The Alpha's Temptation

Sirrah looked anything but calm now. If anything, she was breathing even harder now as her eyes shifted around the room. She managed to kneel as Biham closed the gap between them.

"Well?" Biham demanded. "I want to know how you gathered the audacity to go against your king's orders. This accounts for mutiny against the kingdom because of your attempt to kill the true heir had malicious intentions that were in your personal interest."

Sirrah's body started shaking. Whether it was from nervousness or exhaustion, no one could judge. She wasn't ready for the curveball that Alrakis and Eltanin threw at her, along with Rigel. Disbelief rocked her when she saw Lusitania with Eltanin. She thought she was dreaming, but she wasn't. Her worst fears had just come true. Every damn game that she played thinking she was so crafty, ricocheted and hit her with double the force.

All this while she had revealed so much of her vile intentions, that there was no turning back. Rigel and Alrakis had together made her the biggest fool of Araniea. All the while, she thought she had the upper hand, when in fact she never had a chance. She had tried to eliminate Lusitania, but Lusitania was Alrakis's trump card. He revealed her only when all the damage had been done. Her head reeled when she realized that Alrakis had played her all along and let her believe that he didn't know anything about Lusitania.

Eltanin was with her in the cave, and both his father and his friend hadn't even spoken a word about it. She wondered if they mentioned Lusitania being Eltanin's mate to anyone else. And if Lusitania was his mate, then he would have realized that she turned eighteen. That meant that they all had the knowledge, but Eltanin had hidden her well. Everything became crystal clear now.

Because Lusitania was Eltanin's mate, his army had encamped outside Pegasii. It wasn't his ego that was hurt, he had come for his mate. Sirrah was surprised that he hadn't killed Morava. Her foolish daughter have never been able to recognize the mate bond between the king and the slave girl and thought that Eltanin was being too debauched and egotistical . It was the other way round. Morava was the egotistical one, who hadn't  taken her rejection well. She did the most dangerous thing she could in her life, which was to provoke the most dangerous wolf of Araniea, by abducting his mate.

They kept Lusitania's identity under tight wraps. If she had known that Lusitania was Eltanin's mate, she would have made sure that she was killed in the dungeons. Why couldn't her senseless daughter understand this bond? Suddenly, the realization that Lusitania was not only Biham's daughter, she was a half fae that is Eltanin's mate, hit her hard in the gut.

"Well played, Eltanin," she muttered.

Eltanin gave her an indifferent look, as if silently telling her that she is no match for him. He went to stand right behind his mate and placed his hand on her nape, where he caressed her with his thumb near her mark.

With a shaky exhale, Sirrah lifted her face to look at her husband. "My king, my husband, if I may speak to you in private…" She was sure that she would be able to maneuver her husband, as she has been doing all these years. She would seduce him with her charms.

But Biham's dark eyes narrowed on her. "You are a traitor, Sirrah. You have committed a crime against the kingdom of Pegasii and Draka. Even if you hadn't left any traces of evidence in anything that you did to eliminate Lusitania, that letter over there speaks volumes. It is in your handwriting. Did you think that I wouldn't be able to recognize your handwriting without your signatures?"

"Biham, I…" she gulped bile down her throat.

"Lusitania is not only the heir of Pegasii, she is the mate of the Draka king. And that makes her the most powerful woman of Araniea."

Sirrah hated those words, yet she couldn't speak a single one. She continued watching Biham's face with panic.

"You have not only failed as the queen of Pegasii, but you have failed as my wife. You say that you were doing all this for our daughter Morava, but you are wrong. You were doing this for yourself. I am yet to see a woman so selfish. I do not know the situation that had led to the rumor Kinshra was practicing black magic, but trust me Sirrah—" he paused for a moment and glared at her with abhorrence. "I will find out about it. Kinshra was a fae. Her magic was natural. I don't know how I had been influenced into thinking that she practiced dark magic, but it led to me rejecting my mate." His throat bobbed as if he was choking on his emotions. "I rejected my mate while she  was in her full term of pregnancy. Can anyone be worse than me?"

Sirrah's face shrank out of horror. She was the one who had blamed Kinshra of practicing black magic and had influenced the Elders with someone's help. Someone who used dark magic. "No Biham, no," she shook her head as her eyes stayed focused on him.

"I pity my elder daughter, Morava, for being born with you as a mother. If you had given her good guidance, she would have become a fine princess, but now—" Biham's chest vibrated with a rumble. His disappointment and sadness were apparent. He looked defeated. "Now she had not only tarnished the reputation of her parents, but the kingdom of Pegasii." He turned his face to look at Lusitania, who was watching him with awkwardness and trepidation. "I am grateful to Alpha Alrakis and King Eltanin that they have taken care of my daughter so well." His gaze shifted back to his wife.

"I, Biham of Pegasii, reject you, Sirrah of Aquila as my wife and mate."

Air rippled around them and something in their hearts snapped. Sirrah shrieked with pain as she clutched her heart and Biham sat on the chair behind him, clutching his chest. The pain was excruciating. Biham knew that he should have felt more pain like he had when he rejected Kinshra, but he didn't, Sirrah wasn't his mate. He had marked her as his wife.

Lusitania and Rigel rushed to him. "Guards!" Rigel called. The door opened. "Take him to the healer, now!" The guards lifted him and carried him away.

On the other hand, Sirrah fell on the ground coughing up blood. She watched the guards take Biham out of the room. No one was concerned about her.

Eltanin came and stood in front of her. "Guards!" he shouted. Four more guards rushed inside. He said, "Sirrah of Aquila, I will leave it for king Biham to decide your fate. However, until then, you will be thrown into the dungeons of Draka and chained to the walls. You have committed a crime that will go down in the history of Araniea as the most heinous crime done. I will make sure that your name is erased from the pages of Araniea!"

"No, no!" Sirrah rasped as the guards pulled her up. She swayed on her feet. "Please have mercy…"