Chapter 192

Owen’s POV

I was fuming in my seat, glaring at everyone who accidentally made eye contact with me. But I had paid for this wedding, so I was damn well going to enjoy it.

“I believe you.”

I turned my head as Olivia Bronson sat down next to me at the otherwise empty table. Even my wife and my stewards sat at a table behind me, as I’d requested. I arched a challenging eyebrow at my new table companion.

“About Alpha Nightshade coming for your crown,” Olivia clarified. “I believe you.”

“It’s typically in one’s best interest to believe one’s king,” I replied as I looked away, watching the guests dance the night away. I didn’t care for the company of a known vixen whose only influence was that of her father’s.

She smiled at me, seemingly unperturbed by my clear disinterest.

“It makes one think,” she mused. “About one’s legacy. About what would happen to the crown should something happen to you.”

I slowly turned to level her with a glare. “Is that a threat?”

She smiled, pleased that she had gotten my attention. “It’s a business proposition.”

“Get to your point quickly,” I took a sip of wine, “before I have you removed.”

“I do love a man in power,” she purred, and my dick twitched. A vixen indeed. I looked her over in that dress that made her look practically naked.

My own wife hadn’t made my dick twitch like that in years, if ever.

“If,” Olivia went on, “Alpha Nightshade managed to, let’s say, imprison you—”

“How would he possibly—”

“I wasn’t finished, Your Majesty.”

I glared at her impudence. No matter how sexy she looked, no one interrupted the king.

Her eyes softened at my expression. “My apologies, Your Highness. I wish only to offer my aid.”

“Get to it,” I seethed, quickly losing my patience.

“Were you to be imprisoned, the crown would go to the next generation.”

I reached my hand out, snapping for my steward to remove this annoyance from my vicinity. “If you are only here to point out that I have no heir and to suggest that I produce one, you are of no use to me.”

“You might not have an heir, but the royal bloodline does.”

My steward stepped up to my side. “Your Majesty?”

I stared Olivia down, searching for any sign of deception. She looked much too smug to be lying. I spun my head around, eyes coming to rest on Eva.

That traitor. I was employing her to be my spy, not the way for my brother to take my crown.

“Not her,” Olivia purred. I turned back toward her as she nodded to a table across the room. I followed her line of sight to Violet Donovan.

“You’re dismissed,” I told my steward, and he scampered back to his seat. I stared down Olivia. “You have proof, I assume?”

Olivia shrugged. “Other than the fact that she told me herself? Watch her.”

Across the room, Violet handed her glass of champagne to her Beta as she hugged an approaching noble person.

“Now watch her glass,” Olivia murmured, leaning toward me.

Her Beta took a sip of champagne from the glass Violet had handed him before handing it back to her.

“He’s drinking her champagne to make it look like she’s drinking,” I concluded.

“They’ve been doing that all night.”

My mind whirled at the possibilities of what this could mean. “That doesn’t prove that it’s my brother’s child. There could be no royal blood in that child at all.”

Olivia glanced at my lips seductively. “The High Priest and Priestess could prove it one way or another,” she leaned back in her chair, “but I think you know I make it my business to never be wrong about this type of thing.”

That was true. She was a known vixen… and informant. Her father had done me many favors in the past; perhaps helping the crown was a family affair.

“I could have her expelled,” I thought out loud. “A child born on the other side of the border cannot by law rule here.”

“Expelled for what?” Olivia challenged nonchalantly as she examined her nails.

“Magic. Her mother was expelled for having magic, and just this week, Violet publicly admitted to having magical knowledge for her trade deal with Dark Forest. She probably has magic, too.”

I turned to Olivia. “I saw you talking to her several times this evening, and if she told you about her pregnancy as you claim, then she must trust you. Do you know if she has magic?”

Olivia crossed her legs, revealing high up her thighs as she did. “Whether or not she has magic is irrelevant since you can’t prove it. Sounds like a risky route to keep her child from getting the crown.”

I sighed, irritated. “I suppose you have a suggestion?”

Her smiled widened into a smirk. “You and Lucas seem to be very buddy-buddy.”

“And?”

“Were you in prison, you trust him to do your bidding in your stead?”

I trusted Lucas as far as I could throw him. But he was malleable and easily manipulated. “You suggest I preemptively appoint a successor in the case of my untimely demise?”

I had never heard of such a thing, and I wondered if it could be done. It certainly would solve a lot of problems since my wife and I had not yet produced an heir.

Olivia let out a half-laugh. “Nobles would never accept a non-relation to succeed the throne.”

Her eyes gleamed as she leaned forward, revealing her ample cleavage. “But they might accept a legal relation if, let’s say, the Alphas of each territory could vote on those related to the bloodline, including by marriage. Once your brother marries his… mate,” her eyes met mine at that word, and I wondered if it was possible for her to know, “Eva would be in the running.”

“Eva,” she repeated, “who would listen to her sister, Nora, who would listen to her husband, Lucas, who you trust to listen to you.”

My nostrils flared at the realization that even Olivia Bronson knew Eva and Nora were sisters, even though I had only just found that out today. Though that also increased my confidence in her information about Violet’s child being my brother’s progeny.

My eyes narrowed at this sensual woman, my heat boiling as I wondered if I could convince her to come home with me – or at least follow me to another room in this building for ten minutes. “What’s in it for you?”

I was disappointed when she leaned back in her chair, farther away from me, flipping her hair over her shoulder with a smirk. “I’ve become friendly with Eva, and if never hurts to be friends with a queen.”

“Potential queen,” I corrected.

Her smile never faded. “Of course, Your Majesty.” She looked me over, and I began to harden beneath all my dreadful, royal robes.

“Ideally, I’ll find out all the information you need to stop Alpha Nightshade from taking the crown from you. But,” she shrugged, “just in case, better my dear friend, Eva, then Violet’s fetus to take your place.”

“You plan to help me stop my brother from getting the crown?”

Olivia smiled like the snake she was. “Absolutely.”