking his hair, an act that makes Niall jump again for a moment before looking steadily up at his father.Vivianna turns a little, attempting to glare around at everyone at once, clutching her little dragon close to her chest as if she would take on the entire crowd.My heart soars with love for Vivi suddenly, for my brave girl. I worry for Niall – wonder if he will thrive in this world – but Vivianna? About her I have no dou
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 20 - Grandfather
Vivi steps forward readily but Niall hangs back, leaning hard against Auden’s leg. A fond smile flashes across Auden’s face as he begins to move forward, nudging Niall to go along with him. Mahl sees Niall’s reticence too and, luckily, turns his attention to Vivi first. “Well?” Mahl says, looking the girl over from head to toe. “And who are you?” “I’m Vivianna,” Vivi says, staring straight at Mahl as if he’s a little stupid. I laugh inwardly because I can almost read her mind - she knows that the King knows her name; she just heard him announce it to the whole court. Mahl chuckles, perhaps realizing this as well. “Well, Vivianna,” he continues, “I am very glad to meet you.” “He told me you are going to be my grandfather,” Vivi says, lifting her chin towards Auden. I bite my lip to keep from laughing at the way she narrows her eyes at her father, as if he might have been lying to her. “He also said,” she continues, turning back to Mahl to study him, “that you’re a King. Is that true
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 21 - A Tiny Queen
“That little girl,” Mahl says, shaking his head as he stares after his son and grandchildren in a pleased, paternal sort of way. “We’ll have to get her a little crown made, right away.”“What?” I ask, laughing and looking after Vivi. “Why?”“Can you not see it?” he asks, turning to me with a smile. “She is already a tiny Queen.”I laugh at this, pleased and thinking privately that Mahl doesn’t know the half of it. “Don’t you think it will go to her head?” I ask. “To be given a crown? She will begin to think herself your equal, perhaps try to run the kingdom if you’re not careful.”Mahl laughs at this as well, shaking his head. “It will make me laugh,” he says with a shrug. “Which, I think, is the point of grandchildren.”I smile, leaning back against the velvet of my throne and taking a long drink of my wine, finding that relief is filling me in the aftermath of that encounter. Auden and I had spent so many hours, last night and on the ride home, thinking of all the ways it could go w
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 22 - A New Friend
“Oh,” I say, taking a step closer toward the women who are staring at me and nodding sagely. “Yes, an incredibly good point. Certainly, it’s something to consider.” The women smile, pleased with my affirmation, but they hesitate as they continue the conversation, a few glancing over their shoulders at the woman in purple speaking alone with an Alpha. Our group breaks up a few moments later, everyone finding someone else to mingle with, and I can’t help but heave a sigh of relief. There’s an unusual pause as I am alone for a moment, and I’m savoring it, but suddenly the woman in purple is standing next to me. “Terrible little Lunas,” she murmurs to me, imitating Larissa’s words and inflection from just a few moments ago, “that little one in particular.” She raises her wine glass to her mouth with a smirk and I find myself laughing freely – perhaps the first time I’ve done that in any of these conversations. “Vain,” I continue, likewise repeating Larissa’s insults about Vivi and gi
The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret Chapter 23 - Until the Night of the Stag
“What?” I breathe, fascinated and delighted. “Since when do courtesans come to court!?”“They’ve always been here, Everleigh,” Mahl murmurs, not minding, apparently, that I’m not appalled at Margot’s occupation and am, instead, clearly curious. “They just…didn’t come into the circles of Lunas in the years that you were present at court. Things have changed a bit since you have been gone.”“Oh,” I say, looking up at him again. “Why?”And I regret the question immediately when Mahl looks away.I stutter a moment, making awkward noises in my attempt to apologize or find something to say, but Mahl just looks calmly down at me. “A story for another time,” he murmurs as we arrive at the back door to my chambers, the same door through which Tara traveled this afternoon to bring me my coffee.I take a deep breath and try to settle my emotions – my still-burning curiosity, my embarrassment at blatantly asking Mahl why he lets courtesans mingle with his best friends’ wives – before going into m
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