WOLFLESS: Accidentally Marked By The Devil's Son-Chapter 77: Kill his own brother?

Chapter 77

Isabella’s breath hitched, her lungs seizing as she found herself inches away from young Lucian.

Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, a scream dying in her throat, but the young prince didn’t even blink.

He charged forward, his shoulder passing through hers with a ghostly chill that left her shivering.

He didn’t see her. He couldn’t feel the tears still wet on her cheeks. She was in a different room now—Lucian’s chambers.

Unlike Caleb’s warm, cedar-scented sanctuary, this room felt sharp and cold. Iron weapons hung on the walls, and the air smelled of bitter wine and unspent rage.

Lucian was pacing the length of the rug like a caged predator. His hair was disheveled, and his knuckles were white as he gripped a silver goblet.

"How dare she?" he hissed, his voice trembling with a toxic mix of wounded pride and obsession.

"How dare that little half breed servant reject me? I am a Prince. I offered her a place at my side, and she looks at me as if I am the dirt beneath her boots."

He slammed the goblet onto a side table, the wine splashing like blood. "And for what? To fall into the hands of a man who is supposed to be wed to in a few days? To hide in the shadows with my brother?" He let out a mocking laugh.

"She thinks she found a savior. She thinks Caleb can protect her from the law of this land."

Isabella watched him, her skin crawling. The "hunger" she had seen in his eyes at the banquet wasn’t love—it was a desire for possession.

He didn’t want Bella; he wanted to own what he couldn’t have. The heavy door to his room groaned open.

Isabella spun around, expecting a guard, but her eyes widened as Princess Selena slipped inside. She wasn’t the bratty, shrieking girl from the banquet hall anymore.

She had let her hair down, the dark waves spilling over her silk nightgown, and her expression was one of cold, calculated intent.

She didn’t look surprised to find Lucian in such a state. The man was always like that. She walked toward him with grace.

Lucian sat heavily on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. Selena didn’t hesitate; she moved into his space, leaning her body against his knees before sinking down to sit beside him.

"What’s on your mind?" Selena asked, her voice a low, honeyed purr. She reached out, her fingers tangling in Lucian’s short hair, forcing him to look at her.

Isabella watched in horror as Selena leaned in, pressing a lingering, possessive kiss to his lips.

Lucian didn’t pull away. He leaned into her, his hands gripping her waist as if anchoring himself to her presence.

Wasn’t he just angry about his brother and Bella affair? Isabella felt a wave of nausea. This Lucian didn’t care about loyalty, he was a man who took what he wanted while plotting against what he couldn’t have.

Lucian pulled back from the kiss, his eyes dark with a simmering, oily malice. "I saw them, Selena," he rasped, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Your ’sister’ is in Caleb’s chambers. Not as a servant, but as a guest in his bed." The change in Selena was instant.

The honeyed purr vanished, replaced by a sharp-edged fury. She jerked back, her face twisting into the same ugly mask Isabella had seen at the banquet.

"That low-life!" Selena hissed, her nails digging into Lucian’s shoulders. "That pathetic, crawling scum. How dare she touch what is mine? I’ll have her tongue cut out for this. I’ll make sure she dies in the mud where she belongs!"

She moved to stand, her silk nightgown hissing against the rug, her eyes fixed on the door as if she intended to storm Caleb’s room right then and there.

But Lucian’s hand shot out, his fingers locking around her wrist with the strength of an iron shackle.

"Sit down," he commanded.

"Let me go, Lucian! She is in his bed!"

"And reacting without thought leads to nothing but our own ruin," Lucian snapped, yanking her back down to the mattress.

"If you go there now, you alert Caleb. You alert my father. You make a scene that forces their hand to run, or worse, forces the King to acknowledge their bond to avoid a scandal. Is that what you want?"

Selena breathed heavily, her chest heaving with a frantic rage. "I want her gone. I want to be Queen, Lucian. I didn’t come here to be humiliated by a maid."

Lucian leaned in, his face inches from hers. "We are doing the same thing, Selena. Do not act so holier-than-thou."

"Ours is different!" Selena spat, gesturing between the two of them. "We are both royalty. We are the architects of this world. She is... she is a mistake. A piece of filth that shares my father’s blood by accident."

Lucian let out a low, dark chuckle that sent shivers down Isabella’s spine. He reached up, smoothing a stray lock of hair behind Selena’s ear. "Then let us ensure the mistake is corrected. Permanently."

Selena stilled, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him. "What are you saying?"

"I am saying I will handle everything," Lucian whispered, his gaze turning toward the door as if he could see through the stone walls.

"I will get Bella. She will be mine to break, to own, to do with as I please until there is nothing left of that golden defiance in her eyes."

He turned back to Selena, a cold, transactional gleam in his eyes. "And you... you will get your crown. You will be the Queen of this Kingdom, standing at the head of a new empire. You don’t care who wears the King’s crown beside you, do you? As long as the world kneels."

Selena’s rage began to cool, replaced by a greedy, flickering ambition. She looked at Lucian—really looked at him—and saw a partner who was just as cruel as she was.

"Caleb is the heir," she murmured. "He stands in the way of your crown, and he stands in the way of my absolute power. He is too soft for what is coming."

"Caleb is a romantic," Lucian said with pure venom. "And romantics die for their secrets. I will deal with my brother. I will take the burden of the throne from his weak hands, and I will take the maid from his bed."

Isabella watched, her legs feeling like lead. She saw the deal being struck in the dark—a trade of blood for power.

Lucian wanted the crown and the girl; Selena wanted the title and the status. They were two predators carving up the lives of Caleb and Bella like a piece of meat.

"He’s going to kill him," Isabella whispered, her voice cracking. "He’s going to kill his own brother."

As the realization settled into her heart, the room began to vibrate and the vision vanished. Isabella was now standing at the familiar room of prince caleb again.