Chapter 88

Chapter 88 Take her place

CA SSANDRA

As I fought to catch my breath and make sense of all of this, Lancel spoke up

and called out to the man.

“Release the Alpha King’s wife,” he pleaded carefully, and he raised his hands as if in surrender. “We can reach an understanding, but only if you let her go-”

“An understanding?” the man scoffed, and he shook his head slowly as he held tightly onto Adalyn. “There’s nothing to understand. There’s no way you’re going to handle this peacefully. I know I’m dead anyway, so I may as well just take her with

me.”

He gripped onto her even tighter still and dug his claws further into her arm. Adalyn whimpered as trails of blood poured down her skin. My eyes welled up with

tears before I could stop them. This was cruel.

As much as I detested Adalyn, she didn’t deserve this.

“Do you like that, baby?” the man laughed as she writhed under his hold. “Huh? Keep squirming and I’ll do much worse. Trust me, I have all kinds of ways to hurt

you.”

“The king won’t let you get away with this,” Adalyn blurted out bravely.

The man laughed again, and the cruel sound of it was almost enough to send. me to my knees.

“Sure, whatever you say, gorgeous,” he mocked her. “I don’t see him around, do you? Besides… I don’t care what happens to me. All I want is the taste of one of the beautiful women in Wegalla before I go…”

He leaned in close and pressed his l*ps against Adalyn’s n*eck. She cried out in disgust at the vulgar display, but as she tried to shift her b*dy away and break free,

the man’s claws dug into her n*eck. Blood began to spill onto her collarbone and my stomach turned a little at the sight.

The man grinned. “Oops. How clumsy of me. Tell you what, darling, if you keep continue to struggle, I’m going to have no choice but to press in a little deeper.”

He pushed his claws in further to prove his point, and Adalyn cried out in pain. She instantly stopped moving, but her face grew even paler. She looked like a corpse, she was so colorless.

I looked around the room. This was intense, more so than I could bear. No one wanted to do anything out of fear for Adalyn’s safety, but the longer we stood around, the worse things were going to get.

Beyond me, Prince Marco was openly sobbing. I had no idea why no one was escorting the young boy to safety. My heart ached for him. He didn’t deserve this. No one deserved anything like this.

Suddenly, anger flooded through me. This sick, twisted man wasn’t going to get away with all of this.

Not if I had anything to say about it.

I pushed past the few people who stood between me and the circle of guards. and cleared my throat.

“Hey, you!” I blurted out as I took another step closer.

The guards whipped around to stare at me, and the corridor fell silent. The man let out a laugh.

“Oh, we have a brave one, do we?” he mocked me. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m one of the royal healers,” I retorted as I squared my shoulders. “The one who arranged the meeting, in fact. If you want to know anything about the vipers, you should let Lady Adalyn go.”

The man scoffed. “Do you think I’m st upid enough to believe that? I know this is

all a trap. There’s no way you mo rons could have figured out the poisons that were created by the greatest sorcerors in the world. No, I won’t be deceived again. It was a nice try, healer, but you’re going to need to do better than that.”

So my suspicions were correct after all. He knew about the Ewonmiams.

“Why did you steal the book in the library?” I asked him. “And what was in the

box?”

The man huffed loudly.

“I’m sick of these questions,” he practically growled. “You know what, I’ve changed my mind. I want to talk to the king. I don’t need to waste my time on some lowly healer who doesn’t even understand anything.”

I bit my l*p and tried to shove down the frustration that was growing within me. Adalyn’s n*eck was bleeding pretty profusely. Someone needed to intervene before she lost too much blood. Her amber eyes were glazing over already. If we didn’t act

fast, she could lose consciousness.

I took a deep breath. He could insult me all he wanted. I wasn’t afraid anymore.

“Take me hostage instead!” I blurted out. “Please, just let Lady Adalyn go.”

“Excuse me?” the man called out, and then he laughed. “What nonsense are your babbling on about now?”

“Let her go,” I stated again, only louder this time. “You say you want an audience with the king? Well, that’s not going to happen if you kill his wife. You want to speak with him so badly? Take me instead.”

“And why would the king care about some healer?” he sneered. “You speak as if you hold some kind of significance, more so than her. What makes you think the king would even give you a second thought?”

“He would,” I said evenly, and suddenly, I felt a crowd of eyes on me. Even Adalyn managed to stare at me in surprise.

“Foolish girl,” the man replied. “Are you trying to suggest the king is in love with you or something?”

He chortled as if he was amused by my words.

“No,” I said calmly. “But I am his private healer. I mean more to him than your

seem to understand.”

The room remained silent, and the man seemed to be considering my proposal. Despite my newfound bravery, my hands were shaking, and I quickly tightened them in an effort to reclaim my calmness. I had no idea if this would work, but I had

to try.

“Why would you want to save her?” the man asked finally. “From what I’ve overheard, it doesn’t seem as if she particularly cares about you. Why would you take her place?”

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“Not really,” he replied simply. “This just seems like some sort of trick.”

“It’s no trick,” I a*sured him, and I raised my hands to show him I was weaponless. “Not that it matters, but I’m wolfless. I couldn’t hurt you even if I

wanted to.”

The man grinned. “Wolfless, eh? Interesting.”

He paused for a moment, and my heart raced in my chest. Adalyn and I stared at one another. She looked so weak that it was hard to read her emotions, but I tried to show her that I meant no ill will. I was doing everything in my power to save her.

“Fine,” the man spoke up. “Your wish is granted, healer. I’ll let her go and take you in her place.”

I inhaled sharply and then nodded. Whispers broke out in the room, and heat spread to my cheeks. I was nervous at first, but then I cast aside my fear and

nodded.

I had no idea what I was about to face, but I would do whatever it took. We needed to get to the bottom of this mystery. If I had to face potential injury, so be it.

Nothing could be worse than the inferno.

If I could survive that, I could survive anything..

I took a step forward and prepared to accept my fate when suddenly, I felt someone grip my wrist.

I whipped around to see Asher standing behind me. His gray eyes blazed with fury as they bore into mine.

“This is out of the question,” he said firmly.