Chapter 31

NOLAN

Yena was sound asleep by the time Nolan got home. He slid into bed beside her and got about two solid hours of sleep before his phone woke him up.

The prince had about a dozen news alerts set to trigger a notification on his phone any time something was published online that mentioned certain keywords.

Waking to the sound he had assigned to news alerts, Nolan rolled over and reached out for his phone, expecting the notification be something trivial.

It was not trivial.

He shot straight up in bed and opened up the link.

There was a photo of two people walking in the rain, together under a single umbrella. He recognized Yena but could not tell immediately who the tall man with his arm around her was.

The headline at the top of the article read, Princess Yena Spotted in Intimate Embrace with Husband’s Half-Brother.

Nolan scrolled down. There were more photos.

And yes, the man in the picture was Adan.

He took a deep, noisy inhale through his nose and let it out slowly, trying to calm himself.

This confirmed his fear. Adan really had taken the job at WNA to get close to Yena.

To use her against him.

He looked over at Yena, who was asleep on her side, facing the other direction. He shook his head in disbelief.

Nolan didn’t recognize the setting where the pictures had been taken. It was raining heavily around them in the photos. He figured they had probably been somewhere on the school campus.

The photographer must have been very lucky to happen upon this moment.

The pictures were shot from pretty close range. Between the six or so photos printed in the article, you could see the scene from a few different angles. Both Yena’s and Adan’s faces were captured clearly, despite the rough weather.

Lucky, Nolan thought. Or carefully orchestrated.

He zoomed in to study each picture. In one, he recognized a black car just behind the princess, with a chauffeur standing beside it.

More alerts were pinging his phone, as the article was re-posted across dozens of social media and news sites. He went into his alert settings and turned off notifications for the “Princess Yena” tag.

He laid his head back down on the pillow and sighed.

He was going to let himself try to catch just a little more sleep. Then first thing when he got up, he would pay a visit to the palace concierge, and see if he could track down the driver who witnessed this event at Yena’s school.

He had some questions.

Adan took the steps two at a time, jogging up the short flight of stairs at the front of Harlan’s mansion in about one second flat. He rapped his knuckles on the front door and a servant let him inside.

Kerr met him in the lobby with a rough hug and a double whiskey in a highball glass.

They walked together to the back of the first floor, where two others, a man and a woman, were waiting beside the library fireplace.

The man strode over to Adan with open arms and swept him into an embrace.

“Rey,” Adan said, grinning. “My brilliant uncle. Thanks for coming tonight.”

“No thanks necessary,” the man said, winking. “Any opportunity for an audience with our new future king, and I’ll be there.” He patted Adan on the shoulder.

Rey was in fact Adan’s uncle, though the man was also three years younger than him.

That oddity was, of course, thanks to the simple fact that the former King, after losing his first Luna to illness thirty years into their marriage, found a second wife that was thirty years younger than him. That second Luna gave birth to a second son the year they were married, and that child was Rey.

Adan disliked Rey in general. He was too chatty, and he had a big smile that Adan found ugly and unfortunate. It was too wide, revealing too much of his teeth and gums.

But the man was loyal as a dog, so Adan kept him around. He didn’t know yet how he was going to use his uncle in his campaign to overthrow Nolan, but he’d find something for Rey to do when the right opportunity arrived.

The woman offered Adan a much more professional greeting, simply bowing her head to him and raising her own whiskey glass to his in a toast.

She was Kerr’s sister. Like her brother, Clarice was also a politician. And tonight she certainly looked the part, dressed in an expensive red suit and six-inch heels, wearing her long, perfect hair in shiny waves that looked camera-ready.

Time flew by as the four drank a few rounds and chatted by the fire. Then finally Kerr struck the side of an empty glass with a spoon, catching everyone’s attention.

“Friends,” he roared, “we could spend all evening enjoying each other’s company. But that’s not what we came here for. Let’s give our guest of honor, who no doubt called us here tonight for a reason, our undivided attention now.”

“Thank you, old friend,” Adan said with a smile.

He rose and walked over to the fireplace. The fire was dying down, and he crouched beside it to give it more fuel. He picked through a wood pile next to the fireplace carefully, selecting about six pieces.

He started talking to the group like this, with his back to them. Working on the fire.

“It’s been a long time,” he said, in the strong and confident voice of a storyteller. “A long time since this nation has had a truly great Lycan King.”

Rey grumbled something and raised his glass.

The larger logs were in place where he wanted them. Adan grabbed a little pinch of wood shavings from a tin on the mantel, and tossed it in.

The wood shavings ignited with a WHOOSH and the fire caught onto the new structure Adan had set in place. The flames roared high with new life, blasting light and heat into the library.

“I want what you all want,” Adan said, turning back around to face his little band of allies. “War.”

The group erupted into shouts and howls of agreement.

Adan held up one hand, silencing them.

“But what we’re doing won’t be easy,” he said. “And it might take time.”

“We saw a little something about you in the news this morning, though,” Clarice said, flashing Adan a wicked smile. “Looks like you’ve already gotten started.”

“Ah,” Adan said, sitting back down in his chair. “Yes, things are well underway with the princess.”

“She seems like quite a character,” Rey said, his mouth wide in that big, gummy smile of his. “Nothing but drama with that one.”

“Fat little slut,” Clarice said, shaking her head. “Can you believe it? A commoner marrying a Lycan royal, all because he fucked her one night in the woods, and then felt sorry for her.”

Kerr and Rey erupted into laughter.

The three of them went on for a while, having a little fun at Yena’s expense. They called her a dumb blonde and a stupid whore. They cackled and praised Adan for his clever idea to use her in their plot.

An odd little sensation prickled at him as he listened to his friends trashing the princess. A part of him wanted to tell them to stop. Or say something in her defense.

He liked the girl. It was as simple as that.

He hadn’t expected to. But it turned out that she was… delightful.

He was attracted to her, too. Her eyes sparkled with a kind of passion you just didn’t come across often. And her body was all made up of smooth, tempting curves.

But Adan wasn’t so soft-hearted that he would change his plans to spare her.

Using Yena was critical to the success of his plot against Nolan. And besides, love was not something Adan believed in anymore.

It was an illusion. A useless emotion. One he never planned to give into again.

Adan cleared his throat loudly.

“Back to the matter at hand,” he said. “The position I’ve taken at the Academy requires my presence on campus forty hours a week. That leaves the work of recruitment to my trusted conspirators.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Kerr replied, speaking on behalf of the group.

Rey and Clarice nodded in agreement.

“You focus on your work with the princess,” Kerr continued, “and we will start building your army.”