Chapter 14 Venus

Chapter 14 Venus
Verona

And also, I was a force to people. At least that was what he said even though I don't think so, because there was clearly so much I still needed to learn about this new world I had found myself in. Maybe that was why Nana wanted me to come here in the first place—so I could understand myself, so I could finally know who I was meant to be.

No wonder I never belonged there. I had always felt out of place, always heard people call me a freak even when I did nothing except try to please them… until I simply couldn’t anymore.

But if I was going to know who I really was, then they needed to come clean with me. Completely. Because it seemed like there were so many things they were hiding—things they didn’t want to tell me. So I would have to find out myself, no matter what, if I wanted to truly understand my place in this world.

“Well,” I sighed softly, “I guess I have to accept my fate now. There isn’t any choice. And you said he won’t reject me… not that I even know what that means.” I looked at him. “He did say he’d come visit me from time to time though.”

Evans raised a brow, genuinely surprised. “That he’ll come visit you?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. So I can get to know him better.”

Evans stood up suddenly, staring at me like he wasn’t sure he heard right. “The king said that?”

“Yes,” I replied, frowning. “Why are you so shocked?”

“Well…” he exhaled, “let’s just say the bad king hasn’t left his house for a century now.”

I froze. “What do you mean he hasn’t left his house for a century?”

“I mean exactly that,” he said. “The king doesn’t even know how the world has changed. He’s locked himself up in his tower for so long he knows nothing about the modern world.” I blinked at him and he added, “His head is still in the twentieth century.”

I stared at him, completely thrown. What the fuck? This had to be a cruel joke.

“So you’re saying he knows nothing about how the world has changed?” I asked, truly perplexed, and Evan nodded. Oh dear. Don’t tell me I’m going to end up married to an old man who doesn’t even understand technology.

“Well… I did not expect that,” I muttered, already feeling drained—though, surprisingly, no headache this time. “Oh, I’d like to ask,” I added, leaning forward a little, curiosity rising again. “When Soren touched my hand, something shot through me. My headache vanished, but I also felt like I was about to ask something—something important—but I didn’t even know what it was.” I frowned. It had been bugging me since the moment it happened.

Evan swallowed. “Well… the king can heal certain illnesses with his magic. That’s how he healed your headache.” He said this carefully, completely skipping over the other part of my question, pretending he didn’t hear it. I nodded anyway, even though I knew very well he was avoiding that part.

Suddenly he lifted his hand and scratched the back of his head. “Ah—there’s something I need to take care of. You can rest now.” He lowered his hand again and forced a smile.

“Thank you for explaining things to me,” I said as honestly as I could, “even though there’s still so much I don’t understand.”

He chuckled softly. “See you soon, Verona. And I hope you sleep well.”

I smiled back and nodded. “You too, Evan.” With that, he walked out of my room without looking back.

I picked Katara up from my laps as I laid on the bed and pulled her onto my chest, lifting her up gently so I could look into her little face. “You’re the only one enjoying your stay here,” I whispered to her. I lowered her against me again. “You’re the only real thing I can understand here, Katara.”

Katara had been with me for four years now. I’d found her wandering alone as a tiny kitten, crying beside her dead mother. She looked so lonely, just like I had been, and I couldn’t leave her there. I took her home.

Nana had fallen in love with her immediately, even though people hated black cats, claiming they carried evil. But Katara had only ever been the sweetest, calmest girl. I kissed the top of her head and breathed in her warm, familiar scent.

A deep yawn escaped me. Exhaustion settled heavy in my bones, and before I knew it, my eyes were closing shut.

Venus

I sat in my room with a book open in my hand, scanning through the curses written inside it. One in particular caught my eye—the Curse of the Black Owl. It said anyone cursed with it would be doomed to sleepless nights.

It was a good curse—sleeplessness eventually drove even the strongest minds into madness. But the king was already mad, so this one was just as useless as the rest.

I shut the book and tossed it aside. Rising from my seat, I walked toward the portrait hanging on my wall.

There he was.

A man with long white hair flowing down his back, golden eyes bright like the early morning sun, pale skin sculpted to perfection, a body fit for a god of war, and a crown resting on his head. He sat on his throne like the king he was—the mad Alpha King—his face emotionless, cold, untouched by anything human.

He was beautiful. Just like the first time I ever saw him.

I had been star-struck. The love I felt for him struck me instantly, like a force I didn’t understand. I had never seen anyone so breathtaking in my life.

So I did everything I could to get close to the man I adored. Even marrying that wretch, if that meant getting closer to her family… and through them, to him.

I was always excited to follow Evan to the palace, just so I could see the man who kept me awake at night. The man whose beauty men and women worshiped, whose presence made people bow.

But he never looked at me with compassion. Or interest. Or anything. He looked at me the same way he looked at everyone else—bored, distant, tired of the world. I had to keep up the act of being the perfect son-in-law for years. And just when I thought things were finally turning in my favor, that fool got pregnant, binding me to her permanently.

Even after that… the king never once looked at me with love. And eventually, I began to dread him. His indifference. His cold eyes. His refusal to see me.

All I ever wanted was for him to notice me.

Did I love the Alpha King romantically? No. I was obsessed—with his beauty, his grace, his charm. I wanted it. I wanted him to be mine. I wanted that face to belong to me.

But he never gave me the chance.

And when I finally lost control and confessed everything to him, he looked straight into my eyes and said, “You are like the others. They all love me; you are no different from them.” My fists tightened at the memory. Then he added, “Leave. You bore me.”

Remembering it now, I laughed—loud, unhinged. He was never going to love me. Never going to look at me the way I dreamed.

So why stay married to Sarafina? There was no point. So I decided to rid myself of her. And the seed in her womb.

Somehow she died—but not the child. I searched for my seed, determined to kill it, but it was nowhere to be found. That old witch had taken her and disappeared into the winds.

I stared at the portrait far too long, eyes fixed on the man whose beauty had once driven me into love—and whose indifference had now turned that love into pure hate. Today was his birthday, yet I could not attend. I wasn’t allowed to. That same man had banished me from his presence.

He couldn’t kill me—neither of us could die until a successor rose to take our place—but he had enough power to cast me out, to forbid me from ever stepping foot on his land again. And he did. Without hesitation.

But my little bird had whispered something interesting to me… that he planned to choose another. Someone just like me—another fool who is obsessed with him, as his Luna.

But no one will stand at his side.
No one.
I will make certain of it.

I turned toward the window, waiting, until a moment later my bird fluttered in. I lifted my hand, and he landed delicately on my fingers.

“Hawk,” I murmured, “you’re back. How did it go?”

Hawk spoke in his low male voice, head tilted. “The Alpha King could not name her as his Luna or their queen.”

My eyes widened, and a slow smile curved onto my lips. So he couldn’t do it. A victory for me, and I hadn’t even lifted a finger.

“But…” Hawk continued.

The smile dropped from my face instantly.
That single word was enough to make irritation burn hot in my veins. He sighed softly, as if bracing himself. “He seems to have found his mate.”

My heart dropped.
No—no, no, no.
My eyes flew open like a madman’s. “What? No. It can’t be.” Rage surged through me so fiercely that Hawk trembled where he perched.

“That’s not all,” he said cautiously.

I bit down on my lip, dread wrapping around me like a snake. Don’t tell me he marked her. Don’t say it.

“Your former father-in-law,” Hawk continued, “called her his granddaughter.”

I froze.

Then a broken, twisted laugh tore out of me—loud, sharp, echoing through the room. My vision darkened around the edges, and I spoke like a man whose sanity had been peeled away.

“This must be a joke,” I hissed. “The goddess must be playing a joke on me.”

But the truth was clear:
She must be killed.

My breaths came sharp, uneven. Thoughts raced—thousands of ways to end her, thousands of ways to stop what was coming. She had to die. She was my doom. Because once she awakened her powers, I would no longer be immortal. I would no longer be untouchable.

Before she rises, she must fall.
Before she awakens, she must die.

And she will never take him away from me.

The seed I have been looking for, for twenty five years.