The Alpha's Temptation

"Truth?" Kishra stated. "What truth do you want to know from me, Biham?" she asked with a crease in between her brows. "Everything was right in front of you."

Biham shook his head. "No Kinshra," he said. He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "There was something that I didn't see."

"But you made an informed choice when you rejected me," Kinshra replied as familiar pain seared through her heart.

"That is incorrect!" Biham cut her off. "It wasn't an informed choice. The day I rejected you, I felt as if this was the wrong-est thing I had ever done in my life. It felt so out of character." When he saw confusion all over her face, he said, "Let us start from the beginning. Tell me when you met Sirrah, did she do anything to you?"

"In that you have to tell me. How is Sirrah doing and does she know that you are here?"

Biham jerked his head back. "Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"I have sent Sirrah to the dungeons."

Kinshra's eyes became wide with surprise. "Why?" This was a complete shocker to her.

"I will tell you everything later, but I want my answers first!"

"Where do I start?" Kinshra pursed her lips. Her wings that were tucked tightly behind her, sagged down a little. "Sirrah was not very nice to me, which is understandable. Whenever I was supposed to meet her, she would meet me in the presence of a man called Murel. He seemed like a monk from the Cetus Monastery."

"A monk?" Goosebumps prickled his skin as dread lined the inside of his guts. "What was the name, you said?"

"Murel."

"What did he look like?" Biham released her hands and stared into her eyes.

"He had round beady eyes with a long white beard. He wore glasses and was always in a black robe," Kinshra said with a sigh. "I didn't like that man."

Biham was shocked. His suspicions were getting clearer. "Why didn't you like him?"

Kinshra drew her shoulders in as if tensed. "He used to keep looking at me. Since I didn't like his company, I would try to come out of the meetings as soon as possible, but then Sirrah would delay them for one reason or the other. Murel would read me and then would get up and pace around in the room."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about him?" Biham cried.

"Because whenever I would come out of those meetings, I would forget about him!" She shook her head, saying, I have no idea why that happened. But now that I remember, he used to mutter something all the time he would pace the room. It was as if there was some spell he was casting." She took a deep breath in. "I may be imagining things."

He grabbed her hands, feeling so shaky that he needed her support, her touch. "Continue."

"When I would come out of the meetings, I used to forget what I had to do next. Often, I would end up so confused that I wouldn't be able to find my way back to you or to our room. I would feel so riled up and confused and out of my element that I used to crawl up in corners and start crying, wishing to go back home. Feeling of something slithery crawling up on me would consume me. I would feel lost in complete oblivion…"

Just thinking about it gave her goosebumps. She rubbed her arms and then tightened the shawl around her. A maid came inside and she raked up the logs in the fireplace. She looked at her lady with concern in her eyes. When Kinshra nodded at her reassuringly, the maid left.

"When I used to wake up, I used to find myself in strange places. In dungeons, in closets, gardens, caves and bathrooms under cold showers."

"Calaman's horns!" Biham rasped.

"Once I found myself in the stables when I woke up from the trance. And—" her lips quivered.

"And what?" Biham goaded her to speak more when she became hesitant with the memory.

Her face scrunched up. "And I saw a dead horse in front of me. His head was cut off and it was bleeding, being stabbed multiple times." A shudder wracked through her shaking her wildly. Biham held her upper arms, holding her still. "That day, I cried and cried. I have no idea how the horse died or how I grabbed the dagger in my hand. All I remember was that I had come out of Sirrah's room and woke up in the stall of a stable with a dead horse."

"Oh Kinshra!" Biham said, misery trickling inside him. He wasn't there for her help at that time and it made him very sad. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and comfort her. "Where was I? And why didn't you tell me about this incident?"

"You had gone to war with a faction of Nyxers. The guards informed Sirrah about it and she rushed to see me. She brought me back to her room and helped me cope with the stress."

Biham narrowed his eyes. "Why did she take you to her room and not ours?"

Kinshra let out a long exhale. "I don't know, Biham. She would ask her cook to prepare herbal teas for me and call Murel to take a look at me. Murel would direct the cook to make those herbal potions or teas. I used to have them because I was really ill. I was so afraid that the potions might affect my pregnancy that I used my fae magic to protect my womb. By the time you returned, Sirrah would send me back to my room. And then she would go away from the palace." Kinshra felt very uneasy relating it all to him, so she got up and walked to the window. For a long time she stayed quiet as she watched the soft snow falling outside her window.

The maid returned with hot tea and pastries. She looked at Biham and then at Kinshra. "Lady Kinshra, would you like to take a rest?" She was too concerned about her and didn't like Biham. Her hostility was apparent on her face and demeanor.

Kinshra turned to her and smiled. "You think too much Flora. Don't worry."

Flora bowed to her and reluctantly left. Kinshra came to sit back on the sofa beside him and served him tea.

"When you were back in the palace, life would become rosy. I loved it. I reveled in what I had with me and completely forgot about what happened with me in your absence. However, my happiness was short-lived because apparently, Sirrah didn't like the situation. She returned two months later and that's when things went spiraling down."

Kinshra sipped her tea and looked at him. She hadn't spoken her heart out in so long that she felt heavy. But now— now her burden has lightened. "Sirrah would call me to meet her, but now she didn't get Murel to the palace. Maybe she was terrified that you would come to know… However, even though Murel wasn't there, whenever I came out of her room, I had that sick, slithery feel upon me."