87. Lies and Consequences

The panic that seized Reya’s brain made her almost go on auto drive. She wanted to leap down from the podium and drive a knife into Castiel’s throat. She wanted The entire family of Red dragons dead, damn the rules or whatever it may be. She would happily accept an execution or banishment just so no one knew what Castiel had done to her.

But The Brooding Prince picked her arm and withdrew her from doing anything rash as he pressed her to his side.

“Armani,” she choked out, tears swelling in her eyes.

“They-“

“It’s alright. Calm down,” he whispered, his eyes surprisingly calm.

“What does the disinherited heir have to say?” The Sovereign Beta Prince asked, folding his arms.

But no matter how hard Castiel was pressured to speak, he kept coughing and falling over his chains, health clearly declining.

“ F..father,” his mouth was red with blood as he looked hopefully at Alpha Charles.

“H-help me. Please....help,” he stretched out a handless arm.

Colton grinned as Alpha Charles blatantly ignored him and faced elsewhere.

Then he walked up to Castiel’s crumpled body and stomped on the stub of his arm.

The bleeding pulp was even too weak to scream so he passed out from unconsciousness.

“If My brother is too weak to say a word, then why don’t I assist him?” He grinned, his eyes devilish as he flicked them towards Reya.

“The testimony was required from Castiel, not you,” Zachary frowned.

“But what’s the difference if the new heir witnessed it? We would like to know what Alpha Charles is speaking about,” A noble Reya was not quite conversant with said.

“We are not here to be little school girls gossiping. This Attestation was unwarranted and unneeded. Moreover, the one that should give the testimony is incapacitated,” Zachary waved his hand towards an unconscious Castiel.

“What is even the point of this Attestation?” The King demanded from his throne.

Alpha Charles spared one look at Reya, his eyes gleaming with an evil promise before he spoke up.

“So that-“

The windows crashed the same time the walls came tumbling. Kairo the Phoenix who had been perching by the windows came soaring down to his mistress, his wings flaring out protectively.

The meeting house was utter chaos with each and every Royal scrambling towards the door, their eyes wide with panic.

It was a horrible stampede. If any one fell, they had the misfortune of being stepped on until they potentially died.

Reya stared at the crowd of nobles running for their lives, her mouth twisted in disdain. She had never seen the nobles act so uncivil until they were fighting for their lives.

But what had even caused the explosion? Who had dared to attack the Golden Castle?

Before Reya’s mind could scramble for something or she could at least move, her body vanished.

She only knew that the Queen had teleported them when she felt that odd pulling at her joints that made her itch with irritation.

In the private room lined with shelves, The First grade royal family were staring at themselves, contempt evident in their gaze.

“You two,” The King seethed, glaring down at the Princes.

“You’ve done too much today. I would be damned if I believe this entire attack was not orchestrated by one of you to avoid the red dragons from opening their mouths,” he accused, causing Reya’s eyes to widen.

Was that why they were barely reacting when it happened?

“Your majesty-“ Aidan started to say.

*”Silence!”* The King hissed, his eyes flashing with gold.

“When you go around cunning and planning in the corners, do it with wisdom and try not to have people’s lives compromised. You’re weakening my stronghold over this kingdom,”

“Father-“

But he vanished immediately, leaving the Queen alone with the Princes.

“A victory feels better when you don’t have to lie and cheat your way into it,” her voice was cold as her eyes darted towards Reya’s fingers.

*The Rings.*

She narrowed her eyes on them, the vines on her face flashing with a brief orange light that signified anger.

“Fix your mess. I hope to God Alpha Charles did not use the opportunity to save his wretched son,” she hissed with a brief curl of her lips.

And with that, she glided her way out of the room, her skirts rustling with her speed.

“Take me back to the meeting house,” Reya glared at the Princes before they could open their mouths.

God, she was so furious.

“It’s not safe,”

“Do it,” her eyes flashed with boiling fury, her heart rate beating in resonance with her rage.

She had just realized something and it was taking everything out of her not to make a scene and drive a knife through their necks.

“This is what happens when I leave you to your plotting,” The Lord of The Sea scowled at his brother, clearly displeased with the turn of events.

“Not now,” Reya snapped at him, the urge to bare her fangs boiling in her veins.

Unfortunately, her dragon was not around to do that for her.

“If you don’t-“

In fact, what was the need to talk to these two lying assholes?

Hissing, she stomped out of the room and leapt into the halls, fisting her hands with determination.

The meeting house was empty- surprisingly, for she thought she would be met with dead bodies strewn across the floor.

Kairo was standing behind her, his feathers erect as though he could sense a threat.

And then she saw it.

On the steps closest to the King’s dais, Alpha Charles and Colton stood side by side over a certain body.

Not a single breath of life, not a single twitch of his fingers. His face was mangled and unrecognizable, a gory art of bloody ribbons- even worse than what it was when she saw him earlier.

Castiel was dead, killed by the earlier stampede.

Reya could not handle it. This would be a source of her nightmares for days on end. She bent over and vomited all of her breakfast.

“And here I thought I was the only one capable of so much treachery,” Alpha Charles grinned, folding his arms across his chest.

She could never truly grasp it- the fact that this man was standing over the dead body of his first son and had nothing to say that showed he was sorry or in grief.

This explained why he had so many children. He was using all of them as pawns.

“You won this round Reya. I know you must be proud,” he glided down the stairs, his robes catching slightly in the air.

She could not physically move, could not force herself to run away. He smiled again, his eyes filled with mirth so vast she thought he was even under the influence.

“Congratulations,” he patted her head, an action he used to perform so affectionately in the past.

It almost forced tears into her eyes.

“You’re now a politician, through and through,”

Reya turned the other way and vomited again.

***************

Lady Danielle invited Reya for a private dinner two days after the incident. Reya already knew her fate before she sat down and accepted food from the Grey Dragon Alpha’s daughter.

Once again, Bethanie’s wedding had been shifted slightly to the future to make sure there were no security challenges. The ‘security breach’ was still being investigated by the Royal Guard but no answer was forthcoming. Until Aidan confessed to his actions, no one would ever know.

Lady Danielle was watching Reya silently, her lips slightly pursed.

Reya gave up on her food at the point she knew she could no longer handle Danielle’s haughty eyes.

“This is going horribly well,” Reya grimaced, dropping her fork.

“If You have anything to say, just get on with it,”

“I thought some things were beneath you, Lady Reya,” Danielle shook her head with a small, coy smile.

“You will be surprised,” she muttered dryly.

“There was no sort of engagement between you and the princes. I sat beside you, I saw your gloves,” Danielle cut straight to the point.

“And I know what Castiel did to you. So the entire charade in the meeting house was quite entertaining to watch,”

Reya had always suspected it. She heard Danielle making fun of her with Milena during the bridal selection for having sexual inter course with her own brother.

How she figured out about the abuse however, was a serious problem. She needed Danielle’s eyes and ears, wherever she was putting them.

“You have your alliance,” Reya declared, straightening her shoulders.

Lady Danielle feigned surprise but Reya scoffed, causing the cold woman to laugh out loud.

“Just keep your mouth shut about everything. You will give me my due advantages as well and stop being a bitch to me in court,”

“All’s fair in love and war,” she added sweetly, stretching out a hand.

Hesitantly, Reya took in hers and they shook hands. The doctor got a slight itch in her scalp, a sense of foreboding. She could not help but think that Lady Danielle was going to ruin her and take more from her than she would give.

“What do you know about Prince Reagan?” Reya asked Lady Danielle.

“Exploring your new found advantages already?” She smiled, her brown eyes sparkling.

“I don’t have time for this. Stop acting coy with me. It’s only a while before the Queen or my mates trace my whereabouts,”

On hearing that, Lady Danielle’s eyes hardened although it was a brief flash. It was quite clear to Reya that she was still bitter about Armani being her fated.

“I don’t know much, to be honest. He’s as coy as a shadow but we avoid each other. It’s not wise for me to clash with him,” she started.

“All I know is that he has a bitter grudge with the highest born Princes and once wanted my sister as his bride but somehow, Bethanie fell into his thighs and he lost all common sense. I suppose the mate bond can reduce the strongest willed men to love sick puppies,” she aimed a quick jab at Reya.

“His wedding with Bethanie will take the entire castle by a storm and frankly, does not seem like very good news. Not much to work with, but be careful. Avoid him at all costs,” Danielle severely warned.

“He threatened me,” Reya shrugged, causing her to frown.

“Pressed a knife to my neck and told me to stop irritating him. I had never met or conversed with him prior. That just makes it all the more odd,”

Danielle’s frown deepened, her eyes evidently troubled. She had to know more than she was letting on. It was evident from the way the topic of the Lower born Prince was unnerving her. Reya understood her unwillingness to be transparent with her, knowing that their alliance was still fresh.

“I shall investigate him,” she declared, running a hand through her smooth waves.

“Thank you. I’m taking my Leave. Next time, I’d rather meet with you outside the castle,” the doctor said, rising up.

“Understandable,” she nodded.

Later in the evening, Reya sat by her balcony, absentmindedly stroking Kairo’s feathers and writing down on her note.

She needed to study the bird better and try to navigate their connection.

The only information she had to work with at the moment was the fact Kairo who was a bird, would rather eat other birds and meat than vegetable or grain.

Kairo was more active in the night time and more prone to sleep in the day time- though he occasionally went hunting for food. Kairo had seemed to form a more closer knit attachment to her dragon than herself for when Aneira was around, Kairo was more available. It was possible that the connection between them stemmed from her dragon and not herself. She feared that one day, Kairo would no longer recognize her because her dragon was gone.

Also, while Kairo could eat both cooked and uncooked meat, he was seemingly more active when he hunted. That was all of it for now. She had to search for books on Phoenixes before she had more to observe. If she could not study or understand why or how she was a Royal and who her parents were, her best bet was Focusing on her Phoenix.

A knock on the door of her room caused Kairo to flee, soaring into the neighboring forest of the castle.

Reya let out an impatient sigh before turning around.

“You may come in,”

And the First Prince did, donning on his usual trench coat the color of his hair.

Reya’s eyes narrowed down on his frame and he froze, not quite sure he should move towards her or stay away.

The Second Prince followed a few minutes later, his mouth twisted in a small frown.

“What were you doing with Danielle?” He cut to the point immediately, unaware of the tension between her and Aidan.

“Fixing your mistakes,” she spat before rising up.

October- the end of the mating season was fast approaching but the weather was quite chilly already.

“Unfortunately, she has eyes and knows damn well you two didn’t propose, you insufferable-“ she cut herself off and tightened the shawl over her frame before walking into the room.

“Someone was bound to know. It was careless,” Aidan admitted.

“But you would do it again, wouldn’t you?”

“I was going to ask you before the meeting to wear them,”

“So you didn’t come to library to apologize but to try and soften me up so I could do according to your will?” She frowned.

“It was for your good,” Aidan pressed, his eyes hardening.

“I’m not letting him walk away after everything he did to you,”

“Sure you didn’t. So a stampede was a better way for him to die. Your gift is earth, Aidan. You broke the walls,” Reya hissed, tears of anger burning in her eyes.

“You should be grateful,”

“For what? Seeing his mangled face in my dreams?”

“Reya-“ he cut himself off, running a hand through his tousled curls.

“I’m grateful you risked your father’s wrath for me. But a little heads up would have been appreciated. I’m not a fool that you think my mind too fickle to understand the littlest things,”

“I don’t think you are,” he exhaled.

“I’m so sorry. I should have warned you prior,”

Reya turned towards both men, her heart burning with resentment.

“There’s a bigger lie here burning between all three of us. So no, you’re not sorry. Out of all the politicians I’ve had to deal with in this castle, you two are the biggest liars there ever was,” tears streamed down her cheeks.

She was so angry, so betrayed.

When she saw the brief confusion and panic in their eyes, she grew even more angry.

She couldn’t believe it. They still weren’t ready to confess to their crimes against her, against her heart.

“I find it so interesting that you two can play this entire kingdom for so long and no one would catch on to it,”

“Reya what-“

“Don’t,” she wiped her eyes.

“It’s so convenient that you two have to fight in front of me everyday and break my heart into pieces while you plot things for my good in secret,” she hissed.

“You two aren’t enemies. You’re the best friends and allies this Kingdom has ever seen. You don’t care for the throne like you make it out to be!”

******

*One of the best plot twists I have ever written in history hehe. Were you able to catch on to it? Share your thoughts in the comments!*