Nixon

••• Fourty-Eight •••

The entire drive through the castle gates causes me to feel uneasy, the gates opening to reveal the white stones of the palace, stories high as ivy runs along the structure, the architecture beautiful since the last time I can recall being here. Guards line the palace walls which enclose the palace it surrounds, eyes trained on the car as we approach, Fiona gathering her things as we drive to the foot of the long stairs ahead of us. King Laraxuis stands in the doorway at the top of the steps, the palace doors open wide behind him as a scowl is placed upon the King's face, eyes focused on the car as we come to a stop. Pulling to a stop, I turn off the car, sliding out as I shut the door slowly behind me, eyes locked with those of the King as Fiona follows in suit. A woman stands just to the side of the King, hair braided and wearing a simplistic white dress, bare feet across the floor of the palace. A priestess of the Temple, to serve the Moon Goddess in times when religion is fading away. Climbing up the stairs, the priestess steps forward, balancing on the tips of her toes as she whispers to the King. I can tell from one little movement exactly who they are to one another - a forbidden romance - and everything is in their way. Mates, a King and a priestess. A king, the man to marry a woman able to be his queen and take on a world of rumors and politics, and a priestess, the very definition of purity as their life is to die in a temple having prayed to the Moon Goddess for all of her days.

"Alpha Maxwell," King Laraxis greets, extending a hand to shake as I make it up the stairs. My hand in his, the handshake is firm as he glances back to Fiona. "And who do we have here? A witch?"

"Fiona, head of my coven," Fiona greets, walking right past the King and priestess. "We have a meeting to get down to, let us not waste our time with formalities, we all there is nothing respectful of the circumstances presented before us."

Glancing over to the priestess, she seems submissive, looking away from my gaze. My husband was not an Alpha her temple was in favor of, for the murder of Lillian Rice, the cheating of Zion and Lillian, the terror Crimson Lock which it placed into other packs, and the way we proclaimed that we were a rogue pack - not to mention ties were cut with the temple before Nixon became Alpha, everything points to tension between the priestess and myself here. "Welcome to some high tensions, priestess," I greet, following Fiona into the palace. "Bring your mate if you wish," I comment to the King, knowing what boundaries I can push here. Elijah and I got this man the crown, we gave him power, we told him of what to agree on within the Senate chambers, and we made him who he is. "Just know she could snitch away to her Head Priestess."

"I am the Head Priestess," she informs, her voice weak. She reminds me of myself before I met Nixon and he turned my world around. Sure, if I had never met Nixon I would have had my daughter, become an Alpha, a Luna, and became a stronger woman as I am no longer afraid to speak my mind.

"Not for long." Right away the priestess turns pale at my comment, watching as a disappear off into the hallway. "Come along Laraxis, we have work to do and our plan moves fast."

Entering into the throne room, I find Fiona snooping around the throne, around the balcony, and looking up to the ceiling as she waiting for the two of us. Laraxis follows in pursuit, his priestess left at the front of the entrance as Fiona leads us onto the balcony, swinging up her briefcase containing the documents we were deliver. "Brenna is her name," he speaks up, watching as Fiona unwraps the ribbon keeping the thick document together. "She is the head priestess and has been offering me guidance."

Pausing my movements, I look back to the Alpha King, crown placed neatly upon his curly locks. Zion wore that crown once, the day of his wedding was the last I saw it, a matching one for Sybil as they seemed perfectly happy with the lives they were to live. Sybil lived in the shadow of Zion, only there to provide the rogues with someone to cheer for, for she had no idea the sins her husband committed in the night. If she had known her husband came to me one day, his men placing bullets in the walls of my house, and Zion leaving me to bleed out with my life and my child's to perish for my husband to see, she would have left him. Would Laraxis do the same to his mate, to let her believe he is a saint while he murders those loved by others having done nothing wrong but perhaps pissed him off long ago? "Elijah and I give you guidance here, not a young girl."