The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas-Chapter 224: Are you not a witch? Can you heal him?

Chapter 224: Chapter 224: Are you not a witch? Can you heal him?

Vaelen didn’t waste a single second once he reached his father’s bedside because the sight alone was enough to rip the breath straight out of his lungs.

He leaned forward with trembling hands braced on the bed as he looked at the king’s convulsing body and then snapped sharply toward the royal healer standing closest to him, his voice filled with anger as he demanded, "What happened? Tell me exactly what happened!"

The healer, an older man who had served the palace for years, flinched visibly at the prince’s tone, his hands shaking as he held a cloth pressed against the king’s chin to catch the white fog that kept spilling from his mouth like a slow-burning smoke.

He swallowed hard before speaking, "Your Highness... We don’t know... We don’t know what poison it is. I have never seen anything like this before... The poison is attacking his lungs and his nerves at the same time, and if we don’t find the antidote soon... the king... he will not survive much longer."

Selena heard those words and felt her heart squeeze painfully, the breath catching in her throat because the healer’s voice carried the truth, and even though she didn’t want to believe it, the sight in front of her confirmed every word he said.

Valen’s face darkened with pure shock and fury, and he stepped closer, towering over the healer. "You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know? How can something enter this palace without anyone recognizing it? How can something so deadly be used on the king inside his own room?"

The healer stepped back in fear, clutching his trembling hands together as he stammered, "Your Highness, we...we are trying. The court healers are analyzing the substance, but the poison is extremely rare... We’ve never encountered it before. It is not from our community, nor from any of the packs. We don’t even know how it entered the palace."

Selena’s mind raced instantly, each word from the healer racing through her mind, and the possibility she had been terrified to acknowledge finally began to take shape in her mind: this wasn’t coincidence. Someone had infiltrated the palace. Somehow had dared to poison the king.

Vaelen raked a hand through his hair, pacing once before snapping, "Who found him? What was he doing? When did this happen?"

The second healer, a younger woman who seemed on the verge of tears, stepped forward and bowed, her voice shaking as she tried to explain, "We found him early this morning, Your Highness... when the servants came to bring his morning tea. He had collapsed on the floor beside his bed. His fingers were curled, his breathing was shallow, and the poison... it had already begun to show signs in his mouth."

Selena swallowed hard, gripping her hands together tightly as she listened.

The healer continued, "We think he drank something... or inhaled something... We’re not fully sure. The queen was the first one to see him; she had gone to call him for the morning council meeting and found him lying on the ground, his eyes rolled back, and this white fog already coming out of his mouth."

Selena’s eyes flicked toward the queen without thinking, and the sight made her brows clench even further.

The queen sat rigid beside her husband, her back stiff, her face pale except for the bright red rimming her eyes, and her gaze was fixed on the king but burning with a silent, boiling anger that radiated from her so strongly that no one dared to step near her.

The fury pouring off her was sharp, dangerous, and heavy, like she was holding herself together only by sheer force of will while her mind spun with thoughts none of them could read.

She hadn’t spoken a single word since Selena and Vaelen entered the room. The hatred in her eyes was enough to tell them that whoever poisoned the king would not live long once she learned their name.

Valen turned back to the healers, his breath short, his voice tight, "What else? Did he eat anything? Did he touch anything? Was he with anyone last night?"

The healers exchanged helpless looks before the older one answered again, "Last night the king dismissed everyone early and retired to his chambers alone. The palace logs show no one entered or exited after that. The servants reported nothing unusual. His dinner was tasted beforehand by two testers. Everything was normal."

Selena felt her heartbeat quicken with dread.

Everything looked normal. That meant only one thing.

Someone had used a method none of them knew. A poison none of them recognized. A way of entry none of them detected.

Valen’s voice dropped to nearly a growl, "This shouldn’t be possible in the palace."

Selena looked at the king again, his mouth still spilling thin wisps of white fog, his fingers twitching like he was fighting just to remain alive, and nausea twisted inside her stomach as she whispered in her own thoughts, Was this the council? Was this their retaliation? Did they finally strike because we were getting too close?

Her hands trembled before she curled them into fists.

Valen finally turned to the healers again, his voice cracking for the first time, "Keep him alive. Do whatever you must. I don’t care what it takes. Just keep him alive."

The healers nodded frantically.

Selena stood still at the corner of the room, her chest heavy with a growing dread she could no longer ignore, because everything around her screamed one truth... something is going to change. And whose favor it will change, no one will know.

And the king might not survive long enough to see what came next.

Selena stood silently beside the wall, her presence so small that it was easy to overlook her, and she did not even greet anyone loudly because she did not want any attention on her; instead, she kept her eyes lowered and quietly watched the king on the bed and Vaelen’s expression.

And even though she knew Vaelen hated his father deeply because of everything the king had done, she could still see the worry in his eyes.

the anger that came from helplessness, and the undeniable truth that no matter how rotten a father becomes, he is still a father, and that truth was sitting heavily in his chest as he listened to the healer trembling through their explanation.

After all the interrogation ended, Vaelen’s expression slowly turned pale, every muscle in his jaw tightening as he absorbed the fact that they could do nothing if they did not find an antidote.

And what terrified him more was that whoever had poisoned the king did not even try to hide their intention; the poison was too strong and too direct. It was not slow-acting or subtle; it was the kind of poison that screamed a warning, a threat.

The realization sank in his mind like a stone that someone was openly provoking them, telling them that if they continued their pursuit, then this would continue, that this was only the beginning of what they were capable of.

His face twisted as this idea fully settled in him, because he also knew that no matter how useless his father had become in the eyes of many, the man still wore the crown, and as long as he was alive, no one could forcefully claim the throne, but if he fell.

Then chaos would erupt across the entire werewolf community, the balance of power would collapse, and every faction hungry for the throne would rise, and right now, when he was not ready to ascend and not prepared for the bloodshed that would follow, this was the worst possible moment for his father to be attacked.

Then, suddenly, his eyes widened slightly as he looked over his shoulder and noticed Selena standing in the corner, quiet and hesitant, and without thinking he moved toward her with tense steps.

His eyes slightly red from fear and anger, he forced himself to calm down enough to speak to her without shouting as he said, "Selena... aren’t you a witch? Can you not heal my father?" and his voice trembled with both fury and hope, like he was clinging to her as the last thread he had left.

Selena was stunned because she never thought he would turn to her like this. She knew she had healing abilities, but she had no idea whether she could handle a poison this deadly, but seeing the desperation in his face, she still slowly nodded, and the moment she did, Vaelen’s eyes widened with a spark of hope, and he immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the bed.

But just as they reached the side of the bed, the queen, who had been silent until now, suddenly rose with cold anger in her eyes and said in a clenched voice, "Get this witch out of here. I do not want anyone from outside contaminating this space. How dare she even step inside the palace!" and her voice was harsh enough that several guards stiffened on instinct.

The queen’s sharp words instantly made Vaelen’s face twist in anger, and the tension in the room snapped as mother and son clashed, their voices rising, one filled with authority and rage and the other filled with fear and desperate refusal, and the queen kept insisting she would not allow a witch near the king while Vaelen kept insisting that they had no other choice.

The argument escalated until finally Vaelen’s control broke and he growled at his own mother, a deep lycan sound that vibrated against the walls, and the queen’s expression paled with shock and anger.

Her hand clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her own palm hard enough to draw blood, because she could not believe her own son dared to threaten her like that, but Vaelen was already losing his mind, and he did not care anymore about her authority or her pride.

His aura burst across the room, the pressure so strong that even the guards lowered their eyes, and with that dominating presence he turned to Selena and said in a firm voice, "Go. Check him. Do whatever you must." And Selena swallowed and nodded before she walked to the bedside, where the healer immediately stepped aside for her.

Selena sat down on the stool and gently placed her hands on the king’s wrist, feeling the tremble in her own fingers as she tried to focus, and the entire room fell into a silence as everyone watched her, waiting, desperate, and terrified, and she closed her eyes and let her magic flow slowly as she tried to understand what kind of poison had torn through the king’s body.