Rei hesitated, visibly cringing at the sound of the King's voice after she'd just said she didn't care what he wanted.
"Well?" The King asked, impatiently waiting for her response.
Mustering her courage, Rei decided to give him what he was demanding. She spun on her heel to face him and let loose the rage of a worried mother. "You may be our King; but, he is my child, and your farce of a medical staff has only just barely kept him alive from what should never have been life-threatening injuries! Tell me, majesty, how am I to remain calm in the face of such absolute incompetence, when it's my child's life at stake? I am fully aware that I am overstepping, sir; however, I feel I have every right to expect my son's safety when he is under Royal care! The fact that they don't even know how he's still alive only further cements my resolve. Please forgive my disrespect, sir; but, I am taking my son back!"
Ryan's eyes were bugging out of his head as he watched his mother verbally rip a strip off of their King. "Well, Kenji...I never expected we'd die so young; but, I think it's our time" he lamented to his wolf.
"Mama wolf is protecting her cub...We won't die yet" Kenji replied, unable to hide his pride and amusement.
Ryan caught himself before he grinned as his wolf's comment, feeling the same pride towards his mother as his wolf did. He schooled his features into a concerned expression, instead, waiting for the King's response.
The doctor, on the other hand, wasn't hiding his emotions at all. He was sweating, pale, and wide-eyed, with his eyes darting back and forth between Rei and the King.
Darius stared at Rei for a long, silent moment, anger seeming to emanate off of him. The hallway was silent, except for the low growl coming from deep in his chest. As time rolled on, the growl grew louder, until it turned into a full-out roar of anger as he shouted "what is the meaning of this?!"
The doctor nearly fell backwards, having fully expected the King to explode at Rei. Instead, he found the man turning on him. He tried to stammer out an apology; but, Darius wasn't having it.
"I entrust my honoured guest to your care, and this is how I learn of your treatment of him?! Why was I not notified sooner that the boy wasn't doing better?!" He demanded, authority and dominance oozing off of him in waves, forcing the doctor to submit.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry, your m-majesty!" The doctor stammered, terrified. "Your steward! He was here, I-I merely assumed that h-he would t-t-t-tell you!"
The King stared at the doctor for a long, silent moment. He pointed down the hallway suddenly, growling out the words "go! There will be an investigation into this matter...You had best hope that I find no wrongdoing on your part" he warned.
The doctor let out a squeak of acknowledgement before turning tail and running off down the hall as instructed. Darius took a moment to collect himself, before turning on Rei, who was still standing her ground. "As for you! How dare you speak to your King that way?" He snarled at her.
Ryan frowned, about to step in when Rei showed him she was fine on her own. "How dare I?! I respect my King for serving and protecting his people! Your staff are an extension of you, and they nearly killed my son. How do you expect me to respect that?!"
Darius raised his eyebrows in shock, clearly having had little experience with anyone standing their ground against him. Fortunately, before things became too heated, the door to Aislinn's room opened and a nurse poked her head outside.
"He's awake!" She said cheerfully.
"Oh, thank the goddess!" Rei said, rushing past her King to see her daughter.
Ryan winced a little, but at least waited a beat for the King to enter before him. When Darius didn't move, though, Ryan threw his caution to the wind and followed his mother into the room to see how Aislinn was doing.
There she was, sitting up with the assistance of the hospital bed, with pale skin, dry and cracked lips, with dark bags under her eyes. That didn't matter, though; because, the main thing was that her beautiful eyes were open!
"Oh, Goddess, you had us so scared!" Rei cried, engulfing Aislinn in a tight hug.
"Careful! Gentle!" Ryan called out, resisting his urge to do the same, though. Instead he took Aislinn's hand in his and gave it a squeeze. He smiled when he felt her return the squeeze, albeit weakly.
"I need to tell you guys something" Aislinn said to them through mind-link, her exhaustion carrying through so that even through their link, it could be heard in her voice.
"Did you see who did this to you?!" Ryan demanded, receiving a slight nod from Aislinn in response.
"Was it...Was it the Captain?" Rei asked, fear causing her to hesitate in voicing the question she didn't know if she wanted the answer to.
"The steward...He injected me with...I don't know what" Aislinn replied, her eyes fluttering closed. "I saw the Captain...Came in my room...Didn't see anything else" she continued, her sentences becoming more fractured the longer they talked.
Rei was relieved that it wasn't her brother for sure; but, was still anxious to understand why he'd been running out of the room. Until she could learn the truth, preferably from Reinhold himself, she knew she'd continue to be anxious.
Deciding that Aislinn needed rest, Rei kissed the side of her head. "Go to sleep, seeetheart. We'll be here when you wake up...In fact, we aren't leaving again" she vowed.
Unfortunately, in that moment, the King decided to make his entrance. Per the normal of what Rei and Ryan had witnessed, the King maintained his arrogant nature and barged into the room, staring at the family before him.
"Get out. I need to have a word with your son" Darius said to Rei, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Despite that, Rei turned to face him in disbelief. "You—" she started; but, no other words left her before the King stopped her.
"Out!" He bellowed, lacing the word with an Alpha King's command so there was no room to disobey.
Still, Rei struggled against the order, wanting to remain by Aislinn's side. Unfortunately, she could not disobey a direct Alpha command from her King, and so she begrudgingly submitted.
"Yes, your majesty" she said through gritted teeth, filing out of the room with a steaming, yet quiet Ryan behind her.
Once they had exited, the King shut and locked the door for privacy before turning to face Aislinn.
YOU ARE READING
Veritas
WerewolfBook 1 of 2 Aislinn Jones has had a unique problem for as long as she can remember: her dreams. They are vivid and haunting, and plague her whenever she tries to rest. Her father's solution was to train her to a point of exhaustion where she was pas...
