Chapter 109
When Ezgar noticed how she looked so unwell with all the blood drained from her countenance, he immediately dispersed the elite warriors talking to him and approached Abby to inquire what happened to her.
However, he wouldn’t have expected the reason for her sadness to be their lack of thoughtfulness to let her know about this rogue attack beforehand.
But the only problem was; it was a confidential task for the royal army and he wasn’t supposed to talk about it to anyone else, especially after the king emphasized how they were not to breathe a word about it.
“No, trust me, I really didn’t know about the attack until last night,” he told her truthfully as he wanted to clear the misunderstanding.
He really didn’t know about the attack because Micah didn’t really talk to them about it explicitly.
In fact, the king only said that he needed the chiefs like Ezgar to make the training of everyone from the elite warriors more intense than usual the night he announced he was going to hold a ceremony in less than two weeks.
Since, the time was of essence, it didn’t raise doubts among them as to why he would ask them to train intensely all of a sudden.
Everyone thought that with the increasing rogue attacks for the past couple of months, the King was just being cautious but no one would have thought he was only pressuring them to be well in shape for a real attack.
Even last night, Micah only mentioned in passing how they couldn’t let their guard down during the ceremony as there would be so many guests arriving from all over the kingdom.
But since they were words uttered by their sovereign, of course, no warrior thought of slacking off.
Moreover, if their security was really compromised during a visit to the capital, how in the world would they believe the king to protect his people that scattered all over this huge empire of werewolves?
So they didn’t leave any room for laziness as they diligently followed the regimen set by the king himself.
But looking back now, even though it appeared to be some last minute contingency plan, no one in the royal army was naive enough to think that the King was just being cautious and told them to be prepared just in case.
That was why his warriors were a little excited over how the King could execute his plan without letting others doubt his intentions.
In their perspective, their king proved himself to be an excellent strategist by planning every little detail to tackle the attack this time around.
The only inconvenience for the elite royal warriors that were ordered to escort and protect the guests was, they couldn’t contribute much in this situation.
They were all trained especially to put down enemies whenever they were facing a crisis of battle, but now they were restricted to babysitting these people who were gossiping to no end. After all, they couldn’t understand what was going on with the attack and the successive rescue.
FES ORA
On the one hand, they couldn’t answer their queries, since Micah didn’t allow them to talk about his plan with the guests or anyone for that matter. On the other hand, they felt impatient to sit around while a huge battle was going on just a few feet away from them.
“They were a little disappointed that they couldn’t fight in the frontlines today,” Ezgar continued his explanation when Abby still looked suspicious even after he told her how Micah just told them to intensify their training but nothing about the
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attack until the last minute.
He then explained how he was genuinely surprised when the attack really happened. But he didn’t voice how surprised he was to hear that even Abby didn’t know about the attack until the last moment.
But then, this was the style of their king, he never did things that would complicate his plans.
“Everyone was a bit extra alert just in case, and we are no different, but there was this nagging feeling at the back of our minds that the King wouldn’t do or say anything just for the sake of it,” Ezgar told their queen and saw how she gradually calmed down.
Abby looked deep in thought for a moment, as if digesting how Micah planned everything so secretly, but then she couldn’t help but realize how he had been carrying such a huge burden on his shoulders without really seeking help from anyone.
“But I couldn’t believe he didn’t say anything,” Abby finally said, unable to overlook that point.
Even though she wouldn’t be able to come up with mind boggling strategies to tackle this situation, she would have at least shared his burden with him.
Why couldn’t he trust her enough? This was the only thing that kept haunting her.
On the other hand, Ezgar could see how overwhelming it would be for her with everything that she had been through for the past two weeks. He personally witnessed her struggle with several things, so he felt sorry for her.
“I don’t know what reasons he had for doing so, but it will be for the best if you talk to him about it instead of overthinking,” Ezgar said, looking thoughtful.
But then he apologized for not being able to warn her about the attack. “I definitely would have let it slip in one way or the other if I had a confirmation, but the king didn’t give anyone a chance to doubt his actual goal for tonight. My hands were tied.”
On the other hand, Abby couldn’t help but think why Micah felt the need to watch his own words and actions so closely regarding this matter, but to no avail.
The King had all the reasons to be this discreet with everything he had done for the past fifteen days.
He didn’t even let anyone read the secret missives from Alpha Samuel for nothing. No one realized how among the several reports he had been receiving, missives about the rogues took the top priority.
And the reason was simple yet disturbing, he had a spy in his palace, the very person relaying everything that happened here to Calpin
In order to execute his plan well, he realized he couldn’t afford to give away what he was actually planning by holding the ceremony so abruptly.
Since, it was a custom for the elite royal warriors to welcome the new queen regally, no one doubted when he oversaw their training during the past fifteen days either.
He let everyone think that he was giving too much importance to the ceremony to please his mate when his own father came to him to accuse him of the same.
It worked well for him and the rogues were lured here, thinking they could catch the King off guard. However, he couldn’t help this nagging feeling that something was off when his warriors managed to put down most of the enemies with no noticeable casualties on their side in no time.
It was almost midnight now, and the fight ended in less than six hours, which was really suspicious since they couldn’t stop the rogues even after fighting for a whole day the last time Calpin made them wreak havoc in the Black Claw pack.
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From the corner of his eyes, he could see Alan and Dex frowning as well and realized things were not so simple.
He is missing something, but what is it?
“My king,” the royal beta called out to him as he approached him, prompting Dex to rush toward them as well. “You seem.a… lile conflicted.”
“There is something off with these rogues,” Micah voiced and saw that they weren’t surprised by his comment.
“Yes, they seem too different from the last few times,” Dex said, tilting his head to the side.
“They weren’t as aggressive, but I can’t place why,” Micah told them and Alan’s expression immediately hardened.
“You think this ambush is a distraction?” Alan asked immediately.
“If your hunch is correct, what might be their main goal?” Dex pointed out.
“Queen Abby…” Alan blurted out when he realized how Calpin tried to attack the king’s mate in the Black Claw pack. “King Micah. I think you should hurry and find Queen Abby to check on her immediately.”
Micah immediately cursed himself for not thinking this beforehand. How could he overlook the threat Calpin posed to Abby?
“Right! Only Queen Abby could shield his magic last time, so he could be using these mediocre rogues to distract us to harm her instead,” Dex said. “If there was a spy in the royal council or palace, he or she would be with Abby in the basement right
now.”
Hearing this. Micah felt his heart race with fear. He calculated his every move with the spy in his mind, but he didn’t realize how close this–spy was to harmming either of them if a chance presented itself.
Calpin made it clear that he wanted to kill Abby the last time he tried to burn her with his magic, but failed only because her power back lashed when he used his spell on her.
Micah felt stupid for forgetting something so important in his haste to lure those pests to the palace in the name of the ceremony. He couldn’t believe he got blinded by his need to exact revenge.
“Take care of the rest, I’ll check on her first,” Micah ordered them in a hurry as he broke into a run. He raced to the underground basement which was the safe place he arranged for the guests to take shelter while he captured the enemies before Alan or Dex could respond again.
“King Micah,” someone called him as soon as he entered the basement, but he didn’t bother to stop and respond to them as he quickly scoured his eyes around this huge hall to find his mate.
His heart skipped a beat for a second when he couldn’t locate her immediately, but then he caught a glimpse of a pale yellow dress on his far right end and immediately dashed there.
He could see Abby sitting at a table with her back toward him, but she wasn’t alone.
Ezgar was sitting with her, but they were completely silent while Abby’s dropped shoulders gave off this lonely and sad feeling.
*Little one,” he called to her and when she finally turned around to look at him, he could see there was something really off about her expression. She seemed desolate
Seeing her too pale and hurt, his immediate thought was, she got injured while they brought her here. Just like Ezgar.
But when she didn’t smile at him after realizing he had come to fetch her, he realized it wasn’t a physical wound as he couldn’t sense any blood on her. With a quick once over of her frame, Micah was sure she wasn’t hurt anywhere, so why did
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she look like she was in pain?
O
“What happened little one?” He asked her when she just stared at him, saying nothing. His eyes then strayed to Ezgar, who immediately stood erect to bow to him.
“I’m going to take my leave, my king.” Ezgar bowed to both of them, when Micah threw a look at him. He definitely couldn’t meddle in their affairs.
Once it was only the two of them at this table, as everyone else stepped back to give them privacy upon noticing this weird vibe around them, Micah approached Abby. He tried to grab her hand, but Abby evaded his touch as she turned away from: him a little.
“Little one,” Micah started but then saw tears flowing down her checks, which left him helpless, because he couldn’t understand what went wrong for her to feel this dejected when she broke into uncontrollable sobs.
“How could you do this to me?” Abby said in between her silent sobs. “It hurts Micah. You don’t trust me.”
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“How could you do this to me?” Abby said in between her silent sobs. “It hurts Micah. You don’t trust me.”
Abby could feel her heart bleeding while admitting how hurt she was by his actions, and the king could feel his heart break seeing her fall apart as emotions whacked her body.
“What do you mean, little one?” Micah was visibly shook at her words. “Please, talk to me.”
The king couldn’t help but plead with his mate when the girl wouldn’t even look at him, while her tears burned holes in his heart and soul.
He could see she was really hurt, and from her words earlier, it was clear it had something to do with him, however, he couldn’t quite comprehend just where she got the idea that he didn’t trust her.
He wanted to pull her into his arms and hug her worries and doubts away, but the inquisitive gazes from the people behind him made him think twice as he realized it would be meddlesome if Abby rejected his touch again.
It would cause a stir and put her in unnecessary limelight, so he immediately mindlinked his warriors to escort everyone to their respective guest rooms since the threat had been removed for now,
Even if another fight broke out, he already gave enough instructions to his royal beta and royal gamma as to what they needed to do,
Since they believed it would be wise for Micah to stay with Abby, they couldn’t really find fault with this arrangement.
The only problem was, Abby wasn’t even willing to let him touch her now. How in the world should he cooperate with her if Calpin or anyone else did try something to hurt either of them?
“Little one, what upset you?” Micah finally asked when everyone left them alone in this huge basement. Even though he didn’t let up, they could still tell how tense the air between them was.
But he couldn’t care less about what everyone thought when Abby opened her mouth the second time since he rushed here to check on her. “You”
“What?” Micah was genuinely dumbfounded.
“Yes, I’m upset because of you.” Abby would have shouted if not for the way her heartbeat pounded in her temples. Her head. is aching so badly, she didn’t dare to raise her voice and cause more pain to herself.
“Me?!” Micah asked, frowning out of surprise.
“Yes, but hurt would be a better word, I’m hurt because of you, Micah. Your lack of trust and your lies… Abby broke down completely as she then reiterated everything she had gone through since Micah decided on his own to hold this ceremony which couldn’t even see a proper finishing
“I thought you were being genuine when you said you saw me as your equal, but it was all a lie. You didn’t even pause to think how all of this is going to affect me, let alone how I have a right to know what was going to happen during my own.
coronation.”
Abby talked in a rush as if she wouldn’t be able to repeat her concerns a second time even if she forced herself to death. She even felt like flinging the crown on her head since it all felt like a big joke to her.
On the other hand, Micah looked like he was just sucker punched in the gut, really hard, when he finally realized he messed up big time.
However, Abby wasn’t done yet. “Did you even realize how hard it had been for me to learn everything in such a short time?
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O
I’m not saying you hadn’t had a hard time planning this great counter attack to achieve your goal of capturing Calpin sooner. I’m not insensitive enough to not understand you did whatever you did only to protect both of us either..”
“It’s just that I don’t understand why you can’t trust me enough to warn me even once.”
“No, little one. It isn’t like that.. Micah tried to explain, but the girl wasn’t in a state to listen to anything he had to say now.
“Then, why didn’t you?” Abby asked, her voice almost cracking while her eyes full of accusation. “You had plenty of opportunities yet, you didn’t even consider sharing your burdens with me…”
Micah didn’t have a good enough retort to defend himself, because it really didn’t occur to him to share this matter with
her.
So when Abby continued to pour her feelings out, Micah could only stand there, staring at her with this sadness reflecting in his whole being.
He just thought it would be better to solve this problem as soon as possible when he saw that a chance was presenting itself according to Alpha Samuel’s reports about the increased rogue activity all around the kingdom.
Calpin was not an ordinary enemy, so he was impatient to eliminate him before he could hurt him or his precious mate, but he didn’t expect to hurt her first.
The more Abby talked, the more remorse Micah felt. He really underestimated the pressure she had to face while preparing for the ceremony.
He thought letting her access to people and resources would be enough to solve her worries, but looking back, he realized he acted really inconsiderately.
He forgot why he canceled the ceremony the first time around as well. But with the rogues on his mind, his initial hesitancy to thrust her into royal politics took a back seat.
He understood better than anyone else how she didn’t get a proper chance to adjust herself to his place and its people yet, still, he couldn’t remember any of that while he spent his days planning how to utilize the ceremony she worked hard to arrange as his stage to defeat those pests.
“I’m sorry, little one.” Micah blurted out amidst her breakdown, but Abby just chuckled.
“No… a single sorry is not going to erase the pain you put me through for the past two weeks, Micah…” Abby rejected his apology in an instant and it was another blow to Mical
“How could you not reconsider your choices even after your mother tried to kill me?” Abby’s words shot out like poison coated daggers and the King could feel the blow in his heart.
He was really stupid, wasn’t he? Him having more than he could handle on his plate wasn’t a good enough reason to plead mercy from her either.
Abby wasn’t hurt because he didn’t include her in his plans, she was hurt because he didn’t bother to share his burdens with her.
On the contrary, he had a chance to help her avoid all that effort she fruitlessly put into the preparations.
But it was too late to realize his mistake glow, he was the reason for her endless suffering for the past few days.
Not only did he manage to overwork himself, he also made her work hard for nothing.
“Little one, don’t be like this. Give me a chance to make it up to you,” Micah said, not being able to convince Abby how much he regretted his actions.
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Just like she said, he would have lost nothing if he just warned her a little, but he was stupid enough to want to keep her in
the dark
“I don’t know, Micah.” Abby confessed, her face contorting with pain. “I can’t think of anything but how you can’t trust me…”
And Micah felt like beating himself up for causing her such agony. If before, he could still think he never did anything to hurt her directly, but this time, he managed to achieve that. She was hurt because of him.
His actions. His thoughtless decisions. Whatnot.
So when the girl said she wanted to rest now, Micah could only abide and let her some room to calm herself down first.
“Okay, but let me take you to our room at least?” Micah’s words came out as a question instead.
“No, I want to sleep in a different room tonight,” Abby said, looking at her fingers that she folded together in front of her, as if she was just a moment away from resuming wringing her hands.
And Micah heard what she didn’t say loud and clear. She was asking for space from him. She didn’t think she would find his embrace safe enough and wanted time away from him.
It didn’t sit well with Micah, and he wanted to argue but the girl didn’t give him a chance.
“Find me a vacant room, I’m fine with anywhere. I just want to sleep now,” Abby said, cutting off Micah before he could even protest against her decision.
Abby felt a little heartless for not giving him a chance to explain his reasons properly, especially when she told him she wanted space from him. The painful look that crossed his eyes almost made her falter.
But then, she couldn’t forget her own pain so quickly either. Staying out of each other’s hair was the best course of action for both of them to calm down for now.
“No, if you want time to rest your head, our bedroom is the most suitable room now,” Micah said, but when she tried to refuse, he held out his hand for her to stop for a second. “I’ll stay in another room.”
His voice left no room for negotiation even though he didn’t sound overbearing, and Abby didn’t have any strength to continue haggling with him.
Her head was killing her and she just wanted to rest.
On the other hand, Micah felt only their bedroom was safe for her right now, as he couldn’t shake off this bad feeling after he realized his plan had been compromised.
Moreover, Abby was more familiar with their bedroom than any other place in this palace.
Only he felt this knot in his heart when she finally agreed to let him escort her to their bedroom after much persuasion.
He couldn’t help but recall how she sobbed when she explained how much she missed him because he couldn’t make it to hug her to sleep even at nights, being busy planning for today’s showdown.
He still couldn’t understand how he could be so blind until he couldn’t even notice she was suffering so much until she became sleep deprived.
“Little one,” Micah called out when the girl almost stumbled on her own feet, as she stepped on her dress.
“I’m okay,” Abby said, as she held onto the chair behind her, rejecting his helping hand.
Micah could only walk behind her stubborn self as the girl slowly dragged her feet to their bedroom.
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“You can leave now,” Abby told him as soon as she crossed the threshold of their bedroom.
“My queen, what happened to you?” Alyssa, who had been waiting anxiously for her, immediately approached the girl when she saw her finally returning.
They were escorted back to their own rooms the moment they noticed rogues and had only come here when a guard rushed to relay that they had been summoned to serve the queen.
Micah seemed to have mindlinked someone to call them over.
Abby let her grab her hand, which made the maid realize how cold her body was, as if she didn’t have any energy left.
Alyssa quickly helped her to lie on the bed as she called Reyna to help rub her palms and feet.
But then they saw how the king stopped at the door itself. “Take good care of her.”
With that, he swiftly left. But he would come back early tomorrow morning and apologize to her properly.
It was not only her who couldn’t sleep when he wasn’t around, the same applied to him as well. He couldn’t be at ease when he was away from her.
But he knew he needed to let her calm down a bit first. Otherwise, he would have insisted on refusing her request outright. Only he realized he made another mistake by not refusing her the next morning, because when he came back to her after a sleepless night, he found their bedroom empty.
