Chapter 57 Aftermath
Chapter 57 Aftermath
Lucienne's Point of View
Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe she couldn’t put two and two together to make four. My father had already told them I was his daughter the first time Elizabeth threatened me. It wasn’t hard to make the connection that if my mother and father were Lycans, I must be one too.
Beatrice shook her head, her trembling intensifying. I guess she was that stupid. Her head sank into her hands, her muttering turning into unintelligible whimpers. Her disbelief and humiliation were all too much for her fragile ego to handle. Despite wanting Eric rather than my mates, she had built her entire life’s plan on lies and half-truths fed to her by Elizabeth. And now it was crumbling before her eyes.
Behind me, I heard a sharp intake of breath. I turned my attention to Dwayne, who had managed to pull himself into a sitting position against the wall. His face was ghostly pale, his eyes darting between me and Beatrice. There was no fight left in him, no bravado. Just a growing, suffocating realisation of how badly he had screwed up.
His lips parted as if to speak, but no sound came out. It was as though the words had been stolen from him, leaving only a heavy silence. His eyes widened the guilt and fear written plainly on his face. His jaw worked soundlessly for a moment before finally croaking out, “I—I didn’t know… I didn’t know you were…”
“A Lycan? A member of the Royal Family? Your Luna?” I finished for him, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. “You both have committed a crime tantamount to treason, and now you will face the consequences.”
Dwayne let out a shaky exhale, his body slumping further as if the weight of my words crushed him. His guilt radiated off him like a noxious cloud, thickening the air. I could see the regret in his eyes, but it wasn’t enough to erase what he had done.
He had two strikes against him so far. The first was shifting because he lost a fight to a female, which broke his precious ego. The second was helping Elizabeth escape and possibly taking part in the abduction.
The room fell into a tense silence, broken only by footsteps outside the door. Michaela returned, her expression steady despite her faint wince of pain. “It’s clear, Luna,” she said, her voice firm but quiet. “No one else is upstairs. The rest must be downstairs.”
“You are in pain?” I asked.
“Just my wrist from the silver,” she answered via mind-link. “Now that the cuff is off, I’ll be able to heal it.”
“Why were you cuffed?” I wanted to know. When she came down last night, she didn’t have any wounds that I could see or smell. I wondered what changed.
“It was because I’d spent too long downstairs with you. Beatrice accused me of being a traitor. She wasn’t wrong, but still… I’ll be fine soon.”
“Good. Stay close to me,” I said, nodding. I turned back to the two cowering before me, my lips curling in disdain. “Get up. You’re both coming with me.”
When neither moved, I lunged forward and grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks, hauling them to their feet as if they weighed nothing. They struggled weakly, but I ignored their pitiful attempts to resist. They weren’t getting away—not from me.
“Let’s go,” I growled, dragging them out of the room and toward their reckoning.
I dragged Beatrice and Dwayne down the hallway by the collars of their clothes, their feet scuffing the floor as they stumbled to keep up. Michaela followed silently behind me. I could feel her uncertainty and fear that she would be punished in the same way.
“It is going to be okay, Michaela,” I told her. “You had a chance to choose the right path, and you did.” Michaela seemed to relax after that.
Downstairs, the tension in the air was thick, the aftermath of battle leaving the mansion eerily quiet, save for the occasional groan from a rogue who hadn’t yet succumbed to their wounds. Most of the rogues had been neutralised—some lay dead, their bodies discarded like the filth they were, while others knelt on the ground in surrender, bound and defeated.
For those still groaning, my cousins Mason and Kaelib were going around either putting the rogues out of their misery or hauling them up and securing them with magic handcuffs. Mason was my distant cousin, and Kaelib was more like my distant uncle, but growing up together had made them more cousins than anything. I was very glad to see them.
My gaze swept the room until I found Marc and Cole near the centre, their imposing figures commanding the space. Their presence was a steady beacon of reassurance amidst the chaos. I threw Beatrice and Dwayne to the floor beside the other prisoners, their landing accompanied by pitiful grunts.
Marc’s eyes locked on me instantly, a flash of relief and raw emotion crossing his face before his expression settled into his usual calm dominance. Cole wasn’t far behind, his gaze filled with equal parts concern and pride. I stepped towards them, only for them to rush to me.
The moment they reached me, they pulled me into their arms, their noses burying themselves in my hair and neck.
“You smell like heaven,” Marc murmured, his deep voice sending a shiver down my spine.
Cole’s lips brushed my temple as he added, “No matter what you’ve been through, you’re perfect.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle softly, though I winced at the state I must be in. “I’ve been locked in a basement for… days? I don’t know how long, but I probably smell like a feral wolf.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Marc said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Not to us,” Cole agreed, his arms tightening around me.
“Lucienne.”
I pulled back, turning to face my father. His expression was stern, though the relief in his eyes was unmistakable.
“Where is Elizabeth?” he asked, his voice steady but laced with an undercurrent of urgency.
“She and the rogue, Rodney, are downstairs in the cell,” I replied. “I locked them in the same cell they kept me.”
Marc and Cole exchanged amused glances, their lips twitching in unison. “Come,” Marc said, his voice tinged with curiosity. “Let’s go get them.”
The three of us made our way downstairs, the scent of blood and fear lingering in the air. When we reached the cell, Marc and Cole broke into full grins.
“You did this?” Marc asked, gesturing to the makeshift lock I’d created by bending a steel bar and looping it through the cell door.
I shrugged. “They didn’t go anywhere, so it worked, didn’t it?”
Elizabeth and Rodney huddled inside the cell in the corner, their eyes wide with fear. I undid the makeshift lock I had created, but they did nothing to escape their predicament. The moment Marc and Cole stepped into view, their composure crumbled.
“Please,” Elizabeth whimpered, her voice trembling. “Have mercy! I—I didn’t know she was a princess! It was a mistake! A terrible misunderstanding!”
Rodney nodded fervently, his voice cracking. “I was just following her orders,” he said, pointing at Elizabeth and throwing her under the bus. “I didn’t know who she was.”
Elizabeth cut him off, her words rushing out in a desperate attempt to save herself. “King Daemon! Queen Adriana! Please forgive me! I didn’t mean to cross you!”
Marc and Cole froze, exchanging incredulous looks. Marc raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching with restrained amusement. “King Daemon and Queen Adriana?” he repeated, his tone laced with disbelief.
I couldn’t hold it in. Laughter burst out of me, filling the dim, oppressive space. I clutched my stomach as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. “She really said that? Oh, Goddess, that’s priceless!”
Cole let out a dry laugh. “I know we are Lycans, but Queen Adriana?” We all shifted into human form.
“You—” she stammered, her gaze darting between them. “You’re Lycans?”
Marc stepped forward, his voice cold. “Since we fully marked and mated Lucienne, yes, we are.”
Elizabeth’s face flushed with embarrassment, her desperation turning into stammering indignation. “I—I didn’t mean—”
“You didn’t mean what?” Marc interrupted, his voice turning icy. “To mistake us for Lucienne’s parents or to betray your pack, while also committing treason?”
Elizabeth’s mouth snapped shut, her eyes darting nervously between Marc and Cole. Rodney seemed to shrink further into himself, his silence speaking volumes.
I stepped forward, still grinning. “Don’t worry, Elizabeth. You’re about to learn exactly how different Marc and Cole are from my parents—starting with how they handle traitors.”
Marc and Cole exchanged a final amused glance before grabbing the prisoners. “Let’s go,” Marc growled, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Elizabeth’s protests were muffled as they dragged her and Rodney upstairs. All the while, My laughter echoed in the basement, and my spirits lifted for the first time in what felt like days.