Rejected by the King, Protected by Her Alpha Twin Chapter 04

Rejected by the King, Protected by Her Alpha Twin Chapter 04 Debt of Broken Oaths 

“Stop!”

My mother burst into the courtyard, my father and over a dozen guards right behind her.

She never even glanced my way. She bent down beside Evelyn and hauled her off the ged rubble, raw concern etched across her face. “Evelyn, where do you hurt?”

Sharp scorn burned through me. She had never worn that soft, worried look for Selene onfor

The only time it had come close was the day Selene married that fool, Caius.

“Aunt…” Evelyn buried her face against my mother, shaking with sobs.

“Vesper was going to crush my hand. She forced me to my knees out here. She has zero respect for you!”

My mother shot to her feet and swung, aiming straight for my cheek.

I caught her wrist. Under her shocked stare, I cracked my palm hard across her face.

Smack!

The sharp crack rang through the courtyard.

Mother stumbled backward, clutching her rapidly swelling cheek, staring at me in utter

disbelief.

“You… you dared strike me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I shook out my tingling hand, my gaze cold and unyielding.

“Three years ago, you begged me to fake my death and leave. You swore you’d lay down your lives to keep Selene safe.”

“Now she’s endured lashings from a silver-barbed whip, stripped of her status, and vanished. And you fret over the very person who hurt her.”

I stepped forward and unleashed my alpha aura in a crushing wave. My mother’s wolf spirit whimpered, bowing its head by raw instinct.

“That slap is your reminder. Broken oaths carry a cost.”

Father moved to shield my mother. His high-ranking alpha aura exploded outward as he barked, “Enough!

“Evelyn grew up stranded away from the pack and suffered horribly, What’s wrong with giving her more to make up for that?

“Apologize to your mother. Release the alpha king!”

I did not shift my stance. Instead, I ground Caius’s palm harder against the silver bark He howled in agony, every bit of his usual regal bearing falling away.

A thin, cold smile tugged at my lips. “And if I refuse?”

Rage darkened Father’s features. “Then you get cast out of this family for good. Your face will mean nothing to us from this day on!”

A bitter, low laugh rumbled in my chest.

“How convenient. Where was that indifference when you stole my private guards?

“Where was it when you handed Selene’s territory over to Evelyn?

“When she was whipped, locked up, exiled-”

My eyes swept slowly over both of their faces.

“Where were you?”

Father’s gaze flickered, yet he kept shouting defensively. “Those private guards refused to swear fealty to the alpha king. They were traitors! As for Selene, she killed their cub. She brought that punishment on herself!”

Mother pressed a hand to her throbbing cheek and shot me a venomous glare.

“If Selene knew you were hurting Evelyn for her sake, she would be disappointed in you!”

Brought that on herself.

Disappointed in me.

My smile widened, while deep inside my mind my wolf spirit roared with unbridled fury.

They had plainly forgotten. Three years before, they had clung to my legs, sobbing, begging me to yield so Selene could survive.

And those same hands had pushed her straight into ruin.

Hiding behind my mother, Evelyn found her nerve again.

“Vesper, apologize and admit you were wrong in front of everyone here. I will beg Caius to spare your life.”

“I’I even have Selene’s old dungeon cleaned out and set aside a cell for you.”

My gaze flicked to her blood-crusted knees. “Looks like you didn’t spend nearly enough time down on your knees just now.”

Evelyn blanched and scrambled further behind my mother. Burned by rage, my mothe snatched the silver-barbed whip off the ground and lashed it at me.

I caught the whip’s tip, yanked her sharply toward me, then coiled the whip tight around both her wrists and bound her fast to the tree stump.

“What, one slap wasn’t enough? Where did you get the gall to challenge me?”

“Vesper, let your mother go!” Father roared and lunged.

I kicked the broken sword hilt up from the dirt and slammed it hard into his knee.

He grunted and crashed heavily to his knees.

I planted my boot on his shoulder, forcing my arrogant father to bow, unable to lift his head.

“Before you disown me, pay back everything you owe Selene.”

Caius finally tore his hand free from the silver whip. Clutching his mangled palm, he bellowed orders.

“All of you, listen to my command!

“Maul her hands beyond use! Spare no thought for whether she lives or dies!”

More than a dozen werewolves drew silver-edged blades, closing in to circle me.

Peeking out from behind my mother, Evelyn let out a sneering little laugh. “Without your family and private guards, you are nothing.”

I ignored her. Bending down, I picked up a long sword and spun it once between my palms.

A second spin.

A third.

Then I ran my thumb slowly along the blade’s frigid back metal.

It was my old ritual before I drew blood.

When we were children, someone had shoved Selene into a frozen lake. That day I had spun

sword three times exactly like this, then shattered every limb of that person right in front of thy parents.

Father went rigid. Rage on Mother’s face dissolved into stark terror.

It hit them at last-

I had never been some daughter who needed family protection.

I was the alpha who had crushed the wolves of the northern frontier single-handed/and forced them to submit.

Sword in hand, I advanced toward them.

The surrounding guards reeled backward under my aura’s weight. Not one dared make the first move.

I stopped in front of my parents. My sword tip scraped across stone, spitting bright sparks into the air.

“I will ask this one final time.”

Pain flared sharply in my right arm once more. Selene was counting on me.

I pressed the sword-point to my father’s throat. My smile held a gentle, bone-chilling softness.

“My sister-

“Where have you hidden her?”