The Alpha's Temptation

Kinshra’s eyes went to the tattoo on her left arm that disappeared inside her clothes and her chest swelled with pride. Her daughter was the true heir of Pegasii. “Sure.”

“I heard that you are the king of Draka,” said Lord Haftr, crossing his legs.

“I am,” Eltanin replied with narrowed eyes.

“Why haven’t you revealed your marriage with Lusitania to the general public?” Haftr asked.

Eltanin knew where the lord was going. “To protect her,” he said in a clipped voice.

“Really?” Haftr scoffed. “Or is that you have come to drop her back home and then when you reach back to Draka, you have other more powerful princesses for you? I think that is quite common in your realm.”

“Lord–” Tania snapped when Eltanin raised his hand to stop her.

“If I had to send Tania back home, I could have done it with the help of my friend, Ileus. There was no need for a king to come all the way for delivering people, Lord Haftr,” Eltanin replied, emphasizing on the word Lord.

Haftr winced at Ileus’s name but he lifted his nose up. He let out a rough exhale and added, “Well, our experiences have been different. The adage, once bitten, twice shy, applies to us.”

“You should be shy. Rather remain shy,” Eltanin said indifferently which made Haftr all the more peeved. Over his shoulder, he saw that Tania was growing uncomfortable. He sipped his tea quickly and said, “I would like to take a leave, Lady Kinshra. I am leaving Tania in your able hands. The Yunabi is right here with me.” He said and placed a leather bag on the table. “I think the two of you would need some time together with no interruptions!” He glanced at Haftr from the corner of his eyes who was not picking up the clue to leave them alone. He had to get this pine resin out of the room. So he came up with the best trick there was in the world. He turned to Haftr and said, “Would you like to meet King Biham?”

Kinshra flushed at the name of Biham. Though she didn’t move, her cheeks heated and her heartbeat raced. She was keeping absolutely quiet about Biham on purpose.

Haftr sat up and straightened the collar of his coat. He smoothed his golden hair back and took a deep breath. “Sure!” he said, trying to sound indifferent.

Eltanin gave him a lopsided smile. His trick worked. The fae male wanted to show how superior he was to Biham. “Then let us go!” he said and rose to his feet.

Haftr pressed a k**s on Kinshra’s forehead and then followed Eltanin out of the doors. Eltanin knew that it was an act of possession. Kinshra stiffened when he kissed, but she didn’t even move away.

As soon as they left, Kinshra’s shoulders relaxed immediately. She smiled and said, “Give me Yunabi.”

Lusitania was waiting for the men to exit. The moment they exited, she said, “Mother, I have a few very important questions to ask you, but I want you to answer them in front of father.”

Kinshra’s brows furrowed and she looked away.

“I know that meeting your father is probably not what you want, but you must please talk to him. He has come all the way to Vilinski only to talk to you.”

“What he did was… unbearable…” Kinshra’s hand went to her heart. It was as if she could still feel the pain of rejection.

“There is not a moment he doesn’t regret it, Mother,” said Tania. “I know things are moving very fast, but we don’t have time. You must listen to your father at least once. Please!”

Kinshra gave her a thin smile and said, “How is he?” The pain was apparent on her face.

“He is not fine…”

“What about Sirrah?” his wife.

Tania jerked her head back. “Don’t you know?”

Kinshra raised an eyebrow. “Know what?”

Suddenly, the doors of the room threw wide open and Lord Krail walked in.

“Father!” Kinshra rose to her feet.

He glared at Tania as he approached them.

Shocked, Tania stared at him. Her gaze went to her mother who looked… scared. Lord Krail went to sit opposite to Tania. Tilting his head, he looked at the Yunabi arcana and scoffed. “Isn’t it sad that you have to take help of Yunabi arcana when you should have attained it naturally,” he waved his hand around. “Here.” He sneered. “Only because of your father, you were robbed of this opportunity.”

Tania blinked her eyes at him. He was so rude and hostile that she felt bad. But it wasn’t the first time that she had faced bitterness in her life. If she had been old Tania, she would have blinked her tears away, but she was a different woman now. She returned the scoff to him and said, “Yes, that’s true. It is sad. I should have been here in my natural environment where I would have attained my talents and natural magic easily or rather naturally. But I didn’t. Mostly thanks to someone who denied me that part.” She jabbed at him.

“I suffered and I suffered a lot.” She thought she would say it to only her mother, but this wasn’t the time to be conservative. “My mother’s maid, Cordea, ran along with her husband Arthur to save me from Sirrah’s soldiers. She ran from one place to another to hide me, but she ran out of places when I was five. Sirrah caught her up. She savagely killed both of them but hid me in the process. Some kind people gave me to Cordea’s mother, who sold me to the High Priest of Cetus Monastery.” She was breathless. Her soul stone glowed inside her gown, imparting an orange glow. “He pinched a piece of my soul and made me his slave for the life. He tortured me all the time, didn’t let me read and made me do all the slave work.” She stopped the tears that threatened to burn her eyes. “So, yes someone did steal my natural heritage. But you know what–” her face became red as rage bubbled in her chest. “I wouldn’t go back and change any part of it.”

Lord Krail clenched his jaws as a muscle feathered in his jaw. “You suffered so much and you would want to go back and suffer it all over again?”

“Who said that I want to suffer it all over again?” she retorted. “I said I wouldn’t want to change all of it.”

There was a crease on Lord Krail’s forehead. “It’s the same, isn’t it?” he said as if trying to belittle her.

“No, it isn’t,” Tania replied. She lifted her face with pride and added, “I wouldn’t change a moment of all the suffering I went through only because every chain of event led me to my mate. Had I come here, then I wouldn’t have found Eltanin.”

As Kinshra grinned at her daughter’s response, Lord Krail gritted his teeth. He opened the top button of his jacket and said, “Well then. You can’t complain that you were denied entry in your natural heritage. Everything turned out fine with you.”

Tania hated how arrogant and heartless he was. “Yes, but I can’t say the same for my mother!”