Lycan King's Regret: Punished The Wrong Daughter

Arabella Toussaint:

My head felt strangely heavy when I opened my eyes.

For a few seconds, I stayed where I was, trying to understand why my entire body felt so exhausted. I had gone to bed early last night. In fact, I had barely made it to the bed before dropping onto it and falling asleep. So why did I feel like I hadn’t slept at all?

I slowly pushed myself up, holding my head as a dull ache throbbed behind my temples. It took me another few seconds to notice something was wrong. I wasn’t on my bed but was sitting on a tiled floor.

”What the—” I scrambled to my feet and looked around. A sink. A mirror. A shower behind a glass partition. It was a bathroom but definitely not mine. My pulse immediately picked up. ”No. No, no, no... not again.”

I turned in a circle, desperately searching for something familiar. There was nothing. This wasn’t the bathroom attached to my room. I had never even seen this place before.

What the hell was happening to me?

”Oh, Goddess.” I pressed both hands against my face. ”I’m going crazy.” And who was I supposed to tell about this?

Voices suddenly came from somewhere outside the bathroom, making me freeze. Someone was out there.

I moved toward the door, taking every step cautiously even though I was beginning to suspect that whoever was on the other side wouldn’t be able to see me anyway. Was this really happening again?

I reached for the handle, and as expected, my fingers went straight through it. I stared at my hand. ”Great,” I whispered.

There was no point trying the handle again, so I cautiously leaned forward and pushed my head through the door. The sight on the other side made me stop.

Jasmine was standing in the room, and she wasn’t alone.

A woman paced in front of her, visibly furious. I recognized her almost immediately even though I had never met her in person. I had seen enough pictures of her on Jasmine’s Social media account to know exactly who she was.

Her mother. Isolde Smith.

But it was Jasmine who held my attention. She looked nothing like the composed woman I had spoken to yesterday. Her eyes were swollen, her cheeks wet, and every few seconds she dragged the back of her hand across them as if she was angry at the tears for rolling down her cheeks in the first place.

Her mother seemed even angrier. ”Enough, Jasmine.” She stood in front of her daughter with her hands planted on her hips. ”You were the head warrior of this kingdom. Soon you’ll be the future queen. Why don’t you start behaving like one?”

”I... I am trying.”

”Try harder.” Her mother caught her by the shoulders and gave her a firm shake. ”I never slapped you when you were a child, but if that’s what it takes to bring you back to your senses, I swear I will do it now.”

Jasmine pulled away from her and walked toward the window. She wrapped her arms around herself, taking a few shaky breaths before turning around.

”You think being a warrior makes me strong all the time?” Her voice cracked despite her effort to control it. ”Believe me, Mom. I can walk onto a battlefield knowing I might not come back. None of that scares me.”

Coming from her, it sounded too dramatic.

”Then what does?” Jasmine lowered her head for a moment. When she finally looked at her mother again, there was something almost helpless in her eyes.

”Losing him... losing Lucien.”

Her mother’s anger seemed to falter. ”Who said you are losing him, sweetheart?” She whispered, ”You might not be wearing his ring but every soul in this kingdom knows who you are.”

Jasmine swallowed. ”No!” She started shaking her head as more tears rolled down her face, ”Arabella is here, Mom. She is... she is back!”

Her mother went completely still. ”Wh...what...” she paused for a moment, ”What do you mean?”

My eyebrows shot up. Excuse me?

I stepped through the bathroom door and moved farther into the room. Whatever guilt I might have had about eavesdropping disappeared right there.

They were talking about me now. And after the little speech I had given Jasmine yesterday about girl code and not being a home breaker, I thought I deserved to know why my name had her falling apart like this.

Hadn’t I made myself clear? What more did she want from me?

”What do you mean, Jasmine?”

Jasmine looked toward the door as though she wanted to make sure no one was nearby before answering. ”Lucien... he brought her back.”

Her mother stared at her with wide eyes. ”Here? To the palace?”

”Yes.”

I frowned and moved closer to them. This was getting interesting, and I needed popcorn.

”How long has she been here?” Isolde Smith sounded panicked.

”I don’t know exactly. Maybe a few days.” Jasmine wiped beneath her eyes and drew in a long breath, finally managing to steady herself. ”He kept it from everyone. She’s staying in the guest building.”

Her mother slowly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed. ”And why did he bring her back?”

”He wants her to investigate Anika’s murder.” That seemed to confuse her mother as much as it had confused me when Lucien first gave me the job.

”Arabella?” She stared at Jasmine. ”Why would Lucien ask her to investigate Anika’s murder? What’s the point?”

”I don’t know, Mom. He says that it’s because of Victor.” I moved closer until I was standing right beside Jasmine.

”Can there be some other reason, Jasmine?” I asked her, even though I knew perfectly well she couldn’t hear me.

Jasmine began walking around the room again. ”Arabella came to me yesterday. Apparently, she wanted to reassure me that I had nothing to worry about.”

Her mother started shaking her head. ”What did she say? How is that possible?”

”She told me herself... that she has no interest in Lucien. She only wants to finish the investigation and go back to her life. And Lucien promised her freedom when she finishes it.”

I nodded along. Thank you, Jasmine.

”This...” her mother swallowed hard. ”This is not good, Jas.”

Jasmine stopped and looked at her mother’s face with a frown. ”Mom?”