Chapter 171: _A Clear Warning Lucian’s POV
After the maid had confessed to poisoning Kyren’s drink and then died of a mysterious Dark Hand curse, Lucian was running out of reasons to remain in this palace. The rogue king left the dining room and commanded his guards to take the maid’s body away. To "dispose" of it. But why did he have a feeling that the body wouldn’t be rid of that easily? On top of all that, he bumped into Elian during a walk around the palace. He knew he wasn’t hallucinating things. He’d heard Elian mentioning something about "all three of them" doing something intimate with him. Lucian had no idea what that was about but he knew Elian. He was up to something—the question was what? "Alpha Prince." Beta Axel’s voice cut through his thoughts just when he was about to turn a corner after standing in front of the grand library for a few minutes. Lucian turned his head to the Beta’s direction, squinting when he saw him approaching. "What do you want?" Lucian muttered with an exhausted eye roll. "Preparing for our next stop at Arcadia? Because it’s clear whatever peace talks we came to the Dark Lands for is a disaster from Hades." Beta Axel chuckled softly until he finally got in front of him, folding his arms in front of his chest.
After the maid had confessed to poisoning Kyren’s drink and then died of a mysterious Dark Hand curse, Lucian was running out of reasons to remain in this palace. The rogue king left the dining room and commanded his guards to take the maid’s body away. To "dispose" of it. But why did he have a feeling that the body wouldn’t be rid of that easily? On top of all that, he bumped into Elian during a walk around the palace. He knew he wasn’t hallucinating things. He’d heard Elian mentioning something about "all three of them" doing something intimate with him. Lucian had no idea what that was about but he knew Elian. He was up to something—the question was what? "Alpha Prince." Beta Axel’s voice cut through his thoughts just when he was about to turn a corner after standing in front of the grand library for a few minutes. Lucian turned his head to the Beta’s direction, squinting when he saw him approaching. "What do you want?" Lucian muttered with an exhausted eye roll. "Preparing for our next stop at Arcadia? Because it’s clear whatever peace talks we came to the Dark Lands for is a disaster from Hades." Beta Axel chuckled softly until he finally got in front of him, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"Someone’s more pessimistic than usual." Axel blurted, tilting his head. "Which is surprising because you seemed really optimistic at the idea of ruining Lord Kyren’s image in front of Elian."
Lucian sniggered. "Ruin? By telling the truth?"
He almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing and positioned his body to face the Beta fully. "Your sister made that confession to me, Axel. You know... The same one who’s rotting in the Lunarian dungeons as we speak."
Axel’s golden eyes were cold despite his words. "After everything she’s done, I’m not against the idea of her rotting in there."
Lucian narrowed his eyes, maintaining eye contact with Axel.
His stoicism toward Estella was... Unexpected. The Beta had always looked at his sister with rose-tinted glasses, almost completely ignoring her red flags.
Now she was in jail and he suddenly didn’t care?
"We were tasked with discussing peace, Lucian." Axel took a single step closer, his tone filled with disapproval. "Yet you managed to spin it out of control. To make it all about your agendas against the Rogue king."
Lucian blinked, glancing around the corridor.
There was no one here present... Meaning the Beta really was talking to him.
"Is everything okay upstairs?" Lucian pointed at his skull, not bothering to sound nice. "If you thought for one second that I gave a rat’s ass about my father’s fake obsession with ’peace’ then you don’t know me at all, Beta."
Axel’s jaw tightened slightly. "Well, now you’ve gotten the results of your shenanigans. Kyren admitted to his crime and you managed once again to scare off Elian."
Lucian shook his head. "Trust me... Elian will come around eventually. And as for Lord Kyren not caring about his crime, he will. Once I expose him to the Lunarian royal court."
Axel’s eyes flashed with disbelief as Lucian finally turned away from him, set on heading anywhere else but here.
"And then what do you gain after that?" Axel asked, his voice firm. "What do you gain from potentially pitting the Dark Lands with Lunaria over border skirmishes that your father might even ignore?"
. Lucian didn’t bother glancing back, even when he heard the Beta walking after him.
"The more fire the Dark Lands and the rogue king are under, the closer Elian will get to realising that Lunaria is his one true home."
Suddenly, Axel grabbed his arm from behind, stopping him in his tracks and forcing him to turn around sharply.
"This is not a game, Lucian. This is politics." Axel sneered, his teeth gritted. "Politics which you’ll be dragging Elian into if you’re not careful. He’s not collateral damage and he’s made his choice."
Lucian eyed him before yanking his arm off his grip. "Choice? Please. The same Elian who, for whatever reason, was talking to himself about intimacy with all three of us?"
Before he realised that he’d said that out loud, it was far too late.
His lips parted while Beta Axel frowned deeply.
"What?"
Lucian sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I was just confused as you are, not to mention he insisted I took his words out of context."
He shrugged, turning away from Axel once again, but this time with a more confident movement. "Right now Elian is still torn. All I’m going to do is push his choices in the right direction."
As expected, Axel spoke against that statement. "As opposed to just leaving him to think for himself instead of manipulating things? When will you learn that all he truly needs is care?"
Lucian paused, his chest getting heavy with an odd feeling that he couldn’t name for the life of him.
Maybe he was going too far and missing the big picture. Question is: what was the big picture in any of this?
"At least I don’t hide my obsession under an exaggerated level of protectiveness, Beta." Lucian barely glanced over his shoulder before he continued walking, leaving Axel staring at his back.
.
.
After cutting through the servants’ wing and asking one of the kitchen maids for directions, he was led to the guest suite where his room was.
The room was surprisingly nice, just as luxurious as his room in the Lunarian palace... Except this one had the signature red and black designs present all over the palace.
Lucian closed the door behind him before bringing out his silver communication bracelet. It glinted softly under the crimson light of the room, cold to the touch.
But it was also a reminder that he had a spy stationed here in the Dark Lands in case of an emergency.
NOW was that emergency.
Without thinking much, he activated the communication bracelet and watched as it flickered with a white light before projecting a holographic screen.
However, his brows furrowed when he saw the words written on the holographic screen.
"Contact out of service." He muttered, a cold shiver crawling down his spine as he slowly lowered the bracelet.
Suddenly, the strong metallic stench of blood hit him, making his stomach coil.
It was then that he saw something on his balcony that made his instincts go on high alert. Or rather, someone.
It was his spy. Propped onto the railing of his room’s balcony with his neck slit until it bobbed to the side, his dark red blood spilt all over his naked body.
"By the gods..." Lucian took a shaky step forward, his chest tightening while his mind reeled.
If his spy was dead and left right here in his room, it meant one thing. Someone was sending him a warning. A simple and pretty clear one:
They were on to him.
His eyes squinted when he saw the black veins sprawled across the man’s naked body.
The Dark Hand. This was them again.
Lucian sighed heavily, pocketing the communication bracelet before activating his ring instead.
"Beta Axel. Please, come to my room quickly." He said hastily when the Beta picked up his call, keeping his voice low. "There’s been a little... hiccup."