Chapter 75 Believe Me!
Lila rushed towards her mother, scanning her face with eyes that took in every detail of the transformation grief had wrought. Her brows twisted in worry and concern and pity that made her chest ache.
"Mother? What happened to you?"
Her mother's hands shot out and gripped Lila's arms before shoving her away with surprising strength. "You evil child. Have you come back to destroy me also?"
The words came out sorrowful and broken, carrying years of pain compressed into a single accusation.
"Lila, did I ever offend you?"
"Mo…"
"Tell me!" Her mother's voice rose to a yell that cut through the room like a blade. "If you wanted a husband couldn't you have asked? Why did you have to love your sister's husband?"
Lila gasped and stepped back as if physically struck. She wasn't expecting such an outburst from her mother, wasn't prepared for this confrontation.
How did she know? Had her relationship with Adrian spread this far? Had word traveled all the way to Moonstone Province about the forbidden bond that had destroyed everything?
"I... I didn't do it intentionally, Mom." Her speech slurred with emotion and desperation. "It wasn't something I chose."
"So it's true?" Her mother's eyes filled with tears that spilled over and ran down her pale cheeks. "You truly did this to your sister?"
"No!" Lila's voice came out broken and desperate. "I swear on my life, I swear..."
But she lacked words to finish the oath. What was she swearing to exactly? That she hadn't kissed Adrian? That she hadn't constantly seen Celeste suffer in a loveless marriage? That she hadn't watched her sister grow bitter and desperate until she'd left Adrian and gone to Garrett? What could she swear to when the truth was so complicated and tangled?
She had desired him. Had dreamed of him at night more times than she could count. Had imagined what it would feel like to be his in every way that mattered. The mate bond had made those desires feel inevitable and right even when her mind knew they were wrong.
Lila's hands dropped to her sides and her gaze lowered to the floor. "I'm sorry."
The words came out in a guilty tone that carried the weight of three years of secret longing and denied bond and suffering that had destroyed them all.
In a split second of unexpected reaction, Lila's ears rang out loud. A hot itchy feeling exploded across the side of her face. Pain shot through her brain and ear so intensely that she momentarily lost the ability to hear anything except a high-pitched whine that blocked out all other sound.
Tears fell from her eyes without warning, streaming down her face as she turned toward the direction the hitting hand had come from.
Her eyes met her father's. Alpha Hartwell stood in the doorway, his eyes red with fury that made his entire face look like a stranger's. His breath came heavy and harsh, almost out of control like a man fighting his wolf for dominance.
"You fool!" The words were the first thing out of his lips.
Lila watched her mother collapse onto the floor, her cry coming out louder than Lila's own pain. That was the cry of deep anguish and loss, the sound a mother makes when her child has been taken from her. Her mother was in pain and Lila was the cause of it. She stepped back instinctively, her hand pressed to her burning cheek.
"You killed my daughter for no reason." Her mother's voice rang out through the room and probably through the entire palace. "She killed my child!" The words came out like she was losing control of herself completely, like grief had finally broken through whatever dam had been holding it back.
Lady Helen appeared, the ancient housekeeper who had nursed Lila as a baby and treated her like a daughter when her own mother wouldn't. She came and held Lady Hartwell, patting her back and pouring out words of consolation that the grieving mother clearly didn't want to hear.
"You should never have come." Alpha Hartwell's voice was cold and final. He turned his back on Lila like she was nothing, like she was already dead and buried. "You are not welcome here anymore."
"I didn't kill Celeste." Lila's voice broke as the words tore from her throat. "I was framed. I would never kill her. She was my sister."
Alpha Hartwell turned with such fierce fury that Lila backed up instantly, her body responding to the Alpha superiority that radiated from him in waves. This was her father using his full power against her, treating her like an enemy rather than his own blood.
"You loved her husband! That was the first death." His words hit like physical blows. "No woman can stand to see her husband whom she loves being taken away. And now the kingdom of the Northern wolves accuses you with strong evidence that you killed your sister. You are cursed, Lila. You have always been cursed."
"No, please!" Lila dropped to her knees on the cold floor, stretching her arms out in supplication. "Please, I didn't kill her. Please, you have to believe me. I'm your daughter."
Hartwell scoffed, the sound carrying disbelief and disgust. It was just unbelievable that she was his child. Lila had been obedient and invisible her entire life.
She wasn't a troublesome child, never caused problems or asked for attention or demanded anything. But as the saying goes, the most quiet are the most dangerous, and his daughter had proven to be a true viper hiding in plain sight.
It broke his heart in ways he hadn't known were possible. Celeste had been his precious daughter, his pride, his future. She'd finally become fruitful as a queen, was finally everything he'd raised her to be. The hurt burned so deep in Hartwell's chest that he didn't realize what words were forming in his mouth until they were already spoken.
"I, Alpha Hartwell, King of the Moonstone Province, declare that from now henceforth, Lila Hartwell, Princess of the Moonstone Province, is no longer my daughter."
"Father!" Lila's voice rang out in a loud sorrowful scream that echoed off the walls. "No, please!"
"You are not my child." His voice was steady now, formal, carrying the weight of law and judgment. "I reject you and banish you from my kingdom." His eyes held nothing but anger and pain so deep it looked like it might consume him. "My daughter would not desire the husband married to her elder sister and then kill her own blood. No Moonstone blood betrays their own. Anyone who is caught in betrayal is banished from the land. This is the law that rules this province. You are not my child."
"Father, stop. Please, Father... No..."
Lila screamed but the words seemed to bounce off invisible walls, reaching no one. If Celeste had died because of her, then this death was her own cross to carry. This rejection was the price she would pay for wanting what she couldn't have.
"Take her away." Alpha Hartwell's voice was flat and emotionless now.
Before Lila could process what was happening, strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her from the floor. She felt weak and tired from shock,
but as she recognized the men who held her, she began to struggle violently.