Eight

I could sense the tension from Caspian the entire way home and it makes me concerned for what awaits me when we get back to the manor. Jax stayed with us until we reached the front door but bowed his head slightly before he took off running, leaving me with the gut-wrenching feeling that I was about to face the wrath of the Alpha King.

It was my first time being with a man in this way at all, I wasn't used to such things as jealousy or knew when I was overstepping a line and being offensive. I was merely concerned about Collinsworth, who risked his life to get us in there just for something to heal my scars.

Caspian waited at the front door for me to get off, then nodded with his head for me to go inside ahead of him. I gave him a hesitant look, but he nodded again and turned around to take off around the other side of the manor.

"Where is he going?" I asked myself quietly.

"He is going to visit his mother; he should be back later tonight."

I jumped at the sound of Carlak's voice and spun around to see him smiling in the doorway. "My apologies, my lady, I didn't mean to startle you. It is getting cold, please come inside."

"I wasn't aware the former Queen Luna was still around. Are she and Caspian close?"

Carlak gave a tight smile. "I wouldn't say that. She performed the minimum duties of a mother, but she always held her duties as Queen Luna above everything else. It's understandable in that position, you have many others to think about."

Although what he said was true, I couldn't help but feel there was more to what he was saying, but it probably wasn't his place to say.

As his wife, was it even my place to ask?

"Are you hungry, my lady?"

"You can call me Sevika, I feel more comfortable with that title."

He smiled gently at me. "Well, when we aren't in the presence of the King I'm sure that won't be a problem. But I'm afraid he won't look favourable upon me if he were to catch me addressing you as such."

"Why would you assume that?"

"Just a hunch," he shrugged. "Now, would you like something to eat? I can have a meal prepared for you and brought to your room."

"Thank you, Carlak, but I'll wait for Caspian to return, and we can eat together."

He bowed. "As you wish, I will inform him when he returns."

I tried my best to remember the way back to the bedroom to test my knowledge, and after about 20 minutes I managed to find it. The first thing I did was kick off my flats and flopped onto the bed, my legs screaming from all the walking, running and riding I did today. We left when the sun was just rising and we returned when it had already set, it took the entire day to accomplish this, and in the end, we got more than we bargained for.

It was also my first time encountering a creature other than my own. I had only ever read about Sirens in books and never imagined I would have met one in the pack I used to roam every day. Then again, I would have never imagined there was something as shady as that gambling den going on.

'I wonder if Magnus has discovered it yet, and what he plans to do about the people running it.' 

I shook my head to banish the thoughts. It was useless thinking of my past life when I slowly realized the potential life I could live here, as long as I continue to prove my usefulness. Maybe that was why none of the other wives worked out because they were all noble ladies who had never lifted so much as a fork in their life let alone ruled next to someone as strong-willed and hard-headed as Caspian seemed to be.

I couldn't exactly say the same for myself, but at least I wasn't something pretty to look at, I could be a valuable asset to Caspian instead.

"It must suck to have to look at someone like me every day," I chuckled to myself.

"What nonsense are you muttering to yourself?" Caspian asked as soon as he walked through the door.

"Oh, n-nothing. Just lost in thought." I sat up on the bed instantly.

Caspian walked over to the bed and stopped just before it, looking down at me with narrowed eyes.

"Are you upset with me?" I asked.

"Upset isn't where I would begin, but I'm not angry with you. I'm just…tonight didn't go the way I planned it to."

"No one could have planned for that; it was all Rosalyn's doing. How could we have known this night was the night that someone else would be planning to blow the place up?" I stopped and remembered the whole fiasco. "Speaking of which, what happened with the other Sirens in there?"

"We discovered the reason the place was getting such an endless supply of Siren's blood, was due to the blood factory they kept with the Siren's that have gone missing in the local areas recently. Whoever was behind this, they have more than just Alpha Emery to deal with it seems."

My heart wrenched at the thought of Rosalyn's poor daughter being in there, most likely strapped to all sorts of machines that were drawing her blood just enough to keep her alive to produce more.

"Oh, my Gods, how awful," I muttered and covered my mouth as I felt vile threaten to come up. "Was this the doing of people from the Rafina Pack?"

"I don't believe so, at least not entirely. There was a mix of smells in that room, but I never discovered who was truly behind it. I will confer with Alpha Emery after he is done with his own investigation. We will get to the bottom of this."

I frowned. "I feel there is something deeper tied to this. Please, be careful when investigating."

My eyes nearly betrayed me when a ghost of a smile crossed his face.

"You show concern for someone rumoured to have killed many people, do you know that?" he asked.

"I show concern for the King I saw selflessly rescue a strange girl and her people without a second thought for his own safety."

He approached me slowly and cupped the side of my face with his palms. His blue eyes looked deep into mine as if searching for something.

"You really are something else," he muttered, then leaned down and softly pressed his lips to mine. Warmth spread from the top of my head to my toes and my lips tingled, it was nothing like when Magnus would force himself on me and kiss me with his rough lips.

This was sweet and gentle; I could feel my very soul radiating from the inside out. But it was over all too soon as Caspian pulled away to lean his forehead against mine and pulled in deep breaths.

"I apologize for my impatience, I didn't mean to offend you," he said.

To my surprise, I didn't feel disgusted like I thought I would if another man ever tried to touch me in the same way Magnus did. I always thought that just the thought of being intimate with Caspian would make me sick, but it was quite the opposite, and maybe it was because he was nothing like Magnus or any of the men I had met before.

"I am your wife, there is nothing to offend."

He chuckled but there was no humour in his tone.

"I'm sure my previous wives would argue that."

This was my chance to ask him the truth about what happened to all the women before me, to see if the rumours were true.

"At the risk of offending you as well, may I ask the truth of what happened?"

His eyes widened in shock. "Would you believe what I say?"

"Of course, or I would not bother asking."

He smiled. "I suppose that is logical." He paused and let out a deep breath.

"The truth is I didn't kill any of my previous partners, at least not with my own hands. In one way or another – they all took their own or were killed."