Chapter 93 93
Denzel’s POV
Who could have imagined that Jamar was Venessa’s father?
She wasn’t just royalty she was the true princess, the rightful heir to the Lycan throne.
How had I not known this in my first life? If I had, I would have done everything in my power to return her to him. But now… now she was living on borrowed time, and I doubted it would make any difference.
The truth was, the existence of an heir could have prevented a war. But Venessa would never live long enough to ascend the throne herself.
Telling Jamar the truth about his daughter would shatter him.
He had barely survived Danisha’s death how would he endure learning that his daughter had also been killed because of my stupidity, my negligence, and was only alive now through borrowed time?
It felt like a cruel joke played by fate. I would have given anything begged any power willing to listen to restore Venessa’s life.
I watched Jamar cling to his daughter, and something inside me broke.
Fate had sent back the right wolf under the cruelest conditions.
Because of her knowledge and skill, she had saved Rayon’s life, my life, and even the King’s. Perhaps she hadn’t been sent back to rule at all. Perhaps her purpose was simply to stop the war before it ever began.
With the King out of danger, the chances of war diminished. The conspirators would eventually be exposed and brought to justice.
Queen Rochelle would have to answer for what she had done to Danisha. We also needed to uncover the one who had been actively poisoning the King and deal with them before turning our attention to Fabian and Tremaine.
Tremaine worried me the most. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became everyone else felt like a pawn in his game.
I looked at my wife, and my heart fractured all over again.
I would never know what it felt like to grow old with her. We would never have children, never build a future together. The grief was suffocating. I prayed that when her time came, fate would take me with her because I doubted I could continue living without her.
She was my everything.
We never finished the movie. Jamar spent most of the night talking to his daughter about Danisha his fated mate, her mother. He was broken, but he was also joyful to have Venessa with him.
Telling him she wouldn’t be around much longer would be unbearable.
Three more weeks passed, and King Jamar’s recovery was undeniable. His strength had returned, evident in his appearance and his presence. I was relieved.
The poison and silver were completely gone from his system, and his wolf was healing well.
Venessa still hadn’t told him the truth about herself, and I understood why.
It would be better for her to be crowned his successor first.
As things stood, that meant I would ascend the throne in her place once she was gone.
I didn’t want to be King but fate seemed determined to push me there. There was no joy in it for either of us. We had only six months left together.
Six months.
Then the invitation arrived.
Queen Rochelle was to be inaugurated as the temporary ruler of the Lycans. According to the announcement, the King had been absent too long, and to avoid unrest or war the throne could not remain empty. She would rule until her husband was found… or his body discovered.
It sounded reasonable. But it was far too soon.
The King had only exceeded his expected absence by a single week.
I wanted us to return before the inauguration, which was set to take place in two days. But King Jamar’s sense of humor was dark almost cruel.
He wanted Rochelle to ascend first.
He wanted her to feel power in her hands only to have it ripped away.
He also believed she had played a role in his poisoning.
He was furious with her for orchestrating Danisha’s death and intended to make her answer for every atrocity she had committed.
For her sake, I hoped she hadn’t been involved in the poisoning but even if she hadn’t, Danisha’s murder had already sealed her fate.
King Jamar was also enraged with Alpha Gordon for exiling Danisha over baseless accusations, especially after promising she would be protected.
According to Jamar, Gordon had claimed Danisha chose to leave the pack that she wanted solitude and had avoided him entirely. He said she had been elusive ever since.
I found that hard to believe. We all knew how vindictive Carlton Gordon was.
Still, I asked the King to allow Gordon the chance to explain himself before judgment was passed.
There was far too much to do and far too little time.
Three days after Queen Rochelle’s inauguration, she shattered the treaty between the Lycans and my pack.
I laughed when I heard it.
I knew she hated me but I hadn’t realized it ran that deep.
Several Alphas contacted me, asking what I had done to provoke her. I didn’t care. Clearly, she had harbored resentment toward me long before I ever realized it.
She also began making moves to abolish the Werewolf and Werebear thrones.
It was a declaration of war.
If she truly intended only to hold the throne until her husband’s return, none of this made sense.
But it was clear she didn’t expect or want him to return.
In just three days, she had done enough damage to plunge all of us into war.