Ileus: The Dark Prince

When Olivia didn't hear anything from her mother, she lifted her eyelashes up to see her and found that she was… crying. Olivia immediately placed her cup on the table on the side and said, "Mother, I—" Her lips quivered and she held her mother's hands and between hers. "I didn't mean to rake the old wounds. It was just that—" she looked away to blink her tears. Swallowing down her saliva, she said, "It's just that I didn't want you to bear negative feelings for Kaizan. He is a very good man and a wonderful husband. I could never think that I would be so lucky to find my mate in him. And even if he wasn't my mate, I would have considered myself blessed to have him as my husband."

Kaia looked at her daughter tenderly. She shook her head and she smiled through her tears. "I am so happy about you, Olivia, you can't imagine. And in that case, I have found another son in Kaizan."

Stunned, her eyes flew wide. Emotions choked her throat and she threw herself on her mother. "Mother…" she couldn't say much. She stroked her mother's back as she cried. "Thank you, Mother," she whispered. She didn't expect that Kaia would say that, but it was such a wonderful thing. It meant that her mother wanted to move on.

In fact, Kaia did want to move on. She had lamented for a very long time and she wanted to feel… good. After she had heard from Fuchsia that Olivia was Kaizan's mate and he really took care of her nicely, Kaia and Vaarin had been nothing but jubilant. Luke was forgotten temporarily. And when they came to know that Olivia was expecting, their happiness was over the top. How could they hold onto the memories of their son and keep grieving him when their daughter held a brilliant future for all of them. A babe… Vaarin had started making plans for his grandchild already. Kaia knew that he hadn't told her, but the main reason for him to jump out of the bed and go to check wedding celebrations was that he wanted to identify a room for his grandchild in the mansion and then convert it into a nursery.

"I am very happy, Olivia," she said through her tears. "So, don't think that I bear ill feeling towards Kaizan."

"Ohhh! Thank you, Mother!" Olivia crushed her mother in her embrace and the two women laughed.

When the two separated, Kaia said, "Now, go and get ready. I think Kaizan should go around the pack as the General of Silver Vales. Many people want to meet him. Moreover, the councilmen wanted to discuss the fate of Murtagh over this situation."

Olivia froze. "Murtagh? What about him?"

"Well, now that the peace treaty is signed and we are already into it, I think that the councilmen would want the queen to release him."

Olivia winced. She drew in a shaky breath. "I see…"

Later in the afternoon, Kaizan and Olivia went around the pack in their carriage with a dozen soldiers on the horses. Two witches kept a constant vigilance as they hovered in the skies above. Kaizan noticed that the pack was actually in terrible condition. Too many structures were demolished and people appeared poor. He really wished for the trade to pick up as soon as possible. He had a meeting with the councilmen in the evening.

They stopped at the market square where Olivia had to buy a gift for Bernice. She had distributed all the gifts that she had brought from the capital to her servants. Kaia had asked her to buy a gold necklace for Bernice. Just when Olivia was entering the shop, from the corner of her eye, she saw a shock of movement. Golden hair with a carved face. She whipped her head to the right but there was no one. She pursed her lips. Was she dreaming?

"Is anything wrong?" Kaizan asked as he placed his hand on her back.

"No!" She shook her head, silently chiding herself for overthinking. How could Luke be here? Tasha still hadn't come back with him to the capital and it had been a week now. She smiled at Kaizan and the two walked in the jewelry shop. "I seriously don't want to buy anything for that bitch!" she said under her breath.

Kaizan couldn't help grinning. "Then don't."

She rolled her eyes. "I want to tell everything about her to my mother and father."

"That would not be a nice idea," Kaizan replied. "Not because Bernice is getting married and all, but because I do believe that they would make you look like a liar and create an unnecessary drama."

"Ugh!" she blurted.

"Let's just do this and get over it."

---

Bernice hadn't seen Captain Samuel before. She was seething with rage ever since her mother and father had called Samuel for the dinner. How could it be that while Olivia got a man like General Kaizan, she was getting Captain Samuel? And he wasn't even the captain of a proper unit. He was the captain of one of the cavalries. She paced her room back and forth ever since she had come back after meeting Olivia. The girl was beaming. Kaizan was pampering her so much that Bernice's fury had no limits. She wanted to kill Olivia for making her take the vow.

"Bernice," her mother called her, entering her room.

She stopped and snorted at Fuchsia. "Mother, this is complete injustice. I don't want to marry Samuel."

Fuchsia smiled and ambled to sit on the couch. "Nor do I, but I called him because I have a plan in my mind."

Bernice jolted as surprise flickered through her. "What plan?"

"Do you remember, I went to meet Murtagh?" said Fuchsia, slanting her head slightly.

"Yes, of course!" Bernice padded her way to the couch where Fuchsia was sitting.

Fuchsia took her hand out of her shawl and out came a sheath with a small knife in it. "He handed me this," she said, as she drew out the knife from its leather sheath. She lifted it in the air and turned around its handle. Tipped in red, she stared at it as she moved it. The knife glinted a dull gray in the soft light of the fire hearth.

"And what has a small knife got to do with all this?" Bernice said, her anger flaring up again.

A smile came to Fuchsia's lips. "This one is dipped with poison so deadly that it can kill its prey the moment it pierces its flesh."

Bernice's eyes flew wide open.

Fuchsia continued. "Murtagh wanted me to kill Kaizan with it so that the peace treaty came to an end and so that fresh war started. But he is such a fool. If I had done it, I would have been framed immediately and instead of the Whiteclaw pack, I would have spent the rest of my life in the dungeons of Silver Vales. So, I hid this knife in my chest. When Ileus threw us all out, this was what I hoped he would send, and the foolish prince—he did just that."

"Wh— what will you do with it, Mother?"

"The plan is very simple, Bernice," Fuchsia said.