Chapter 220

As Bethany talk, I learn more about her than I ever have before. It makes me feel like a truly awful friend. Bethany has stood by me through thick and thin, yet I still knew so little about her. I’m determined to rectify this oversight, and dive into her life here and now as much as I can.

Yet, while we are talking, we are soon interrupted by a knock on the door. We both fall silent for a moment, listening. When the knocking persists, I call out, “Who is there?”

“Excuse me, ma’am,” a male voice replies.

“That’s Cameron,” Bethany whispers in a rush, her eyes alight with excitement.

“I’m looking for Bethany? Is she in there with you?” he calls.

I look at Bethany to see what she wants to do. When she gives me a hopeful look, I know what I must do.

“Come in, please,” I call.

The door opens and Cameron appears. Oddly he seems less friendly than he did before. Now he has a grim look on his face. He walks toward us and then around us. Walking to the nightstand, he reaches under the lampshade and retrieves the listening device.

My mouth drops open, but I don’t say a word, not wanting to voice what we know about the devices.

As I watch, he makes several more stops around the room, collecting more of the devices here and there. When he appears satisfied, he carries his haul to one of the side tables in the sitting room. There, he lifts up a small statuette, then brings it down hard on the devices, smashing them.

The moment he’s done, Bethany rushes forward to him. “What are you doing?”

“’What am I doing?’” he parrots. “What are you doing? Why are you here, Bethany? What could have possibly possessed you to come to a place that is so obviously dangerous?”

Bethany seems absolutely flabbergasted by Cameron’s shift in person. In her defense, I rush to stand beside her where he confronts her in the sitting room.

“Bethany didn’t come here because she wanted to. She’s here because she is my handmaiden,” I say with some annoyance. “She goes where I go.”

“So you are the one who brought her here?” Cameron says, shifting his glare at me.

“Yes,” I say firmly.

“Harper, you don’t have to defend me like this,” Bethany insists. “Being with you is my job. And as you are my friend, I willingly travel with you.”

“Friends?” Cameron says. “A friend wouldn’t bring a friend into the most dangerous place in the kingdom. Gladys has been hoping that you and Caleb would visit. She’s been planning for this for months.”

“Planning what, Cameron?” Bethany presses.

“Did you really think that Gladys would let you leave? Any of you? She’s working with the rebellion. Having the King here in her domain is the only thing she’s ever really wanted. Now that you are here, you are in her trap.”

“Why should I believe you?” I press. It’s not that I don’t want to. The very reason we are here is because we suspect that Gladys is working with the rebellion and we want to find Tristan and the rebel stronghold.

Yet it’s almost too convenient for Cameron to be here, to be so ready to share information like he wants to help.

Looking at Bethany, I can see that she wants to believe him, looking at him with her wide trusting eyes. Their mutual past must make it easier for her trust, even here where everything is a mess and no one can or should be trusted.

“I don’t care about the war, the king, or the rebels. I’m just trying to find a way to make money. I’m a mercenary,” Cameron says.

“Not a servant?” I ask. Caleb and I already suspected the answer, as all of the servants looked ex-military. Still, having Cameron confirm that notion now is no less unnerving.

“No, none of us are,” Cameron says. “Surely you noticed that.”

Bethany glances at me. “We did.”

“She can’t keep us prisoner here,” I say. “We can leave whenever we want.”

“You think you can,” Cameron says. “Gladys is still attempting to be cordial with you, but soon that façade will drop. She has you right where she wants you, Harper. There’s no way you or the King will get out of here alive.”

The butler insisted on taking Caleb back to his room, but seems to be veering off course now as they are upstairs.

“This isn’t the right way to my room,” Caleb says.

“I’m sure Gladys will want to speak with you,” the butler says. “I’m taking you to see her instead.”

“It’s late,” Caleb counters. “Surely she wishes to sleep.”

A woman of her age should be asleep by now. Though this mystery only adds to my suspicion. There’s very little chance we are actually going to see Gladys, but I am curious as to where the butler is actually taking him.

Obviously, with Caleb poking around in the library, he’s garnered his own amount of suspicion. Yet, even with the butler having a military background, surely he can’t think he could overpower an Alpha – let alone the strongest Alpha in the kingdom, the king.

Caleb is willing to see this through, at least to some extent, more curious than concerned. Yet, as the butler starts leading him down some narrow corridors, alarm bells begin ringing in Caleb’s mind.

This could be some kind of attempt to confine him. If he’s confined, he won’t be able to properly protect Harper. Right now, she’s with Bethany in their room. While he trusts Bethany, he knows she would not be able to protect Harper against the soldiers impersonating servants.

The most Bethany could do in danger is run to find Caleb, but if Caleb is confined, he will not be able to do anything to help.

He will not endanger Harper, not even to sate his curiosity. So he stops.

The butler, noticing Caleb isn’t following him anymore stops as well.

“King Caleb? This way,” the butler urges, gesturing forward.

“No, I don’t think so,” Caleb says, staring to back away. “It’s too late for a meeting. If Gladys has something to say to me, she can do so in the morning. For right now, I’m going back to my room.”

The butler turns to face Caleb. “I really must insist, sir.”

“And I insist that I return to my room.” To Harper. He’s already left her unprotected for far too long. “If you will excuse me.”

Caleb starts to turn.

Then, he hears the telltale sound of a handgun being cocked.

“I must insist you come with me, King Caleb.”

Caleb looks at the man with the gun. Even if it’s filled with silver bullets, the butler can’t think that will be enough to stop him.

Though if he fires many, it would be enough to incapacitate Caleb for a time. Long enough for him to be imprisoned.

Yet Caleb stands firm, glaring at the butler and at his pathetic little gun. Caleb even starts to growl, annoyed how this man thinks he can intimidate Caleb at all.

Yet, before can say one word, mocking this man, the gun goes off, and a bullet plunges into Caleb’s chest.