69__Hidden truths

Devil stayed silently at the dresser, nervously arranging random things. Natalia and Raiden were behind him, he could barely think straight. His hands were shaking.

He’d stood there stiffly when she’d arrived, when she’d nearly collapsed and Raiden had caught her in his arms. She’d laughed because her legs felt like noodles and Raiden had told her it wasn’t funny, he was worried sick about her.

When he’d wrapped her in his arms and held her tight, the hug had gone on for a long while and Devil had turned away, preoccupying himself. If he could make himself completely invisible in front of Princess Natalia, he would.

How could he not have known? From the time he’d met her in the alleyway that night… he should’ve known. The audacity of him… the cruelty of him to show himself before her. He’d even tried to befriend her.

He should’ve known. She’d been too eager to meet Shadow, it was so obvious that she was someone from their past. His instinct had told him to hide her from Shadow and he’d been right to do so. If Shadow had gotten to see her before they’d found out that she was Raiden’s mate, who knew what he would have done to the girl?

If anything had happened to her, Devil wouldn’t have been able to live with himself. It was hard enough existing as the barely sane monster he was.

“I know there’s more,” Raiden was saying firmly.

Natalia sighed, wanting to curl up against him and sleep. She forced herself to sit up. There was no time to sleep now. Reaching out, she lifted Raiden’s hair to look at the cut on his forehead. Her heart ached. She was so happy they'd both survived, but he was so badly bruised. All because he'd wanted to protect her. With another sigh, she nodded. “Of course there is…”

“Tell me,” Raiden ordered, holding her other hand between his. His touch was gentle, but his eyes…

Natalia didn’t miss the unmistakable flash of rage that lurked in the silver orbs. He was trying to hide it from her. He was trying to control his rage before her.

“Perhaps…” He sighed and the breath trembled with anger. “Perhaps, I’ve been lenient. I’ve been negligent. I knew there was definitely something, but I let it go. I didn’t even dig deeper, when you were attacked by one from my own army and you told me someone was trying to kill you, I understood. The suspicion was valid… but I simply let it go…”

His jaw clenched tightly and then he forced it to relax.

Natalia watched him calmly. “Because you knew your brother had to with it.”

He paused. Slowly, he raised his gaze and met hers.

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah. You knew that Cyrus has plenty to do with it and so, because of that amazing self-control of yours, you held back and waited for him to get his shit together.”

The rage in Raiden’s eyes doubled and Natalia could have sworn she saw thunderbolts in them. He swallowed hard, nodding stiffly. “I’m… I’m gonna kill him. When I get my fucking hands on him….”

“Raiden—”

“He’s not a fucking kid anymore, Natalia. He’s a grown man, I don’t know what fucking insecurities he has, but he had enough time to come to me and talk about it! For decades, I’ve put up with his bullshit, he’s not a teenager! When we get back to Zaire, I’m going to teach him a lesson.”

She shook her head, sighing. “I think you should just listen to him first—”

“Look at you!” he muttered. “You’re… you’re in so much pain, you nearly died. *We* nearly died, because of what?! Cyrus’s fucking issues. Him and…. Him and Evelynn.”

Natalia blinked. For a long moment, she only gaped at him in silent shock.

Neither of them noticed Devil turning into an ice sculpture behind them.

“Wow,” said Natalia. “I didn’t realize you were aware of her plans.”

“I’m more than aware,” Raiden told her. With a sigh, he shook his head, wincing at the tremendous pain of his wounds. “I was giving her time. When you returned from rescuing Milana, Evelynn had brought you tea while you were in bed. It was poisoned, I had to get it remade by a servant. I knew then that she really wanted you dead and felt guilty. It was my fault she was angry enough to do that. I made sure she would never be successful in harming you, but I also didn’t want anybody else to find out because I thought she would change, I thought she would stop. If anyone else found out about it, I would have had to deal with her according to our laws. I didn’t want things to go that far. Attempting to kill the Alpha King’s Queen…” He shook his head, groaning against pain. “I really wanted her to change.”

Natalia pursed her lips. “Well… she didn’t change and now both of us nearly died. She didn’t just want me dead, Raiden… she wanted you dead too.”

He frowned.

Natalia nodded. “Cyrus’s plan was to kill you and Evelynn was in on it. I dissuaded Cyrus from going through with it, but Evelynn wanted it to happen. What we just went through? That was her doing. Not Cyrus. He gave me a warning note, I just read it too late.”

Raiden’s gaze didn’t move an inch from her face for a long moment, he didn’t even blink. The shock was clear. Then, the rage. A stiff smile curved his mouth and he gave a quiet chuckle. He was laughing.

Natalia felt chills, staring into his eyes.

This… was the angriest she had ever seen him. He chuckled louder and she nearly flinched away.

There was a certain look in his eyes. She didn’t want to call it insanity, but…

He shook his head. “I’m… I’m going to lose my fucking mind.”

Concerned, Natalia covered his hand with hers. “It’s okay, w-we survived. Calm down. I’ll… kick her ass if it’ll make you feel better!”

It was weird, she realized. This was the first time she’d had to calm someone else down and stop them from losing their temper and wrecking chaos. It appeared she was a loose cannon that Raiden could control, but when Raiden lost his temper…

Natalia gulped. She was certain he’d be a hundred times worse than her at her angriest.

“Let’s go,” he muttered angrily. “We have to deal with them both.”

He started to stand, but Devil spun around to face him. “You’re not yet well enough to travel.”

“Mind your own business, Devil.”

Natalia frowned. “Come on, don’t be mean to Devil. He’s a sweetheart and he saved our lives.”

Devil pursed his lips, staring at Raiden. “Oh, that’s just how he is. Gratitude was never a part of his personality.“

When Raiden paused and shot a dark glare at Devil, Natalia grew tense. “Wait… what’s going on? Are you guys enemies?”

Raiden nearly scoffed at the innocent way she put it. They were more than just enemies. “Well… you and him may have a job offering kind of connection, but my relationship with him is… a little darker.”

She frowned in confusion. “But… he saved your life? What kind of enemies rush to each other's rescue?”

“He was following his brother’s orders,” said Raiden. “Devil and Shadow never do anything out of the goodness of their hearts. Especially not for me. I know you two have a plan, we’ll find out soon enough just why Shadow wanted me to stay alive.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Devil.

Natalia frowned. Devil and Shadow… were brothers?!

“Thank you for your assistance so far,” Raiden told him. “We’ll be leaving now.”

“You can barely walk straight!” Devil shouted. Turning away, he immediately reared back his temper, breathing to cool it down. “You’re not well. You cannot go back home yet.”

Growing suspicious, Raiden narrowed his eyes. “Is your role to delay me? Shadow’s in my castle as we speak, isn’t he? What’s doing? Trying to take my throne?”

“He wouldn’t take it even if you offered,” Devil countered.

Raiden tilted his head, pushing his hair back with one hand. “Then you’re delaying me… for Evelynn.”

Blinking, Natalia raised tired eyes to Devil’s face. “Y… you know Evelynn?”

Silent, Devil lowered his eyes, not meeting her gaze.

“He does,” Raiden confirmed for her, rolling his shoulder which felt dislocated. “Evelynn is his mate. He and Shadow.”

If there had been water in her mouth, Natalia would have spat it out. “What? Why? I mean, how?”

Devil raised his gaze then, slowly settling it on Raiden’s face. Natalia was stunned to see his black eyes give an orange-yellow glow from the centre like burning pieces of coal. The glow spread until his entire pupil was yellow.

“Don’t,” Raiden muttered. “Not in front of Natalia.”

Getting tense, she shrunk away. What was happening?

Actively fighting to keep his wolf under control, Devil spoke inwardly, soothing, praising, and trying whatever he could to tame the beast inside him.

*Calm down. It’s okay, please, calm down.* The beast growled within him and Devil clenched his jaw.

The struggle died down. He hadn’t transformed, he hadn’t wrecked the room. Brief pride swelled his chest and he looked at Raiden as the glow of his eyes died down. “Don’t… don’t you dare say her name.”

Natalia was in shock. What on earth were the odds? How could Evelynn be the mate of her sweet alley giant? That was… much unexpected. But, rewinding a little… Shadow and Devil were brothers?

But… that would mean Devil might know about the wolf Natalia was after. The one who’d attacked Amie years ago. Her instincts told her Shadow knew. If he was Devil’s brother… didn’t Devil also know?

“Are you delaying me from going back to deal with her?” Raiden asked. His brows drew together. “Could it be that you…”

“Ridiculous,” said Devil, knowing what Raiden was going to say. “Shadow and I are very busy taking care of the Hades and our kids here at the orphanage… we don’t have time to run around planning your death.”

“Good,” Raiden nodded. “We’ll take our leave then.”

“Perhaps you’re in a hurry to leave for another reason.”

Pausing, Raiden faced Devil, feeling his jaw clench.

Devil knew he was behaving out of character. Threats were what Shadow did for fun, it wasn’t Devil’s way of doing things. It was just that he couldn’t help it. Raiden had really pissed him off when he’d mentioned Evelynn. It wouldn’t be long until Shadow brought her home, but for Raiden to mention her like that after everything his mother did to them was enough to have Devil seeing red.

“Maybe,” he went on, feeling his wolf growl with pleasure at the thought of wrecking chaos and causing Raiden pain. “You’re afraid of having me this close to Princess Natalia. I didn’t know about it when I met her before, but now that I’m aware that she’s your mate, are you afraid?”

A pair of silver eyes stared at him darkly, warning him.

Devil knew what was contained behind those eyes. He knew the danger that Raiden’s wolf truly was. He also knew that Raiden would never fully unleash the power of his wolf. Not in front of Natalia.

“Maybe you’re just scared,” continued Devil. “…that Shadow and I will tell her who you really are. Does our lovely Princess Natalia know? Does she know, Raiden, that you, her *Alpha King* … are little more than a Fallen Alpha yourself?”