Chapter 3 The plan
Chapter 3:
Asher
I marched out of the room, utterly satisfied with myself.
My plan was finally in good motion. Scarlett Black, daughter of Talon Black was now mine. As soon as we got a child, everything would be perfect.
I would finally be able to regain my forefathers' wealth that had been unjustly stolen from them. I was going to restore that fallen glory.
My feet led me to my office and I poured myself a long glass of wine to celebrate. The victories were just about to start raining.
"You are too smart, Asher..." I whispered, reminiscing on how well I had played my part till now.
Poor Scarlett, she never saw it coming.
And to make it worse, even if she told her disgusting and pathetic family, none of them would believe her. To them, I was an angel sent to comfort them in their times of need, little did they know that I was their nemesis. The demon sent to reclaim their debt.
I gulped down the wine, letting the strong taste burn down my throat as I enjoyed myself.
I was already on my second bottle when the door creaked open and my beta, popped his head in.
"I thought you would still be asleep. Isn't it supposed to be your honeymoon still?"
The smile on my face dropped as his words hit me.
"Luciano, you expect me to have a good time with my enemy?" I hissed, slapping the wine glass on the table. "You expect me to feast over her while my people, my ancestors scream in pain in their graves?"
His carefree expression disappeared instantly and his eyes dropped to the ground.
"I apologize, my king." He bowed and maintained the position. "What do you plan to do, now that you have her here?"
Now that was the question to ask.
My brows furrowed and I sipped on my drink before I pointed a finger at him.
"Get the elders gathered for a council meeting as soon as the sun comes up. I need to let them know what we tend to lose or gain with this chance."
Luciano, nodded, even though I could see the questions clearly dancing in his eyes but somehow he managed to control them.
"Consider it done my king."
As he stepped out of the room, my thoughts singlehandedly went to Scarlett, the woman I had just deflowered and made mine.
My wolf hissed within me, pushing me to go to her. Comfort her in the very least but I was going to die first before I did that.
She deserved every ounce of pain that came her way—
Like a curse, her voice suddenly slipped through the underside of the door and my wolf jumped, suddenly turning hyper. "Asher."
I caged it down somewhere in my mind and glared at the door as it opened.
Her hair was no longer as messy as I had left it and her robe now covered that seductive body of hers that was making my wolf behave weakly.
To regain control, I slapped my hand on the desk and glared at her.
"What do you want? What do you want from me?"
Her face contorted into pain like my words had slapped her. Yet she kept coming, only stopping as she got in front of my table.
"I am your wife, Asher... If something... If you feel there is something wrong —please talk to me."
My wolf rolled inside of me and I knew that I had to remind not just her but the animal within me where this matter stood.
I moved away from my desk and came to stand before her. My eyes glared deeply at her.
"I have told you but it seems your ears aren't functioning Scarlett—"
"What did you tell me because till now, I do not understand what it is I have done wrong."
"You!" I screamed, grabbing her upper arms with rage. "You are wrong," I yelled.
"Your family is wrong and I want nothing to do with you except procreate. Do you get it now?"
Tears spilled down her face and she slowly shook her head, refusing to take what I was telling her —like she had a choice.
"Asher... You don't mean that—"
I didn't even let her finish.
"Fuck this." I hissed, grabbing her roughly by the arm and pulling her along with me till we got to the door where I dumped her.
"Now, listen and listen well," I growled, my hand pointing at her dumb head. "The next time you come to my space. Room or office or anywhere. I am going to throw you in the dungeon and you will remain there till I find what I want!"
With that, I slammed the door closed and returned inside, hating the way my wolf shifted within me like what I did wasn't right.
"It is right!" I yelled at myself.
Scarlett didn't deserve anything good from me or anyone. Her family brought this upon them.
"My king," Luciano's voice suddenly broke through the space and I turned to him.
"What?" I growled and he jumped, taking a few minutes to calm himself before replying.
"The council is ready. They are waiting."
I adjusted my shirt and moved out of the office, hoping for her sake, she wasn't there anymore.
Fortunately for her, she wasn't.
"Did something happen with Scarl—"
"Get the soldiers ready. I will be needing them," I cut him off, as I went on.
This was not the time to play catch up. Surely, he must have seen her. There was no point responding to him when he would be getting his answers in a couple of seconds.
The guards by the throne room opened the door as we got closer and I didn't bother acknowledging them as I went to my seat.
The elders all got to my feet, bowing as I settled in.
"You may take your seats too. We are going to have a quick session."
They all settled and as always their leader, Elder Micah got up and bowed.
"What can we do for you, our dear king?"
I took my time to study each of them before letting out what was going on in my head.
"I want each of you to send a division of men into the known lands, as rogues."
A deafening silence suddenly filled the room as they all turned to stare at one another in shock but as always, Micah was the one to speak up.
"But my king, you just married their princess and your cousin is down there with them, why this decision?"
"I want what they took from me. The known lands belonged to my ancestors. Not theirs. It was stolen from me. From us. And now, I am going to take it back."
A few faces started nodding, finally seeing the picture I was painting.
"And their princess?" Micah added.
My wolf shifted in annoyance, but I ignored it.
"She is just a pawn to my goal," I replied, getting to my feet.
"If I am going to take back the known lands, I will need to have a strong hold on it. I need an heir and she can give me that legitimate heir..." I watched their expressions change once again as they took it in.
"But while we wait for the child to come, we need to destabilize them. Axel needs to get pushed to the wall so hard, he would remember never to mess with us."
Chorused of agreement filled the room and a grin graced my face as I watched them.
"Our tactic would be chaos and peace. They must never know we are the enemies. We hit and then we act like we never did it. That's why the men you send must act like rogues. Men who are thirsty for blood. Hit them where they couldn't imagine and then when they are broken, they would beg me to become their king because they would see how incompetent Axel is."
"Yes!" They chorused once again, excitement rising in the room.
For most of them, I knew that the drive was greed but it didn't matter to me. I didn't need anything more than to prove to Axel that I owned the lands. They belonged to us and not them.
"Go now and get started," I ordered, watching as they all filed out of the room, planning how they were going to bring the Known lands into my arms in the most sinister twist game ever played in history.
"My king," a voice called, and turned my head, only to find Elder Micah, still hovering in the room.
My brows raised and I narrowed them at him. "Is there something you want?"
"Yes, my king," he said, taking a low bow, "is she aware of this?"
He didn't have to say the name. As our eyes met, I knew who he spoke of and somehow, this increased my anger.
"That shouldn't be your concern, Elder Micah. Focus on your task.”