Chapter 16

The third Day of the month of Palefrost,

Just outside the kingdom.

Aubreyne stood beside a large horse, her hand gripping the reins.

She looked over at the view in front of her.

The kingdom was a breathtaking sight from where she stood on a high cliff.

The cliff she had wanted to fling herself down from only a few months before.

She sighed, wondering what had gone through her mind then.

How could she have been so foolish?

Growing up, Aubreyne Glindelle had had it all.

She was the only daughter of an extremely wealthy merchant and was her father's pampered child. After she had come of age, she had begun to help her father and learn the business.

It wasn't long before the beautiful girl could sufficiently hold trade meetings and decide on stock and shipping details all on her own.

The lady was gorgeous in addition and many men of her city tried in vain to impress her.

At the beginning of the year, the youngest prince of the Royal Palace had stepped into the city, causing a flutter.

He had visited to find expensive, delicious wine, he had said and it hadn't been long before he had stepped into her own winery.

Aubreyne remembered the week they had met.

The prince had eyes only for her beyond the adoring people that followed him and it had thrilled her.

He frequented the city many times to spend time with her, often bringing her ridiculously expensive gifts and promising to move to the city if she married him.

Aubreyene was thrilled by his attention and his words but had a few doubts that would not let her comply with his requests for physical intimacy.

He seemed, even then, odd to her.

As a hardworking woman herself, it did not sit right with her the way he treated jobs and the earning of money. He seemed arrogant and deemed better people as above working to earn.

It had not let her see him as completely attractive but his constant shower of gifts and special attention had her blinded.

A certain week, her father had announced his going away on a business trip and had left her alone to handle the Mansion.

Prince Cecil had shown up the next night, heaps of expensive clothes and jewels for his love interest in tow.

After a few minutes of flirtatious talking between the two, she had felt the heat of his request and had slowly relented, allowing him to touch her where no other man had before.

The next morning, the prince had cooed a goodbye before leaving, promising to be back when her father returned.

Her father, however, did not return from the trip.

A message from a lone survivor, alerted her the next day of her father's ship sinking, unable to champion a terrifying storm.

When Aubreyne had broken down in despair that day, she had received a letter from her royal lover.

He had stated, quite bluntly and in very few words, that he had found another girl nearest to the Capital who fascinated him. He did not wish to continue their relationship any further. She was free to keep the gifts he had sent her.

The cold anguish and heart-stabbing betrayal that Aubreyne had felt that day had slowly transformed into a single-minded aim: vengeance.

Aubreyne Glindelle vowed to not let the prince sleep in peace.

She was determined to walk into the Royal Palace and make his life miserable.

The third Day of the month of Palefrost

The Royal Palace.

"Augustus!"

Augustus winced.

He was only a few steps away from the suite he had arranged for Blythe Gardenlight and had been wanting to check on the girls all of the morning.

None of the royal family members had been told that a maiden had been made to stay at the same floor of Elliot's room but it wouldn't be long before Elliot found out.

He knew information about every inch of the place.

Prince Augustus turned around slowly, wondering how he would distract his father who had walked into the corridor, behind him.

"Father! How has your day been so far?"

The king had a sad expression on his face, "Alright, my boy. It seems you are back to your cheerful self again."

Augustus hurried to him, his smile in place, "You seem upset still, father. A drink with me at the balcony overlooking the sea; how does that sound to you?"

Augustus needed his father out of the floor of the palace they stood in.

He did not want Blythe and Xyla wandering outside and meeting the king.

The king sighed before turning to the large staircase and gently making his way down, "It's your mother."

"Mother?" Augustus perked up as he led his father down the stairs.

"She's still very grieved about the whole issue with Cecil, Augustus. Blames herself."

"How is mother to blame for any of this?"

"I told her the same. Do visit her in the evening. She needs to distract herself."

Augustus nodded.

His mother had always pardoned most of Cecil's mistakes and had taken to shielding him from anything he would have disliked or hated.

Augustus had heard quite a few disgusting rumours about Cecil and suspected most to be true.

His mother was not the only one to blame if she found her actions guilty.

The third Day of the month of Palefrost,

A Small Stock Store in a little town near the Capital.

Theone was an attractive man in his thirties.

He had a strong masculine build and chiseled features. Gorgeous eyes and dark, luscious hair attracted the attention of anyone who stood by and his low, gravelly voice excited the women he talked to.

Tall, with a muscular chest and a toned back, it was no wonder he found it easy to flirt with the women he met and easily seduce them.

Noble women, he found, were much easier to tempt with how much they looked for the thrill of something new, dangerous and forbidden.

Feeling the soft lips of a wealthy high-ranking man's wife at his neck, he let his hands slowly graze down her body. The married woman moaned into his ear and Theone smirked slowly.

The passion of seeking out the opposite sex in the ordinary, accepted way had faded years before. It did not thrill him anymore.

Causing a scandal, he found, fired him up and brought out all of his senses to play.

Letting the lady's hands tighten around his neck, he reached down to her breasts before a loud thud shocked the adulterous pair.

He frowned.

His shop was closed to the people outside.

The wife of his client and he had snuck into the dim lit room behind the main display of his store.

"Who might that be?"

Her grip on his shoulders tightened.

He chuckled before pinching her waist, earning a small squeal before he slowly loosened her hand, "With you in a minute, love. Let me go check on who that is."

The lady whined, her eyes darkened with lust.

Giving her a long, silencing kiss, Theone stepped away from her to leave the room.