Chapter 182

Violet’s POV

By the next morning, the calls were pouring in. Territories near and far were clamoring for a trade deal.

Darkmoon was one of the most powerful and wealthy territories, even after the financial ruin that Lucas almost dragged it through. Still, it was very clear that most of the Alphas reaching out were more interested in my knowledge.

Magical engineering was a rare skill set in a country where magic was illegal, and a highly valued one in a country where technology was the only legal use of magic. I had never volunteered my educational background from Henosis – until Tyron vaguely implied I had the “knowledge” during our press conference yesterday. I had given him permission to share what that meant more specifically with anyone who inquired.

Apparently, after lunch at Dark Forest, Tyron had an onslaught of communications to respond to, everyone wanting to know how it was I knew how to design magical greenhouses. He gave me a heads up, so I figured the calls would come today. Still, I wasn’t expecting quite this many.

It felt good to be able to handle political relations and finances enough to take care of my territory. It felt even better that my personal knowledge could help the whole country. Especially the knowledge I had that was a little bit controversial – and definitely a little rebellious.

That was the one thing Theo and I were concerned about when I ran the Dark Forest trade deal by him over the weekend: how Owen might respond to finding out I had knowledge of any magical sort. Since my mother had been so publicly exiled for her magic, it wasn’t that far of a reach to wonder if I had some, too. Of course, on this side of the border, it wasn’t common knowledge that magic was a dominant gene.

Still, with how fanatical Owen seemed to be against magic and how bent he was to work against me, even going so far as to change laws to do it, it was a risk. Knowing my mother had magic and I had magical knowledge was more ammunition than either Theo or I wanted him to have.

But we had less than two weeks before Owen would be neutralized. Best case, it took him longer than that to find a way to use that ammunition against me. Worst case, he exiled me before then, and I would have to help the cause from Henosis.

When I mentioned that to Theo, he had said, “Maybe we should hope for that scenario. At least in Henosis you’ll be safe.”

I knew Theo worried for me. I understood why, too. I just wish I knew how to comfort him.

For now, all we could do was wait and see what Owen did, if anything. And hope that I was able to secure enough trade deals and garner enough public support before potentially getting exiled that whatever loophole Owen found to do it would only cause public outrage at yet another clear abuse of his power, further feeding the flames before Theo took him down without me.

I prayed to the Goddess it wouldn’t come to that.

Besides, I was the only other possible option for the crown that I had seriously considered so far, so if I were exiled, the crown would most certainly fall to Theo.

I woke up my laptop to scroll through a list of potential other kings and queens that I’d been going through. I’d been cross-referencing their political history with my personal knowledge of and trust in them. I considered their motivations, their loyalties, and their capabilities.

The list was getting shorter and shorter every day.

I still wasn’t sure how I felt about myself as an option. I eyed my name on the list. It felt self-serving somehow.

Besides, one of the reasons Theo didn’t want to be king was the time it took away from being with his family. If I were queen, the crown would still be taking time away from his wife. Yes, it did solve the issue of Theo not having the burden of the crown himself, but still.

It was a half-solution at best.

A knock sounded on my study door. “Come in,” I called as I saved my list and shut my laptop.

My chest loosened when my best friend appeared in the doorway. “I hear you had a sleepover on Friday without me,” she accused teasingly.

I chuckled. “You have a sleep over with your mate and adorable children every night. You hardly have time for little ol’ me anymore!”

I was only teasing her back, though my stomach turned in jealousy.

Lily approached, sitting in the chair across me and swinging her feet up onto my desk as usual. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to make it up to you with a slumber party this Saturday, then.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

I sighed. “I’m busy Saturday night. You know that.”

Lily’s smile faded. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to go. I thought I might be a good distraction.”

“Want to go to my lying, cheating, stealing ex-husband’s wedding to the secret mate he kept from me for years?” I scoffed. “No. But going with my head held high will be required to continue rebuilding my public image, especially on such a short timeline.”

Lily nodded gravely. “Then how about a sleepover the night before to pamper ourselves and fill you up with love before you have to go to fucking Lucas’ fucking wedding to fucking Nora.”

I laughed at her dramatic expletives. “Deal. Now why are you really here?”

Lily sighed, annoyed that I saw right through her. “I’ve been doing the research you asked for: a history on double mate rejections.”

I arched an eyebrow curiously. “And?”

“Good news or bad news first?”

“Bad.”

Lily nodded, but I noted that she kept her feet propped on my desk. If it were really bad news, she would have sat up straight.

“The bad news is that most werewolves don’t survive two mate rejections. Meaning 98 percent of them. Double mate rejections are immensely rare but surviving them is rarer.”

My shoulders slumped. “So people could already know we’re lying about something.”

Lily grinned as she leaned back into her chair comfortably. “But, the two percent who do survive have historically turned out to be the strongest, courageous, and wisest leaders of their time. With your public perception improving exponentially every day, people are more likely to assume that.”

The double mate rejection was a lie, so this wasn’t some sign that I was an amazing leader. Still, my cheeks flushed at the idea that people might perceive that.

“Besides,” she added “it’ll only be a few months before the world finds out the second mate rejection was a hoax. I doubt anyone will care enough to dig through all the research I just did in such a short amount of time.”

“The press will,” I muttered.

“Then they’ll assume you’re fit to be queen.”

My gaze flitted to Lily alarmingly. Why did everyone keep bringing that up?

“I didn’t mean literally,” she backpedaled at my expression. “Unless of course you want to be.”

I shook my head slowly and sighed heavily. I wasn’t sure I was saying no as much as I was trying to shake this upside-down world to its senses.

The doorbell rang, and my shoulders deflated.

“What now?”