Chapter 146 A SOUL TO REAP

Chapter 146 A SOUL TO REAP
NARRATOR
The King’s claws lengthened and sank into Alondra’s skin. She cried out, hoarse and shredded.
He didn’t give her time to explain. Not a second to whisper in his ear. Not a chance to try to buy him with that innocent little face.
Because he’d seen it.
From the room next door.
She’d walked straight into Kaden’s trap. Confessed it all. Showed her real face. And the disillusionment hit him like a blade to the throat.
The only thing that could slice clean through Agata’s love spell, once and for all... «Letalis Desillusio.»
Isabella took a step forward when she saw the massive Lycan appear and rip Alondra apart amid roars and screams.
“No. Don’t... don’t intervene,” Kaden said, throwing his arm out in front of her.
They stood in the doorway between the bedroom and the small library.
“But Kaden, if he loses control...” Isabella covered her mouth as blood smeared across the wall like a curtain while the King ripped into the ex-Queen’s neck.
For a second, she swore he was going to tear her to pieces and eat her like a beast.
“He’ll stop when it’s time. Or I’ll stop him.” Kaden’s red eyes stayed on the carnage without a flicker of pity.
“He remembered everything at once... I don’t even want to imagine what that feels like. My mother...”
Isabella didn’t say anything else. She turned her face away. It was too much.
The only person she could even feel sorry for was little Esteban. How were they supposed to explain Alondra’s death to a child?
They couldn’t. Not like this.
Isabella took a step back, but dizziness hit her so hard her knees nearly gave out.
In an instant, her mate’s arms caught her. He lifted her and carried her out.
They’d done their part, and Isabella’s power had been essential.
Kaden spoke to the King in private. He begged him to trust him. The monarch did, even without knowing where any of this was going.
The three of them had waited in the doorway, hidden by a spell Agata had given them, watching through a narrow crack.
More than once, Kaden had to grip his father’s arm to keep him from bursting in too soon.
Isabella had unleashed her full Serafina power and held back the most dangerous beast in the werewolf realm. That was why she was drained now.
“Go to him, Kaden. Don’t leave him alone. He needs you,” she said, catching his arm when he set her down on the bed in his room.
He nodded and kissed her.
“It’s over now, love. Justice was done.”
Her words stayed in his head even as he headed back toward the massacre.
Outside, the King’s personal guard, the handpicked ones, stood with their heads lowered. Not a single word.
They’d all heard the Queen scream for help. Not one of them had moved to save her.
“If anyone talks about what happened here today, you’re dead,” Kaden told them, flat and cold. “And your whole family goes with you.”
The five men raised a fist and struck it to their chests in a silent vow.
Kaden went in through the library and shut the door behind him.
He did it for his brother. So Esteban wouldn’t get eaten alive by rumors and cruelty.
They’d find a way to bury the Queen’s death and hide the brutal truth from Esteban... at least until he was older.
But the moment Kaden stepped into that room, it felt like his soul dropped out of his body.
His father was on his knees. Naked. Sobbing in the middle of a pool of blood... and what was left of that woman.
The whole room looked like the most grotesque, bloody painting anyone could ever make.
Like the King had woken up out of a nightmare in one violent snap.
Kaden went to him and crouched, bracing the man who looked like he’d aged a thousand years overnight.
“Father. Come on. Let’s get you to your room. Leave this to me,” he said, holding him upright.
“Kaden...” The King’s blue eyes, wrecked with torment, locked onto him like he hadn’t seen him in years. “Son... I’m sorry. I’m sorry, son. I let her take your mother. It was me. I let her murder my Lily. I did it...”
A broken, ragged howl ripped out of the powerful monarch’s throat. In that moment he didn’t look like a King at all... just a man shattered, clinging to his son.
“You were deceived, Father,” Kaden whispered. “You crossed paths with the most evil, twisted woman in this world...”
He hugged him, eyes wet too, grief crushing his chest... and relief, tangled right in with it.
The nightmare was over.
But where there’d once been a steel monarch, there was only a shell packed with remorse and pain.
Kaden didn’t know how to touch that kind of agony. How to make it smaller.
Then the King went slack, his heavy weight sagging against him.
Kaden looked up and saw Agata appear out of nowhere, pressing two fingers to His Majesty’s nape.
“Get him to bed. His mind is fractured right now, but with time it’ll heal. I promise,” she said, low and steady, and somehow it held Kaden in place.
Kaden shrugged off his jacket and draped it over his father before lifting him.
His muscles screamed under the crushing weight, but he clenched his teeth and carried him toward the bed.
He took a few steps, then stopped in the doorway.
“I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but don’t let her die like that,” Kaden said, turning his head just enough. His eyes were wolf-cold, sharp with hate. “Not like this. Not so easy. There has to be another way, Agata... you owe me.”
“That’s why I’m here. I came to collect a soul,” Agata replied, walking toward Alondra’s ruined body. She had to move fast, before the spirit scattered.
The doors shut behind Kaden as he carried the King out toward his chambers.
He didn’t want to pry into the secrets of that witch, all mystery and shadows... but he already knew one thing.
Agata wasn’t going to let Alondra go that easily. And he was right.