+Chapter 32+

Mari was surprised when King Kade let her leave the dining table with a slight wave of hand, with the way he had been staring her down the entire meal, she was certain that something bad was about to happen to her.

She force herself not to run, keeping her pace measured as she walked over the polished wood floors to the double doors. A maid was waiting right outside for her, it made her wonder when the maid got there and how she knew when she would be leaving.

A closer look at the maid revealed a familiar face, it was Vi. Mari wished that seeing a familiar face would ease the weight on her shoulders but it just made her more stressed out thinking about scenarios of what would happen if Vi knew she was a witch.

She couldn’t help the thoughts, they plagued her every time she was around people who didn’t know about that half of her.

Violeta on the other hand was very giddy as she quietly led the way back to Miss Mari’s room. They had to gamble to see who would win the chance to attend to her before she slept so that they could get some information from her. It was all harmless curiosity, of course; they just wanted their good but distant King to find love.

“Would you like any other thing, Miss Mari?” Vi asked with a barely constrained smile after setting up a bath for her.

Mari gave her a smile in return that didn’t quite touch her eyes, “No, thank you, I’m fine.”

Mari would have actually like to ask if there was a library, she never got to enjoy her reading hobby because her life just sucked like that but she didn’t want to step on King Kade’s toes any further. Besides, to the servants she might be a guest but what she truly was, was a prisoner.

“Of course,” Vi beamed, “And I hope the dinner date was to your liking?” She casually added, a twinkle in her dark brown eyes.

Mari paled at this, trying to make sense of what the maid was saying. “W-What?”

Violeta immediately backtracked, knowing how bad things could go for her and the other maids if their rumor mongering blew up in their faces. “I meant dinner,” She quickly corrected, “I must be thinking of other things,” She added with a nervous chuckle.

Mari nodded absently, “It was nice, thank you for going through the trouble.” She said dismissively, already taking off her shoes.

Violeta had no choice but to leave, a frown on her face. She didn’t understand why Miss Mari had such a reaction to her question, it was the last thing she had been expecting. Were they all actually misunderstanding what was going on? Or was Miss Mari just oblivious? The latter seemed more likely with how confused the quiet but nice werewolf always was.

Vi’s hope returned with full force, no one exactly knew her relationship with King Kade but she was confident that there would be something between them sooner or later. The servants would just have to do their best to ensure this and also make sure to support the match in anyway they could, all without Madam Constance’s knowledge, of course.

Mari quickly forgot about Vi’s question, thinking nothing of it. She quietly took her bath and got under the sheets, feeling depressed. Although, she was in the midst of a lot of people now more than ever, she still felt lonely.

That feeling of isolation she had felt all her life didn’t change now that she knew why she felt out of the loop, it just widened the distance between her and the people around her.

She tucked her hair behind an ear and turned on her side, unshed tears turning her eyes into molten pools of lava in the dim lighting of the room. *She wondered what her purpose was… she wished her parents stayed with her… *

-+-

In the anxiety-filled minutes that followed after King Lucien dashed into the woods unarmed, Bryce made a decision. He would arrange for a private jet to Wolfden right away, he knew he didn’t have to try hard to get his King to agree to it, he just had to disguise it as a perfunctory visit.

Because he would rather that King Lucien be around the witch than have him keep jumping into dangerous situations like this one. He wasn’t about to wait and see just how bad things could get.

So when King Lucien returned half an hour later, torso bare and sweatpants ripped, a gash across his chest, Bryce immediately stepped forward.

“Glad to see you alive,” He quipped, practically strong-arming the King into his car.

Lucien was blindsided by this, “What are you doing?” He asked his second-in-command who quietly hopped in the back seat with him and ordered the driver to move.

“You have an appointment right now,” Bryce said with a straight face.

Lucien’s brow furrowed, “What?”

“I took the initiative to arrange a private jet to take you down to Wolfden,” Bryce said bluntly while tapping a couple of keys on his laptop, “I felt it was imperative that you supervised or at least paid a visit to the North King to keep track of what he was doing with the property of the shared Kingdoms.” He quickly bullshitted when he saw that King Lucien was about to get mad.

Lucien leaned back at this, a quiet hum leaving him. He hadn’t thought about that at all, although that should have been the worry at the forefront of his mind. Trusting Kade was dumb, especially with something as delicate as a half-witch.

“Right,” He muttered, a little upset that he could have used that excuse to go right after Kade but the absence of the witch had shaken him up so much that he didn’t even think about that.

Bryce made a tutting sound at the scent of blood, already making arrangements for nurses to be available at the airport. The journey was quick and in no time, the King was bandaged and properly dressed up, his freshly washed, white-blond hair in a low ponytail.

Bryce saw King Lucien off, beyond ready to return to the palace and go back to hiding away in his room/office. He didn’t ask his King about his plans, knowing well that he wouldn’t get a response. So he had no idea how long King Lucien intended to stay in Wolfden, if it would be a while or if he would be back the next day.

He wasn’t particularly bothered about which extreme it would be, he just wanted King Lucien to return feeling less homicidal, and if the witch had to die for that cause, then so be it.

Lucien buckled in so that the jet could set off, the calm that he had been chasing all day finally settling over him. A cynical smile lifted his lips - the witch was dangerous, for several reasons if she could affect him like this.