2 - The death of the king's concubine

“What? The dire wolves got your tongue?! How dare you walk into my chambers like you own the place?! You came to spy on me, didn’t you?!" the queen hissed. "You good for nothing scheming whore! You have had my husband and now, you would have my throne?!"

Alethea quickly shook her head in fear, still moving back. "No, no, I swear to the gods, my queen, I didn't come to spy on you! I swear!"

"Then why have you come here?!" The queen snapped, obviously enraged.

Alethea moved backward into the lounge since the queen kept on moving towards her in a slow but steady menacing way. "I have only come to inform you that I have been delivered of my child."

The queen snorted in displeasure. "So, the whore finally puts to bed, uh?" She stopped now and crossed her arms underneath her naked firm bosom. "So, I figure that you have finally pleased my desperate husband well by giving him what he most desires, haven’t you?" She asked tersely.

Alethea hesitated. "It's a girl." She swallowed hard, hoping that the gender was any consolation to the queen. “Her name is Theresa.” She feebly added.

The queen chuckled wickedly. "Oh, even a Nymph's womb couldn't hold the heir to the throne of Royal Isle after all, could it? It however keeps me wondering what my darling husband is going to do now about his dire need for an heir? Lay with another creature" She sashayed around the lounge, idly caressing this and that along the side of the wall as she spoke. "I wonder! What will it be this time? An Empousa? A Siren? A Sphinx? A vampire? Or perhaps, he might be desperate enough to lay with an Elf; I would not put it beneath him to go that low, considering that he would even cconsider you in the first place. My, there is a rumour that elves are very fertile, even more than this barren Queen who stands before you." She said sarcastically, slowly running a finger up and down her naked form in a seductive-teasing caress.

Alethea didn't say anything but the Queen was obviously not done yet. "Adolph doesn't need to go around bedding you low-bloods. It is an insult to royalty!" She spat icily. "What he needs more is to be a better man in bed and not just on the throne. He lacks the ultimate quality of what makes a man and yet the people point fingers at me like I am the one at fault." She cooed. "And that's why Lucas will always be better than he ever will be. If he can have a concubine, then I’m also obliged to my own pleasures, although discreetly."

Alethea glanced over the queen’s shoulder to find Lucas standing beside the Queen, naked too. He had probably come out to the outer chamber to witness what was going on but she wished he would throw on a robe.

The queen continued anyway, "The King openly insulted and made a huge mockery of me me by bringing in a forest nymph and mating with you right in this castle for an heir. You are not even one of us! A mere forest nymph from a damn bog! How dare he try to mix the blood of completely different species, a stain on the Lycan throne that has never been done! It was a big mistake on his part. A mistake I have sworn to correct..." She smiled evilly, "and now the chance has presented itself in a platter of gold."

Alethea stepped back, petrified when she saw the wild look in the queen’s eyes. "What are you going to do? Just let me go, please. I swear, I'll take my baby and never return, I swear to you, my Queen!" She pleaded desperately.

The Queen smirked and cooed to Lucas over her shoulder. "See how she begs..." She levelled a glare at Alethea. "Did you beg him to stop when he chose to insert his royal cock inside you and betrayed and sullied our marriage? Did you plead for mercy when he spilled his weak seeds into your womb?” She shook her head slowly. "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Nymph, you chose to mess with the wrong queen immediately you accepted my darling husband between your thighs and now, I'm devoid of mercy."

"I swear, my queen! Please spare my life." Alethea pleaded on the verge of tears. "I promise not to breathe a word to a soul. I shall take little Theresa and leave the castle immediately and I promise I'll never let Adolph find me, I give you my word as a Nymph."

"About you not breathing a word to a soul, I intend to make sure of that, my dear nymph. You will take with you my secret to your grave!" Before Alethea could blink, the Queen covered the distance between them and grabbed her arms.

Alethea tried to break free from the queen’s hold which was surprisingly strong but the queen dug her long fingernails into Alethea’s arms, causing the skin to break and bleed. "Can you fly?" She suddenly asked as she shoved Alethea towards a direction and before Alethea could understand what the queen meant, it was too late.

The queen shoved her out of the long window and watched with a smirk as Alethea fell, flailed and screamed until she hit the hard ground with a sickening thud and died instantly with blood slowly seeping from the crack in her shattered head.

The queen sharply turned around with a frown when she heard a sob and then a soft cry issue from a corner in the room. “What in the gods is that?!” she asked.

She followed the direction of the sound and reached the baby on the fur blanket. She stared down at the crying baby who was no awake and carried up her in her arms. "Poor, poor you..." She crooned to the baby. "Did your slutty mother's death-scream wake you up? You felt it, didn't you, you little devilish and unfortunate child of a bog whore?"

Turning around without taking her eyes off the baby, she walked back to the window still crooning at the baby as the night breeze blew through her dark thick hair and caressed her naked skin. "It’s quite unfortunate that you'll be joining your mother in the underworld where she truly belongs…I can barely stand the sight of you…" She said, gently removed the baby from her arms by holding her by the ankle then she held her upside down outside the window, suspended in the air, exposing the fragile little thing to the night wind and this caused the oblivious baby to wail more the more.

"No, Ursula!" Lucas who was still trying to get over the shock of what his lover had just done to Alethea, suddenly cried out, rushing forward with an outstretched arm. “Please, not her too!”

When Ursula turned her head over her shoulder to glare at him for interrupting her, he nervously swallowed hard then said calmly, "Two deaths at once can never be a coincidence. The king will know that you did it. The people will point fingers at you... Mother and child dying on the same day is quite an unbelievable story of suicide, even though I know that will be your rendition of what happened."

"Yes, it’s a suicide, Lucas. Isn't it quite tragic that she decided to throw herself with her child in her arms out of the window? I can always get false witnesses to testify that she was always suicidal." She said over her shoulder. “I just need to figure out a reason to explain why she chose to do it from my window,” She said thoughtfully, more to herself then tried to drop the baby again but Lucas stopped her again, making her irritation grow.

"Let the child live, Ursula!” He insisted.

“And what is it to you?!” she spat in annoyance, partially turning in annoyance to glower at him. “Why do you care so much about an illegitimate princess that the people will reject anyway?!”

“I know that you detest her mother so much, Ursula. Well, you have had your revenge. Please, let the child live. She has done you no wrong." Lucas pleaded.

“If you think that I am going to play the role of a stepmother to this thing…” she regarded the child with disgust, still holding her by an ankle, “then you are gravely mistaken. I hate her just as much as I hate her mother and I won’t stand back and watch her take the kingdom from me!”

“Maybe, she won’t…” Lucas said, “If you feel threatened by her existence, maybe you could send her away…far away from here. No one has to know that she is alive. She will grow up and never know that she is a princess. Just let her live…please.”

His words did have an effect on her and Ursula regarded the baby with a glare for a moment. "For now, perhaps..." she pulled the baby out of the window back into her arms. "If you are going to make me spare her life, then you must grant me one favour," she fully turned to look at Lucas now with a sinister smile on her lips.

Lucas hesitated, dreading her answer as he asked, "what?" He swallowed hard.

"Ensure that the king does not return from Pragoth alive... he would not hesitate to have me banished when he returns to the unfortunate news of the demise of his beloved; I want the fool dead! He never saw any good in me anyway."

Lucas could only stare at her dumbfounded but he knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to fling the infant out the window if he said no.

Then he watched as she stared down at the baby with the sinister smile still plastered on her face as she stroked the baby’s scanty but curly hair. "And as for little Theresa...she'd never become the princess she was born to be neither would she sit on my throne and rule over the realm... Never! I am the queen and with Adolf out of the way, no one will challenge my authority." She said to herself.