Chapter 0051
I scrubbed my hand over my face, not believing that I was actually taking advice from Tyron.
“What made you approach her?” I asked. “I don’t remember seeing you being a social butterfly in the news.”
She scoffed. “They wouldn’t publicize a woman doing the work of an alpha, now would they?” She looked out the window. I’ve been building bridges for Darkmoon for years.” She smirked. ” Money opens a lot of doors, but kindness keeps them open a lot easier.“She rolled her shoulder.
“How are you feeling, by the way?” I asked. “The pain?”
Her lips twitched. “I’m good…. Are we going to talk about the attack at all or are you going to keep acting like your brother wasn’t trying to kill you?”
Violet nodded, absorbing the information as if weighing each word. “A start can go a long way. That territory’s valuable if you handle it right.”
I sighed at the thought. I didn’t want to talk about Owen, but she was absolutely right.
“What exactly do you want to talk about?” I asked. “There’s no proof that it was him.”
She scoffed. “You have an idea about what his endgame is?”
I sighed, leaning back against the carriage wall. “Owen has always been… complicated. We were never close. He’s always known that my mother was our father’s mate. I know he resented it. He and his mother did they still do.” I looked out the window. “When I denounced my claim to the throne, I thought it would be enough to calm him or something to that effect, but Owen wasn’t relieved at all. If anything, he was more paranoid about my aims and his position, and he’s tried to ensure that I had no power.”
I didn’t know if that was because of what his mother had been whispering in his ear or not, but it didn’t matter. He decided to insult me, to slap a title and position on me that was supposed to be shameful.
“General–in–Chief,” she said. “Of an army in peace.”
I nodded. Midnight had been where all the military bases were and thus where the country’s standing army mostly lived. Those who hadn’t returned to their birth packs became citizens of Midnight. Young men who had no experience and no skills beyond combat were left to flounder in an area that had never been developed. It had been cruel. He’d expected more of them to go home, leaving me with a near wasteland, but the plan backfired.
I paused, a bitter smile playing on my lips. “I take it in stride because I have no interest in the throne.”
Violet
I believed that, but as Theodore spoke, a strange sense of unease crept over me. He was clearly
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Chapter 0051
+25 BONUS
holding back something, not sharing the full extent of his conflict with Owen and why his brother had it out for him. I didn’t need to know every detail, but I didn’t know enough to anticipate what Owen would do next.
“What about his mother?”
He scoffed. “She hates me even more than Owen, wouldn’t be surprised if she’s the one behind the attack and Owen knew nothing about it.”
I doubted that highly, but I went back to my laptop and started pulling up information on Owen’s mother and wife. The fact that Owen’s mother never said that Theodore wasn’t her child was telling. Maybe it was to preserve her image, but it probably irritated Owen to no end. Maybe there was a rift between mother and son that would be of use to us. His wife was a chosen mate, neither second chance nor fated, and she looked deeply unhappy in every image she appeared in.
www.
We switched to a car at the border. As we arrived at the capital, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking into a shitstorm of family drama that had been festering for years and would explode soon. The trumpets sounded as we pulled up. Owen greeted us with a forced smile, his eyes glinting with malice. His wife was overly dressed, as was his mother. Theodore got out of the car, grinning at them as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Such a welcome party!” He said, coming up the stairs and embracing Owen despite the irritation on the man’s face.
I was starting to wonder if Theodore was the younger of the two.
Owen pulled back and looked down his nose at us
“You’re nearly late for dinner.”
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Chapter Dis
