Aderan took away the book from Iris’s hands and then brought it for the alpha to see.
Meanwhile, Iris was so scared, she didn’t do anything wrong, aside from going to the library. It was unfortunate that Aderan used it to have an intimate moment with the queen at the same time, but…
Iris lifted her head and then stared at Aderan and then the alpha, who was reading the book. Cane didn’t look surprised when Aderan told him that he had met with the queen, which meant, it was his order? He knew about that? This came as a shock to Iris.
On the other hand, Aria craned her neck to see what the book was about. She couldn’t read, because she was a lowborn, a slave by birth, but there was a picture of magic stone and some description below it.
“Magic stone? Why are you reading about magic stones?!” Aria stared at Iris and she noticed her closed hand. She was holding onto something in her hand, thus she walked over and grabbed her hand and forcefully opened her tight fist. “Did you steal this?!”
Aria took the magic stone and put it in front of the alpha for him to see.
Cane stared at the magic stone for a while and then at Iris, who was trembling in fear. She lowered her head and fiddled with the hem of her dress. Her auburn hair was messy and there was soot on her left cheek.
“Raise her head, I want to talk with her.” Cane looked at Aderan and he tilted Iris’ head. Not in a gentle way, though. He just made sure she looked at him. “The alpha wants to talk to you.”
Iris nodded and he let go, she felt her jaw throb in pain, but she lifted her head to look at the alpha nonetheless, trying to ignore the fact that the mistress’ dagger looks at her. She would love to kill her right there and then or throw her to the savages, her father’s favorite things to do to his slaves.
“Explain to me what this is.”
Iris felt her heart beat in her throat when she entered the alpha’s bedroom and now when she had to explain what she was doing, she didn’t know where to start.
“Explain to me what this is.” Cane put all of his focus on Iris now, but there was nothing that she could read from his expressionless face. He was akin to a deep and calm lake, you didn’t know what was under.
“I didn’t steal the magic stone.” Iris stared at his lips, instead of his pitch black eyes, because it disturbed her to see such cold eyes. “I found it when I worked in the mines.”
“But, you didn’t give it to the slave trainer!” Aria shouted at her, ignorant of the fact that Iris wasn’t looking in her direction, thus she didn’t know what her accusation was.
“Aria, leave this room.” Cane didn’t shift his eyes from Iris when he spoke.
Hearing that, Aria was flustered, she knew that she had stepped out of the line and immediately recoiled, she lowered her head in shame. “I am sorry, my alpha… I just got carried away.”
“Leave.”
Cane didn’t like it when he was interrupted and Aria had done it more than twice. She should know about that better, but she couldn’t control her anger every time she saw the daughter of the monster that had broken her and all the people in the Howling Wolf pack to pieces.
“My alpha…” Aria tried to stay. She wanted to see what kind of punishment that he would give her for stealing the magic stone, but Cane was firm with his command.
“Leave, Aria. I don’t like to give the same order again and again.”
Knowing Cane, Aria was sure she couldn’t push him more than this. Thus gritting her teeth, she lowered her head and resigned herself from the room. She glared at Iris on her way out of the room.
Aria would get her own revenge later, once she returned to the mining site. She would make time for it.
Once the door was closed and the mistress was no longer there, Cane leaned his stiff back against the chair and waited for Iris to speak.
“I didn’t steal it. I found it, but yes, I didn’t give it to the slave trainer, I am sorry.” Iris picked on her nails nervously. The thought of the enraged alpha Cane scared her greatly. She didn’t want to spend the night with him again. But if he had the idea to give her to the savages or the guards to entertain their needs, then it would be over for her.
She reflected so much on what her father had done to them and her legs almost gave away.
“How many magic stones have you found so far?” Cane took the magic stone into his hand, it was the color of dark blue and felt so warm, probably because Iris had been holding it for a while now.
“Three with that,” Iris answered truthfully. She only dared to look at his lips, in case he was talking to her. She didn’t want to upset him even more.
“Three?” Aderan was in shock. Even him, after working for years in the mining site, could only manage to find five, but she could find three in such a short period of time?
The alpha seemed baffled as well, but he didn’t show it in his callous expression. He weighed the magic stone in his hand and then put it aside, along with the book as he stood up and approached Iris.
He had not paid attention to her well enough before this, but the more he looked at her, the more he couldn’t understand how a monster like Alpha Gerald had a daughter like her. She was nothing, but a scared little girl.
If it was not for the shadow of her father, he wouldn’t believe she would be able to hurt even an insect, but then his judgment on her was clouded by the abhorrent acts of her father and brother.
“How did you find it?”
Iris didn’t know how to answer that. “I just… found it…” She felt it and found it, as simple as that, as if she had already known where she had to look for and just went with her instinct.
“Impossible. We need to dig every piece of ground and crush every rock to find a single magic stone.”
Cane narrowed his eyes on Iris, he was deep in thought, as he stared into Iris deep blue eyes. “Come with me.”
Iris stiffened when she read that. Would he torture her? Would she be punished for not handing over the magic stone? What kind of punishment was waiting for her?
It seemed the fact that Aderan sleeping with the queen was not something that bothered the alpha at all. He wasn’t even surprised by that knowledge.
Iris stole a glance at Aderan, hoping that the man could give her some explanation about what the alpha would do to her and why she had to follow him, but he seemed at a loss as well. It was hard to tell what was in the alpha’s mind. He was very unpredictable.
It took a while for Iris to know where they were going. They headed to the mining site and once they were there, she was almost out of breath.
These two men had walked so fast with long strides which were twice of her own, thus she needed to half run to keep up with them.
Probably because they used to move fast, they didn’t realize how fast their pace was.
Iris was light headed by the time they arrived at the mining site. A few slave trainers and guards, who were still there, immediately approached the alpha and greeted him; they were confused as to why he was here at this late hour.
They glanced at Iris, but didn’t pay much attention to her. It was either they hated her or just saw her as a nuisance.
However, Cane just nodded at them and continued to walk deeper into the mining site. Iris and Aderan followed behind him.
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