Then, scolding myself, I realized I needed to move. Yet, just as I stared to twist, Grayson’s hand tightened on my waist. I hadn’t even noticed he had been holding me too, so upset as I was that I had wrapped around him like this in my sleep.
Again.
“I’m sorry,” I started.
“Relax,” he said, his voice utterly indifferent. Oddly, that brought me calm. If he didn’t care, maybe this wasn’t such a big deal after all. I felt like it maybe still should have been, but I was so very tired. “Close your eyes. Go back to sleep,” he continued. “Heal.”
As if my body was following his commands on impulse, I closed my eyes again, pressed closer into his warmth, and drifted off to sleep.
The second time I awoke was to the loud sound of the door bursting open. Soldiers stormed into the room and grabbed me, dragging me roughly out of the bed.
Before they pried me away from Grayson’s body, I felt him tense.
But he could do little to help me here. He was supposed to be in a coma.
I blinked several times in quick succession, trying to wake myself up. My whole body ached, and I cried out as a particularly rough soldier shoved me backwards out of the room and into the hallway. I stumbled and unable to catch myself on my weakened, wounded leg, I fell to the ground.
“What is this?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
“You know what you did,” another soldier grumbled as he grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet.
“I don’t! Please, tell me! What are you doing? Where are you taking me?”
“Stop shrieking,” said another guard. “Just tell her so she’ll shut up.”
“Right now, you are going to a cell where you belong. Later, you will stand in front of the King to face trial.”
“A trial? Because of the hunt?” I asked, so confused.
“Who the hell cares about the hunt?” one of the soldiers scoffed. “You are to face the King’s judgement for conspiring to attack and attempting to kill Josephine’s fiancé Piers.”
“I didn’t!”
“Don’t forget the seduction,” the other soldier said. “The King won’t look kindly on that.”
IND
The first soldier huffed a cruel laugh. “Hope you enjoyed your time sleeping beside the Prince. There will be othing but cold dungeon floors for you from now on.”
“I didn’t do this,” I pleaded.
“Save your lies for the King,” another soldier said. “They he won’t want to hear them either.” a
I was in my nightclothes, my hair a mess from sleep, and my feet bare. They dragged me down the stairs and then into a hallway I had never been before. From here, there was another set of stairs, and then another, each leading to a darker and less accommodating set. Eventually, the walls were nothing but stone and steps cold concrete under my feet.
The solders roughly dragged me down, down, down, deeper and deeper until the only light was from torches affixed to the walls. Eventually, the stairs leveled out into a long narrow hallway, with metal bars on either side Here, they shoved me forward, to a cell three or four in. They opened the cell door, then tossed me inside. ad been further wounded in the journey, and my legs were weakened again. I stumbled and collapsed into a pile of damp straw. The cell itself had no furniture, only a bucket in the corner. I didn’t want to think too hard about what was inside that bucket, but seeing no toilet, I could only imagine.
The soldiers closed and locked the cell, then turned and left, laughing as they disappeared down the hallway. When the sounds of their laughter and footsteps dissipated, the dungeons were eerily quiet.
Somewhere, something dripped. The flames of the torches crackled. A man farther in struggled for breath. No one said a word. No one acknowledged me at all. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad.
I shivered, the air chill down here, especially when I was in nothing but my nightie. I wrapped it around me as best I could, but my arms were bare and my legs only partially covered by the thin, airy fabric.
Maybe I would freeze down here before my trial even began.
How greedy I had been, sleeping beside the Prince not even ten minutes ago. I allowed myself to be comfortable, to think that I might be allowed to rest. I should have known better. I should have moved to the floor, or hidden away in a closet.
Good things never lasted. Everything was an illusion. Any sense of victory only led to more suffering.
“Lillian?” whispered a female voice in the dark. “Lillian? Are you hear?”
Maybe I should have ignored it, but any call in the dark was better than the eerie silence. Pushing myself up to my frozen feet, I stumbled forward toward the cell door.
There, Clara was waiting. She already seemed nervous, but when she spotted me, she paled.
“Goddess, I heard they took you from the Prince’s bed, but I didn’t realize they wouldn’t even give you a coat,” she said.
“They were eager to bring me here,” I said. “They said it was for Piers. But I didn’t have anything to do with what happened to him.”
“Ophelia doesn’t care,” Clara said. “She was so angry about the hunt. You stole her prize and her glory, she said. So she pushed the scandal to the public, forced the King’s hand. Piers was more than happy to go along with it, of course.”
“What is he saying?” I asked, against my better judgement.
“That after you failed to seduce him, you had him assaulted out of spite.”
“Surely, no one would believe that,” I said.
“People will believe what they want,” Clara said. “They’ve been turning a blind eye to Piers for a long time. Poor Josie. If Prince Grayson was awake, he would never allow her continued humiliation, but…”
“Why does anyone else?” I asked. “Why do you?”
“I’m only one person,” she said, but hung her head in shame. “And I can’t bring dishonor to my father. Anything I do to step out of line, he will suffer for.”
“Then why are you here?” I asked.
She glanced around, then passed me a bag. Inside were thick socks, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt.
“If I had known they didn’t let you change, I would have brought more. For now, this is all I have.” his is… this helps… thank you.”
I moved at once to pull on the warm clothing, sighing in relief as soon as I was warm.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Clara said. “But you have to be prepared. They are going to fix it so that you -“
Gruff voices sounded from the stairwell.
“I have to go,” Clara said at once, fear in her eyes.
“But -“
“I’m sorry. Good luck!” she dimmed her own torch and scurried out of view, just as the soldiers came into the hallway.
“Get up, little surrogate. It’s time for you to face the King.”
Lillian’s POV
I was dragged to the throne room and made to kneel in front of the King. Piers, Josephine, and several members of the court were already there, already sneering at me like they had come to judgement. All save Josephine, who looked sick, her cheeks a hint of green.
“There she is,” Piers said, his handsome face twisted into pure disgust. “The woman who tried to ruin my life and my marriage.”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply