Stolen by the Beastly Lycan King-Chapter 53: Ten Long Years

"Now," Lorelai turned her head to her left and gulped. She stood conveniently close to one of his skinning tables, all kinds of sharp blades shining under the candlelight.

Suddenly, she grabbed the knife closest to her and pressed it against Lucia's neck. "Let my people go or I will kill her."

"N-no! Your Highness, please!" Lucia whimpered but Lorelai only pressed the blade harder.

"Make your choice, brother."

Kai watched his stepsister quietly for a few long moments before he let out a brief scoff, tossing the cane to the princess' feet.

"Let her go, Lorelai. Enough playing around."

Lorelai frowned, her eyes firmly glued to the prince's face. "Dismiss them all."

"Leave the room, all of you!" Kai ordered, carelessly jerking his chin at the people behind him. Carefully, everyone left, helping each other on the way out, and once there were only the three of them left, Lorelai pushed the sobbing Lady Lucia away and threw the blade back onto the skinning table.

She then picked up her cane, breathing heavily as she leaned onto it, and offered the prince one last glance. "You can hurt me all you want... but don't you dare hurt my people."

With that powerful warning, Lorelai left the room, and the moment the door behind her closed, she lost all control of her body and sank lifelessly onto the floor.

***

Rhaegar brushed his blood-soaked hair away from his forehead, letting out a long, tired sigh.

Alim handed him a burning cigar and the king accepted it with his blood-soaked fingers. The bitter gray smoke filled his lungs, offering the man a slight relief with each deep inhale. This time, he needed elevation from something other than pain.

"He sent assassins to avenge the loss of his guards, how stupid."

Alim kicked a dead body with his foot, spitting on it with evident disgust.

"I had no idea this has been happening for so long," Rhaegar frowned as he wiped the blood off his hands with a black handkerchief. "That old ugly moron Duke Kalder has been kidnapping young Gypsy women and no one bothered to let me know."

"You know your people better than anyone else," Alim replied calmly, "they are as brave as they are proud. You are their king in name only. They respect you, but they do not hold you accountable. You owe them nothing."

The king let out a shallow grunt. "Still, it's the duke again. I wonder if the kidnappings have something to do with the tomb desecrations too."

Alim rustled his damp hair with his big tanned hand and looked up at the sky where the round silver disk of the moon was slowly fading behind the thick black clouds.

"Stealing the gold from the beasts' tombs turns it into cursed artifacts. Along with the remnants of the beasts' bodies... if they all end up in the wrong hands, all of us will be in great danger."

Rhaegar took another deep drag of the dark smoke and closed his eyes, the frown between his eyes deepening.

He tried to calm down his mind but it kept drifting back to the royal palace.

He did not like it there for a reason. The moment he first set foot in that place, a strong, yet utterly unpleasant stench of blood followed him wherever he went.

Strangely enough, it reminded him of Lorelai. Her soft vanilla scent was mixed into that smell and it made the lycan king feel anxious.

'It cannot be her blood... There is something else mixed into it. Something similar I smelled on the Crown Prince... It cannot be her blood.'

Something was definitely wrong with that place; with that very family too. And now that he got so deeply involved with the royal princess, Rhaegar had no choice but to want to get to the bottom of it.

As his mind brought the image of Lorelai before his eyes, the man could not help but sigh again, helplessly.

She was his mate; he had confirmed it. But what could he do about that?

Unlike the Beast Kingdom, where his subjects could mate freely, she was a human being. And she was promised to someone else.

'I could kidnap her and force her to leave, but what if she does not want to? I can't... force her to be with me simply because my inner beast is lusting over her. I have been thinking of her for ten long years, but she... she does not even remember me.'

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A pang of regret grasped at his heart and Rhaegar filled his lungs with the cigar smoke once more.

He was willing to endure this ache forever if he had to, but he could not let his mate be miserable as well.