*Maddox*
The dungeon beneath the castle is cleaner and less… damp, than most since the clean up of staff after the debacle with Zabrina. I still don’t like spending time down here, but there’s no other place to keep my enemies.
I pass the cell where the man who’d attacked Isla and Poppy is sitting, his back to me. He doesn’t look up as I walk by, but I notice several scuffs on the smooth stone outside of the cell, like someone has been pacing back and forth just outside the bars.
There is no doubt in my mind that Antony has been coming down here just to taunt the man, to walk along the bars and sneer and spit at him, and the man likely knows full well that Antony will take him apart piece by piece, slow and methodical, to avenge his mate, when I gave him the green light to do so.
What will need to happen to Seth seems like a mercy in comparison.
I turn a corner and come to a stop in front of a heavy metal door, a light flickering overhead. Amber light spills over the floor as I curl my hand around the knob, my heart caught in my throat.
The next time I go through this door, the man behind it will be no more than a stranger, sentenced to the death he deserves, even if in my heart I want nothing more than to forgive him.
I can’t, not after what he’s done. But I need to know why.
Seth is sitting in the corner of the cell when I walk through the door and close it behind me. Bars separate us, and the room is cast in a greenish-hued glow from a dust covered lightbulb fixed to the ceiling. He lifts up his head, the corner of his mouth twitching as I grab for the stool and sit down, my eyes on him the entire time.
He looks awful–sickly and pale. Bruises line his jaw, and one eye is shut tight and swollen, oozing with what looks and smells like infection.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” he says after a tense moment. He stretches his legs out in front of him, grimacing with the movement.
“I don’t take kindly to being summoned by those lower than me,” I say tersely, narrowing my eyes at him. “I was going to let you rot in here, anyway. I don’t see how you can have anything to add to your case.”
“Don’t you want to know the truth?”
“Of course,” I reply after a moment, but my throat is dry. “If I can even trust anything you say.”
“I want to make a deal–”
“No.”
Seth shifts his weight, his face tight with pain.
“How long?” I ask. “How long have you been plotting against me?”
“Since Rebecca died and left you without an heir.”
“Why?”
His eyes flash to mine, a wicked, smug smirk stretching across his mouth. “Because you were weak, vulnerable. An Alpha King without a Luna… without an heir? Your throne was ripe for the taking, Maddox, and I saw my opportunity to strike.”
I say nothing but keep my gaze locked on his, bidding him to continue.
“I conferred with other Alphas. I listened to their words, took stock of their grievances and doubts. What I realized was that something needed to be done, a final nail in the coffin, so to speak, and the opportunity came about… but–” he trailed off, licking his dry, swollen lower lip. “Isla was not what I thought she would be.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was the one who had a breeder brought to this castle. I laid her like a sacrificial lamb at your feet while playing the fool, encouraging your bond with her while the Alphas raged over your decision to secure an heir through a lowly, nameless breeder instead of taking one of their daughters as a Luna. They say it as traitorous, and I fueled that flame by defending you, egging you on, putting Isla in your path time and time again until you were so in love with her that you didn’t realize your entire kingdom was slipping through your fingers. I put Trinity in your way when Isla began to pull back. I couldn’t let her leave you, not then. I put faith in the idea that she’d be jealous and stay, continue to keep you distracted–”
“Trinity–”
“Trinity is a stupid, useless broad who had no idea she was caught up in my scheme until an incredibly inconvenient time,” Seth seethes, spitting.
“She found the book and planted it for me to see,” I say, more to myself than to him. “She said you tried to talk her out of it–”
“I told her she could be your Luna if she plays the game right. I whispered in her ear constantly, molding her to my will without her realizing it. She was too fucking dense to take my bait. I needed you both here, to just stay here, to stay the fuck away from the diamond–”
“You wanted Isla and I separated–”
“I wanted the opportunity to kill you without Isla in the way!” he practically screams, his voice echoing through the tight room. “Those powers of hers… of all the women I could’ve chosen to become your breeder, it had to be her, didn’t it? A breeder with powers shooting from her palms. Able to heal people with her tears. Able to track down a diamond to restore peace to our lands. You went after her, and I couldn’t stop it, so instead, I turned my focus on finding a way to get the diamond from you when you returned and by sowing the seeds of war straight from your own home”
“You rallied the Alphas at the castle when I was gone.” I run my tongue along my lower lip, watching the sickly smile spread over his face. “You staged a mutiny–”
“I riled them up, fed them lies, told them your new Luna would turn our traditions and society on its head with her dark magic. I told them she put a spell on you, and that child in her womb would be the death of life as we know it.” He leans forward, painfully, his arms crossed over his stomach. “But then your prince was born, and you took him outside for the Alphas to see and they… they saw hope. They saw a future in that child. They saw a future king, not a bastard born of a breeder.”
“So you meant to kill me on the quest, then?”
“I led you astray. I didn’t know Alpha Hunter had a different map. I had to do something, so I lured in those rogues, but you survived. I knew you had your suspicions of me, and I was losing my grip on the situation. You were never meant to make it as far as you did. You shouldn’t be here right now–”
“And my son?” I ask, cutting him off.
“He had to die,” he answers with a shrug, totally unfazed. “What would have been the point of killing just you when there was a prince who’d one day grow up to take your place?”
“He is just an infant–”
“Who is alive only because of the diamond.”
“What do you know about it?”
“No more than you,” he says, but I know he’s lying.
“What is going to happen now?” I ask. “Who else is in on this?”
He mulls this over for a moment, crossing his legs with great effort.
“I couldn’t have… allies, Maddox. Not when I wanted the throne for myself.”
“But you were working with someone?”
“Only someone who saw the true value of the diamond. You’ll meet her soon enough.”
I lean forward, growling, “Who?”
“I don’t know her name, or what she looks like, or where she lives. She kept it that way, making it so I’d never remember what her voice sounds like, that I wouldn’t recognize her–”
“You’re fucking with me–”
“Witches love diamonds, wouldn’t you agree?”
My blood runs cold as I straighten my back, watching a smug expression drift over Seth’s face. He’s not even trying to plead his case. He’s giving me no options. He doesn’t want to be saved.
I choke on the words that I want to say to him. To ask him why he’d put me in the position to choose between his life and his death. I’d thought we were close, friends… brothers.
I’d put my trust in him. I’d trusted him with not only my life, but the lives of my mate and son.
“You know what must happen,” I say after a moment.
“I want to die by your hand,” he says, but I shake my head.
“You’ll die a traitor’s death because that’s what you are.” I rise from the stool, clearing my throat as I look down at the cold, stone ground before catching his gaze again. “You’ll hang.”
He swallows, saying nothing in response, but finally breaks from my gaze and turns to look at the wall. I turn to leave, then stop, turning back to face him.
“Trinity–”
“Was not involved,” he says, his voice wavering with emotion for the first time. “It was me. I manipulated her.”
I nod, then turn, opening the door and walking through it without looking back. I hurry up the stairs to the main floor of the castle and find Antony pacing just outside the door. He looks at me, a silent plea in his eyes. He’s trembling like a starved beast waiting for his Alpha to give him a piece of the kill.
“Don’t make a mess,” I say, striding past him. He lets out his breath and is gone before I blink, his footsteps retreating into the dark depths of the dungeon.
The house is quiet as I make my way upstairs. My heart is barely beating as I walk up the steps and into the quiet hallway where my family keeps their private chambers. I slowly open the door to Isaac’s room, nodding at the young nanny rocking in a chair near his bed, her hands busy knitting. She gives me a soft smile as I look over at Isaac, who is peacefully dreaming.
I pause at the door to the room I share with Isla. I sigh heavily, fighting the tightness in my chest as I slowly turn the knob and open the door. She’s waiting at the edge of the bed, her expression full of concern.
I close the door behind me, choking on the words left unsaid between Seth and me.
She doesn’t ask me if I’m all right. I don’t want her to because I can’t possibly explain how I feel right now. Not to her, not to myself.
“I’ll need a new Beta,” I say, turning my back to her and unbuttoning my shirt.
“I know. There is no rush.”
“Antony is taking care of Seth’s associate.”
She hums, then chuckles softly, “Poppy will be happy to have her mate back to his senses.”
I try to smile, but I find it impossible.