Chapter 189
Chapter 189
Gideon’s POV
55 vouchers
The banquet ended abruptly, with everyone disbanding on my orders. I hated to have Claire’s celebration end so poorly, but it couldn’t be helped. Daphne, once again, had shown up and ruined everything.
Once I had returned Claire and the children safely to the pack house, she told me of Delilah’s warning, about the possible connection to Darius.
“We have to go see Darius right away,” she said. “Maybe we can get the truth out of him.”
“You aren’t going anywhere near that man,” Gideon said. “I’ll be damned before I put you in his crosshairs.”
“I’m already in his crosshairs.”
“All the more reason for you to stay here.”
Her fear mixed with her anger and she snapped, “I may be a princess now, but I’m still the same Raven. I can take care of myself.”
She must have felt like a caged bird, and I forced my own anger to leave me. She needed patience. I could give her that.
“Trust me to take care of this,” I told her. “I know you are capable, but he would try to upset you and that is unnecessary. Please. You are one of the few I trust to watch the children. I know they will be safe in
your care.”
Mentioning the children quieted her arguments, but she still glared at me a little. I would apologize later. For now, I wanted
answers.
If Darius remained a threat, then he needed to be dealt with.
With Xavier and a few of my guards, I left the pack house and went to the jail. I moved through the hallways, heading directly to Darius’s cell. He was still being fed meals fit for a king three times a day. His cell was peak luxury, even cushier than many of the apartments my pack members resided in.
He’d been gaining weight again too. I hadn’t thought his hunger strike would have lasted for very long, especially with all the delicious foodstuffs he was being given on a consistent basis.
Darius had been reading a book as I entered. He glanced up as I approached.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been to see me, Gideon,” Darius said. “Sometimes I wonder if you have forgotten about your most important prisoner.”
“I’m not here for a social visit,” I said.
“I’m not surprised,” he replied. “What is it you want then?”
“When former Luna Queen Lena died, you were there at the royal palace,” I said. This wasn’t a question.
“Oh, I see. So I’m guilty of that as well?” Darius sneered. “Do I have to remind you that Lena died of a terrible illness? You can hardly blame me for that.”
“Her death was suspicious,” I said,
“So what if she was poisoned? What does it have to do with me?”
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Chapter 189
So you knew she was poisoned…”
Darius shrugged. “What do I know?”
“You said poison before I did.” I said.
“You said suspicious death. What else would it be?”
He was backtracking in a hurry, but he was also right. I didn’t have any way of pinning this on him not yet.
But poison seemed the most likely cause of death.
I wasn’t going to find any answers here. I motioned to Xavier and we left.
A meeting with him proceeds to be ever useless” I grumbled once we were outside.
Yes Alpha. But I have some good news”
I looked at him.
“While we were in there, I received a text. The guards have found the apothecary’s files from the correct year.”
“Let’s go at once,” I said, my dwindled hope rebuilding once more.
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55 vouchers.
When we entered the apothecary’s shop, the binder of files was out on the counter. I went over at once. One of my guards had already started coming through.
“Here,” he said, showing me the year. “A lot of poison went out this year. And all to one person.”
My blood ran cold, my outrage burning a bright flame in my chest.
Darius
Claire’s POV
I was annoyed when Gideon decided to go see Darius without me. I understood he was trying to protect me, but I wanted to be a part of this. I had more right than anyone to speak to Darius about the past.
Although perhaps I wouldn’t be as level–headed as I needed to be.
Maybe it did make sense to exclude me, as loathe as I was to admit as such.
And Gideon was right about something else. There was no one else who was more committed and prepared to protect the children than I was
Though.. right now, as the fear of the event wore off, they didn’t seem as upset as I would have thought. At least, not about having seen Daphne. Instead, they seemed upset about something else.
Actually, they seemed disappointed.
I followed them into the play room, where they both kind of flung themselves dejectedly onto the ground.
“What’s going on with you two?” I asked.
“You wouldn’t understand, Mom,” Nova said, making me wonder if she was six or sixteen.
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Chapter 189
“Try me,” I said.
Nova sighed.
“Don’t tell her, Nova,” Leo said sharply.
“What does it matter? Everything is ruined now,” Nova said.
“It could still work out!”
“What are you too talking about?” I asked.
Nova sighed even louder. Leo, who had been wringing his hands together, finally spilled the beans.
55 vouchers
“We were hoping to get you and Daddy back together at the banquet,” he said. “But it ended too soon. It didn’t work out at all.”
I blinked, a bit surprised but not overmuch. After all, Nova had been pretty obvious when she’d helped me pick this outfit. I was the one who had decided to wear it.
What did that
say
about me?
I was, at the very least, endeared by their antics, even if I wasn’t sure they were for the best.
“Something like that can’t be forced,” I said. “If anything is going to rekindle between Gideon and me, it has to happen naturally.”
“Aww,” Nova said.
Leo frowned.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“We understand, Mom,” Nova replied.
“Yeah,” Leo said, but they both seemed kind of sad.
Later, after putting the kids to bed, I stayed up to wait for Gideon to return. I thought about what they had said, and more so, what I had said.
I could have told the kids that no matter what, their father and I weren’t going to fix things. But I hadn’t said that. Instead, I had left the door open, saying if instead of anything with certainty.
This made me wonder what my heart truly yearned for.
I couldn’t deny that I’d had feelings. The mate bond had even triggered, which made Gideon difficult to ignore. Not that I was doing such a great job ignoring him anyway.
Even without the mating bond, I had been attracted to him, and not just physically. He was strong and kind, but firm as a leader. He was a good father, and had been gentle with me since learning my identity. He’d been apologetic. He wanted to fix the past. He wanted to protect me.
My feelings were in a jumble.
Did I really think, even subconsciously, that I could potentially fix things with Gideon?
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Was that even possible?
Did I really want us to work things out?
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