Chapter 124

Aiden’s POV

I was getting a weird feeling from our conversation with Tilly, and I knew Carol was feeling the same way. Her intuition had gotten a lot stronger these last few days; I think it has to do with her being back where she came from. She’s now surrounded by all this power and magic; she’s also been around her blood relatives. So, it made sense that her powers were coming through, and she was even stronger than she was before we arrived.

I could tell Tilly was hiding something, as was most everybody at this palace. They knew something and they weren’t saying it. Very few I trusted at this place and Tilly was slowly making it to the list of people I don’t trust.

The way she looked nervously from Carol to me and the flustered look on her face. She was avoiding questions by giving indirect answers and she could barely look us in the eyes. She was adamant about going to the infirmary and I wondered why it was so important for her to get away from us.

It was obvious she wanted to get away.

As Tilly started to walk away, Carol surprised me by grabbing her arm. Tilly was shocked as well because she turned around and looked at Carol with alarm in her eyes. Then they both froze for a moment. Tilly looked concerned and Carol looked lost in her own thoughts. I could practically hear the beating of Tilly’s rapid heartbeat as she stared confusingly at Carol’s blank face.

There was something going on with Carol at that moment that neither of us could explain. Her entire body was a statue and her eyes looked void of emotions. Tilly unfroze and tried to break free from Carol’s grip, but Carol was too strong and held her as her life depended on it.

Tilly was frozen, unable to look away.

I was getting a bad feeling about this.

I put my head on Carol’s back and tried to get her to release Tilly but it was like she couldn’t hear me. I’m not sure how long we stayed there; it could have been a couple of seconds, or maybe minutes passed by. But I eventually grabbed Carol’s arm and attempted to break her free from Tilly.

This time, it worked. Her grip loosened and she released her hold on the maid. Tilly stumbled backwards, rubbing her arm from where Carol had grabbed her.

Carol was still frozen, but she was blinking rapidly like she was just coming back to me. I pulled her into me and wrapped my arms around her still body.

“Sorry, Tilly,” I said, while rubbing soothing cirlces around Carol’s back. “You can go now.”

She was too shocked to speak, but she nodded and turned away on shaky legs, running into their nfimary and slamming the door shut behind her.

I continued to hug Carol until I felt her body relaxing. Then, I pulled away slightly and held onto her arms as I looked deep into her eyes.

“What happened?” I asked her. “Are you okay? You kind of froze on me.”

She met my eyes and I saw that tears were forming in them; I furrowed my brows as more confusion consumed me.

“It was Tilly,” she whispered. “She took the poison.”

What?” I gasped; not sure I heard her correctly.

“What are you talking about? How do you know this?”

“I had a vision,” she confessed; the tears broke free from her eyes and streamed down her face. “I saw her do it…”

I shook my head; still confused.

“How do you know it was a vision? You’ve never had one before,” I told her. “it could have been anything…”

She looked up at me and her brows pinched together.

“You think I’m making this up?” she asked, her voice coming out hard and I could hear the hurt in her tone. “Or that I imagined what I saw?”

“NO, of course not. But we don’t know if what you saw was the truth or not,” I said, trying to be reasonable. We don’t know how visions work, and it could have been anything.

She shook her head as more tears fell down her gorgeous and flushed cheeks.

“No, I know what I saw, Aiden,” she said, her voice breaking slightly. “This wasn’t my first vision.”

I released my hold on her and I stared at her blankly for a moment. I couldn’t have heard her correctly. She didn’t just tell me she had a vision in the past and didn’t tell me about it right away. I wanted to say something… anything, but I was too shocked, and a bit hurt to come up with the words to speak.

She grabbed my arm and I met her eyes.

“Let’s not talk about this here,” she whispered, motioning with her head to the infirmary. I knew it was a bad idea to continue this talk with her as well. If Tilly truly did steal that poison, she was more dangerous than we could have ever imagined, and she could have heard this entire conversation.

I nodded and we walked back ot the guest room; once we were sealed inside, I turned on her and folded my arms across my chest. I couldn’t help the betrayed feeling in my chest. My mate was keeping secrets from me, big and important secrets. She had her first vision, and she didn’t think it was something I needed to know.

I was beyond upset, but I tried hard to reel in my temper. My wolf was on edge knowing that our mate didn’t’ trust us enough to come forward and tell us the truth. Instead, she’s been holding this inside of herself for however long.

“You had a vision in the past?” I asked her after she didn’t say anything for a long while.

She nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I had a vision about Tilly and Beta Luca. He thanked her for getting him something and asked if anyone had seen her. She said no and then they kissed. I think they’ve been seeing one another for a while. I wasn’t sure what I saw or if it was facts. I didn’t know what a vision felt like, and I wanted to speak with the King about it before—”

“So, he knows you had a vision?” I asked, feeling even more hurt that she told King Bennet about it before me.

She bit her lower lip and then nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “But he doesn’t know what it was about, I didn’t tell him for obvious reasons. I just wanted to make sure it was an actual vision before I said anything. He explained to me what triggers vision and how I can tell if it is one. He said if I have to question it, then it’s a vision. So, when we saw Tilly earlier, I wanted to see if I could trigger another vision.”

“And you did?”

She nodded, meeting my eyes.

“Yes,’ she answered. “I think Tilly got that poison from Beta Luca and that’s why he was thanking her. In the dream she said she would do anything for love… maybe that’s why she did it.”

I shook my head as I allowed that to process in my head. This was all too much.

“I can’t believe you kept this from me, Carol,” I said, feeling that wave of hurt hit my chest once again.

She stepped toward me; her arms wrapped around her body like she was holding herself together.

“I’m so sorry, Aiden. I never meant to lie or hurt you. I just didn’t want to pile more things on top of everything else. I wanted to make sure what I saw was fact and no I’m certain it was.”

I nodded and sighed.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have gotten upset; I‘m sorry,” I said, wrapping my arms around her and pressing my lips to hers once again.

“We are getting closer to figuring everything out,” Carol said, thoughtfully as she buried her face in my chest. “Beta Luca must have sent that poison to Derek to end the life of your father. But why would he do something like that? Why would they want Oliver to take over as Alpha? None of this makes any sense.”

I nodded thoughtfully, but then a thought slammed into me.

“Candace mentioned that her sister had a baby with an unknown father, right?” I asked.

She nodded.

Oh. God.

That couldn’t be possible, right?

Olver’s father died in a rogue attack when Oliver was a teen and his mother died when he was only a baby. I never actually met his mother, or I did, and I was just too young. But if Beta Luca is helping David end the life of my father, then Luca must know David…

Something isn’t adding up.

I needed to speak with Candace again.

“Can you stay here for a moment?” I asked her. She looked puzzled; I kissed her puckered lips. “I’ll be right back. I’d just feel safer if you stayed here.”

She nodded, though she looked uncertain.

With another kiss, I left the room and ran back to the infirmary.

Tilly was walking away with tears in her eyes.

“Everything okay?” I asked her as I passed.

He nodded.

“Yeah,” she whispered and then she disappeared around the corner.

Shaking my head, I walked into the infirmary. Candace also had tears in her eyes; they were puffy and it was clear she had been crying deeply.

“What’s going on?” I asked her.

She startled at the sound of my voice.

“OH, you’re back…” she whispered. “Nothing. I was just given troubling news from my dear friend, Tilly…” she said, then she froze and winced. “At least I thought she was my friend.”

Something was telling me that Carol was right; Tilly must have confessed out of guilt. Or maybe Candace guessed. That wasn’t important right now.

“What brings you back, Alpha?” She asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“You mentioned your sister had a baby, right? But nobody knows where that baby is or who the father was?”

She nodded and then bit her lip.

“I know who the father was,” she admitted. “But I’m not sure where the baby is. They couldn’t keep him here because the father didn’t want anyone to know he was the father. He thought it would put his child in danger, so he sent him away to live with his brother in a different part of the world.”

A knot formed in my stomach.

“The baby was a boy?”

She nodded.

“You don’t need to tell me who the father was, but do you know what the baby’s name was?”

She looked uncertain for a moment as she chewed her bottom lip; I could tell she didn’t want to give me any more information, but she finally sighed and then nodded.

“Before my sister died, she told me what the baby’s name was and then the baby's father took him away,” Candace explained.

“And what is the baby’s name?” I asked. “If my suspicions were correct, I think we are in danger, and I need to alert my pack.”

She met my eyes and then nodded slowly.

“The baby’s name was…. Oliver.”