Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 248

CASSANDRA

I was certain that I would never forget the look on Ms. Benn’s face when I’d threatened her and alluded that her daughter’s condition could easily worsen if I stopped offering help.

The head housekeeper’s already fair complexion blanched so white she looked like a ghost. Her lower lip trembled and her icy blue eyes widened so large that they appeared like they could fall out of her skull.

Though her terrible expression haunted my thoughts, I didn’t regret that I’d done something awful like this. Given the chance, I would have done it over and over again, but still, I some part of me did feel sorry for Ms. Benn. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if someone had threatened me with Finnick’s life.

But, I did what had to be done. I was powerless in this castle, in this entire country, even. Without nasty ploys and fierce cunning. I wouldn’t get any closer to getting out of here and returning to my homeland with Erika and my son.

After our discussion, Ms. Benn left the room at once, her cheeks flushed and her movements swift. As she walked away, I felt a strange sense of empowerment. I was stronger than I thought, and I needed to carry this strength with me as much as possible.

I could survive Yurene. I just needed to be brave.

***

Luckily for me, Ms. Benn accomplished her mission excellently despite her unwillingness. She worked like a skillful spy. getting close to Ronald’s tower residence with plausible excuses. She caused no fuss at all and did everything with her usual calmness.

When she arrived at my chamber one night to report her findings, she seemed surprisingly disoriented. Her expression was a mixture of horrified, confused, and strained. I’d asked her to take a seat, and when I realized she was shaking, I carefully guided her to the table.

Finnick and Erika were fast asleep, so I led her to the far side of the room to give us some privacy, and once we were certain our conversation could be conducted without interruption, Ms. Benn began to speak.

“I grew close with a few maids who didn’t serve Helene or Ronald directly,” she began, her heavily accented voice timid. “Ones who worked in the residence, but didn’t report to them. Though I don’t want to belittle them or make light of their efforts, their jobs are relatively unimportant and boring. They were more than eager to converse with me since they don’t often get the chance to talk to others.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

someone who works for the king directly,” she continued, and she ran a hand over her slicked-back

could sense that it was a habit of hers, one that only

no one is allowed to enter Helene’s room exept for Lord Ronald himself. They were instructed to

eyebrows shot up in surprise. This situation was far more date than I’d suspected. Helene, locked in a room?

being prevented to

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Fri, Feb 23

Chapter 248

she truly ill? Or being held

to

night, they would hear the door bumping and the stomps in none of them were allowed to approach. None of them could witness

shook my

+5

whom, they didn’t know, but that didn’t matter.. After an hour or so, the maid returned to the servant’s quarters

as I tried to

my head

witnessed the gruesome display herself. “Yes. She killed herself. Since then… all of the maids have been horrified. Some believe the knife was given by Lady Helene and that she enchanted it with some kind of sorcery. Others think the maid had an affair with her master. They’re all rumors, of course, just speculations and gossip. But the death… the death was real, whether it was a

her for a moment, my eyes wide and my heart

news.

discredit it given everything I’d seen in this savage country. Yurenians were capable of so many acts of magic and violence. What if someone had used a spell on the knife after all? What was their intention? And why the maid? Had she seen

when Ms. Benn frowned in confusion, I clarified my statement.

and then nodded. When she described the appearance of the maid, my heart sank even further in my chest.

just any maid. It was Alana, the maid who had accompanied us on

remembered that Helene had thought the girl might be a spy. But did she take her theory too far? Had she killed the girl out of self-defense?

the truth?