He huffed a small breath before looking back down at his work. “Don’t bother me with such nonsense.”
Still, he hadn’t denied it.
“The matter is done now,” Grayson said. “They will not bother you with this again.”
I nodded. “I only wish we could have fully exposed Piers. The King wishes to keep things private.”
“Of course, he does,” Grayson said, but what he meant, I wasn’t sure. “Get back in the bed and rest. You were taken before you had finished recovering.”
I was too tired to argue.
I crawled into bed and slept until morning.
When I awoke, Grayson was back at his desk, shaking his head.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Someone leaked what happened,” he said. “The scandal is now public knowledge.’
Lillian’s POV
After breakfast, the court was summoned once more. At Grayson’s instruction, I went to observe, with Prime Beta beside me.
To say the King was livid was an understatement. “One of you have betrayed me,” he growled, looking around He met gazes with everyone in the room, but I felt him especially looking at me. I lowered my head, trying to show fealty or at least, innocence.
Truly, I’d had nothing to do with this.
“I have no choice but to take action now,” the King said. “Piers.”
Piers was shoved forward, a soldier at either of his arms. Josephine was nearer her father, looking much healthier than yesterday. Today, her face carried a look of clear relief.
“Your engagement to my daughter is null and void. You are exiled from my pack, never to return. Do you understand?”
“This isn’t fair,” Piers said.
“He understands,” the King said, even as Piers argued.
“I did nothing wrong! Josie, darling! Tell him.”
“Take him away,” the King said.
“This isn’t right! It was the harlot’s fault! That bitch trapped me! I have only ever been faithful. I swear, I – -!”
The soldiers dragged him from the room. His shouts dimmed only when he was in the hallway with the doors closed behind him, cutting off his last complaint.
The King sighed, and the court began whispering. At the same time, Josephine moved away from the throne, walking straight toward me. I braced myself for whatever kind of confrontation this could be, a little afraid I might end up back in the dungeon.
Instead, she stopped a few feet from me, and lowered her head. “I’m sorry that I did not believe you, Luna Princess. Thank you for helping me see the flaws in that man that I struggled to see before.”
“I… of course,” I said, unsure what to say to that. The members of the court all looked at me, whispering, though their previous looks of disdain were now something else.
Something more respectful.
Could one talk with Josephine have raised my prestige so much?
Yet among the whispers of new praise remained those of apprehension.
“She has yet to get pregnant. Is she even trying?”
“What will we do if she is incapable of getting pregnant? Will they find another surrogate?”
“If she is not pregnant before the upcoming ball, this poor girl will have to answer questions I’m not sure she can handle.”
The danger around me, I knew, was only temporarily withheld.
Their whispers were only reminders, the King and Queen were pushing for a pregnancy. If I didn’t deliver, and soon, I wasn’t sure even Grayson’s timely interventions could save me.
I wasn’t ready to give up my virginity to a man I didn’t love, and Grayson had never seemed particularly interested in being with me. Even when he had touched me to subdue that wonton craving that had consumed me once, he had done so with only a baseline interest.
If he had the choice, he would probably be rid of me. Maybe the upcoming ball was the day I would be thrown from this place. Could I start making plans now?
But where would I even go?
The court had only just ended, the people disbursing, when a servant approached me.
“Apologies, Luna Princess, but a guest wishes to speak with you. He is waiting in one of the sitting rooms. I would be happy to show you the way.”
Dread crept up my throat. I had a dark feeling that I knew exactly who had come to see me.
Prime Beta looked at me curiously, but did not wait for me before continuing on.
“He is a man of some importance,” the servant said, and I could see the fear in their eyes. They knew, as well as I did, that Calvin did not take well to rejection. Without me there to handle his wrath, Calvin would turn his attention to mistreating his servants.
And then, if I avoided him entirely, he could return home and take out his rage on my brother Ronan instead.
For Ronan’s sake, I hung my head. “Show me the way,” I said.
The servant showed visible signs of relief. “Follow me.”
No sooner had I stepped into the sitting room where Calvin was waiting, did he approach me, his hands out, ready to grab me. I moved at once, keeping distance between us.
“You aren’t happy to see me,” he said, pausing.
“How could you think that I would be, after all that has transpired?”
He dropped his arms to his sides. “You aren’t so blind that you can’t see what I could offer you, Lillian. What we could offer each other.”
“I want nothing from you.”
“When I am King, I will make you my Luna Queen. You will be more than just some surrogate. You will hold a real position. You will have real power.”
Even if I believed him, which I didn’t, I still wanted nothing to do with him. All of his plans were disgusting, and just looking at him made me upset in the stomach.
“I refuse,” I told him flatly. “A thousand times, I refuse. How many will it take before you take the hint and leave me alone?”
Calvin’s upper lip curled. “You talk a big game while you are hidden here safely. But someday the royals will have no use for you, and you will come crawling to me.”
“I would rather die,” I said.
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