The Alpha King's Hated Slave
The Alpha King’s Hated Slave Chapter 275

That night, King Lucien’s sleep was disturbed much more than it has always been.

For some painful incomprehensible reasons, nightmares about what happened to Declan plagued his unconsciousness. His waking moments are no better.

An hour after midnight, he was wide awake with a hurting heart and a head filled with painful memories of his cousin who died in the most horrible way right in front of him.

In the dark of the night, he clenched his hands into fists, wishing the pain will stop. If only Danika was here…

Danika. His heart unclenched a bit at the thought of her. How is she? How is his child?

Getting up from the bed, he entered the bathroom, turned on the cold water overhead, and let it wash over him.

Not for the first time, he regretted giving his word to help the Princess and her lover. If not that he is a man of his word, he will already be in Mombana to await the birth of his child.

On the morrow. No, it is the early hours of the morning already.

After today, he will make hasty plans to be in Mombana as fast as he can.

But first, the pain from the memories of his dead brother will have to leave him first.

After all these years, it does not hurt less.

***********

It is a rocky ride. The carriage keeps bumping into road obstacles, shaking the prisoner in all directions at the same time.

“Sorry, bud.” The prison guard drawled mockingly. The others laughed.

They aren’t sorry at all. In fact, they enjoyed rocking him around, it’s their own way of playing jokes on him; Navia’s Prisoner.

Callan pressed his lips together, folding his tied hands together in front of him and squeezing nervously.

When he found out that he was going to be moved from Navia to Salem, he does not know if he should be happy or filled with dread.

He was both. The Princess might actually trust this King so well that she was so happy when she told him that his Judge and Jury is no longer in her father’s hands, but he wasn’t.

With her father, he knows that he’s going to get killed but with this new King, he has no idea if he’ll be freed or he’ll be tortured, humiliated and then, killed.

But, his Princess is happy, so he had to go with it.

Being in that godforsaken cold cell for more than four months was almost driving him to insanity. That place is a living nightmare for him… literally.

There was no single night he had a good sleep in that cold, barren, place. Every night was a reoccurrence of a part of his past that must have been so traumatizing that his place had to block it out. Hard.

His flashes got so worse in that dungeon, that he was able to figure out a few things in these past few months;

He’d been in a dungeon-like that before in his life, and a lot of his bad memories happened in that place.

He’d been raped before—the day he was killed. It was so horrible, it made his strong brother bawl and shout like a baby while he begged his abusers to stop and kill him instead.

He was able to remember his brother’s name. Lucien.

He was able to remember his brother’s face.

He’s not a peasant. He has no idea of their status in society, but they were no peasants.

His brother had loved him so much… Had fought for him so much… Had protected him so much. His brother loves him. There’s nothing much he remembered, but he always had the urge to cry whenever he remembers his brother.

Another bumping of the carriage on something jolted him out of his thoughts.

“Oops. Sorry.” Another guard said amusingly.

He’d had enough. “I’ll make sure the Princess hears about this joyful ride, I assure you all.”

The smile disappeared from their faces. They looked at each other nervously, and back at him, “Uhm, it was c-completely unintentional.”

“Of course, it was. That must be why we are riding the bumpy sides, instead of the clear road.”

They cleared their throats self-consciously. The carriage rider changed routes instantly and turned the horses towards the smooth route.

As the journey progressed—more smoothly this time—Callan wondered if a time will come when he will be able to see his brother again.

*********

After all the postponing and planning and researching and chickening out, Talia finally decided that she will poison the King and Zariel today.

Coza had been very angry the night before when he didn’t hear any chaos and upheaval from the people. It only means that the Queen of Mombana did not die.

His anger only escalated when all his messages to the mistress went unanswered. He’d sent more than five messages through messenger birds, but they’ve all flown back empty. No reply at all.

He’d taken his anger out on her, taking séxual pleasures from her body in the most brutal way…

“Kaya!” Came the loud voice behind her.

She turned and stared at the cook wide-eyed. “Uhmm?”

“Where’s your mind!? That tea…!”

She turned and glanced at the tea she was pouring into a cup. “Ooooh!!”

That was when she realized that the cup has filled up and overflowed.

Dropping the old kettle down, she glanced sheepishly at Maima, “Sorry…”

The cook’s lips turned down in disapproval, “Keep your head around you next time, will you?”

“Yes, Maima.” She replied obediently before she faced her task again.

Outside, Talia looks all cool and reserved as she added honey and stirred the King’s tea but on the inside, she is a mess.

“The King asked you to get his tea for him?” Maima, the Royal cook asked conversing as she chopped the vegetables at the other side of the kitchen.

“Yes. After his training with the guards, he ordered me to get him tea.” She replied.

“Just make sure you don’t put lots of honey to it. The King absolutely hates a lot of it.”

“Of course.” She’d done her research very well before she finally gathered up the guts to execute this plan after two months.

Lifting up the two wooden cups, she made her way out of the Royal Kitchen to her bedroom to add the poisonous concoction.

As she walked, her legs shook. By the Gods, this is more a suicide mission than any conspiracy she has been involved in all her life.

Thank God nobody knows her identity in this palace.

No one knows she will be killing the King and one of his strongest guards on this day.