All Chapters of The Lycan Queen's Ruthless Beta: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

## Garret"Three guards, three different accounts," Rowan said, laying the reports on my desk. "All three put Kellan near the eastern passage the night the King and Queen died."I skimmed the statements. "Why did he leave his post?""He claims he was carrying a message. He won't say who sent him. I questioned him briefly this morning, and he gave me nothing. Then he slipped away from his post again.""And the message pouch?""Gone."I looked up. "Find him. Quietly."Rowan hesitated. "There's another connection. Kellan exchanged messages with one of Prince Luca's attendants earlier this week, and that attendant has since tried to leave the palace."I set the reports down. "Bring him in for questioning, but don't accuse him of anything until we know more."Rowan nodded and left. As Evelyn's husband, I was expected to help keep order while she prepared to take up what her father had left behind.

EvelynThe palace had never felt so quiet. Guards stood outside every door and servants moved through the corridors, yet all I could hear was the silence left behind by the three people I had buried that day. My father. My mother. Garret. Three coffins, and three lives that should have had years left in them. Tomorrow I was supposed to wake up and rule a kingdom as though the ground hadn't been torn out from under my feet."Your Majesty?"I turned sharply toward the guard outside my chamber. "What?"He stiffened. "The council wishes to know whether tomorrow's meeting will proceed as scheduled.""Tell them I'll meet them when I'm ready.""They only wanted to—""Did I ask what they wanted?"His mouth closed."Get out of my sight before I find you something useful to do."He bowed quickly and fled. I shut the door harder than I needed to. "Evelyn."Luca stood near the window with a plate of food in his hands. Angelina was beside him, her face caught between worry and exhaustion. I hadn'

EvelynBy morning, the entire palace knew Kellan was dead.No one said it to my face. They bowed as I passed, lowered their eyes, and suddenly found the floors fascinating, but the whispers followed me down every corridor. Good. Let them whisper. Perhaps the next guard who thought of hiding something from his queen would think twice."Your Majesty, the council has assembled."I didn't slow. "Then they can wait another minute."Rowan fell into step beside me with a stack of reports in his arms. He looked as though he'd spent the night awake, which meant he probably had. "There's another matter. Kellan's quarters were searched. We found no letters or messages, but his duty records show his assignment was changed three days before the King died.""By whom?""The order carries the seal of the royal security office. The officer responsible says he approved several routine changes that week and doesn't remember this one in particular.""Convenient.""Yes.""Bring him to me.""He's already

I had no idea how many days had passed since I last sat in a council meeting.The curtains in my room stayed closed. I knew the servants came and went, and sometimes I heard Luca's voice outside my door, going over reports with the guards. Now and then he stayed long enough to ask whether I needed anything. I always gave him the same answer.No.The kingdom went on without me.That morning a royal messenger arrived with an official summons. The council wanted me present to discuss a proposal from the Werewolf Kingdom. I nearly sent him away, until I saw Luca's seal on the document. Whatever was happening, my brother thought I should hear it for myself.I dressed, pinned my hair back, and left my room. The guards outside straightened, and one looked so startled I almost asked whether I'd grown a second head. My own palace had grown used to a Queen who never left her bedroom.Wonderful.The talk in the council chamber died the moment I walked in. Luca stood by the table among open ledge

I barely slept that night. The stranger's words circled in my head until they wore a groove there, each repetition sharper than the last.*The Alpha King expects your support, and your acceptance of his proposal.**He helped you when you needed it. Now it's your turn to help him.*I knew what Austin wanted. His proposal was hardly a secret anymore. The council had debated it, Luca had urged me to consider it, and Austin had never bothered to hide his intentions. What I didn't know was what he had done for my brother, or why it had left Luca in his debt.I turned over everything I had gathered: Garret's diary, the suspicious guard transfers, Kellan's ties to Luca. One by one the pieces slid closer together, though the whole picture stayed stubbornly out of reach. I wasn't ready to accuse my brother of anything. I didn't even know what I would be accusing him of. But I was certain that Luca knew something I didn't, and until I understood what it was, I couldn't afford to let him see me