âHanna is here,â Micah finally said after contemplating for a whole minute.
He was planning for them to leave the Red River pack and go back to the palace once Abby was cleared to set out on that long and arduous journey.
After all, it would take at least two days to reach the capital city and he didnât want to make Abby suffer through it.
So he delayed it until she could recover enough to embark on that journey.
Meanwhile, Hannaâs matter couldnât be delayed any more because the decision had to be made by Abby.
He could have let the woman follow them to the capital, but he wasnât sure if that was what Abby wanted.
Even though he knew how she loved her older sister when they were kids after seeing her memories while marking her, he couldnât comprehend her emotions after all the abuse the woman put her through all these years.
Abby craved love from her and Beta Ryan, their father, for ten years, but was turned away every single time.
She was pushed away by them until she couldnât even decide to continue to hate them or save them when Micah decided to exile them from his kingdom.
She stayed silent then, but he wanted to let her decide what she wanted to do with her own sister this time.
On the other hand, Abby was stumped for a moment when Micah suddenly mentioned her sisterâs name.
âHanna? Myâ¦â She stopped half way through her question and Micah could see the turmoil in her eyes.
Abby couldnât even say the word sister because every time she addressed Hanna with that relation, she would always end up punishing her twice as hard.
Her rebuttal would always be the same as well. âIâm no sister to a monster like you.â
Her voice would always be so menacing, Abby remembered screaming âyou are the real monsterlâ in her sisterâs face once.
But the consequences were so dire, where Hanna made her beg for forgiveness by kowtowing to her until she passed out.
Only she didnât let her go even then, as she was forced to continue kowtowing to Hanna right after she regained consciousness.
Abby felt her eyes tear up at the memory and through their mate bond, Micah could vaguely hear her thoughts.
He couldnât help but clench his fists when he realized the exact moment she was thinking about.
However, before he could let his urge to punch the woman to death overwhelm his senses, he heard Abby asking him something.
âHow?â
Just a single word question! Abby didnât understand how her sister ended up in this Red River pack when both her and their father were banned from this kingdom.
Micah immediately explained to her the events that transpired after she fell unconscious and how they couldnât find a single clue on Calpinâs whereabouts.
Up until now, they didnât talk about what happened before she woke up.
So the King took this chance to update her briefly.
âShe is one of the rogues we capturedâ¦â Micah couldnât help but search Abbyâs face when he told her this slowly.
And when Abby understood what he meant, she couldnât help but gasp at the realization.
What were the odds?
âSo, do you want to meet her?â The King asked her finally when she didnât say anything after learning Hanna fell into Calpinâs hands.
From what Micah said, all the other rogues were killed. Only Hanna was spared because she was her older sister.
He didnât shift her to the pack house and was still keeping her in the dungeon.
But the question was; did she want to meet her?
What would she do after that? Talk to her? About what?
She didnât even know how she felt about meeting Hanna. So she told him the truth.
âI donât know,â Abby said at last.
Micah could understand her. So he told her to think it over.
âWe will most likely leave in three days. So you can take your time,â the King said, k*ssing her forehead as he laid her on the bed, so she could take a small nap before dinner.
On the other hand, Abby couldnât fall asleep after learning about this sudden turn of events.
Moreover, if Hanna had become Calpinâs puppet? Where was Ryan, their father?
Was he also under Calpinâs influence?
If he was? Did he die in the battle? Or was he still with Calpin?
If he wasnât? What happened to him?
All kinds of thoughts plagued Abbyâs mind, and Micah could hear half of them.
However, he didnât try to interrupt her thoughts and waited until she fell asleep and then went to the room next door where his royal ga mma was waiting for him to report something.
âMy King, something big happened in the capital,â Dex told the King as soon as he closed the door behind him âBe specific,â Micah said to his royal ga mma who looked beyond flustered.
âThe elders and the royal council sent a missiveâ¦â
Micah was confused for a moment when Dex said that the elders and the royal council were urging him to return to the capital as soon as possible.
âThey found out about the attack,â Micah said, after taking a look at all the missives he received from the capital.
Micah was so livid he couldnât help but slam the table hard, right where the missives were placed, sending them all flying into the air.
He warned his father not to take detours but he seemed to have done the exact opposite.
Who did he target for his answers?
But then, he was talking about the former king of this kingdom. It was a no brainer he would have one or two tricks up his sleeve to get what he wanted.
He underestimated his fatherâs tendency to poke his head into things he wasnât supposed to worry about.
Now he instigated the entire palace against him.
All of this was going to turn into an epic of epic cluster f ucksâ¦
Arthur believed with all of his heart that he was doing the right thing.
Abby was neither correct for his son, Micah, nor for the position of the queen of this kingdom.
Someone so weak as her would be the last candidate to be entrusted with such high responsibilities.
But when his son couldnât see it, nor was he ready to understand where his own father was coming from in this matter, until he was asking himself to reject his own mate, Arthur decided to involve people who could make Micah bend his will.
And he didnât hesitate to set his plan into motion the moment he returned to the palace.
However, he let someone else do the dirty work for him.
Someone who hated Abby more than himself and would be the first person to celebrate if Micah threw her away.
âHow could he hide something this big from us?â Mark, one of the elders, looked really disappointed when Leon, the former royal beta, finished reporting âhis findingsâ to the elders as per Arthurâs instructions.
âHe even marked that Abby girl in a rush and kept it a secretâ¦â Gavin, another elder, said, rubbing his chin.
They couldnât understand Micahâs reasons for keeping something so important like marking his mate or dealing with a powerful enemy, who seemed to have escaped.
âBeats me. He never went out of his way or forgot his responsibilities in the past,â Leon supplied, cu nningly directing their lines of thought.
And just as he predicted, the eldersâ faces turned hard when they realized what changed in Micahâs life.
His mate came into it!
Just as they connected the incidents to Abbyâs arrival like he wanted, Leon dropped another bomb on them.
âThey say she is half a witch, born to a witch mother and shifter father,â the former royal beta said, and saw how their expressions twisted even more with the reveal.
Once he was done doing his part, he left the meeting hall with this cu nning smirk on his face.
He had already instigated the royal council until they couldnât wait to chew the head of the King out and make him leave that Abby.
How dare she become an inconvenience in his daughterâs life?
The King actually punished his daughter for something she wasnât responsible for just because Abby got lost while Ruby was with her.
Arthur chose Leon for this job for this exact reason.
He didnât think he himself could be as cu nning as that old fox of his former royal beta when executing such jobs like provoking people, Leon had always been well versed in such things. He knew exactly what to say and now, the entire palace would be on his side with no doubt.
He would see how his son was going to shut them all up like he did his own father.
When the time came, he would be the one to stay silent for not having suitable reasons for his actions.
He actually let a dangerous enemy escape because of his mate, which was utterly unacceptable for a ruler when he was supposed to look at the bigger picture and act accordingly.
âMy King, what should we do now?â Alpha Samuel asked Micah as he looked at the new information they received on the impending rogue attack.
Just as Micah called the Alpha to arrange for his departure as soon as possible, they received a report stating that there was going to be another rogue attack.
Now they fell into a dilemma, as they had to make a hard decision over whether the King should leave to calm down the people from the palace or stay behind to deal with the rogues.