Chapter 9 A show
Chapter 9: Asher
As the vehicles came to a stop, I pulled on my emotional mask and forced a large smile on my face as I saw Axel himself head out to welcome us.
“Axelo, my charming brother-in-law in both ways,” I teased, forcing myself not to show the hate in my heart at his laughter.
I just had to be patient for soon, I would only listen to him cry in jail as everything got taken away from him too.
“Asher, you will never change, will you?” He replied as he carelessly wrapped his arms around me in a hug.
I could have easily plunged my small silver knife into him but that would be too easy for him. Such death would be a luxury for what he had done to me.
“How was the trip?” He added as we pulled apart. Again, I forced on my smile, even if my cheeks were starting to hurt.
“It was amazing. The storm is still in the sky. It might be upon tonight. We were lucky…” My words trailed as the corners of my eyes caught Scarlett stepping down from the vehicle.
Her expression was cold, and I feared she would foolishly throw away my plan as she came closer.
“Brother,” she whispered falling into his arms.
My eyes narrowed as I watched her carefully. She wouldn’t dare act stupid. She knew what was at risk. I came to stand by her, and I was going to remind her of our deal when Violet and the rest of their family joined us.
“Asher, Scarlett!” Violet exclaimed, coming to give us warm hugs. “I have missed you both so much!”
Her smile was the only thing that tickled the anger in my heart to a lower level and this time I didn’t have to force my emotions. “I have missed you too.”
Violet turned her eyes to Axel, and she frowned. “Why have you kept them out here?”
Axel opened his mouth to respond but before the words could leave his mouth, Violet pulled Scarlett by the hand and started leading her inside. “Please, the food will get cold. Everyone is waiting!”
I scoffed at their pathetic display of affection but nevertheless, followed them into the house. They had prepared a feast in our honor and maybe I could have enjoyed it more if they were all slaves serving me, but they weren’t. I had to endure the torture of seeing their happiness as they shared stories and memories.
“Uncle Greg, how did you handle the rogue attack?” Scarlett suddenly let out and my heart skipped a beat as the entire table turned to stare at her.
The old man turned to Axel and his son, Nathan. I could tell they were sharing silent information concerning her question. After what felt like forever, his son cleared his throat.
“Scarlett, we haven’t sent out an official declaration of the attack yet. How did you know about it?” He asked and my heart tightened as it dawned on me where she had heard it from.
It was from me. She must have eavesdropped on my conversation with Luciano and now her big mouth was going to place me under their suspect radar.
“Oh,” she exclaimed, pushing her hair back awkwardly; “I heard about it, and I was so worried. Did we have any casualty?”
“We did but thankfully, it was nothing that we couldn’t handle,” Nathan replied, beaming at her.
I stared at them for a second longer than necessary as I tried to understand if they were just dumb or trying to push the conversation along. There was no way they wouldn’t suspect something.
But, as the conversation moved on, I realized that I had given the Talons more credit than I should have. They were all dumb and stupid —which was actually a good thing for me.
It meant that I could get to the rebels they caught and end their misery without them suspecting a thing. The only problem now was finding out where they were kept.
“So, Asher, how long will you be spending here?” Axel’s voice filled the room, and I pulled out of my thoughts to meet his stare.
Honestly, I wished I never came because seeing his face alone, disgusted me but I had to be here for my mission to be a success.
“We have a lot of things to do back home but since my mate…” I paused, taking her hand for extra effect, “—She was missing her family a lot, that’s why I decided to take a few days off work and bring her to you. So, we have about three to four days.”
My eyes found hers and with the brightest smile I could muster, I asked. “Is that okay with you, my love?”
She blinked with eyes roaming with confusion, letting the milliseconds fill like long hours before she smiled and nodded. “Four days… is beautiful. Thank you.”
“Aww, you are both so cute! I can’t wait to see what your child will look like!” Violet beamed and I couldn’t help but reflect her expression.
“I can’t wait either…” I mumbled and Scarlett shuddered, beside me, knowing exactly what getting that child would mean.
The rest of her family were in the dark as they giggled excitedly as the meal went on.
The meal finally came to an end, and we were shown to our room. The peace and quiet was something I needed badly to be able to think of my next move, which I had to do tonight.
I was certain that the rebels were being tortured for answers. The sooner I got to them, the better. I couldn’t wait and risk them spilling names that could incriminate me.
“They are in the old dungeon,” Scarlett suddenly blurted out.
I snapped my head to where she sat on the vanity chair and narrowed my eyes, wondering what nonsense she spoke of now.
“The rogues.” She dropped the brush she was holding and turned to me this time. “Didn’t you bring me here so that you can kill them?”
My heart froze and took long strides to where she sat, pulling her roughly by the arm. “What game are you playing with me, princess?” I growled but she remained unfazed.
“I understand that my brother’s army cannot win over yours. It would be best if they never found out that you sent those people…”
As her words sank into my head, I dropped her arm, and a million thoughts raced down my head. I wondered if she was just stupid, or she was blinded by some magical hope that this would change me…
“You should go. Everyone is asleep and security rounds will be in the next hour.” She picked up her brush again and resumed running it through her hair. “You should go now.”
Her voice was unreadable. I couldn’t tell what she hid behind those green eyes. But I wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass.
I grabbed my silver blade and headed out of the room.
She said I had one hour, but I didn’t trust her. I waited around the corridor for almost forty minutes just to confirm that her brother and his betas, were not about to track me down there.
After I had confirmed that no one was indeed coming, I headed to the place. It was the same stinking hole they had kept Violet’s parents. Normal criminals were not kept here, anyone who was thrown here, was certain to never see the light of day.
There was just a single guard at the door, and it didn’t take me a lot of work to put him out. It was tempting not to kill him, but I controlled myself. He was just a wolf unfortunate enough to be led by Axel Talon. It wasn’t his fault.
I moved restricted his airflow and hit his sensitive spot hard enough for him to fall asleep, then I slipped into the room. There were about eight men chained to the floor and I knew that if I delayed in the act, one of them was bound to raise an alarm to notify the palace that they were being murdered.
So, I summoned my wolf and tapped into my Lycan abilities. In seconds, my speed became a blur and in less than a minute, I had slaughtered all of them with my blade.
Then for extra measure to make sure that there were no traces of my presence left, I took the burning torch by the wall and placed it on their clothes.
The fire caught it after a while and it gently began to lick its way upward, feeding itself to get even stronger.
I checked my watch and saw that I still had ten minutes before the security round. A grin spread on my face as a sickening thought filled me.
If only they could delay for a while, then I could be assured that a good portion of their castle, would get burned.
Satisfied with my work, I slipped out of the slowly burning dungeon and quietly returned to the upper floor where our room was.
As I walked, I was beginning to hear the echoing sounds of boots in the castle, and I guessed the guards were doing their rounds now.
Thankfully, I had already reached the finished line. My hand was already stretching to pull the door open when a gruff voice filled the corridor behind me. And my heart dropped as I recognized them.
It was Nathan, old Greg’s son.
“King Asher… What are you doing out here?”
Shit.