The King's Advisor

The King's Advisor

Yuki Dua · Ongoing · 34.9k Words

332
Hot
332
Views
100
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

In the bustling corridors of King Augustus' palace, Lurina, a humble scullery maid, leads a quiet existence, content with her simple life. But on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, a mysterious transformation shatters her world: she awakens as a fluffy white cat!

Adopted by the king himself, Lurina navigates her new feline form with trepidation, all while grappling with the revelation that, for one precious hour each night, she reverts to her human self. But as she learns to embrace her dual nature, she stumbles upon a dark conspiracy brewing within the palace walls.

With the kingdom's fate hanging in the balance, Lurina strikes an unlikely alliance with King Augustus, using her unique abilities to uncover the truth behind the nefarious plot. Together, they unravel a web of deceit, facing danger at every turn and forging a bond that transcends the boundaries of species.

As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, Lurina must tread carefully to protect her newfound home and the ones she holds dear. But when her human form is exposed at the most inopportune moment, she must confront her greatest challenge yet: embracing her true self in a world where secrets reign supreme.

"Whiskers and Secrets" is a captivating tale of friendship, intrigue, and self-discovery, where one brave maid-turned-cat must unravel the mysteries of her past to secure a future for herself and those she loves. Join Lurina on her extraordinary journey through palace intrigue and feline whimsy in this enchanting fantasy adventure.

Chapter 1

"Lurina!"

I turn toward Dinah’s voice and she gives me what I imagine is meant to be a disapproving look, but it's Dinah, so it comes across as fondness. "The goblets?" she prompts.

"Oh." I look down at my tray. Sure enough, the goblets are missing. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Sorry."

At least that gets a laugh. "Where’s your head today?"

"I don't know." If anyone could catch me in a lie, it's Dinah, and this one isn't difficult to spot. In the past two years I've spent working as a maid in King Augustus' palace, I've never been so careless as to forget a single salad fork, dinner fork, dessert fork, or emergency extra fork. There's only one kind of goblet, and that's where the wine goes. From what I hear, wine's important.

Besides, Dinah is probably the only one here who knows that tomorrow is my birthday—and if not, she's certainly the only one who cares. To the others, I'm just one in an anonymous army, but Dinah's known me my whole life. She might as well be my grandmother, since I have no family of my own. She squeezes my hand and whispers, "Get through today and we'll celebrate you properly."

I have to smile at that. Have to, because she's trying. Dinah's a wizard in the kitchen, so I have no doubt that whatever birthday surprise she has in store for me will be delicious. But I suspect I'm now at an age where desserts alone can't satisfy me. There's something more that I want. The only trouble is, I don't know just what that is.

It's her own fault, anyway. Dinah was the one who read me storybooks growing up and told me every year that birthdays were special things, that birthday wishes made at the stroke of midnight were bound to come true. And though, every year, I grow wiser and, every year, I should grow out of this silly belief, every year, I still make a birthday wish at the stroke of midnight.

And every year, I'm disappointed.

I push the thoughts from my head, load my tray with the goblets alongside too many different kinds of forks, and head up to the King's private dining chamber. This is the real world. No miracle is coming along to change my life. I need to focus on the life I'm living, and do my job properly. That's what getting older is about.

Unfortunately, I'm so focused on doing my job that I don't notice the King entering the dining chamber as I exit to fetch more dishes from the kitchen. He's deep in conversation with Alvin, his valet, gesturing animatedly with a book in his hand as Alvin politely tries to avoid getting hit in the face with it. Somehow he's the only one who avoids disaster as the King and I collide, sending both our eyeglasses flying as we crash to the ground.

"Clumsy maid," spits Alvin. Search the skies and I couldn't tell you what that man has against me. After all, he's no more of a noble than I am. Then again, perhaps that's the reason.

"Sorry! I'm sorry. Apologies, Majesty. Alvin." I'd curtsey, but I'm busy fumbling around on all fours, trying to retrieve my glasses. "I'm so sorry." I can practically hear Dinah cringing from three floors away, telling me again to stop apologizing.

But the King merely chuckles. "Pesky things, aren't they?" I can only manage a voiced exhale that I hope sounds like a laugh as I pick something up, but the thing catches the light in a way that lets me know these can't belong to me. The gold of these frames could pay my salary for a year, maybe more. Wordlessly, I hand them back to the King as he hands me mine, the cheap wire miraculously intact.

"If magic were real," he says, standing up and dusting himself off, "we'd have a spell that could fix our eyes in a blink."

"Magic? Like in fairy tales?" I can't help smiling. The King is a few years older than me, but sometimes he seems much younger. I wonder if all the ladies at court who swoon over his dreamy eyes and perfect physique would feel differently if they knew of his reading preferences. Then again, he’s still the King. "I thought those were all made up to teach lessons to stubborn children about obeying their parents and not straying from the path." I pause. “Your Majesty.”

"That's what this book is about," he says eagerly, holding up his book, finger still marking his page. The King loves storybooks more than anyone in the world except maybe Dinah, and being noble, he has far more time to indulge his passion. To my surprise, he offers me his other hand to help me up, which I accept. "It posits that these stories are in fact history, passed down as lessons, warnings, perhaps even instruction."

Alvin clears his throat and takes the King by the elbow, leading him inside. I step back to let them pass. I know my place.

By the time I return with more heaping plates of food, we're joined by Duchess Demetria, the King's aunt. The chosen few, as usual. They'll talk politics and diplomacy, none of the gossip that the girls downstairs are eager for. It's so easy to turn my brain off, let my muscle memory do the work. If the practiced smile I plaster on fades a little bit, who's going to notice? No one looks a servant in the face. Even good King Gus doesn’t look for long.

Alvin starts hounding the King about a recent visit from a diplomat, which he took as a threat. Personally, I think a country waging war wouldn't bother sending a diplomat ahead of time, but what do I know?

The King seems to agree with me. "No sense in being hasty," he says. "Why make an enemy where you can have a friend?"

"There's no such thing as countries being friends," Alvin insists.

That's when it happens. I have to laugh.

Barely even a laugh, really. A hearty exhale. Still, it's more noise than I've made since I stepped into the chamber, save the collision before dinner. Everyone slowly turns to look at me. I've never had so many people looking at me before.

"I'm sorry," I start, but the damage has been done. Alvin looks furious, the Duchess curious, the King...well, I can't quite tell. I'm too afraid to look at him.

"Don't apologize," he says. "Tell us. You clearly have a strong opinion."

"Well." Do I? I've never thought of myself as having a strong opinion before, but no one's ever asked. Feeling emboldened, I press on. "Of course countries are friends. Carbonel has trade treaties, peace agreements, lands we've sought aid from in times of need and returned it to in theirs. Our friends make us great. A diplomat suggests to me someone interested in maintaining that friendship. So, as you said—Your Majesty"—with a quick curtsey, in case I'm in danger of seeming like I've forgotten my station—"why assume the worst?"

Alvin scowls at me, but I hardly notice in the light of the King's twinkling eyes. He's kind but quiet, and I rarely hear him laugh, so every smile's a welcome reward.

Unfortunately, it's distracting enough that the gazpacho I'm serving somehow finds its way out of the ladle and all over the Royal Lap. Alvin sputters as if he's the one who's just had soup spilled all over him. The Duchess' smirk is the closest thing to a smile I've ever won from her. As for the King? I'm too afraid to look at him. Again.

"Sorry!" I shout, far too loud. "I'm sorry," again, at a more decorous volume. "Your Majesty, I am so—"

"Maid," Alvin says coldly, though I swear behind the scowl he's somehow also smirking, "leave us. You're dismissed."

Whether he means from dinner or from the palace, who's to say?

I skip Dinah and dessert, rushing through the kitchen and ignoring everyone who calls after me in my haste to lock myself in my room. My distress must be evident, because not even Dinah comes knocking until later in the night.

"Lurina?"

"How bad is it?" I don't know if she can hear me, muffled as I am against my pillow.

Dinah sighs. Never a good sign. Dinah can find the bright side in anything. "Alvin has lodged a formal complaint," she says hesitantly. "On behalf of the King."

"I see." That's that, then. Alvin's animosity, I've grown used to over the years. But I'd thought the King had somewhat liked me. If even he wants to let me go, there's no getting around it.

"I'm so sorry, Lurina."

"Stop apologizing," I reply, hoping she smiles. "I'll be all right. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

Tomorrow, when I officially get fired. Dinah's kind enough not to say it out loud. "Good night, Lurina."

"Thank you, Dinah."

"Happy early birthday."

So much for that. For someone whose every birthday has been a disappointment, this one takes the cake—ironic, since I probably won’t get to eat any.

But the thought of cake makes my stomach growl. This late in the night, surely the kitchen will be empty. I'll be left alone in my disgrace, enjoy one last night of royal leftovers, and try not to think about how I'll never find another job or a place to live or three square meals a day again. I'm an orphan with no outstanding skills or talents, not even pretty enough to marry well. Could I even be hired as a maid now, when my only reference will be someone from the palace claiming I tried to drown the King in cold soup?

Right. Tomorrow. Tonight, there's at least cake.

Accompanying the cake is a small fire in the fireplace and a cup of tea. If a splash of the King's whiskey finds itself in it, why not? He can't fire me twice. (Can he?)

The whiskey stings a little going down, yet I find myself wanting more as soon as it fades. He can't fire me thrice. (He could, he's the King.) This should be celebratory, a happy birthday wish, but no, wishes are for children and in five minutes, I'll be eighteen. All grown up. No more fairy tales or happily ever afters.

Still, I can't stop staring at the clock as it ticks ever closer to midnight. What's the harm in wishing one last time? Either magic isn't real and nothing happens and everything is exactly as miserable as it is right now, or...

I don't even want to finish that sentence. I don't dare to hope. But I still wish. Oh, how I wish.

I pour what remains of the whiskey into my cup. (Let him do what he wants.) As the seconds race by, I squeeze my eyes shut and wish, pray, plead, beg for a solution to my problems. A personality transplant for Alvin. A memory wipe for the King. A way to stay, any way.

The clock begins to chime. Perhaps it's the whiskey taking quick effect but it's loud, so loud, too loud. Are there more clocks than I thought in here? Are the clocks bigger than they were before? Are they... Am I...

Wait.

When I open my eyes, I'm suddenly on the ground. But I'm not lying down, I don’t think. Or maybe I am, and that's why everything looks so different. And feels so different. Even the air tastes different. Strange sounds are everywhere, and everything's the wrong color. I try to get to my feet, but when I place my hands on the floor to brace myself, they're not hands at all.

They're... No.

The tea. Too much whiskey. That's all. I go to pick up the cup I dropped but my fingers are all wrong. My fingers look like beans. Why are they so hairy?

And then I see it. My reflection, in the spilled tea and whiskey that have cursed me.

Fluffy. White. Paws. Whiskers.

I’m a cat.

I scream, but it comes out as a purr.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

The Lycan Prince’s Puppy

The Lycan Prince’s Puppy

2.2m Views · Ongoing · chavontheauthor
“You’re mine, little puppy,” Kylan growled against my neck.
“Soon enough, you’ll be begging for me. And when you do—I’ll use you as I see fit, and then I’ll reject you.”


When Violet Hastings begins her freshman year at Starlight Shifters Academy, she only wants two things—honor her mother’s legacy by becoming a skilled healer for her pack and get through the academy without anyone calling her a freak for her strange eye condition.

Things take a dramatic turn when she discovers that Kylan, the arrogant heir to the Lycan throne who has made her life miserable from the moment they met, is her mate.

Kylan, known for his cold personality and cruel ways, is far from thrilled. He refuses to accept Violet as his mate, yet he doesn’t want to reject her either. Instead, he sees her as his puppy, and is determined to make her life even more of a living hell.

As if dealing with Kylan’s torment isn’t enough, Violet begins to uncover secrets about her past that change everything she thought she knew. Where does she truly come from? What is the secret behind her eyes? And has her whole life been a lie?
From Substitute To Queen

From Substitute To Queen

515.1k Views · Completed · Hannah Moore
For three years, Sable loved Alpha Darrell with everything she had, spending her salary to support their household while being called an orphan and gold-digger. But just as Darrell was about to mark her as his Luna, his ex-girlfriend returned, texting: "I'm not wearing underwear. My plane lands soon—pick me up and fuck me immediately."

Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.

Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.

In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?

From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The Prison Project

The Prison Project

372.6k Views · Ongoing · Bethany Donaghy
The government's newest experiment in criminal rehabilitation - sending thousands of young women to live alongside some of the most dangerous men held behind bars...

Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?

Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.

Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.

Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...

At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…

Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?

Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?

What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…

A temperamental romance novel.
His Mission

His Mission

339k Views · Completed · Sakz Hussain
Meet Emily Wentworth. Since the death of her father, she's been living a home life full of abuse. It's remained a secret for years until she meets the town's bad boy, Jake Melvin. It doesn't take long for him to figure out her secret.

Emily is suddenly thrown from one world of danger and uncertainty into another. The two teens ride the rollercoaster of love, unbelievable betrayal and heartache.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

302.4k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
The Biker's Fate

The Biker's Fate

477.1k Views · Completed · Piper Davenport
"You are absolutely my fucking woman, Dani. Got me?"
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Dani," he pressed. "Do you get me?"
"No, Austin, I don't," I admitted as I pulled my robe closed again and sat up. "You confuse me."
He dragged his hands down his face. "Tell me what's on your mind."
I sighed. "You're everything my parents warned me against. You're secretive, but you're also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I've ever known. You're a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don't get you because you're not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I've ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I'm feeling things I don't quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don't want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don't want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he's super pretty and makes me come."
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she's as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she's rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin 'Booker' Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief's daughter at arm's length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it's too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who's everything she's been warned about?
Goddess Of The Underworld.

Goddess Of The Underworld.

249.4k Views · Ongoing · sheridan.hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her. Then finally into lycan princess, stronger, faster, the moon finally answering back, giving her exactly what she needs to protect her family.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armor, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of a border pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to stay; of cake, iron, and daylight negotiations. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a why-choose, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

1m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Badass in Disguise

Badass in Disguise

239.6k Views · Completed · Sherry
"Everyone out," I commanded through gritted teeth. "Now."
"Jade, I need to check your—" the nurse began.
"OUT!" I snarled with enough force that both women backed toward the door.
Once feared by Shadow Organization that drugged me to replicate my abilities into a more controllable version, I had escaped my restraints and detonated their entire facility, ready to die alongside my captors.
Instead, I woke up in a school infirmary with women arguing around me, their voices piercing my skull. My outburst froze them in shock—clearly they hadn't expected such a reaction. One woman threatened as she left, "We'll discuss this attitude when you get home."
The bitter truth? I've been reborn into the body of an overweight, weak, and supposedly dim-witted high school girl. Her life is filled with bullies and tormentors who've made her existence miserable.
But they have no idea who they're dealing with now.
I didn't survive as the world's deadliest assassin by allowing anyone to push me around. And I certainly won't start now.
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

319.6k Views · Ongoing · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

394.3k Views · Completed · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life. 

Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
Mated by Contract to the Alpha

Mated by Contract to the Alpha

214k Views · Completed · CalebWhite
My perfect life shattered in a single heartbeat.
William—my devastatingly handsome, wealthy werewolf fiancé destined to become Delta—was supposed to be mine forever. After five years together, I was ready to walk down the aisle and claim my happily ever after.
Instead, I found him with her. And their son.
Betrayed, jobless, and drowning in my father's medical bills, I hit rock bottom harder than I ever imagined possible. Just when I thought I'd lost everything, salvation came in the form of the most dangerous man I'd ever encountered.
Damien Sterling—future Alpha of the Silver Moon Shadow Pack and ruthless CEO of Sterling Group—slid a contract across his desk with predatory grace.
“Sign this, little doe, and I'll give you everything your heart desires. Wealth. Power. Revenge. But understand this—the moment you put pen to paper, you become mine. Body, soul, and everything in between.”
I should have run. Instead, I signed my name and sealed my fate.
Now I belong to the Alpha. And he's about to show me just how wild love can be.