Chapter 49

Caleb

My head ached, and even the starlight hurt my eyes as I blinked them open. I coughed, and spat out a bit of dirt.

My joints felt like they hadn’t been used in years, but when I stretched and tried to sit up, I felt a painful pinprick at my throat.

“Don’t you fucking move,” an unfamiliar voice threatened. I opened my eyes to see the tip of a knife pressing into the flesh just below my jaw. Great.

“You’re going to stay here until I’m finished with you. The great Caleb, taken down by his brother’s gamma. Can you imagine the headlines tomorrow? They’ll ruin you,” he said, speaking too fast.

He sounded nervous and rambling.

“What do you want, kid?” I replied, groaning at the throbbing pain in my temples. “I don’t have time for this.”

“You’re going to have to make time, after you destroyed my life. I had everything I ever wanted, I was on the way to making my mate fully mine, and you took that chance from me.”

I raised an eyebrow. My vision had cleared just enough that I could make out his face.

I hadn’t gotten a good, clear look at him during the fight in the ballroom between him and Lucas. He seemed even smaller up close, and the terror in his expression made him appear nonthreatening.

“What exactly did I do?” I said, somewhat amused.

He dug the knife in deeper, and I could feel the slight give that meant he had punctured my skin. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it caused a tiny droplet of blood to trickle down to my chest. He might not have been a fighter, but that didn’t mean the blade at my throat wasn’t a problem.

“Woah, easy,” I said.

His fingers trembled around the handle. “You forced her to say those things,” he whispered.

“What things?” I responded, watching his face for a crack.

“That she didn’t love me and wanted to be with Lucas, and not me. That isn’t true, it can’t be true, she’s my mate, it was all political.”

I saw the break in his eyes as a single tear fell onto his chest. I seized the opportunity, and grabbed at the blade with my left hand.

The sharp edges cut into my palms painfully, but Adrian was so surprised by the swift movement I threw the knife away before he realized what was happening.

“Your mate, huh?” I said back, my voice low and darkening.

“I…” he said, stumbling backwards and falling onto his back.

I retrieved the knife with my bloodied hand, kneeling over Adrian’s chest to press the tip into his sternum. It sliced cleanly through his shirt, but I kept the pressure light enough not to cut him. Not yet.

“You think because she was your mate, she would never betray you? That she loved you the way a mate is supposed to? Honestly and genuinely?” I pressed the blade in ever so slightly deeper.

He whimpered, his lower lip protruding like a pouting, crying toddler. He looked pathetic.

“She has been using you.”

”No, she couldn’t—“

”Where the fuck have you been? This is the real world, and people cheat and lie and scam. Just because she promised that she loved you doesn’t mean she wouldn’t trade you in for someone better.”

Adrian’s eyes were glued to the knife in my hands. He wasn’t hearing a word I said. Goddess damn it.

I replaced the blade with my hand at his throat, forcing him to look up into my face. “I could not care less about your romantic life, or whatever the fuck you think I did to ruin it. But I want you to get this through your fucking head so you never bother me again.”

He was breathing rapidly like a prey animal in the jaws of a predator. His pupils were dilated, and for a moment I pitied him. How did a weakling like this get so close to Lucas in the first place?

I bent down clutching harder at his throat until his lips started turning blue. “She didn’t care about you and never did.”

He let out a short sob.

“Just like she used Lucas to get closer to the throne, she used you to get to Lucas. She was never going to leave him for you.” I let go of his throat, and he gasped to catch his breath.

“Women like that don’t choose love over power,” an unwanted memory from my past resurfaced in my mind. A beautiful face, lips I had kissed a thousand times.

I shook it out of my mind. “They want to win, and if playing you is part of the game, they’ll do it.”

He rolled over onto his side, coughing up dirt as tears streamed down his cheeks.

I brushed the gravel off my shirt and ran my good hand through my hair. It was getting cold, and the sounds of the party in the ballroom were loud even out here. My phone was dead, and there was no way for me to tell how long I had been out cold in the gardens.

“You are not my problem,” I said coldly, walking away from Adrian’s shaking frame. “Make sure you never become one again.”

His pleas echoed quietly behind me as I started out of the maze surrounding the Lily Fountain. I had spent a lot of time among these plants and bushes, so I was sure it would be easy enough to make my way out.

Are you alright? Thor asked timidly, his presence appearing in my mind.

What the hell does that mean? I responded sourly, shaking the last of my headache away.

You know, the whole trust and betrayal thing… Adrian’s not exactly a bundle of joy. He said.

I groaned, realizing I had taken a wrong turn already and was in a deadend. I am perfectly fine. I just need to get back to the Ball before Ruby or anyone else notices I’ve been gone too long.

I could feel the smirk in Thor’s voice, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby.

I raised an eyebrow. What is that supposed to mean?

You think about her all the time, she’s your first concern whenever something goes wrong.

I think getting out unharmed is usually a little higher on my priority list to be honest, I replied.

Maybe, but the reason you got into that whole mess in the first place was how badly you needed to protect her. You jumped off the balcony, if you’ve already forgotten.

I grunted in response, and took the last turn out of the maze. The lights from the ballroom windows looked like a kaleidoscope of color.

Ruby was in there somewhere.

I immediately squashed that idea.

All I want is to win this night from Lucas. I said to Thor, and pulled open the door to the palace.