Lucianne swallowed a lump in her throat and admitted, “When she wants to be.”
A pause, leaving both men confused before she continued, “Margaret is not just hurt. She is in great pain. She has been since the rejection. Over the years, she buried that pain deep under the layers of hatred for everything and everyone. The bitterness is not something that any one of us can just…tear down.”
She gave Tate a moment before continuing, “This is her fight, Tate. Until she decides to feel the pain and practice letting go, she won’t improve from her current state. We can be there for her during her healing process but the work, the bulk of the healing, is a lone journey, and Margaret would only embark on it when she chooses to.”
Tat
In government headquarters the next morning, NO ONE was pleased that Greg was ‘demanding’ pardon for his ninety-eight people in exchange for cooperation to track down and annihilate whoever was in on challenging the Queen’s Authority. “Lucy,” Toby began with an anger-suppressed tone, “You DO know you can just use your Authority and make him and his people comply, don’t you?” He tried not to sound condescending, and he didn’t. He just sounded angered. He couldn’t understand why Lucianne wasn’t just taking the shortcut. The Moon Goddess gave her the damn shortcut. It was meant to be used! Lucianne knew this was coming. She was surprised that whatever Toby said didn’t come from her mate first. She had been cracking her head for a plausible argument ever since Greg asked for the pardon, and she only came to one mental block after another with each argument. “It doesn’t feel right,” Lucianne said. Although her voice was softer than usual, she still held the attention of the room. “He i
The other recommendations from around the table were glaringly flimsy: strip him of his dukedom, increase sentencing, banishment, etcetera. Honestly, what would stripping the dukedom do? It won’t reverse any damage or bring back any lives that could be lost. Increased sentencing? Greg wouldn’t care less if he stayed longer in prison. If he did, he wouldn’t have gone in in the first place. And banishment? Really? Before Lucianne showed up in Xandar’s life, Greg practically self-banished when he disappeared from the kingdom for sixteen years. These weren’t going to work as leverage. Everyone went back-and-forth with no satisfactory or agreeable idea. When Toby came to terms that there was no other way but the sinister one he had in mind, he cleared his throat and raised his hand. The whole room quieted down as they waited for the defense minister to speak. Toby chose his words carefully, “I don’t think conditional pardon for all ninety-eight of them is the right way forward. Not all cr
Xandar dismissed everyone as he got up. After pecking a kiss on Lucianne’s hair, he went over to wrap his cousin in a brotherly hug. Christian hugged him back before patting him on the shoulder. Although Xandar didn’t say a word, Christian proudly announced, “I know. I know. I’m still your favorite cousin no matter what.”A mischievous smile graced Toby’s features as he said, “Yeah, we all know that. He doesn’t have much to choose from anyway.”Christian lightly punched Toby in his abdomen, and Toby mocked an anguished reaction before they fist-bumped. After the duke and the queen embraced next, effectively symbolizing that there were no hard feelings despite their disagreement during the meeting, everyone left the meeting room in better spirits.
The policewoman informed Margaret about Tate’s visit, as usual. She groaned in annoyance before she was escorted from her temporary cell to the interrogation room. She wondered why there wasn’t a limit to the number of times Tate could visit her in a day when her own daughter was only allowed fifteen minutes.When she stepped into the room, Tate was already there, leaning against the wall behind his chair. Margaret’s eyes stuck to the floor, like it did the last few times. But unlike the last few times Tate came to see her, she didn’t feel his gaze on her.She took a peek, and realized that Tate had his hands in his jacket pockets as his eyes fixed on the floor. The creases on his forehead showed that he was pondering deeply. Margaret couldn’t deny that Tate was one hell of a looker with his diamond-shap
Margaret’s eyes widened in shock, but not at her own accord. It was her wolf. It was trying to push itself forward despite the silver bracelet fastened around Margaret’s wrist. The red wolf was done persuading its stubborn human part to accept their mate. It just wanted to go over to Tate and bury itself in his chest before begging him to stay. It continued to push even though it was pointless since they weren’t immune to silver.As Margaret continued enduring being pushed forward by her own animal and the bracelet that pushed her wolf back, she couldn’t help but get even more frustrated with the naïveté of her animal that was relentlessly trying to fight a losing battle. ‘Why can’t animals possess some basic human logic?’ she complained to herself.Tate watched her look away and
In a separate interrogation room, Lucianne met with Greg, who shook her hand less awkwardly this time. Greg noticed her uneasy demeanor, and prepared for the worst.They took their seats, and Lucianne began, “Your Grace, the monarchy and the government has agreed to provide the ninety-eight creatures under your care conditional pardon for all crimes, except murder.”Greg was internally grateful that he always preferred torture to death, and he never allowed his people to kill. The long-term goal of keeping these tortured creatures alive was for them to heal and live on to spread tales about how no one should mess with Greg Claw.Lucianne registered his silence and pressing gaze before she continued, “The pardon comes with two caveats.”
Outside the interrogation room, Lucianne stayed in her mate’s hard chest as her thumb stroked his nape in slow, soothing motions. Xandar continued taking in her scent from her hair as he focused on her comforting voice cooing to him through their mind-link.When his heart rate returned to normal and his temperament was under better control, he pressed a kiss on her forehead before he asked in dissatisfaction, “So, what should we do if Greg does stray, my love?”Seeing that their private moment was over, Christian came over to join the discussion. Lucianne’s brows furrowed as she took another hard look at Greg who was now being escorted out through the second door that opened up on the other side of the room as she muttered, “If prison walls can’t hold him…I don’t think we’re left
Xandar loosened his tightening grip on Lucianne’s waist, and he peered into her eyes as he said, “I do try to be better everyday, baby. I love you, and I’ll do anything for you. You know that, don’t you?”“I do. What is this about?” Lucianne asked with furrowed brows as she closed the distance between them.He held her close and squeezed her tight for a moment before he muttered, “I just…wished I knew how you think…like how Greg knew.”Lucianne’s body tensed-up at the mention of the other duke, and she parted their bodies only slightly before she said, “Xandar, Greg didn’t…know how I thought per se. We just came to the same conclusions with the available facts. It’s just analys