Chapter 63

Kingdom of Alba…

Helga's pov;

It is the next day and as planned I go see my uncle in his secret man cave to discuss his next move in the palace in which he wants me to take part.

I enter through the usual passage by the abandoned wall behind the castle and close the wall immediately after making sure no one is following me.

I walk down the stairs to where my uncle is standing looking at his globe looking oracle.

I clear my throat "I am here uncle" I say.

He turns around and nods then tells his assistant I guess to go away.

"I have a task I want you to accomplish for me today" he says as he grabs a few small bottles from the shelves and come back to hand them to me.

He then says "These are scorpion poison extract potions , I want you to use this in the tea of at least two of the concubines of the king . You are free to choose which ones. It has to be done today because I want to accelerate the motion of my plans" He wants to kill the concubines? Why? I mean I don't care about them but why though?

So I ask "May I ask why there is need to kill them? And why two specifically and not all of them?"

He replies with "I need them dead so that I can reduce the chances of them giving birth to potential heirs to the throne after Tobias dies and the reason I can not kill them all at once as much as I want to , is because I don't want it to be too suspicious. Two deaths in one day is already a lot and will cause chaos if there were more I am sure I would be discovered and so I choose to be prudent. Now go , you have the perfect position because you have access to the kitchen and the concubines's quarters so it will be a piece of cake for you"

I nod and keep the bottles in my small bag.

I look at him and say "I will not disappoint you uncle. I will prove myself worthy of your teaching" he nods and turns his back on me.

I have to do this even if it means taking someone's or rather two people's lives. When I get my uncle's powers I will do much more horrible things anyway right? Might as well get used to the bloodshed now.

I walk back to the harem and now I have to choose who are the two consorts I am poisoning.

As I am making my choice I see two of the consorts just chatting together coming from the Queen's quarters and I know then that I have my targets.

Here we go.

Avery's pov;

I wake up to the birds chipping outside my window and the sun entering is blinding my eyes. I go back inside the blankets as I delay my awakening to this day.

After a few turns in the bed I feel someone tugging at my shoulder and I brush them out off,

"Heizel let me sleep a bit longer will you. I know there is nothing urgent to be done today so no rush. 10 more minutes" I blubber in my sleep.

The person pokes my head from behind and push them back as I turn towards their side.

Why is Heizel being so persistent?

"You really amaze me Ethera. The fact that you can sleep until this time without an ounce of bother that I am here is miraculous *chuckle" That is a man's voice , one husky voice at that.

It immediately wakes me up and I look up to see the king or rather Tobias staring straight at me.

Oh with my bed hair and all , good gracious.

I rub my eyes and stretch a bit and take a better look at the king in my bed.

How did I forget he slept here? Like for real?

He must have found all this act amusing . I really thought it was Heizel , ugh . Now what?

He sits up right and just chuckles "So this is how you normally are in the morning? Interesting. This is the most realistic things I have seen from a lady when it comes to morning routines" It is? What did he expect from me exactly? A full face makeup and shit? This man really got things twisted. I don't even thing Ethera does that either, that would be too tiring.

I guess he really is used to fake and glitter type of women, I feel bad for him .

He might be a king but I happen to know he prefers simpler things in life and just sincere people which he does not and can not have here in the palace, I mean how could he with all the sappy competition to be perfect in this harem among other things this era's society has embedded in their minds.

"Yep and you better get used to this because I am not a morning person and so I will probably wake up a bit later than everyone else and I will lay in bed for some time taking in the energy from the sun and just preparing myself for the day." I say.

He smiles at me as if in awe. This man is truly intriguing , he makes me want to teach him how to have fun and how to see outside this box everyone here lives in.

The thing is I have to act like Ethera would and I know she wouldn't be like that so I have to keep it low key.

"I sure can get used to this" he says smirking at me. Oh not that, anything but the smirk. Can men just stop doing that to me, I can't .

Not gonna lie though I love that from him. He lets himself show more when we are alone rather than when there are people around . He is king after all he has a reputation to keep.

"I think I should go get ready , want to stay for breakfast?" I ask.

"I would love that" he says smiling and we both get up going to different places to change.

After changing I meet up with Tobias in the living area where a table has been set for breakfast.

He is already there waiting for me and I see Heizel and Hygai there as well and they are both smiling at me more so in a teasing way , they are excited to hear about what happened last night.

Except I don't think that is the case for Heizel as she knows nothing should have happened as I am not the real Ethera.

Tobias stands up to pull the chair for me as the gentleman he is.

We sit down and the food comes out and is placed in front of us. This is for sure different.

I never thought I would be hosting a king for breakfast and even more having a sleep over with one . Yes that's what I am calling last night.

A sleep over . Nothing happened, we just chatted open heartedly and had a good laugh if we forget the occasional fluttering words he would say to me.

I am not allowed to think of that. I can't.

For Ethera I can't.

"Your grace , sorry to disturb your breakfast" An Eunuch says entering the room while panting.

"What is it?" Tobias asks calmly.

"It's the consorts. I mean two of them . They- they were found dead this morning in their respective quarters" he says lowering his head and Tobias slams his fist on the table.

He said what now?