Chapter 198 Chapter 0198

Chapter 198 Chapter 0198
Lucien's POV

"Are you cheating on me?" Drayen's voice cut through the room. I looked at him in surprise, but his gaze was fixed on Jael, his mate; they were no longer on me. Jael went completely pale, her lips parted, but no words came out. "Jael?" He growled out her name. I shut my eyes; this was my fault. I promised Aerith that I wasn't going to say a word about this, but I let anger consume me. Even though I didn't say that Jael was cheating on Drayen, I knew enough that those words would trigger Drayen's senses, and he is a dragon; all dragons had a high level of intelligence.

"Drayen!" I called, trying to right my wrong; he raised his hand, stopping me.

"I have no business with you." His voice was dangerously low, but his eyes were fixed on Jael, pinning her down with his gaze. She couldn't look him in the face. "Are you cheating on me?" He repeated those words, Jael shook her head quickly, without looking at him.

"No." Her voice shook, and her eyes filled with fear. Drayen pulled her chair, turning her completely from the table.

"Answer me."

"I..."

"Answer me!" His voice shook the room; I felt the dragon command before I fully understood what he was doing.  The air changed; power rolled from Drayen in waves, forcing everyone to stiffen. My eyes widened; he was commanding her.

"Drayen stop!" My voice came up, but it was already too late; the command had reached Jael. Her body trembled, and her eyes became unfocused.

"Tell me the truth," another command rolled out of Drayen's lips. Jael fell off the chair; her knees buckled beneath her, her fist clenched on the floor, while her body trembled, beads of sweat forming on her forehead as her lips began moving.

"Yes!" The words left her lips. Drayen's dragon rumbled beneath his chest, but Jael wasn't done. "I..." She swallowed hard, still trying to fight the order but she couldn't. "I was with Thalion." Silence filled the room. My heart stopped. Drayen didn't move. I never knew this monster had patience. He waited for Jael to continue. When her voice wasn't forthcoming, he spoke.

"Go on!" Jael's eyes filled with tears.

"Thalion and I were together before I met you." Thalion's face went completely still. I looked at him; he hadn't expected this. Jael continued, her voice trembling as the command forced the truth from her. Her lips trembled. "We were already dating; we were in love with each other before you came into my life." Her voice trembled more. "I wanted to tell you that I love him; I couldn't marry you because I didn't want to lose him." Drayen's jaw tightened. "But Thalion said it wasn't necessary that we could continue our affair without..." Drayen's face darkened

"Have you been sleeping with him when you are denying me your body?" He asked. Jael cried more, not being able to answer. "Tell me, those late-night disappearances and appearances from nowhere, was it because you were with him?" Drayen roared, Now I understand the reason. He didn't want to let go of the matter; he was suspicious of Jael.

"Yes, and sometimes we did it in your room." And that was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Drayen launched himself at Thalion; his fist connected with Thalion's face without warning. The sound echoed through the dining hall. Thalion crashed against the floor.

"You bastard!" Drayen yelled, grabbing him by the collar as he threw punches at Thalion's face. Blood appeared at the corner of Thalion's mouth, Thalion had always been the lazy one among king Silas son, he was the one not fit to be called a prince but he was the one with the murderous personality, a man who could throw his family under the bus just for the throne, even if he had to use everyone around him.

"Drayen!" I stood. "Enough!" I tried to pull him away, but he swatted my hand away from him, ignoring me.

"You slept with my wife!" Another punch hit Thalion, Thalion's head snapped to the side. "I will kill you," Drayen growl throwing more punches at the idiot, while Merek didn't attempt to stop them, he just sat there eating like this chaos was none of his business, my eyes tilted to my mother, she was smiling, somehow her action irritated the shit out of me, she was the only queen here but she couldn't even act when her husband wasn't saying a word, I look at father.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" He looked at me. "Are you waiting for him to kill Thalion before you stop them?' I growled at him, I have had enough of his bullshit.

"Stop!" King Silas's voice roared, and that was final; it broke through the chaos. "You two, stop!" Drayen froze. Thalion remained on the floor, blood dripping from his lip, his face swelling from the punches; that was fast. Father pushed himself upright. "You are a disgrace!" His breathing was ragged. "You are just as worthless as your mother." The words hit Thalion harder than Drayen's fist; his eyes slowly turned red, and then he laughed. It wasn't a normal one, it was a bitter laugh, broken, almost frightening

"So you think this bastard isn't a disgrace to you?" He slowly rose; blood stained his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand while Merek just looked. "You are calling me worthless while pretending your precious first son, the crown prince is innocent?"

"Thalion?" I warned, he turned toward me.

"You don't get to preach morality to me when you started this." My jaw tightened. I had wanted this dinner to end peacefully; I had wanted everyone to leave this room alive, angry perhaps, but alive. Instead, every secret was being dragged into the light. I looked at Drayen; he was still breathing heavily, his eyes remained fixed on Thalion. "The almighty Drayen can't do wrong." Thalion said sarcastically. "But Thalion Silas, the fourth child of the king, could do anything evil."   

"Yes," Father cut him off. He turned slowly to King Silas, our father. "Drayen would never do something as shameful as sleep with his..."

"Brother's wife?" Thalion interrupted Father. Thalion smiled. "But he could order an assassin to kill his younger brother because he thinks that brother is a rival." Drayen's eyes widened; the shock on his face was unmistakable. For a second, nobody moved;. I looked at him.

"What did you just say?" Father's voice came out lower than a whisper

“Don’t ask me? Go on and ask your perfect heir? Didn't he send an assassin to kill Drayce?" My lips snapped open in shock, I didn't expect this from Drayen.

"Drayen?" Father called, but he said nothing; his silence spoke louder than any denial could have. Father coughed suddenly, hard; he bent forward, clutching his chest.

"Father!" I called but didn't dare to reach for him, but my mother moved, reaching for his shoulders; Father violently pushed her hand away.

"Stay the fuck away from me!" Mother froze.

"Silas..."

"I said stay away!" He coughed again; the sound was wet and painful. While Merek didn't say a word, he just watched everything unfold with an almost disturbing calm, then he chuckled.

"What a family of betrayal." Drayen turned toward him.

"Can you stop acting like you are a saint?" Merek's smile vanished instantly. "You think I don't know about you and that idiot,"  Drayen pointed toward Thalion; Thalion's eyes narrowed, while Drayen's expression became furious, “orchestrated Father's attack a few months ago." Father looked at him.

"What?" Drayen's voice came up.

"Yes, it was him." He pointed directly at Thalion. "he was behind it, him and Merek."

"Will you shut up? How would I plan something that would kill my mother?" Merek tried to defend himself. Even I thought the same when Drayce told me what had happened. He had said the king was supposed to go with Merek's mother; although I had heard their plans, I never thought Merek was the other prince inside that room. I thought it was Drayen.

"Merek only got mad because his mother was involved." Thalion didn't deny it; he just stared at Father.

"You bastard?" Father growled, but Thalion remained silent. Father suddenly coughed again; this time, blood spilled from his mouth.

"Father!" This time, I reached for him just as his knees nearly buckled. I caught his arm; his body felt strangely weak. He looked at the blood on his hand, then slowly lifted his eyes toward Thalion.

"You are poisoning my drink." Thalion's face went blank. The room seemed to stop breathing. I stared at the table, the wine jar, the one he had been turning; it was different from the one others at the table were drinking from. Now it all makes sense why Father had been coughing badly. Why he looked exhausted. Why Thalion had been giving him more. "You really are a worthless son, I curse the day I gave birth to you." Thalion looked at Father; for a moment, I thought he would deny it instead. His expression hardened.

"Then you are just like me, drinking something that you know is poison?" Father laughed weakly; it was a terrible sound.

"How could a king not see the betrayal within his own family?" He wiped the blood from his mouth. "I knew from the moment you started making your moves," Thalion's jaw tightened, Father continued. "I knew when you began whispering behind closed doors," his breathing became more difficult, "I knew it was you behind the attack," Thalion froze, "the moment you pulled that sword and behead that man in the courtroom," father said, "I knew something had changed about you, and my dragon had single you out of the crowd, he called you a traitor." The king's eyes remained fixed on Thalion. "I knew you wanted power." Thalion said nothing, "I simply never imagined you would go this far." Father's voice cracked, "I never imagined my own son would try to kill me for the throne." Thalion Laughed.

"So what?" My heart sank; he was unrepentant. He took a step forward. "So what if I wanted you dead?" Father stared at him without emotion. "You think I care?" Thalion's eyes burned. "You think I don't know that you see me as a waste, a boy not deserving to be called your son?" Thalion's tone turned bitter. "You are fast to judge me, when it wasn't just me in this." He laughed dryly, Merek didn't say a word, "Is there even a saint in this family,"

"Thalion, you are the only traitor in this family." Father roared, he laughed.

"Everyone in this family wants something," he gestured toward Drayen. "He wants the throne," then toward Merek, "he wants recognition," then toward my mother, "she wants her son to sit on the throne," then at me, "and he wants to run away with his precious little secret." My blood ran cold. Thalion's gaze sharpened. "Everyone is a traitor here." I clenched my fists; he knew something, but how much did he know? He pointed toward Drayce's empty chair. "Didn't your perfect son run away with a witch?" Then his fingers shifted back to me. "And didn't the one standing next to you carry the mark of a fae?" My heart stopped. I pulled away from Father. "The mark of the chosen one." He added, the words echoed through the hall, my heart palpitations increased, he had found out about Aerith, my first instinct was to teleport, but I couldn't because if I reacted too quickly, I would confirm his words, so I stood completely still, Thalion smiled when he saw my expression "There it is," My stomach twisted.

"What are you talking about?" I tried to sound convincing, he laughed,

"You really think you are clever?" I stepped towards him.

"Be careful."

"Why?" He spread his arms. "Afraid Father will find out where you have been hiding your little Fae?" My dragon stirred violently inside me; I wanted to tear him apart, but I couldn't risk Aerith's safety. Father turned to me; he looked at me, and his expression changed.

"Lucien," he called but I couldn't look at him in the eyes, I wasn't ready to tell the truth, I could feel all eyes on me now, while Merek and Drayen expression was unreadable, Thalion look victorious, for a second, I didn't say a word but I know one thing, my fate was the same as Drayce, we both had fallen in love with someone forbidden to the kingdom. I knew it wouldn't take long before they found Aerith, and I wasn't letting any harm come to her. I looked toward the doors, all I could think of was getting to Aerith and flying from there, leaving everything behind, and if anyone tried to stop me, I would finally become the rebel they all believed I was, I turned ready to run through that door when the dining hall door burst open, and a guard stumbled inside breathing heavily.

"Your Majesty!" Everyone's heads turned to him; the guard dropped to his knees. "The vampires have invaded."