Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 42 Prince is adopted

CA SSANDRA

Once dinner was over, a se rvant guided me back to my chambers, and when I entered the room, the lights were dimmed and Finnick was fast asleep.

Erika sat at the table, reading a book by candlelight, and when she looked up to face me, her kind eyes were wide with concern.

“You look stressed, Ca ssandra,” she noted quietly, and she patted the seat beside her. “Come, tell me what’s wrong. Did something bad happen at dinner?”

I crossed over to the table and took the seat next to her. The entire way there, the weight of the conversation earlier hit me hard, and my hands began to shake.

“Lady Margaret made me an offer earlier,” I remarked. “She suggested that Finnick should join Prince Marco in his afternoon lessons.”

“Oh,” Erika said simply, and her brows furrowed. “That… seems… generous.”

I could tell the maid was stringing her words together carefully in hopes not to offend me, but little did she know, she could never say anything to hurt me.

“It is,” I replied, and I leaned my elbows on the table and placed my hands on my temples. I massaged them for a moment and then continued processing my thoughts. “I’m worried about Finnick, though. He can be… audacious at times, and I’m worried that he could say something to offend the prince. The last thing I want is for Finnick to be punished for something he didn’t mean to say.”

Erika considered my words and nodded to herself for a moment. She seemed -like she was on the verge of saying something but the words didn’t come. After a

minute of hesitation, she let out a soft sigh and touched my arm.

“Ca ssandra, there’s something you should know about Prince Marco,” she said quietly, and then she looked around the room. “But this must stay between us.”

“Of course,” I replied as my heart began to race. The maid’s tone was serious, and though there was no way for our privacy to be betrayed in the room, I leaned forward anyway.

“I used to primarily clean the Alpha King’s study,” she began. “It was and still is, as you know, a forbidden place to just about everyone in Merliscire. The only ones. allowed in when the Alpha King isn’t present is housekeeping.”

in

me to open up the study for him. He knew that I had a key and could grant him access. I explained to the young boy that I couldn’t do it, and he cried and bellowed and threw a huge tantrum. He flailed his arms about and sobbed until he was red in the

when Finnick was a tiny boy, he’d never thrown a tantrum like that before. He’d always been

made the boy promise he would leave right after. Suddenly, he stopped crying and

another sigh and her

matter what I said, Prince Marco refused to leave. He threw yet another fit and insisted that he belonged in

no,” I

he was in there. The prince was scared of being punished, so he blurted out

murmured, and I shook my head. The

than I thought.

to blame for complying, but he was making it seem as if I’d told

Surely a six-year-old boy wouldn’t know how to

punish Prince

head slowly. “The Alpha King hardly scolds

and fast asleep in bed.. Bitterness rose in me as

I said when I turned around, and I absently tugged on a lock of my long hair.

know

sk ipped a beat and my

back in surprise.

çonfirmed. “Six years ago, the Alpha King was out on an inspection. He was investigating the other Packs. He found Marco abandoned out in the forests by

blinked in shock. I’d assumed Marco was Adalyn’s. The two shared similar features, but

how Marco was six instead of five.

pregnant after all.

it,” Erika continued on. “Mostly because Marco wasn’t born into the royal family and couldn’t be able to compete for the throne later in life. But the Alpha King

“Why?” I wondered.