Miranda Bonham
"We should stop her," Preston said as we watched Queen Lisbeth leave.
"No," I told him.
"What do you mean, no?"
"I'm tired," I said, and leaned against him for support, resting my head on his chest.
"Are you okay, Andy?" Preston asked, trying to get me to look at him.
I shook my head, but pulled away when I felt my legs wouldn't give out on me.
"You do look tired Miranda," Clay said, looking at me worriedly.
"I'm fine," I told both of them. "You two should get going."
"I'm not leaving if she's going in there to tell Nixon everything." Preston kept looking at the door Queen Lisbeth had just walked in through.
"He's right. We should stick around and see what Nixonís going to do about this,"Clay added.
"Well, I should go and face him. Why put it off." Preston pulled on my hand and halted my walk before I took a step.
"You're not going in there just like that. Nixon's going to be pissed off. I should get everyone ready for an attack. I knew something like this might happen. It's good Asher's on our side," Preston said, putting his hands on either side of my face.
"I'll be okay. Don't worry about me. I really do have to go." Preston looked at me uncertainly, but he released the hold he had on me.
"I'll get everything ready. I'm not leaving the palace," he warned me. I nodded at him, feeling too exhausted to actually argue.
"I love you, Andy," Preston told me, lightly pressing his lips against my forehead.
"I love you too, Preston," I replied, and gave him a sad smile.
Everything was falling apart, one piece at a time. I usually didn't mind wearing the fancy gowns I was forced to wear every day, except when I was feeling depressed about something.
My walk towards Nixon's study felt like the walk towards my execution. I wasn't sure what his mother had already told him, but I knew the outcome wouldn't be good, at least for me. I had blocked my mind from him.
I was scared of what he would say, how he would react. All I could do was beg for forgiveness. I felt guiltier because I wasn't sorry King Luther was dead. He deserved it.
I just felt bad that my relationship with Nixon was about to crumble to pieces over it. Even when he was dead the man was screwing me over. The door was ajar when I reached Nixon's office.
I could hear Queen Lisbeth sobbing loudly, but she wasn't speaking. I knocked on the door just once, and walked in before either of them could say anything about it.
Nixon had been holding onto Queen Lisbeth, trying to steady her because she looked a step away from falling to the ground. I noticed she was wearing a different, looser gown than the one she had on before.
My guess was that she had gotten so upset she'd shifted into her Wolf.
"You!" Queen Lisbeth said as soon as she spotted me. She pointed an accusing finger at me. "It was you!" She yelled at me. When she turned to face Nixon, her eyes softened. "She killed him, Nixon. She killed Luther," Queen Lisbeth cried.
When she said those words, Nixon completely pulled away from her, like if he'd been burned. He took a few steps back, and looked between his mother and me.
"What?" Nixon asked through gritted teeth.
His entire features hardened, and he was clenching his fists. His eyes were shifting to black, and just in seconds, I could see his Wolf was trying to surface out.
"I-" I started to say, but Queen Lisbeth interrupted me.
"I heard you confessing it," she spat at me. "She was talking about it, celebrating that he was dead."
"We weren't-" and again she interrupted.
"Don't lie! I heard you, what you did. How could you do this to us?" She asked in a sob.
She was going to attack me. Despite how weak she looked, she got up from the ground and threw herself in my direction. Before she reached me, Nixon grabbed her and held her back.
"Stop!" He ordered. Queen Lisbeth looked away from me, but she did stop. Nixon let her go after enough distance was put between us.
"I can't believe this," Nixon said. He was facing away from us.
I could see the light shake in his body, and he ran one of his hands through his hair. I had to look down. My eyes watered at thought of what he might do.
He could reject me, throw me out, or even kill me. I didn't want to think of any of the scenarios, but it was hard not to. The more I thought about it, the more tears surfaced in my eyes.
"I can't believe you," Nixon said.
"Nixon, I," I said, wanting to apologize, to beg him not to leave me. But before I could say anything, he was in front of me. He'd move too fast, I had missed his movements.
"I love you so much," I said, running my hands on the side of his face. Nixon's eyes were watery as well, he wanted to cry, but he looked so angry at the same time.
"I love you," he said, resting his forehead against mine.
I could feel his body shaking, his Wolf wanting to come out. He was probably fighting it so much in order to stay in control. He was going to kill me. I almost felt it coming, especially with the tight hold he had on me.
"I didn't-" He didn't let me get out a word, before he shook his head at me.
It was like if he was telling me it's too late now. Instead of killing me, like I assumed he would, he moved away.
"I know you didn't do it. I wasn't talking to you," he told me, before he turned back to face his mother.
"I can't believe you would accuse Miranda," Nixon said, directing the words at his mother.
My eyes widened in surprise, and I was sure even my mouth dropped open. Queen Lisbeth was stumbling with her words, looking just as confused as I was.
"What? I, I'm not lying. Nixon, I, what I said. Iím telling you the truth. How could you," she said, sounding breathless.
"Miranda was with me when it happened," Nixon spoke through gritted teeth.
"Because it was Preston who killed him!" She yelled.
"Now you're also involving Preston?" Nixon asked her harshly.
"Clay helped them," she continued.
"Oh, Clay was in on it too?" Nixon asked, mocking her.
"Yes! It was all of them, Preston, Clay, and Miranda."
Her voice was a plea for Nixon to believe her. By then she was standing up, and looking a lot stronger than when I first walked into the room.
"Preston was with Asher when it happened," Nixon flatly told her, but I could tell he was trying to keep his Wolf in control. His back was tensed up. He was holding my hand, and with every word he spoke, his hold on me tightened.
"Asher was in on it too!" Queen Lisbeth cried.The more she spoke though, the less Nixon seemed to believe her.
"Asher was in on it too," Nixon mimicked. "Anyone else I should add to the list? Seeing as every name I throw at you apparently was in on it!" Nixon growled.
I wanted to confess, I really did. It was so easy to just tell him that his mother was telling the truth. Although Preston and I hadn't been celebrating King Luther's death, we were happy that our father would live.
I could beg him to forgive me for helping Preston kill King Luther. I knew Nixon loved me. I just wasn't sure if our relationship would survive my betrayal.
I wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn't do it. When I tried to speak up, I couldn't get the words out. Instead, I watched as Nixon's words towards his mother turned harsher, and his stare turned colder.
"I'm not lying to you," his mother said, her words only broken sobs.
When she tried to approach him, Nixon grabbed her shoulders and kept her a safe distance away from him. He let go of my hand for only the moment it took to push her away, before he caught my hand once again.
"How can you not see that she has you bewitched somehow?"
"Enough!" Nixon's voice boomed inside the room, filling it with a burning silence.
Even I shrunk back at how powerful his voice had sounded. Nixon must've noticed that his words freaked me out, because he pressed me closer to his side and wrapped his arm safely around my waist.
"I'm really sorry," I apologized to Queen Lisbeth. Tears were streaming down my cheeks.
I wished that I could tell her I was genuinely sorry, but it didn't seem like she would believe me either way. It didn't help that Nixon stopped me from getting near her.
"Don't apologize to her," Nixon told me.
"Nixon, I," and he interrupted me once again.
"My mother is upset," Nixon told me.
He gave me a smile, which seemed forced given the circumstances and how worked up his Wolf was. When he turned to face his mother, the smile vanished from his lips. There was only indifference in the way he looked at her.
"Just because you no longer have my father, it doesn't mean I am going to let you take my mate away," Nixon told her, in such a cold voice.
We were just about to leave the room, when she spoke out.
"Miranda is doing this so that you don't kill Craven." Nixon froze after hearing her words.
Having my father added to the equation changed everything. Nixon turned back to face his mother, making me walk back into the room in the process since we had been holding hands.
He didn't look sure about my innocence anymore, although he wasn't outright accusing me. He looked at his mother for a long while, before his eyes landed on me. He held my gaze longer, staring at me deeply.
I was scared that he would see it all in my expression. I was scared my guilt in King Luther's death would surface.
"What are you doing?" I asked. I hoped the tremble in my voice hadn't been as obvious as it sounded to my ears.
"Is that true?" Nixon asked.
I closed my eyes, and felt my heart stop for just a moment. The tears started streaming down my cheeks without control. I wasn't sure if it was because I panicked, or out of fear that Nixon would leave me.
"Your mother is lying!" I ended up blurting out.
It was the first thing that came to my mind. I couldn't even look at Queen Lisbeth after I said that. When I looked up at Nixon, his eyes were still studying me.
"You sound nervous," he said in a low voice.I shook my head, and then pressed myself closer to him.
"How do you want me to sound if you're accusing me of killing your father," I said, but the tremble didn't leave my voice, and my heart was still pounding too fast in my chest.
"She's lying to you, my little boy," Queen Lisbeth said softly. She knew she was getting to him.
"I'm not lying," I told him. Nixon looked at his mother and then at me, torn between who to believe.
"You're evil," she said.
"Do you agree with your mother?" I asked, looking at Nixon. He didn't speak, but he shook his head and closed the distance he had created between us.
"You're just using Nixon to save Craven!" Queen Lisbeth snapped, sounding exasperated.
Patience. I needed patience, and I needed to calm my erratic beating heart. Nixon was holding me, but I was afraid he would believe his mother. She wasn't lying, I knew that.
I just didn't want to give him up. Nixon was my mate. He belonged to me. My Wolf didn't want to part from her mate, and neither did I.
"If Nixon decides that my father's trial should be today, then so be it." Nixon turned my body to face him directly after I said that. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, even though his eyes remained dark and glassed over.
"You mean that?" Nixon asked, attempting to keep his voice steady.
"Then he'll get executed today," the queen said. Nixon shook his head at his mother, before he turned back to face me.
"That was all the proof I needed. I know how important your father is to you," Nixon told me. He caressed my cheek softly, and I leaned into his touch.
"You believe her?" Queen Lisbeth asked breathlessly, and in a disbelieving tone.
"Miranda loves Craven, for a reason I still don't understand," Nixon said, smiling down at me.
"She would never agree to killing to him," he finished saying, before leaning down and planting a small kiss against my lips.
I sighed lowly and shakily in relief after hearing him say that. He believed me. I was surprised when Nixon threw himself on the bed after we reached our room. He looked tired, and a step away from breaking down or shifting into his Wolf.
He brought me out of my thoughts when he patted his hand on his side. I knew that was my cue to go to him.
"Your mine," Nixon said in a growl, capturing my lips. His kiss was demanding, but most of all, it was possessive.
His lips were moving roughly against mine, and his fingers dug into my skin. I returned the kiss with as much fervor, tangling my hands in his hair, and allowing some of my Wolf to take over.
ìI wish she hadnít done that,î Nixon said after a calming silence had settled between us.It usually happened after we mated. We were both sated and relaxed, and my Wolf was purring in pleasure.
"I need her by my side, not trying to damage our relationship," Nixon said.
"She's just mourning for your father, in her own way I guess," I said, not knowing what else to tell him.
"Yes, but that doesn't excuse her behavior. I'm not sure if it's safe to have her here with you. If I leave, I need to know that no one is going to try to hurt you. I'm not sure I can trust her anymore. My own mother," Nixon said, tightening his arm around me.
I was resting my head against his chest, and managed to cling onto him tighter than before. I wasn't scared of Queen Lisbeth hurting me, although I didn't put it past her to try.
But I knew that I wasn't going to let her take Nixon away from me. He was mine. Whatever it took, I wasn't going to let that happen.