Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: BLAKE WAS IN THE PALACE
“Who is that? Are you close with her?” Dawn stopped walking, her attention was on Darius.

The gamma then explained about this woman’s background. She was actually a healer. She became the royal healer ten years ago. She was a talented and powerful healer, despite her young age.

“Obviously if there was someone close to her, it must be Zenith.” Darius gave her a meaningful look. He knew, the one that she wanted to know if Aurel was close with or not, must be Zenith, not him. “Well, I don’t know if you can say that the two of them are close or not, but all I can say is; the Alpha needs her.”

“For what?”

“About that, you need to ask Zenith.” Darius made a gesture to zip his mouth. “I can’t tell you more than this.”

Despite seeing Zenith seemingly infatuated with her, this matter was very crucial and he didn’t think he was in the position to disclose or explain it.

“But, you don’t need to worry, Zenith doesn’t see her in a romantic way. Once his business is done with her, he will not engage himself with her.”

“But, I don’t think she sees him in the same way.” Dawn continued walking, she contemplated this matter, instead of the problem with the poison. She really couldn’t concentrate.

Zenith was supposed to be the one, who apologized to her for what happened that night, but now that he was gone for days, Dawn found herself becoming a little bit upset with his silence.

“If this woman named Aurel is that powerful, she should take care of the problem with the poison instead of me,” Dawn mumbled to herself.

“She knew a lot about herbs, but she knew nothing about poison.” Darius stretched his body. “She despised that subject and thought it was too low for her to learn about that.”

Dawn scrunched her nose. “I don’t like her.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Darius had encountered Aurel a few times and he could say that her presence was not pleasant. “So, do you know about the source of the poison?”

Dawn was startled with the question. “I need a few more days,” she said in a small voice. She really needed to put her focus more on the problem with the poison and stop thinking about Zenith.

However, how could she do that when the alpha disappeared for a whole week? Dawn didn’t even get a glance of him, as if he had vanished into thin air.

“Are you sure he is not going back to the pack and still in the capital city?” Dawn asked Darius on the eighth night Zenith disappeared. “How come I have never seen him?”

She had been roaming around the palace and not even once she caught his shadow.

Currently, she was sitting next to Darius in the dining hall, where all the important figures in the palace were present to eat together.

Every diner was like this here.

While Dawn was sitting on her seat below the platform of the king, where Zander sat with his royal beta and his royal gamma, she was on the platform above the officials, but slightly below the king. This was Zenith’s place with his beta and gamma. Because the alpha was not here, thus Dawn sat with Darius.

“I am a hundred percent sure that Zenith is still in the palace,” Darius said. “You might not be able to see him, but he can see you clearly and know everything that you are doing.”

Dawn put down her cutleries and glared at him. “Are you spying on me and then reporting whatever we are doing to him?”

Darius grinned. “To be fair, I have been accompanying you for days, you can’t say that I have been spying on you, moreover, I only report about my day…”

“Including the time you were with me.”

“Exactly.”

Dawn was frustrated. Zenith was too cunning. Why would he avoid her instead of apologizing for his wrongdoings and explaining himself?

Not to mention the king had been acting differently. Zander hadn’t bothered her at all ever since that day. When they met each other, he was very polite and didn’t even stop to tease her or engage in a conversation with her.

That was weird, but Dawn didn’t think much about it. Her main problem currently was Aurel, who was sitting with the officials. She would occasionally give her a dirty look.

Two days later, Dawn found out the source of the poison. By that time, there were already ten warriors who couldn’t shift and one of them had died, which in a horrific way, helped Dawn to focus more on this matter.

She pushed the thought of Zenith to the back of her mind, as someone else’s life was at stake.

And now Dawn had found the source of it, she needed to see the king to discuss this matter right away, but she halted when a familiar scent hit her. She thought she was mistaken. There was no way he was here. What was he doing here?

Her mind was racing, but before she knew it, her feet had taken her to the throne room and there he was, standing in the presence of the king with determination in his eyes.

“I want to object to the union between Alpha Zenith and the daughter of Alpha Tony.” Blake looked at the king. This was the first time he met with him. He had heard about this peculiarity, the fact that the king used to wear this golden mask in the presence of other people. “She is my destined mate and this sacred bond shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

Dawn was enraged when she heard that. The audacity of this man was palpable!

“She had rejected you.”

“There was a mistake. I came here to straighten the misunderstanding between us.” Blake lowered his head politely when he asked for a favor. “My King, please allow me to see my mate.”

But amidst her anger, she realized one thing; she didn’t feel any attachment toward him. The only feeling that was left was anger. She wanted to get inside and drag him out to snap him out of his delusional thoughts to think she would go back with him.

“‘My mate’ my ass,” Dawn grumbled, she ignored the guards, who stared at her with a questioning look. They had received an order to let her roam around the palace and not to restrict her movements, thus she could be anywhere with no one questioning her. “You didn’t think I was your mate when you fucked Emily.”

Somehow, Dawn ended up peeking through the gap of the door, she watched how everything unfolded and what reaction the king would have upon Blake’s request. She wished Zander wouldn’t put her into trouble.

But, she was shocked when Zander ordered the guards to capture Blake and put him in a dungeon.

“What?” Dawn was confused, so was Blake, who became furious with this ridiculous order. He demanded an explanation from the king.

“My King! What do you mean by this?!” He roared angrily when two guards came to him and gave him Rottingbane to prevent him from shifting into his beast. This was very sudden, no one expected this order at all. “Why do you put me in the dungeon?! How could you do this?! My King! You are abusing your power!”

Dawn was too stunned to react and when she finally snapped out of it, they had taken Blake away through a different door from where she was standing.

“Come inside, I know you were there,” the king said. His voice echoed in the throne room.

At first, Dawn didn’t realize that it was her that the king talked about until the guard next to her nudged her shoulder.

“The King ordered you to enter the room.” Most likely, the guard had informed the king about Dawn’s presence that was why he knew she was here. “You have something to tell him too, right?” He felt slightly guilty, as he justified his action, even when Dawn didn’t say anything.

Taking a deep breath, Dawn entered the throne room and greeted the king.

“All of you can leave.” The king stood up from his throne and approached Dawn. His eyes from behind that golden mask of his looked so cold. This was very different from the king that Dawn knew.

The guards left the throne room and now this huge hall was very quiet.

“I want to talk about the poison,” Dawn said. She came here for this matter, even though she was curious as to why the king put Blake in the dungeon.

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?” The king asked. He stopped right in front of Dawn, his piercing eyes stared straight into hers and she felt this familiar feeling.

“Yes.” Dawn nodded.

The king remained quiet for a while. “Don’t you want to know about your ex mate?”

Dawn thought about it, but she shook her head. “No. I don’t care about him.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you care that I put him in the dungeon?” The king took a step closer, which forced Dawn to back off. He was being too close.

Dawn narrowed her eyes slightly. She felt something was off and she knew she couldn’t be mistaken about this. “Why should I care? He is not my concern to be worried about.”

The king remained quiet.

“Don’t you want to know about the poison, My King?” Dawn thought she was crazy, but she really needed to make sure of her suspicion.

Her blood rushed in her veins when suddenly she snatched the mask off the king’s face.