Chapter 127: _Palace Gossip Kyren’s POV
After the news anchor finished the late morning headlines and the holographic projection faded, Kyren decided to get down to business. He had a lot of things to handle and too little time to do them. First would be finding out more about the magic charms Farrell placed in the palace—which didn’t take too long to get destroyed. He had succeeded in telepathically turning them into nothing but ash from the Dark Lands, so the Lunarian experts wouldn’t be able to track the magic residue to him. Still, he knew those Lunarian experts weren’t behind destroying them in the first place. The way those charms had been dismantled was too clean. Too precise. Like someone who knew the same spell he used in making them. Farrell would’ve been his first suspect but he had access to his commander’s mind and knew how far his loyalty was. The lad wouldn’t dare. That meant the rat was someone within the palace... But the question is who? "Kyren?" Elian grabbed his arm just then, snapping him out of his thoughts. They were both still standing in the middle of the room after the news.
After the news anchor finished the late morning headlines and the holographic projection faded, Kyren decided to get down to business. He had a lot of things to handle and too little time to do them. First would be finding out more about the magic charms Farrell placed in the palace—which didn’t take too long to get destroyed. He had succeeded in telepathically turning them into nothing but ash from the Dark Lands, so the Lunarian experts wouldn’t be able to track the magic residue to him. Still, he knew those Lunarian experts weren’t behind destroying them in the first place. The way those charms had been dismantled was too clean. Too precise. Like someone who knew the same spell he used in making them. Farrell would’ve been his first suspect but he had access to his commander’s mind and knew how far his loyalty was. The lad wouldn’t dare. That meant the rat was someone within the palace... But the question is who? "Kyren?" Elian grabbed his arm just then, snapping him out of his thoughts. They were both still standing in the middle of the room after the news.
Kyren blinked, squinting at his mate at first before a small smirk curled up his lips. He parted strands of his white blonde curls, causing the latter to blush violently.
"Uh... Are we... Are we going to sit and have that chat you were talking about earlier?" Elian cleared his throat and asked with a flustered tone, trying not to make eye contact.
A task he failed much to Kyren’s delight.
Kyren chuckled softly, cupping his cheek with his right hand and bringing his lips dangerously close to his face.
Elian stiffened, his nostrils flaring and his chest heaving. But all Kyren did was leave a kiss on his forehead.
"You need rest." Kyren drawled, his fingers caressing his cheek tenderly. "And as much as I’d love to have that chat over a long bubble bath... Duty calls."
Elian furrowed his brows with confusion but before he could think much about it, Kyren’s lips locked with his in a steamy kiss.
Kyren closed his eyes, pressing Elian closer to his body. It didn’t take long for his little flame’s legs to wobble under his hold, a soft moan tearing through him.
Heat surged in Kyren’s stomach, his wolf growling for him to claim their mate in the most ravenous way possible.
But his kiss wasn’t merely a "kiss".
"Kyren..." Elian moaned but it was softer than before, sounding strained as he pulled his lips away. "I... I don’t..."
Before he could finish that sentence, his eyes fluttered shut as he fell into a deep slumber, collapsing right into Kyren’s arms.
Kyren hated having to put him to sleep... but he couldn’t risk Elian getting too entangled in the continent’s politics.
He didn’t say a word, instead lifting Elian off the ground with a princess carry and taking him to the bed. After placing Elian on the bed and patting his cheek one last time, he spoke.
"We’ll have lots of time tonight... After I find out what the heck is happening within these Palace walls."
With that, he turned away, snapping his fingers.
His body flickered with a red light before completely shifting at an atomic level while bending the light rays around him. That made him invisible and intangible.
He walked through the wall, smirking to himself as he continued walking down the corridor randomly.
Fortunately, two maids passed right on time, and he used the opportunity to slip into their minds for a head start, if any.
’I need to get Madam Aurora her tea. She seemed really stressed,’ one thought to herself, much to his boredom.
He focused on the next one.
’The royals are trying to hide it but something is off in the palace. Possibly the entire Empire...’
Ah-ha!
Kyren retraced his steps, sticking close to the maid while keeping his ghost spell active.
’All the other maids are so in the dark. Luckily for me, Sir Besak is one of the throne room guards and gets all the hidden gossip.’ She thought to herself, but this time her inner voice was dreamy.
That ignited a frown from Kyren.
’Ah, I can’t wait for Sir Besak to propose. Maybe I should hint that I want him to do that during the full moon masquerade ball next month. I—’
Kyren logged off her mind at that point, rolling his eyes.
But at least he had a piece of interesting information.
The throne room guards!
They’ll have all the juicy information he’ll need, including perhaps info on his destroyed magic charms.
Kyren navigated his way through several floors of golden-plated ceilings, crystal chandeliers and intricate paintings until he finally found the royal throne room.
Surprisingly, the Alpha King and Luna Queen were walking out of the large golden doors just when he got close, both of them ignoring the bows of the two guards standing there.
And from the look of things... They were in the middle of an argument.
"Elowen, please!" Alpha king Arian whispered, grabbing her shoulder when she was about to storm off. "I want you to understand that keeping this from you was for the best of the empire. The best of our—"
"Don’t you dare, Arian!" The Luna Queen swatted his arm away, her jewellery jingling. Her sharp gaze turned to the guards standing by the door who tried their hardest to seem invisible.
"Leave!" She snapped at the guards, causing both to jolt with visible fear in their eyes before they bowed and bolted down the hallway.
"And now you left our throne room unguarded." Arian shook his head, his lips pressing to a thin line. "Elowen, let’s not—"
"You mean YOUR throne room." She poked his chest with her index finger, glaring daggers at his face. "Decades of being your mate and wife and then of being Luna Queen. Decades, Arian! Yet you went behind my back doing all these shady things."
Kyren furrowed his brows from the pillar he was hiding behind. ’Did she catch him with a mistress or something?’
He was still invisible and intangible, but wolves had high senses still, especially Wolf Sovereigns. A slight shift in the air could give away his location.
"It’s not as shady as you make it seem." Arian brushed his hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh, lowering his voice. "The Dark Hand is more dangerous than any of us think, honey. I couldn’t risk it."
Kyren’s eyes widened as he placed his weight on the pillar, trying hard not to walk toward them to hear more.
Elowen’s voice cut like a whip. "Don’t you dare twist this, Arian. You’re the reason they exist at all."
What the fuck did that mean?
Kyren’s pulse thundered in his ears as he anticipated more information.
And it came, worse than he might’ve expected.
"The innocent soldier your father betrayed all those centuries ago, Garrick Ironclaw, could possibly be the very leader of the Dark Hand that plagues our Empire. Your father created a monster and you funded them!"
Kyren’s brain detonated, his fingers twitching with shock. Confusion.
That name. Garrick Ironclaw. It was one he’d grown to loathe because he thought he had abandoned him.
"Father?"