Semua Bab The Alpha's Beta: Once Rejected, Now Desired: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Lloyd’s POVLetting Elora attend the council all by herself didn’t only sound foolish but dangerous too. But my beta had just suggested it.“Surely, you should let her handle her own, hmm?” Xavier’s words in my study came back to me. “If she doesn’t have anything to hide, she shouldn’t have so many problems with the council."But I understood that Elora’s life wasn’t like that. If Elora’s life was anything, it was complicated. Too complicated.And some of these complications happened even without her will in the picture. She didn’t ask for any of these. I knew that more than anybody. And I didn’t attend the council with her to serve as emotional support.Elora didn’t need that. I attended to know the outcome of the meeting, and know how the balance swings from here hence forth. Before Elora arrived, I was there. I was greeted by the chilly room as I walked in, taking in the mighty dome.The high walls appear like something carved out of grey stone. A gallery overhead rounded the b

Lloyd’s POVElora was looking at the three men now, and from her blank face, Darius was pushing her to her limits now. She had to do something to get herself out.It made sense why Darius was part of the council. He knew something, and he was intent on forcing it out of her.Elora also seemed to know something too. She didn’t answer any of the questions directly. She was clever, and the way she handled the questions today said so much. She knew something, and it was that none of these people were on her side at all. All of them were looking for something, and whatever they were looking for, she had it.The challenging glare between Elora and Darius continued for a moment later before Darius spoke.“Are you going to start talking now,” he growled. “Or are you going to be needing a little help doing that?”Elora’s voice was sharp. “I have told you the truth, and nothing but the truth.”“You have to swear it,” he retorted.“I just did, sir,” “Not in the order you were told,” I said. “N

Lloyd’s POVI was still standing in the tribunal hall, stunned. Shocked. Unable to move. Still by the corner of the wall, I watched as Darius and the other councillors stepped down from their seats and walked out without sparing a glance my way.Of course, they knew I was there, but they also knew that what they were doing was wrong in itself. So, it could be their conscience dealing with them. Their absence, however, didn’t do much to deal with the air in the room. If anything, it just made it thicker. Elora had answered the questions thrown at her strategically, without making the mistake of revealing the connections to her father. Somehow, she got to the conclusion before I did; their end was about finding out if Henry Stark was her dad. The end point was to clear evidence and keep things hidden.The look on her face came back to me, and all of a sudden, it was like the hearing was happening again. I imagined swooping in and trying to pull Elora out of the place. It sounded li

Lloyd’s POVI got out of bed. There was no point lying here when sleep wasn’t going to come to me. Exiting the bedroom, I made a beeline down the hallway for my study. The door creaked slightly as I pushed it open, hoping I didn’t wake anyone.On my desk still lay Elora’s note. I rounded the desk and sat, my eye grazing over the note once more.‘I have no faith in them.’I leaned back in the desk chair, rocking it gently. Something is definitely off about the last hearing at the High Council.First, it seemed like the questions were rehearsed. I replayed the hearing in my head and then it suddenly occured to me. All the questions came from councillor Gaius. And Gaius was a good friend of Darius. The only one who seemed different in a way was councillor Epaphras. Could it mean that the idea of arresting Elora was planned from the beginning?One thing is certain; these men know something, and whatever they know involves them and Elora. And they think that by silencing Elora, they c

Lloyd’s POVThe fire in my study was almost dead. The embers were glowing faintly and red in the hearth, the weak glow casting shadows that crawled up the walls and shivered across the rows of books on the shelves. I was pacing long before now. I was still pacing. So long that the boards creaked in rhythm with my boots. My hands were aching from clenching and unclenching them. Above all, the anger was still there. I assumed it would leave with the motion, but it never did.The logs were empty now. The guards swore blind that they never moved Elora from her cell. I’d taken liberty when the council saw the gravity of the situation and decided to involve me as Alpha.All of them kept giving me the same answer; I’d questioned them until their fear curdled into silence, but their answer didn’t change. She was there. Then out of the blue, she wasn’t.This situation didn’t look like incompetence. The guards kept in charge of prisoners waiting for trial were the best in what they do, beca