Chapter 40: The letter
Eiren’s POV
Eiren had never felt this thoroughly humiliated in his entire life. He had been by the side of the Prince of Lust for as long as he could remember, and tonight, he had been utterly degraded, pinned down like a worthless servant all because the Prince had found a shiny new interest.
Someone who was the lowest born of them all, a filthy commoner, all because he was carrying the Prince’s heir.
It should have been him, he thought bitterly as he paced around his room, getting ready to set off to Kalvian.
"Why can’t I just have everything that I ever wanted?" he yelled angrily, his voice breaking as he violently pushed everything off his desk. The porcelain jars and bottles crashed to the floor, shattering into pieces, and he stomped his foot against the ground in pure rage.
"You are back early," a voice sounded from behind him, smooth and annoying.
Eiren snapped his head around to see Kaevian seated slowly on his bed, casually fanning himself with an elegant feather fan.
"Why are you back here when you should be pleasuring His Highness?" Kaevian asked, a mocking glint in his eyes. "As far as I am concerned, you and the Prince always go at it for hours, so I am incredibly surprised that you are here right now and not with him."
Eiren turned toward Kaevian, his eyes flaring up with absolute fury. "Shut up and don’t tell me what the hell to do!" he yelled, running a frantic hand through his disheveled hair to compose himself.
"He rejected you, right?" Kaevian asked, standing up slowly from the bed and heading toward Eiren, who picked his fallen silk robe up from the ground and wrapped it tightly around his shoulders. "You are going somewhere? You are clearly dressed for a journey," Kaevian chuckled lightly, leaning closer until he was staring directly down at Eiren’s exposed neck. "What the hell happened to your throat? Did His Highness actually choke you?" He pointed a long finger toward the faint, dark bruise blooming on Eiren’s skin.
Eiren angrily shoved him back, his hand slamming into Kaevian’s chest. "What the hell do you want from me?! I don’t even know why you are lurking in here when you should be in your own quarters!"
Kaevian shrugged carelessly. "What can I say? I was bored, and then I saw you when you walked back into the harem’s hall looking like a ghost. I was simply wondering why. So tell me, what happened this time? Has His Highness finally gotten bored of you?"
"I don’t have to tell you a single damn thing," Eiren snapped, pushing past Kaevian’s shoulder to walk toward the door.
"Did you poison that boy with the Letiti leaf and force him into an illusion of killing His Highness?" Kaevian asked suddenly, his tone dropping.
Eiren’s eyes widened in shock, and he whirled around to face Kaevian, who was already leaning against the wall, his feather fan covering the lower half of his face. "What the hell are you trying to imply! Don’t you dare point fingers at me, because I absolutely didn’t do it!"
"Really?" Kaevian smirked, looking at him skeptically.
"Yes, because if I truly wanted to get rid of that boy, it wouldn’t be through a stupid poisoned leaf! I honestly wish that I had been the one to do it, but it wasn’t me, because I wouldn’t need a subtle poison to kill him. Just stabbing him directly in the throat and pinning the crime on one of the other omegas would be the easiest thing to do."
Kaevian’s smirk instantly turned into a deep frown, and he pointed the tip of his closed fan toward Eiren. "What exactly happened with the Prince tonight? Does it concern the boy?"
Eiren turned back and started walking toward the exit again. "I will give you one piece of advice before I leave, since His Highness sent me on an impromptu errand regarding that boy. I think His Highness is changing. He has never once laid a hand on me in violence, but tonight," Eiren tentatively placed his hand around his own throat, remembering the terrifying pressure of Azriel’s grip almost choking the life out of him. "He almost killed me tonight because of that boy. So if you harbor any ill feelings toward the human, I will strongly advise that you be careful, Kaevian."
"You really think that I would want to kill the boy and get on the absolute wrong side of His Highness?"
Eiren stopped in his tracks yet again, turning his head back to face Kaevian. "What the hell are you secretly planning, Kaevian? I know that when you are smiling all sweet like that, you are up to absolutely no good."
"Nothing," Kaevian said, raising both hands in mock surrender. "I am not going to do anything at all."
"I don’t trust a single word you say," Eiren responded almost immediately. "But I don’t care whatever you wish to do to him, you can go right ahead. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you." He threw the warning out one last time before pulling a thick, dark cloak completely over his head and setting out into the corridor.
Once he hurried out of the harem’s hall, a private carriage was already waiting for him at the front of the courtyard. He climbed inside, and as soon as he was seated against the cushions, he placed his trembling hand around his neck, rubbing the bruised skin gently.
The carriage started moving, and the moment he was alone, he was instantly consumed by his toxic rage again. He clenched his fists so tightly that his sharp nails bit deep into his palms, drawing fresh blood until the warm liquid started trailing down his skin.
He had honestly thought that he would never lose the absolute favor of Azriel, because he had been the top partner for consecutive years. He couldn’t even count how many concubines or servants had tried to get closer to Azriel over the centuries, and he had successfully ruined or sent every single one of them away just to keep the Prince entirely to himself. And now, someone from Kalvian—the filthy, wretched district that he himself had fought so hard to escape—had come to take everything away from him all because he was pregnant.
"Why couldn’t I be the one to get pregnant for the Prince?!" he groaned out loud, pressing a flat hand firmly against his own stomach. "I have been filled so many times with the precious seeds of His Highness, so why the hell haven’t I been able to carry a single baby! Why him?" he yelled angrily, clenching his fists even harder. He started aggressively biting his own fingers in anxiety, chewing until the skin started peeling away from his nails. "How dare he just show up and steal everything away from me?" he yelled, punching the velvet seat beside him. "How did he do it? Just how?"
He began to shake his legs violently in frustration. "How do I kill him? How do I—"
His words were cut short as the carriage suddenly violently jerked forward, sending him flying across the small space. He almost fell face-first onto the floor before the carriage came to a harsh stop on its own.
Eiren heaved a deep, ragged sigh as he composed himself, gathering his messy robes, and he looked through the small glass window, ready to absolutely lash out at the rider.
But before he could utter a word, a sharp arrow flew right by his face, slightly grazing his cheek, and slammed deeply into the wooden side of the carriage frame.
Eiren’s eyes widened in shock, and his heart started pounding frantically against his ribs. He looked wildly around through the glass, but he saw absolutely nothing except for a dark, cloaked shadow swiftly running off into the dense trees of the forest. He rushed out of the carriage door and looked around the dark path, but there was nothing left. He walked directly toward the front to see what had caused the sudden stoppage.
"What the hell is happening, Labti? Why the hell did we suddenly stop the carriage!" he demanded, his voice shaking with anger and adrenaline.
Labti, the rider, immediately lowered his head in fear and apologized. "I apologize, Your Grace. A massive bird suddenly flew straight toward the horses, and I tried my best to avoid it."
Eiren gave Labti a long, piercing look but said nothing else as he surveyed the perimeter one more time. "There is nothing unusual? No one else is lurking around, right?"
Labti nodded firmly. "No one, Your Grace."
"Great. Continue riding," he ordered coldly, stepping back into the carriage. He looked toward the arrow sticking out of the wood and carefully pulled it out. That was when he noticed a short, crumpled note wrapped tightly around the shaft. He unrolled it, and his eyes scanned the writing.
I know you are actively seeking a way to kill that omega. We will gladly help you once you return from the district. Meet us at the Whispering Ruins.
Eiren stood straight up in the moving carriage, cold chills running down his spine as he stared at the ink. He looked through the window again, his mind racing.
They knew about everything. They knew his exact intentions and had sent him a direct letter.
Who the hell were they? He wondered, sitting back down heavily onto the seat as he started anxiously biting at his fingers again.
"I don’t care," he muttered to himself, a dark, desperate smile forming on his lips. "As long as I successfully get rid of him, His Highness will be completely mine again."