Finding Solace In B
Chapter 201
Gideon’s POV
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“I know about the poison, Darius,” I said. “And I have a pretty good idea about who put what into Lena’s coffee. I can tie you to it, with the reports I have. Just tell me who poisoned Lena.”
Darius stood up. “You are trying to make enemies out of powerful people, Gideon. If you keep trekking along this path, you will regret it.”
“I’m not afraid of anyone,” I said. Thinking back, I remembered the picture that had been sitting at the top of the box Eric had provided from Daniel. In the photo, Lena and Daniel had been in the foreground, with Victoria glaring from the background. And then, with what was written in the diary….
Claire had been convinced since reading it that Victoria was to blame. I was willing to wait out my assumptions, hoping to uncover more evidence. Victoria would be a powerful enemy, and that wasn’t a bridge I wanted to cross too soon.
But… with Darius making his warnings, the truth was very clear.
“Victoria did this, didn’t she?” I said.
“You are a fool,” he said. “Suicidal. Do you have any idea the power of the royal family? You think an accusation like that will win you any favors in court? You think if you even tried to prove it, that Victoria wouldn’t just take care of you in the same way.”
“So I’m right.”
Darius shook his head. “I’m staying out of this.”
“No, you aren’t.”
Darius didn’t reply.
I gripped the bars of his cell with one of my hands. The force of my grip made the metal creak under my hand. That gained Darius’s attention. Now I intended to keep it.
“The Luna Queen is powerful, I will grant you that,” I said. “But her power does not exceed that of the Alpha King. How do you think he will feel when he learns the truth about what happened, as well as your involvement? Do you fear her more than you do him? If so, I would reconsider that.”
Darius swallowed so thickly, I could hear it with my wolf senses across the room.
*If I confess everything I know, I need something in exchange.”
“What?” I asked
“Protection from Victoria, for one thing.” Darius said. “But also, I want my freedom.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Those are my terms,” Darius said. “If you do not grant me both, then I have nothing more to say to you Alpha He spit out the last word with the kind of disrespect that would have landed him back in prison if he wasn’t already here.
Still, it wasn’t my place to tell him to eat dirt. Claire should have a say in this.
Darius’s confession would help us sway the King, that was just fact. But if I had to let him go afterwards I didn’t know if t could live with that, not after all he had done. All he could do, if he was free again
all he
10:12 Thu, Feb 19 MO
Chapter 201
On the other hand, if his confession could lead to justice…
“I’ll be back,” I said. “Then I expect your confession.”
“Only if you give me what I want.”
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I walked out of the prison and sought out Claire. She wasn’t difficult to find. Though she was avoiding me, she was still very active in the children’s lives. They were being tutored at the moment, but Claire was still nearby, watching over them from the shadows like she had done before with Leo as Raven.
I was careful to make some noise when I approached her, not wanting to startle her. She stepped away from the doorway and closer to me, though I saw her eyes darting to the side like she was hoping to make an escape.
“I spoke with Darius,” I said, hoping that would be enough to entice her to stay for this conversation.
It was. Rather than look for an exit, she considered me. “What did he say?”
“He knows everything,” I said. “I bluffed and pushed him. He almost cracked. But now he says he won’t tell us anything unless we agree to protect him from Victoria and offer him his freedom again.”
I knew Claire wasn’t going to be happy about this. But I had to be honest with her.
“I think we should give him what he wants,” I said.
Her eyes went a little wide. “You can’t mean that. You can’t just let Darius go. He’s a manipulative mastermind, Gideon!”
“I know,” I said. “But Xavier and I have been working hard to clear away the corruption from the pack. His family’s influence is not what it once was. I think we might be able to contain him this time.”
“And what if you can’t? Is it worth that?”
“To have more evidence against your mother’s killer?” I said. “Yes. I think it is.”
Daphne’s POV
It had been a few weeks now, so I figured the fear of my continued and unexpected appearances were properly shaking Claire and Gideon. To really stir the pot though, I needed to keep things consistent. The only way to really do that, since I was all the way over in Justin’s pack, was to have my lackeys do the hard work for me.
Yet, when I called them, one by one, their numbers were out of service. Even the ones who had been able to sneak messages to my father were now utterly unreachable.
What the hell had happened over there? Did Gideon finally get his head on straight and learn how to handle his own pack?
I frowned. That didn’t work well for me. At all.
In fact, it was a dire warning. Perhaps the direst of all.
If Gideon had been weeding out the pack members that were close to me and my father, maybe he would come for me next. I had done enough to warrant a trial. And if any evidence was presented against me, I was sure I would lose.
My plans were falling through.
And with the obvious end coming for me, I knew I couldn’t stay here any longer. Justin wouldn’t be able to save me from a trial, and being a Luna wasn’t nearly as exciting or glamourous as I wanted it to be, especially with Justin growing more annoyed with me.
More and more, he put rules and boundaries on me. I tired of it. Tired of him.
I
10:12 Thu, Feb 19 MO
Chapter 201
95
55 vouchers
I had one last card up my sleeve. Out there in the forest were a group of rogues loyal to me and my father. I would flee and I would go and stay with them. There, I would be safe. There, I could complete one final act of defiance.
It was a longshot, but it was the last play that I had.
Moving upstairs to my rooms, I started packing a bag. As I did so, I lifted my phone and made a call.
A call to Susanne.
She picked up right away. “I need good news,” she said, sounding as desperate as I felt inside.
That was good. Desperate people did things they wouldn’t normally did.
“If you really want Gideon for your own,” I said, “You are going to need to do something drastic.”
“How drastic?” she said.
“Does that matter?”
I waited a beat.
“No,” she said. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
I grinned.
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