Chapter 59 An awakened Curse
The words hung between them. Intentional. Someone had done this to his people. Adrian felt his wolf surge, felt rage burn through his veins hotter than the antiseptic Iris had poured in his wounds.
"Double the guard on the hospital." His voice came out rough. "No one enters or leaves without direct authorization. And send for…" He stopped. Send for who? The royal healers were already here, already failing. The problem went beyond medicine.
"I know someone." Iris's voice was careful. "A diviner. She lives three days' ride from here, but her abilities with curses and divine afflictions are unmatched. If this is supernatural in origin, she might see what we cannot."
"Send for her. Immediately." Adrian stood, testing his bandaged arm. It hurt, but he could move it. Could fight if needed. "What else?"
"Confine the population." Iris said it quickly, like ripping off a bandage. "Order everyone to remain in their homes. No markets, no gatherings, nothing that could spread this further."
Adrian's jaw tightened. Confining the entire kingdom? People would starve. Businesses would fail. The panic alone could cause riots. But looking at Iris's blood-spattered coat, smelling the death that soaked this building, he saw no other choice.
He found Councilor Thorne waiting in his study. The elderly advisor stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back, looking down at the city with an expression Adrian couldn't read.
"Your Majesty." Thorne turned, then stopped. His eyes went to Adrian's bandaged forearm. Something flickered across his face. Fear? No. Something else. "You're injured."
"A rapid wolf got through my guard." Adrian moved to his desk, not bothering to hide the blood seeping through the bandages. "I've seen what we're dealing with. We need solutions."
"Solutions." Thorne's voice was careful. "Your Majesty, I've been researching the royal archives. This isn't the first time such a plague has struck the Northern Kingdom."
Adrian's head snapped up. "What?"
"Two centuries ago. During King Aldric's reign." Thorne moved to the desk, pulled a leather-bound book from his coat. The pages were yellow with age, the ink faded but readable. "The symptoms match exactly. Rapid transformation. Uncontrolled violence. Death within hours. It killed nearly a third of the population before it burned itself out."
"What stopped it?"
"That's the troubling part." Thorne's finger traced lines of archaic text. "According to these records, the plague was a curse. Divine punishment for a forbidden act. King Aldric had violated sacred law. The curse lifted only when he... when he made proper restitution."
The words settled over Adrian like a shroud. Forbidden act. Sacred law. His mind went immediately to Lila, to the bond they'd finally acknowledged, to the ancient prohibition they'd broken.
"You think this is punishment?" His voice was dangerously quiet. "You think the Moon Goddess is killing innocent people because I choose Lila?"
"I think someone has awakened something ancient." Thorne met his eyes without flinching. "Whether divine or demonic, I cannot say. But the timing is... troubling, Your Majesty. The plague began the same night you publicly accepted your intention towards Lady Lila despite kingdom law."
Adrian's wolf rose, pressing against his skin. His hands flattened on the desk, claws threatening to emerge. "Choose your next words carefully, Thorne."
"I choose truth over comfort." Thorne didn't back down. "The people whisper. That choosing your dead wife's sister has brought divine wrath upon us all. Whether that belief is correct matters less than the fact that they believe it. And belief, Your Majesty, can be as dangerous as any plague."
"Then the people are fools." Adrian's voice came out as a growl. "The mate bond is sacred. The Moon Goddess herself creates these connections. She would not punish me for accepting her gift."
"Perhaps." Thorne closed the ancient book slowly. "Or perhaps there are older forces at work. Forces we don't yet understand." He met Adrian's eyes. "The records mention a blood price. A sacrifice required to lift the curse. But what form that sacrifice took, the text doesn't say. The pages are damaged, illegible."
"I won't sacrifice Lila." Adrian's claws did emerge then, scoring deep gouges in the wooden desk. "I won't give her up because frightened people need someone to blame."
"I wasn't suggesting Lady Lila, Your Majesty." Thorne's voice remained steady despite the display of Alpha power. "But we must find answers. Only a diviner can help us. Whether this is curse or disease or something else entirely."
"Then bring her immediately." Adrian forced his claws to retract, forced his breathing to steady.
"I want everyone in the land confined." Adrian's voice carried absolute authority. "There should be no going out, not even to the market. Whatever is spreading this disease must be controlled."
"My king, that is too much." Thorne's protest came carefully. "The people will starve. Businesses will collapse. The economic impact alone…"
"Thorne!" Adrian's voice roared through the study. His wolf flashed in his eyes with an intensity that made the ancient advisor step back. The temperature in the room seemed to drop. Adrian forced himself to calm, forced the wolf down.
This wasn't the time for his animal to be disrespectful. Thorne had been his father's advisor and his grandfather's before that. He'd promoted Thorne to his current position to direct the court's rulership of the land precisely because of that wisdom.
But wisdom meant nothing if his people were dead.
"I can't reason about economics right now." Adrian's voice was quieter but no less intense. "Ten people were dead just this morning. Twelve now. I witnessed severe madness firsthand. I was torn by claws." He held up his bandaged arm. "If Marcus hadn't killed that wolf, if it had bitten instead of clawed, I would be dead within the hour. The King of the Northern Kingdom, transformed into a mindless beast."