Louisa's POV
I was petrified.
Me? The King's sister?!
Zabel said, "Tallulah gave birth to a boy before she was cast away. The boy is Lycidas and he was born to be the next King. However, the Red Queen didn't think he was the right candidate for the throne, so she cast away Lycidas along with your pregnant mother. After that, I was born. I was chosen to be the next King, but it turned out that I was born to be the defective one in our family. That's why Zack had to be born."
"But who gave birth to you? The late King Duko had only one wife in his life and it was my mother!" I was puzzled.
Zabel didn't say anything. He took out all the flowers from the vase and tossed them into the trash bin.
"Nobody. We don't have a mother, little girl," Zabel replied with tremendous sorrow in his eyes. "Anyway, as Zack was growing up, he started to show a string of traits that were considered to be unfit for the throne."
"Do you mean that...?" I was hesitant.
"Yes. It turned out he doesn't like women," Zabel said. "He only likes me."
He looked out of the window into the night sky.
I saw sparks of tears in his eyes.
I was speechless.
For a long while, neither of us said anything.
In the darkest night, darker secrets prevailed.
Zabel looked so vulnerable standing in front of me.
Then, he moved to sit on the edge of my bed.
I stretched out my arms to hold his hands.
"This is very private and sensitive information and I do hope you could keep it to yourself," Zabel said. "I have never told anyone about it. Everyone thinks he's a queer and I'm a wretch. I'd rather we keep it that way."
"Zabel..." I whispered.
"You don't have to show any empathy for me. The reason I'm telling you this isn't for your empathy. I just need you to know the story of our family," he said.
I nodded and held his hands more tightly.
"When the Red Queen found out about this, she was furious. She wanted to punish Zack and me for being completely useless. That's why she turned to the druids for help."
"The druids?" I asked.
"Yes. After the explosion of Kanz Mountain, several relics from the Azula Ruins appeared on the mainland. With the power of Clemency Ring, the druids came back to the mainland again," Zabel said.
"But they couldn't communicate with werewolves..." I said.
"No. That's why the Red Queen found a hybrid of a warlock and a human being who could speak. She forced him to communicate with the druids, to ask him for help."
"Derek?! Do you mean the Red Queen found Derek?!" I asked.
Derek was Darren's brother. He used to be Lucas' slave when he was still alive.
"Yes. That was his name," Zabel nodded.
"But... What did Daliah want from them?!" I asked.
Zabel looked at me and said, "As I said, the Red Queen wanted to look for ways to punish me and Zack. Severely."
"She... She's crazy! What kind of... What kind of person does things like that to others? I mean..."
"The Red Queen was diagnosed with a terminal disease. She was like me. She was the defective one in her family. There was a tumor in her brain that kept pressing her nerves and gave her illusions," Zabel said.
"But that's still too outrageous... A sick person should be treated and taken care of, not doing those abhorring things to others."
"Yes. But the problem was, she didn't realize that she was sick," he said. "To her, everything was about sustaining pure Lycan blood. When she was young, she used to hide in the library for ages, looking for proof to support her mad ideas. And she really found it. Guillaume's Principles. They were abandoned long ago but were reinvested by her. That's why she forced every single one of us to learn Guillaume's Principles in the Royal Academy. Lucian couldn't put up with it, so he left. But not everyone had the same courage and freedom of choice."
I was silent.
"Why was she so desperate? What happened to her when she was young? I mean, it seemed she was very troubled and traumatized..." I said.
Zabel said, "Her life was out of control from the very beginning. She was raped by his brother, the Raven King, who was the late King Duko's father. Then, she was forced to deliver his son, the late King Duko, our father. That woman had never found love in her life, Louisa. Everything to her was a reason for another resentment. And people who don't have love do terrible things to themselves and others. It's not what they want to do, but they have to. They do this to get back the lost control of their lives."
"What happened to her later? Lycidas is the King now," I said.
"After she cast your mother away, your father became very sick. He missed your mother because she was his mate. The longer time he was away from her, the sicker he got. After years of torture, the King finally collapsed. Daliah then declared the King was unfit and imprisoned him in the Royal Library. People in the Kingdom wanted to save the King. So, following the lead of Lucian's parents, they started the Crescent Coup. But they failed and they were ruthlessly suppressed. Lucian's parents were exiled while everyone else was punished. After that, the Red Queen started to act as the Regent Queen on his son's behalf. Everything was fine, until one day, Zack decided to look for Lycidas. Then, a few days later, he walked into a brothel in Ivory City and found Lycidas, who was spending a whale of a time with hookers while capitalizing on his exile life."
"Why did Zackery decide to look for him?" I asked.
Zabel lowered his head and sighed, without saying anything.
Then, I heard Zackery's voice -
"It was because I found out what the Red Queen was going to do with us."