****Dagen’s POV
It was not just the loss of a child that hurt me deeply. Added to it was the curse that followed me. Many years back, I was cursed by a witch. She had cursed me by telling me I would not have anyone to sit on my throne after I leave this earth. The curse also came with nightmares and visions of death such that I could never sleep at night and when I did sleep, it was chaos. I had not taken the witch seriously at the time but the death of my unborn child felt like a reminder that I was not going to have a child to sit on my throne. While everyone was encouraging me to move past the situation and have another child, I could not get over what the witch had said. What if every child I tried to have passed on the same way? What happens then?
As these thoughts lay heavy on my mind, I entered my room to see Nydia lying down on my bed stark naked.
“I have told you that I am not…”
“Shhh,” she walked to my front and placed a finger over my lips.
“I just want to take care of you tonight, will you allow me to do that?” she asked me, toying with my nipple as she did so.
I said nothing and allowed her fingers to work their magic on my body.
It had been so long.
****Gina’s POV
“Reginald is barely one year old. I will not be separated from my child. He is a baby, no training will help him as of now,” I was insistent. Was it not enough that I had accepted that Charlotte was to be betrothed? Why was Uncle Napoleon looking for new ways to anger me?
“As it stands, Reginald has a duty to the pack as heir to…”
“You are expecting a child, yes? Let him be heir to your throne,” I returned. I saw Emily wink at me to remain quiet and saw Harriet squirm uncomfortably in her chair but I did not care. No one was taking my son to some obscure mountain for some stupid training that he was too young to grasp.
“You dare to cut off your king while he speaks?” Uncle Napoleon's eyes were red with anger but he had not met the fury of a mother. I would do anything to protect my child.
“When it concerns my children I would interrupt even the very goddess of the eternal sky,” I refused to back down and stared my uncle squarely in the face.
“If my child turns out to be a girl, you will have no choice but to surrender your son as heir to the throne, understood?” he must have realized that I was fiercely protective of my children so he was going to compromise and I wished him luck that his child was a boy. My children already had an empire to inherit so I was not greedy for my uncle's throne.
I did not reply to him and he did not wait for an answer as he stalked out angrily from the dining hall.
“Regina! Do you not care for your life?” Emily shouted the moment her father was out of sight.
“I care not for life where it concerns my children,” I spoke with pent-up anger.
“You should because it is only when you are alive that you can take care of your children,” she said and walked out too in anger.
I was to make an appearance at court that day. Today was the execution of some criminals that had been tried over a couple of days. Their execution was to be a public one which I found backwards. Why not kill them privately? Why did the world have to be witness to their dying? Even in my father's pack, executions were not for the public eye except in the case of treason.
I found it strange too that the sentence for almost every crime including petty theft was execution. Was it Uncle Napoleon's extreme way of keeping the pack crime-free?
“It is absurd, isn't it? Some of them are being executed because they're trying to feed their families,” Harriet stood beside me as we watched the execution. Her voice bore a certain sadness as she said this.
“Is that the law? Can nothing be done about it?” I whispered back to her. Attending court sessions and listening to my uncle precede over certain cases has grown my hate for him and this place. It no longer felt like home to me.
“The few who have tried to change it followed the same pattern,” Emily's voice surprised me. Gone was her anger from earlier.
“What does it benefit the pack if people are sentenced to death at the slightest provocation?” I asked.
Their assets no matter how little belong to the king now,” Emily's response was a whisper but I still heard her clearly.
“So the Alpha is doing this to enrich himself?” my voice held surprise and disbelief at the same time.
“What other reason could there be?” Emily's voice bore disdain. I could tell she was not pleased with the situation but she could do nothing about it.
“But…” I started to say but was cut off by Emily.
“I had an older sister; Father executed her for treason right before our very eyes like a common criminal. If you do not want to find yourself implicated for treason then I will give you one advice, never oppose him,” she told me but all I felt was a shock. He executed his own child? His blood and flesh? A chill ran down my spine. I wanted to ask Emily more questions but she had already left my side.
My twins.
Were they safe?
Has Uncle Napoleon ordered them to be removed from me already?
I searched the site of the execution and who I did not see sent me running out of there. Why was the Alpha not present?
I jumped onto my horse at once and galloped to the palace.