52. The Invisible Birthmark

Leila couldn’t sleep. Her body was exhausted, but her mind was desperately resisting rest. She had asked Tuya to accompany her on a walk along the creek behind the inn. She cradled her lower stomach, wondering if a baby could be carried successfully. But she didn’t dare get her expectations up—she didn’t dare expect anything anymore.

A special part of her had been lost, as if a giant hole had dug itself in her heart. But since she had came back from the cave, she felt like it was impossible for her to ever part with Thorn. She was sure that she had fallen in love with him.

The stone shone gently on her neck. Leila tucked it inside the neckline of her dress and stopped beside a pond.

“Can you see the golden dust in the creek?” Leila asked Tuya, pointing to the water.

Tuya walked closer to the riverbank, staring into its dark, rippling surface under the dim moonlight. “No.” She shook her head. “There’s dust in the water?

Leila nodded coldly, as if she was facing the devil himself. “It’s everywhere, stuck to the surface of the rocks like lichens.” The dust was making her nervous. She was almost positive it had triggered her heat.

Tuya curiously stared at the creek again, but she could see nothing except darkness.

They heard men yelling fearfully at a far-off pigpen. James was entertaining himself with the golden dragon that had escaped from the brothel.

“Please stop them…” the man pleaded, tied to a wooden stake and surrounded by half a dozen smelly, hungry hogs, “I’ve already told you everything I know, including the place where Luca is camping! I don’t want to be eaten by filthy swine! Please! They eat like monsters!”

James leaned against the fence, flossing with some hay. “We’ll decide when to let you go. We have to confirm your information first. Stop whining like a fucking pussy!” He flicked the straw onto the muddy ground and turned to the man tauntingly. “It’s Felix, right? Is everyone in the Green Robes like you? Whiny and idiotic?”

Felix was a short little man with small eyes and ears, but his large nose was impossible to ignore. He was clearly in no mood to bicker with James and avoided provoking him. “Yes… We were all stupid enough to work for Alpha Luca.”

“I’m glad you’ve finally realized that. He won’t make it through the night.” James couldn’t hold in his grin when he saw a fly land on Felix’s face. “Relax. I tied you just above where they can reach. The hogs won’t chew you free.”

James left the pigpen and walked towards an abandoned stable. Luca was being kept there; he wanted to check if he was still alive after being tortured by Thorn.

Thorn seemed like a completely different person after he had returned with Leila earlier. He was exceptionally quiet and cold. Thorn had never tortured any criminals before; he would let other men do the dirty work. He simply wasn’t interested in such dark matters. But now, every time Luca was close to death, Thorn asked Serlon to put healing herbs on his wounds. When Luca had healed, Thorn would begin another round of torture.

James saw Ben exit the abandoned stable and yelled, “Yo, boy!”

Ben, scratching his back, walked over James. “Hi James!”

“How’s the guy?”

Ben showed him a bowl with leftover medicine. “Just gave him some herbs,” he then quickly added, “Prince’s orders.”

James shrugged and walked together with Ben.

“I’m worried…” Ben said as he stopped walking. “I’ve never seen the prince like this before. Is there anything we can do to help?”

“The prince has to figure this out himself this time.” James put his arm around Ben’s shoulders. “He’ll be fine.”

Ben looked down at the ground and said nothing.

“Am I seeing things, or is the moon getting dimmer and darker these days?” James wondered out loud, “I can barely see anything under the moonlight.”

Ben looked up at the moon, which sat gracefully upon the cloudless, dark sky, then abruptly looked away from it. “I don’t know., maybe. I feel dizzy when I look at it.” His back felt exceptionally itchy, and he scratched it harder. “I’m going to head back to my room now. Goodnight, James.”

“Goodnight, boy!” James said, then, he heard a rustle at the front door. He paced across the yard and approached the door.

Hugo and several Dark Wings had just returned, bringing back a large carriage with several sealed cages on it. Thorn arrived as well.

“My prince,” Hugo said as he dismounted. “Everything that man said was true. We intercepted this carriage on the way to Luca’s base camp. And guess what?” He moved to one of the horses and dragged a person in front of Thorn. “She intended to deliver the carriage to the camp.”

The madame of the brothel knelt on the ground, her arms tied backwards as she shivered in fear.

James walked over to help open the sealed cages. Shockingly, each cage contained four crossbred girls and boys, starved and barely clothed. They all sat there in silence obediently, unmoving. He quickly went inside and called Serlon out to have a look.

Serlon checked a few of the children and spoke as if he was confirming his own suspicion. “It’s winter nectar. A typical drug used to paralyze the victim. The antidote had to be freshly-made and stored in ice,” he said to Thorn, “I can manage.”

Thorn nodded.

"This was found on her." Hugo handed Thorn a stack of papers. “Receipts. She sold each crossbreed for one hundred gold coins. They are rare and in high-demand throughout the realm.”

The dragon prince’s face darkened. He pulled Hugo’s sword from his sheath and immediately pointed it at the madame’s throat. “Speak. ”

The woman instantly gave in. She knew Alpha Luca must have already been captured, as would Felix. Otherwise, the path she was using to deliver the crossbreeds on wouldn’t have been discovered. Each time, the route would be updated and changed to maintain secrecy. She lowered her head and started to confess. “Felix is my husband. We take orders from Luca… He’s our boss.”

“And who’s his boss?” Hugo asked sternly.

The woman lifted her head to peek at Thorn. He was a terrifying sight, wearing all black and holding a sharp sword at her neck. She was sure that he would kill her without hesitation; she could see it in his dark eyes. She said, “The queen and the second dragon prince. We capture crossbreeds from across the kingdom and deliver them to a location, then get paid. Who’s actually purchasing them, we don’t know. But Luca should have a private list, stored in a chest in his office. He never allowed us to go near it.”

She continued, “The network has operated for years. Everyone who’s got involved has earned massive amounts of gold. But recently, the crossbreeds are getting smarter. It’s getting harder and harder to lure them in...”

Thorn pressed the tip of the sword onto her neck, lacing his voice with an icy disgust, “And the boy, the wolf boy?”

The woman blinked in fear. “The… The boy. My lord, please forgive me. I was broke all those years ago. I wasn’t making anything from the brothel. When Felix brought a baby back from the North, I got an idea…”

“The baby had an invisible mark, on the center of his spine. I didn’t notice at first… I thought he was just a regular dragon boy, until the lunar eclipse. It only happens once every ten years. The mark appeared—a crescent moon! Right then, I realized that the baby was worth one thousand gold coins! He’s was royal werewolf! So I thought, if I could duplicate it, then I could get another thousand gold coins…”

“So I picked a boy who was birthed by a random girl who worked for me, and I branded the baby boy with the exact same mark.”

“How clever,” James mocked.

The madame continued, ignoring James. “But a funny thing happened… Felix mixed up the fake royal and the real one! He sent off the wrong baby… We didn’t dare say a thing, of course, not at the cost of losing our heads! So we had to keep the royal werewolf boy in the brothel and looked for a buyer in secret. But it never happened! No one would buy him! We kept him for years, all for nothing, until one day, he just disappeared…”

Thorn gave the sword back to Hugo and quickly paced to Ben’s room. All those years ago, he had brought him back when he was patrolling the street. He took a liking to him right away and had seen him as a little brother ever since.

He suspected Ben was the lost wolf prince since he had met with Olcan in the woods, but he didn’t want to believe it. Losing him was harder than he could have imagined. For now, he had no choice but to tell him the truth. Ben deserved it. What’s more, the lunar eclipse would be even stronger this time, as the sun’s power had severely weakened in recent years.

He knocked on the door. Ben wasn’t asleep yet, and Thorn stepped in.

The boy was sitting on the bed in his pajamas and scratching his back vigorously.

“Are you alright?” Thorn asked. His heart sunk.

“Yes, my prince,” Ben answered, “It’s just.. my back is so itchy.”

“Let me have a look.” Thorn sat beside the boy.

Ben lifted his shirt and turned around.

A crescent moon at the center of his spine, as white as snow, was bursting out from deep within his skin.

Thorn lowered his shirt and said, “Ben, I need to tell you something. It’s better it comes from me.” He took a deep breath, trying to cope with the grief of losing the two people he loved most in the world. “You are not a grey dragon. You never were.”

“What do you mean?” Ben asked, thinking the prince was joking. But as he considered his recent behavior and current expression, it didn’t seem to be the case. “What am I then?”

“You’re a werewolf, “Thorn said sternly ,“A very important one.”

Right at that moment, Serlon barged into the room. “My prince! Come quickly! It’s Leila!”