Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 262
CASSANDRA
My heart dropped suddenly in my chest as I stared at Lila in shock. Had I heard the little girl correctly?
“What does that mean?” I managed to ask as my belly began to ache from nervousness.
Lila shook her head and tugged at a strand of her hair anxiously. Her big eyes stared off in the distance for a moment and then she turned back to face me.
“It could mean that Lady Helene doesn’t have any thoughts in her mind,” she mused, and then she took her head. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to read people’s minds when they have complicated thoughts. If there’s too much going on in their thoughts, the pictures I see are like a mosaic. But I’ve never seen complete darkness before, Miss Cassandra.”
I considered the information for a second and then a thought crossed my mind.
Mind control.
A year ago, I never would
that there concept any of my time. It sounded so preposterous, so
strange and fairytale-li ave given the
magic-users and heard the tales of possibilities.
was no reason to take it seriously. But now that I’d seen the orcerors, I knew that nothing was out of the realm of
What if Helene’s mind was being controlled by Ronald?
Was it even possible?
I took a brief pause to gather my ideas and concerns, and then I voiced them to Lila. The little girl thought about it for a moment and then spoke.

“Some of the books my mother keeps hidden away describe different psychic abilities and magical powers,” she explained as her eyebrows crinkled together. “She’s been trying to uncover what I can do. I’ve read a little about mind control in one of them.”
My lips parted, and I nodded my head to urge her to continue.
Lila searched her mind and then spoke. “The
are two types of mind-controlling, but both can take away people’s wills. One is like hypnosis. By brainwashing, a person would act according to the new concepts they’d been introduced to. History books have mentioned that many great sorcerers could practice it. Another kind, however, is more like a legend. I read that with certain talismans, one could control another’s mind and make them do exactly what they wanted. But no one has practiced that before, at least no one that’s been recorded.”
I stood there, bewildered, impressed by the
amount of knowledge Lila had stored away. Though she was just a little girl, she was quite intelligent. Lsupposed she had to be in order to survive Ms.
Benn.

“I’ve just spent a lot of time reading,” she said quietly, and she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Especially the books my mother has kept hidden from me. I want to fully develop my abilities and get away from this place one day, so I need to learn all I can.”
“That’s very wise of you,” I praised her, and then I shifted the subject back to the mind-control. “Now, I’m wondering if Lord Ronald used the first one-”
But Lila shook her head at once. “I don’t think so. I’ve heard that Lord Ronald doesn’t carry one of those great sorcerer’s blood. His mother was just a low-ranking witch who could play small tricks and illusions.”
My eyebrow shot up in surprise. I had never thought about the different rankings of sorcerers, but it made a great deal of sense. Thus far, I had only witnessed small acts of magic from Ronald, such as the business with the enchanted rose at the party.
Was it too much to assume he was capable of mind control?
Suddenly, a realization hit me and a small gasp escaped from my lips.
Raven.
I recalled the conversation I’d witnessed her having at the party with Helene and Ronald. Ronald and the sorceress were speaking quietly and closely with one another.
Could Raven have done this to Helene?
I didn’t want to think that the dark-haired young woman was capable of such a thing, but I recalled the sight of the prisoners in the tower… the “gui nea pigs” as she’d so cruelly and callously called them. I remembered the look of apathy in her blue-green eyes, her expression emotionless as she walked past them in their cells that day when she’d performed a health exam on me. The wretched, putrid stench of blood and death in the air hadn’t even seemed to affect her as she’d led me to her
lab and back.
While there was certainly a level of detachedness one would have to have as a scientist, I had to wonder how wicked she truly was beneath the surface. She had been kind enough to me, but her treatment of others had me questioning her character.
n
One thing was clear enough. Raven couldn’t be trusted. Not right now, when things were so precarious and dangerous.
Though it was only an assumption that she was involved in this mind control business, I saw the risk behind it all. If Ronald had won Raven’s support and favor, his alliance with me would have been rendered useless. But at the same time, this was also an opportunity to exaggerate the conflict
between cousins.
What would happen if I brought this up to Kaleb? This had the opportunity to distract attention away from me, which might increase the chance of carrying out my plan smoothly. The more
Chapter 262
chaotic Yurene was, the more time I could win for Wegalla and Asher.