Lycan King's Regret: Punished The Wrong Daughter

Arabella:

I was taking a stroll around the palace grounds with Maya and Toby, forgetting how to wipe this stupid grin off my face. Even my friends weren’t helping.

Ever since I had told them where I spent the night, they had been relentless. Every few minutes, Maya would make some comment about the King or his bedroom, and my face would heat up all over again.

”You two seriously need something better to talk about,” I complained, bumping my shoulder against Maya’s.

”We had plenty of things to talk about before.” She bumped me right back. ”Then someone decided to spend the night in the King’s bed only in a t-shirt then made love to him in her dreams... and suddenly we have more interesting stuff to talk about.”

”I swear, Maya. I went there because I was scared!” I explained, rolling my eyes.

”And somehow ended up climbing onto him this morning,” Toby added with a chuckle.

I shot him a glare. ”Whose friend are you, Toby?”

He shrugged, looking everywhere but me. ”Depends. Who’s buying me lunch?” I grabbed his hand and twisted it until he laughed and tried to pull free.

He managed to escape me, still laughing. ”Speaking of things...” He suddenly got serious, ”... you’ve conveniently forgotten, when are you going back to the case?” That sobered me a little.

I shrugged and caught his hand again as we continued walking. ”Not for a few days. Lucien wants me to stay away from the investigation until I’m completely better.” Toby raised an eyebrow.

Maya threw back her head and laughed so loudly that two passing Omegas turned to look at us. I had to shove my elbow into her ribs. ”What?”

”I’m just trying to understand when this happened.” She gestured at me from head to toe. ”Arabella Toussaint, obediently following the King’s orders without arguing? Should we call a witch? You might be possessed.”

Witch? That reminded me of Lilith. The sweet woman who was willing to treat me.

”Oh, shut up.” I shoved her aside and walked ahead of them. She stumbled dramatically into Toby, who caught her before she could fall.

”Murder attempt!” Maya called after me.

”Shut up!”

”Toby is a witness, bitch!”

Their arguing made me smile, but then I remembered the one thing that had been bothering me since morning. ”There is one thing I’m worried about, though.” I raised a finger without turning around.

Their footsteps hurried behind me until they caught up. ”And what would that be?” Maya asked.

”Jasmine.” My smile faded. ”She still isn’t back. I thought she would return early this morning after getting the news of...” I trailed off meaningfully, ”if you know what I mean...”

Maya considered that for a few seconds. ”Maybe she died.” I stopped walking and turned to look at her. ”What?”

She shrugged. ”Wouldn’t that really be the best outcome? Problem solved. She never comes back, you never have to deal with her, and we all live happily ever after.”

”No.” I shook my head and started walking again. ”I’m not letting her get away that easily. After what she did to Zorro, she owes me answers. Lots of them.”

”And possibly a few missing teeth?” Toby suggested. I stared at him for a second. He looked completely serious. He shrugged. ”Just trying to understand the plan.”

A laugh escaped me, and Maya shoved him from behind. Toby stumbled into me, nearly knocking me sideways, so naturally I shoved him back. Within seconds, three of us were behaving like idiots, pushing and dodging each other while trying not to fall onto the grass.

Then Maya suddenly grabbed my arm. ”Wait.” I followed her gaze toward the royal building where two women had just stepped outside.

Without a word, the three of us hurried behind the nearest tree. I leaned around the trunk to get a better look.

”Who are they?” Maya whispered.

”The one on the left is Amy. Lucien’s sister. While the other one is...” I stopped as my eyes widened. ”Oh, Goddess,” I whispered in disbelief.

”What happened?” Maya immediately tried to look around me.

”It’s Jasmine.” My smile faded as soon as I said her name.

Jasmine was walking beside Amy, but something was wrong. She wasn’t marching across the grounds with that usual confidence of hers. Her shoulders were slumped, her face was turned partly away from us.

”What is she doing with Amy?” I whispered. More importantly, why was she still quiet? I had expected some kind of reaction from her by now.

I had expected her to storm into my room the moment she returned. By now, she should have heard that I had spent the night with Lucien. Half the palace probably knew. Yet she hadn’t come looking for me.

”Wait,” Toby murmured from behind us. ”Is she crying?” I narrowed my eyes. He was right. Jasmine wiped her face before Amy put an arm around her and pulled her closer.

Well. She was back. She was upset. She was crying in Lucien’s sister’s arms. I slowly leaned back behind the tree, my mind was racing. Something had happened.

Because the Jasmine I knew wouldn’t cry quietly on someone else’s shoulder. She would come for me. So why hadn’t she?

Jasmine Smith pov:

I wiped angrily at the tears on my cheeks, but more tears kept coming. Amy grabbed my shoulders and gave me a small shake. ”Are you out of your fucking mind? You’re a former head warrior, Jasmine. Soon, you’ll be a queen. Why are you standing here crying because of that girl? She doesn’t deserve your tears.”

”And do I deserve this?” I snapped. Amy’s hands dropped from my shoulders.

”Do I deserve the way I’m being treated in this palace?” I demanded. ”This is my home too. I’ve served this kingdom for years. I’m supposed to marry your brother and rule beside him, yet I’m being treated like I have no right to even go near him.” My voice cracked, and I hated myself for it.

”The moment you told me what was happening, I came back. You told me Arabella was in the hospital and instead of staying with the Queen, who had broken ribs, Lucien preferred to stay with her. I dropped everything and came back straight to the palace.” I drew in a shaky breath.

”And do you know what happened when I arrived?” Amy remained quiet.

”The guards stopped me.” A bitter laugh escaped me. ”They wouldn’t even let me enter Lucien’s building. I threatened them with their positions. I reminded them who I was and who I was going to become. Nothing worked. They had orders not to let me through.” The humiliation of last night burned all over again.

”And then this morning, I found out that she... that girl spent the night there! In my fiancé’s bedroom!” Amy’s expression changed slightly.